Philips DVDR880 DVD Recorder
Average Customer Rating
(2.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
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(1 out of 5)Promises much but fails to deliver
This product offers the ability to record off-air analogue TV to DVD - just like a VCR. It also accepts composite video, or S-VHS, input from VCR tapes or camcorders.
Therefore the product should appeal to those who want a better quality VCR - or to archive home videos to DVD.
It is real-time video to DVD conversion. No mean feat when compared to PC based video capture/edit/encoding solutions for archiving home videos to DVD.
The DVD+RW media gives compatible playback on other DVD players and PC DVD drives.
The "easy" user manual is hard to use. The DVDR880 has poor ergonomics for the user interfaces. The on-screen menu has blue text on a similar blue background. Navigating round the menus requires some feats of memory to remember where to find an option.
Unlike many VCR/DVD devices the remote control reduces *all* the back/forward options to only two buttons - one for each direction. The chapter-skip, fast, and slow-motion options are all overloaded on these two buttons. The fast and slow functions are determined by whether the current mode is "play" or "pause". However, the fast/slow movement only happens if the button is held down for a few seconds - a shorter press causes it to do a chapter skip instead. It takes a lot of practice to avoid the wrong movement.
On recording there are resolution options to fill one DVD in 1/2/2.5/3/4 hours. However - different recordings on the same DVD don't have to use the same setting.
At the higher resolutions moving images appear smooth with none of the "block" effects that can often be seen on digital video.
Setting a timed TV recording explicitly seems complex. In particular there are warnings that PDC needs the "exact" start time entering. However it also supports videoplus codes.
Off-air TV recordings seem overbright and highlights can be noticeably burned out - especially in outdoor broadcasts.
Transfer of home video, both VHS and Hi-8, to DVD is even less satisfactory. When it works well the results are good.
There is no detailed technical specification apparently available for the DVDR880. The manual gives only size/power details. Comparing an original VCR/camcorder playback on a TV suggests that the DVDR880 video dynamic range is less than that of video tape. Areas which are a range of one light colour, like faces, can often lose any subtlety of detail and become "posterized" to one flat colour.
The DVDR880 appears to have an automatic brightness level control on recording - which cannot be overriden. Exactly when it decides to re-evaluate the brightness level is not clear. A dark scene can leave the brightness so high that subsequent scenes are completely washed out. The only solution is to stop the video input for a second in the new scene, while still recording, - and it will then establish a new level when the video signal returns. Unfortunately most home video is rarely evenly lit...
(4 out of 5)Future Recording
I have had this player/recorder for approx 3 weeks now and it is a step towards the future.
Very easy to use and the recording quality is the best i have seen. Much easier to use than tapes, no rewinding and you can set your own chapters and pick the picture to display them.
I have been collecting dvd's for a couple of years now ...i have to admit i was worried that the picture quality might suffer but my worries were unfounded, the picture quality is first class.
I have now copied all my vhs tapes to disc and got rid of my vhs player.
Too many functions to list in this comment but all easy to use.
Highly recommended.
(2 out of 5)Much better than a VHS, but beware of problems
My first impression of this DVD Recorder was that it was truly excellent. Even on the lowest quality setting (4 hours per DVD) the quality was far in excess of my SVHS video recorder. The ability to instantly play any recording without having to fast-forward through a tape was outstanding. I also discovered I could easily copy the video file (or parts of if I wished) onto my computer for further editing. I was a little disappointed with the fact that I was told that the DVD+ format was compatible with most DVD Players. DVD+Rs seem to play fine on my friends Playstation 2, but not on my LG or Toshiba DVD Players. DVD+RWs don't seem to play on any of the 3 DVD Players I tried them on (PS2, LG, Toshiba). New and future DVD Players should work fine with all formats. Given the advantages that my DVD Recorder had over my video recorder I was certainly hooked for life. I did have one minor complaint, and that was that even though you're using a DVD it still acts somewhat like a tape. If you start recording at the start of the DVD you will erase any programs already recorded that overlap, or put more technically, even though DVD is a random access format, when recording it's treated like a sequential access format.
However, after a month I started noticing problems. The DVD Recorder started failing to accurately detect the type of DVD inserted. It would detect DVD+RWs and DVD+Rs as either "no disc" or a normal DVD. The failure rate for writing to DVD+Rs went gradually up from an occasional error to failing to write to the last 18 DVD+Rs that I have tried. I decided to stick with DVD+RWs as these seemed to mostly work. After a further month the machine started failing to detect a DVD+RW most of the time and eventually stopped being able to detect or write to any DVD at all.
On searching the internet for advice I found I was very far from alone with these problems with this DVD Recorder with many review and help websites quoting identical problems. Philips suggested various sensible options, such as trying their own brand of recordable DVDs, making sure the DVDs aren't dirty or scratched (which they weren't being brand new and straight out of the box) and they even sent me a firmware upgrade CD. None of this solved the problems I was experiencing.
I have since bought a Panasonic DVD-RAM. Although the DVD-RAM format is not compatible with most DVD Players you can at least record on whatever free space is available on the DVD without recording over your other recordings. It's also much faster. When you press stop it stops almost immediately, with DVD+RW it takes about 20 seconds.
