Home > Consumer Reviews > Philips DVDR615 DVD Recorder

I bought (and returned) a Philips DVDR615/17. (...)

It was a beautiful machine and it has a lot of nice features. It made beautiful disks...when it made disks.

I usually record on DVD+RW and I should have had a clue that things weren't going to go well when there was a preprinted form in the box telling me how to wipe a +RW disk, if the machine suddenly decided it couldn't read it.

Well, it decides that A LOT! You might go back to add an hour at the end of 4 other hours that this same machine already recorded...and suddenly it can't read it.

But, more disgusting, on just about every disk (and I tried several brands), it went "disk error" after a couple of minutes of recording and ruined the disk. If you erased it (using the secret disk wiping procedure) and started over, it usually recorded. But, that's not too practical if you want to timer record. In fact, I NEVER made a successful timer recording. (And, even if you got a non-timer recording, the machine might just forget how to read that same disk a few minutes later.)

I tried contacting Philips support to see if there was a firmware flash or something to correct this, but the only response I got referred me to an 800 number that turned out to be "Out of Warrantee Support", who wanted to charge me (...) just to talk to me, even though I had only had the goofy thing a few days. I think not.

So, back to the store it went.

If that one problem didn't exist, this would've been a great machine, so if they ever fix it, somebody let me know.

For some inexplicable reason, I just decided that I would buy this after multiple rounds of suffering with the 985. So I ordered this and then packed up my 985 and sent it back to the factory for a second time.

Meanwhile, when this was delivered, I had a bit of a hassle with it because I plugged it into my digital receiver and got 'no signal' when trying to monitor the recording. Also, I wanted to have an S connection. Well, finally got it working by moving to EXT2.

Anyway, to my amazement, I have not had a single recording fail, and I've done a ton of them since purchasing a couple months ago. Never once have I seen DISC ERROR or have I had to wipe the disc. So I was surprised to read the other accounts which sound like 985-like behavior. Lots of the online disc ordering places will send you sample packs now so you can try different brands. I got mine from rima.com. One last note: I make all my recordings to RW and then take them to my G5 and make copies onto -Rs, so I can't really speak to the long-standing problems with +Rs.

I have purchased Philips DVD recorders before and I really like the Philips however the problem is that you either receive a good one or a bad one. There seem to be nothing in between. I like the Philips because the DVD+RW gives you more flexibility if you want to use it like a VCR. The -RW format makes you delete the entire disc where as the +RW allows you to delete one program or the entire disc depends on what you want to do. Another thing I really like about Philips is their thumbnail format which will display a small picture of the program that you have recorded. This will allow you to see at a glance what is on the disc. You can also edit the thumbnail to display any picture from the program. This thumbnail will also display when you play the disc from any DVD player unlike the Sony which will not allow the edit of the thumbnail in +RW and will display a blank picture when played on other DVD players. Another great thing about the Philips is that you can record two programs together like Simpsons and Friends in a one hour continues recording and then instead of one thumbnail of Simpsons, you can divide the 1 hour program into 2 30 minute programs with 2 different thumbnails.

I have read that a lot of people do not like the remote control and the Philips manual however for me after getting used to the remote control and understand the manual, the recorder is very easy to use.

I have tried a lot of other DVD recorders like Sony however I still come back to Philips DVD Recorder. The only problem with Philips is their quality control. You either get a good machine or a bad. If you can stand the problem of buying a Philips recorder, set it up, find out that is has problems, return it back to the store, get another replacement, and see if you have a good one this time.

I went through a few before finding a good one. The first one did not work right out the box, returned for an exchange. The exchange unit worked for about a week then the tuner started to flash bright and dark every second which really bothered me. Returned for another exchange. This new exchange worked for 10 days and then started to lock up. It would not record anything but just freeze. This happens every other recording which is a real pain because you thought you had recorded something and then find out that it frooze. Returned this unit also. Waited for a few weeks while trying to find other brands like Sony but still came back to Philips. Purchase another Philips and found it again did not work right out the box. Returned back and got a replacement. This time, everything is fine. I have had the Recorder for over 30 days and everything is fine so far. So if you really want a good, flexable +RW DVD recorder, I would recommend Philips if you are willing to keep returning the recorder until you find one that works.

The DVDR615 does everything as advertised and has performed flawlessly for the short time I have owned it. I record on 4X Memorex DVD+RW in all recording modes. For the price, the feature set seemed like the most bang for the buck. It is very easy to customize background, titles and chapters. Splitting titles is also easy and handy for copying those old VHS or 8mm tapes with various recordings on them. You can copy in one long block, then go back and insert titles as needed.

It has several fast forward/reverse and slow motion recording modes which makes finding tracks very easy. Other bells and whistles such as zoom, pan, etc are nice to have but won't get much use.

My biggest concern was that these disks would play on my other Sony DVD player which is 2 1/2 years old. The disks play without a hitch on the Sony. The DVD+R/RW format appears to be the easiest format to use and also appears to be evolving as the new standard.

I highly recommend this model to anyone looking for a solid recorder at a great price.

I was very disappointed to find that this recorder could not read all the formats consistently. It could read one dvd+ but not another, one dvd-, but not another, one svcd but not another, etc. I had bought it with expectation that it could read all the formats if they were recorded correctly and this was not the case. I had to return it. Otherwise, setup was easy. My old APEX player, which was 1/3 the price, reads everything without a hitch. Glad I didn't part with it.