Customer Reviews

Philips DVDR77 DVD Recorder

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

They only difference between 75 and 77 is that 77 has a media slot. You can use any type of memory stick and manipulate and record your electronic camera photos on DVDs.

I have bought 77 and I have recorded more than 200 DVDs in the last 6 months. I have also tested 75 before I bought 77. Both are excellent and 77 has replaced my VCR. Recommended. Buy Philips and DVD+R as Sony, Pioneer and Panasonic with their DVD-R and DVD-RAM are no good for everyday home use. With Philips and DVD+R, you just insert the disk and record, just as you did with your VCR.

I've tried some other recorders & each had their issues that I wasn't crazy about. The STEREO tuner on this model is flawless.
Has decent editing capabilities & excellent video quality. No...it's not capable of recording HDTV in it's full glory, but how many in this price range can handle that? Of course I only paid $130 for this unit (factory sealed with warranty card) from a private seller on ebay. This model adds a cooling fan that runs whisper quiet and keeps things nice & cool. It's that heat build up in some others that will affect the electronic components over time. Along with the upgraded DVD drive, it's a definite improvement over earlier models!

I have bought 3 dvd recorders over the last few months only to be severly dissapointed up until I bought the Philips DVDR77. It is one of the only recorders I have seen with component input and since I am recording video from a Tivo-esque device and had to run it through the recorder having a good connection was important. I am using Philips DVD-R's with it and have recorded about 25 DVD's as of now all without any problems; highly recomended recorder.

I bought this from a competitor, wish I had bought from Amazon.

We have had it for a few months, have never been able to get it to record.

The book says 1 year warranty. Philips would not honor the warranty, because they said, they no longer had in their data base, even though we have only owned it for a few months.

After many headaches and shipping expense, and a restocking charge, the competition is taking it back.

We are going to buy a Panasonic or Sony now

On June 23, 2006, I bought a Philips DVD Player at Wal-Mart. I could have purchased a cheap DVD player for $30.00 or $40.00, but frankly I spent more than that because I have other Philips products, including another Philips DVD player, and, up until now, was always pleased with the products made by them. The DVD player, even though it was not used much (it was kept at a vacation home), stopped loading disks at the end of September, 2006. I took it back to Wal-Mart, but Wal-Mart would not accept the return because the purchase was slightly over three months old and the limit for store-returns is three months. However, Wal-Mart printed a proof of purchase for me and advised that the manufacturer's warranty still applied. The Wal-Mart proof of purchase even specified the telephone number for the manufacturer.

Accordingly, I called the number listed. I was first advised to use a disk cleaner. I purchased a Philips disk cleaner, but it did not solve the problem. (The first and second times I called, I was at first advised that the purchase date was back in 2005 and so no warranty would apply. I then was able to confirm my purchase date and the representatives "updated" the information and told me it was under warranty.) Each time you call, you get a different representative.

After I advised that the disk cleaner did not work, I was given a fax number to fax my proof of purchase and I did so; I was told the player would be replaced. My letter attaching the proof of purchase was included. After I faxed it, I received a call asking me to re-fax it and I did so. I then heard nothing for two weeks. On October 30th, 2006, I called to find out the status of matters. I was told two inconsistent things: First, I was told it was under warranty but that only parts were warranted and it would cost me $40.00 for a replacement. Secondly, and obviously inconsistently, I was told that my proof of purchase from Wal-Mart was insufficient, even though the store specifically printed it out for me as my "proof of purchase." The underlying message was, "We are not going to do anything for you and even if we did, it would cost you forty dollars." I told the representative that I could buy a brand new player for that price and that I have no incentive to ever purchase a Philips product again. I have all sorts of electronics that are still working fine after years. I do not think it unreasonable to expect that a device will work for more than three months!

I wrote to the CEO of Philips and heard not a thing back. Why would ANYONE buy products from such a company? Never again.

I bought this from a competitor, wish I had bought from Amazon.

We have had it for a few months, have never been able to get it to record.

The book says 1 year warranty. Philips would not honor the warranty, because they said, they no longer had in their data base, even though we have only owned it for a few months.

After many headaches and shipping expense, and a restocking charge, the competition is taking it back.

We are going to buy a Panasonic or Sony now

I bought a DVDR895 for $900 (+ $100 for an extended warranty) when they came out a few years ago. That unit failed multiple times. Ruined a bunch of DVDs. Philips couldn't fix the unit, so they provided me with a replacement unit under the extended warranty (at least they honored the warranty). But the DVDR77 started showing the same problems. This second unit has been serviced twice now and isn't working again.

I had never tried to use the Digital Photo Manager functions... and now that I do, it shouldn't be a surprise that it doesn't work either.

Don't waste your time or money on Philips DVDRecorders. Those people that write the positive reviews are either very lucky to have a DVDR that works or they are telling tall tales.

I had high hopes for this device, but unfortunately it does not recognize DVD+RW discs as advertised. I tried several brands of DVD+RW media including the Philips DVD+RW that came with the recorder. The recorder gets stuck with 'reading' on the display and never lets you erase or record. When it gets stuck in this state, you can't even bring up the menu. It's either a broken design or crap quality (defective). Either way, if you want a DVD recorder that actually records DVDs, look elsewhere.

I purchased the Philips DVDR77 DVD Recorder three months ago, after reviewing the features/benefits of this and other DVD recorders on the market. I selected the Philips unit because it had component input jacks and an iLink port. My intent was to be able to record off air HDTV broadcasts when it was inconvenient to watch them. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, this unit is not up to the task...

If you are looking for an expensive replacement for a VHS deck, with picture quality only slightly better than VHS, then this is the deck for you. The reasons I say this are the only inputs available for recording, even through the component video jacks, is 480i (standard definition Television I/O) and the only sound input available is 2 channel stereo through RCA connectors. My HDTV has ieee1394 firewire I/O and I had hoped the iLink inputs on the DVDR77 would accept audio/video output from my HDTV. I was wrong, the DVDR77 iLink input accepts only camcorder inputs, and ONLY (again) 480i signal inputs. This means, if you have a mini DV camcorder, capable of higher resolution recording, you will not be able to upconvert your mini DV camcorder tapes at full resolution.

I have been quite disappointed by the price/performance relationship of the DVDR77. It is really nothing more than a VHS tape recorder with a DVD in place of the tapehead. Do not purchase this unit with an expectation that you can use the recorder to record HDTV quality DVD's from your cable/satellite receiver/OTA feeds. 480i (standard TV input) in two channel stereo sound is the best you can expect.

Funny I read so many bad reviews for this item.

I bought a Philips recorder a couple of years ago, and after only a month it started acting up. It would record, but then it would freeze up during the updating menu part at the end. Sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't. It will give me some sort of error, then the only thing it will let me do is shut it off, and turn it back on. Like I said, sometimes the disc would be ok, other times it was nothing more than a coaster.

Now, after only a few years (back then it cost over $1000), and maybe a total of 25 DVDs over that time frame, it now won't even recognize a disc. I put in a movie, it says "no disc". I put in a blank disc, it says "no disc". It is now a $1000 piece of junk.

Philips can go suck it in my opinion. I will never buy another Philips product. I had thought maybe my problems were just because it was still fairly new technology when I got mine, but as I read these reviews, I can see they still have no clue what they are doing.

I am now looking at a Panasonic. Funny, all it's reviews are positive.

See ya Philips.