For me, I feel that when most people review a DVD Recorder they're comparing a DVD Recorder to VHS. It's obviously going to be a lot better. I personally found that the DVD+R/RW format wasn't anywhere near as compatible with other DVD Players as some people claim. It takes a long time to finish recording after you press stop, and with this particular model there are some very serious reliability problems which are far from uncommon. I found DVD-RAM to be a far superior format, faster, more reliable, but with the trade-off of being incompatible with most existing DVD Players. However, the way I see it is that most DVD-RAM recorders can record to DVD-R as well, which is more compatible than DVD-RAM and cheaper than DVD+R, and most new DVD Players that are coming out can play all formats of DVDs, so in a few years compatibility won't be an issue. I have confidence in DVD-RAM remaining a viable recording format for the foreseeable future as it has many advantages over DVD+RW and DVD-RW, and any disadvantages with compatibility issues are being dealt with by new DVD Players.
If you want a Philips DVD Recorder, I'd recommend trying one of their other models (such as the DVDR70, 75, or 80). Personally though, I'd go for a DVD-RAM recorder.
(4 out of 5)LIVING WITH THE DVD880
I had wanted a DVD recorder to replace video for many years. Never liked tape either audio or video. The price of these machines dropped and I took the plunge. First attempts were encouraging. The ease of use and then quality of recording from TV was better. I had no problem with DVD recordable media after I had deciphered the fact that only DVD+R would play back on my other machine! Never had any problems with obtaining DVD+R blanks from internet sources. I have tried various types and all work. Some cost more and can be better quality and long play facilities work better. However price of these has dropped and continues to do so. I normally use normal SP for best results as I often need to play recorded stuff on my ordinary player in another room so, SP using +R's suits that. I have every facility I ever had on a good video tape recorder without the hassle of the tape. The machine is simple and basic to use. I find this helps because compatability with other machines is better maintained. Results are good and it is easy to record off other macines onto the 880. Never use the video recorder now as it is not needed. It can help having a playback machine which can use DVD+RW's so that anything which you want to permanently store can be recorded off that onto DVD+R using the 880. I think for normal use it is an excellent machine and the record programming is as good as any higher quality video recorder. Probably uses the same well tried and tested electronics anyway. I like the fact that a number of titles can be recorded individually and then played back as required with ease. No more ploughing through a tape to find what you want or trying to guess which chapter something starts at on the DVD player. It is worth noting that if you wish to use this title facility on another machine make sure you buy one which can access it as not all older models can. My machine has had a lot of use and I would buy another if the need arose. The buttons are easy to use and the layout and metal case make the machine very robust. The only facility missing is outputs for 5.1 amplifiers but, never mind we can't have everything at a budget price can we!
orn
(3 out of 5)Excellent, when it works.
I have now been using the DVDR880 for six weeks and it has pleased and frustrated me in equal measure. The quality of the recordings is, without doubt, superb. However, it is also the most unreliable and frustrating piece of AV kit that I have ever owned (it is even flakier than my old Windows ME PC).
For me the most critical problem with this machine is that apparantly successful and 'permanent' recordings are being lost on an alarmingly regular basis. Basically, you cannot be sure that a DVD+R recording of a TV programme will 'keep' unless ALL subsequent recordings on the same disk are successful and the disc finalisation process is also successful. Chances that both these things will happen are about 90%. On a few occasions I have recorded to a DVD+R disc and then played the recording on the DVDR880 with no problems. I have then added another programme to the same DVD+R disc, but the recording has failed and corrupted the whole disc including the first 'successful' recording. The useless disc is now only good for being a coaster. Other times, I have finalised the disc and at that point an unknown error has occurred resulting in the disc being corrupted and all recordings being made inaccessible. If you are wondering why you need to finalise DVD+R discs, if you don’t then they cannot be played on standard DVD players. More rare, but still a fortnightly occurrence, failures occur when the machine is updating the picture index, which if corrupted can make some or all of the recordings on the disc unplayable.
Although these errors affect only about 10% of my recordings, this is way too high for a consumer product. To get around this I simultaneously record everything onto my TiVo as well, which I can use as a back up to record from. For people without a hard-disk based recorder to fall back on you will need to cross your fingers whilst any recording is being made to a DVD+R. Alternatively, stick to DVD+RWs which do not seem to suffer so much from these problems, but they cost two to three times as much as DVD+Rs.
Consequently I cannot recommend the DVDR880 for making important archive recordings onto DVD+Rs as it is simply too unreliable. Mine dies every few days when it is doing absolutely nothing (requiring a power-disconnect), it is fussy with non-philips discs, it often flashes coded error-messages and switches itself off when trying to record, and refuses to eject disks on a daily basis (requiring a power-disconnect). It is obvious that the firmware in this machine is software rather then hardware based - at best it can be described as flaky and slightly sluggish. At worst, Philips should never have let it near the public.
When it does work it is user-friendly and produces stunning recordings. If it were more reliable it would easily get five stars.