I know! I have no idea what the pot does and didn't move it much at all..... all I do know is that DVD+RWs wouldn't work before but do now....

The adjustment appears to be laser power.......... This is an old trick (early PSX's suffered the same with CDRs)........... However it is not without problems......... You will shorten the life of your laser assembly considerably if it is running outside of its specification - leading to premature failure.... Best bet would be to buy a seperate cheap 'play everything' DVD player - it will be cheaper than a new laser assy!

i have problems backing up my films on to dvd-r's, i've tryed over 6 types of dvd-r's with out any luck.

my player just dont read them

any help would be great

If you've got a Philips 880 then it uses DVD+R and DVD+RW discs, not DVD-R discs. Are you sure you're using the proper type?

If you are using the correct type of disc in your recorder then the problem is your player. Most players will play DVD+R and DVD-R discs, but not all of them - especially the older ones. You might just have a player that doesn't like home recorded discs and there's probably nothing you can do about it.

It helps if you include more details in your post like what player you've got, exactly what blank discs you've been using (make/brand, etc).

You should check out the forums at DVDplusRW where there are lots of other Philips recorder owners who can help you.

Murray

yes sorry, for the little information didnt think it was going to work.

i have a wide collection of DVD's and have backup a few film's on my LG dvd-rw on my PC.

i've tryed them on a few other peps dvd players and they work but when it comes to my phillips dvd play it dont - keeps say bad disk or read error, i've managed to getone disk to work but it jumps all over the place and keeps freezing. i just want to use dvd-r on my player that ive backed up

Sorry to be so blunt, but are you totally barking? The Panasonic has a fantastic record for reliability (industry quotes not mine) and as a replacement for the domestic VCR, it is light years ahead of the Philips. The linear record format of the Philips cannot begin to compare with - Ram format. Chasing Playback, Timeslip, etc etc. I don't need to check where a programme is on the disk, I can record in the safe knowledge that I will not record over something that I have yet to watch, unlike the Philips. My next door neighbour was so put out when he compared my E30 to his Philips that he gave it to his parents and bought an E30 himself. Wake up and smell the coffee

OK, now that you've explained that I understand the problem.

The Philips 880 is not very good at playing DVD-R discs, it doesn't like most of them especially the cheap ones.

The ones it does like are Ritek and other discs made by Ritek like Traxdata and classic Datasafe/Datawrite (not the newer red ones).

But to be honest, you'll save yourself a lot of hassle if you just get yourself a cheap player to watch your DVD-R discs on. The MIRR110 at £69 from Staples is perfect for this, it'll play back anything you write on your PC or your 880.

Murray

Have there been any major problems identified with the Philips recorders since the issue with the problematical firmware?

I have a Philips 880 DVD recorder which had most of the problems stated on previous posts. It was sent back to Philips who gave it a firmware upgrade. I recorded one DVD+R disc on it perfectly. Afterwards the same old problems appeared - disc errors, etc. Looking at the disc afterwards, it had so many lines running though the recording that it looked like an LP!

My Question is: are discs recorded in the DVD-R format compatible with most other DVD players, as stated in the advertising blurb?

Michael

DVD-R is compatible with just about all modern DVD players. But then, so is DVD+R, with DVD+RW being slightly less compatible.

I have a Philips 890, but I also burn DVD-R on a Pioneer A03 on my PC.

Sully

Thanks for that. I'll consider buying a DVD-R recorder. I have a terrible feeling that Philips are not going to iron out the problems with my particular recorder - and I'm certainly not going to fork out money for discs only to have them constantly ruined!

Thanks again.

Michael

Glad that I not alone, For a while I thought it was the Disks, but now it will only read music CD's. I started yurning it self off first on timed recordings, but then refused to write to DVD+Rs.
I hope that philips has the answers to their €899 DVD+RW which was rated so well on the magazines. I got about 2 months use out of it. Now I left with a CD Player.

my pioneer A-103 kicks ass, and the DVD-R (DVD Video) discs I make play in every single DVD player in Dixons including the XBOX and PS-2

Which kicks ass.

Buy the official DVD Forum format (DVD-R) and let the rediculous +RW alliance sink.

Otherwise I'll need to buy a new drive. Lol.

" Put plainly, out of the 88 voters to date, 41% have reported faults with their Phillips recorders.

I am sure Phillips would love this! "

Case closed, looks like I'm sticking with my Pioneer DVD-R which has only screwed up 1 disc when I hit the drive during burn

I looked through a million debates on the web trying todecide between the Philips and the dvd-r panasonic e50, before finally deciding that the Panasonic was the way to go

So far just one disk problem, which may have been a power outage and the flexible record mode seems fantastic for fitting a program to a disk with the best possible quality

My attitude is that since the finalised disks will almost certainly work in future generations of machines and with sky+ who need ram/rw anyway! then it makes a lot more sense to go with what is reliable now, since whatever you buy now is going to look very dated in two years anyway.

jema

Its a shame that many of you have had problems with the Philips drive. Ive had my 890 since september last year and its worked flawlessly. Ive upgraded the firmware once, activated the all-region playback on it and kept to the Infiniti Professional DVD+Rs and Ive never once had a problem with it. Ive never had a disc lost to it.

The only thing I would say against it is that it does restrict your ability to edit your recordings because it doesnt have a HD installed, but the new generation Philips recorders do have aparently. Anyway, Ive been given a few offers for mine so I'll probably sell it in the future to get the new model.

Sound logic jema!! But I think it will be somewhat more than two years before either the Philips or Panasonic formats become dated. Were you thinking that blu-ray could knock them off their pedistal as soon as that?? In the UK I very much doubt blu-ray would be either available or affordable for several years yet. Blu-ray is just another format war waiting to break out. Some manufacturers I understand are breaking ranks with specifications so we would have the Philip/Panasonic scenerio all over again but with different makers. Panasonic and Philips are together on this one but I believe Toshiba and Sony are in a world of their own pushing their versions of blu-ray.

is this the endo of the Philips DVDR880.

I ordered one several days ago, and got an email from the firm stating that Philips didn't have any in stock for at least 2 weeks to supply them with. Perhaps they will now start shipping the DVDR70 and DVDR80's. Shame as the DVDR880 I orded was under £320 inc delivery, and multiregion enabled.

I wouldnt be suprised if Philips were to end the production of the 880.. I would think they will be pushing the R70 and R80s as their main focus and will lower the prices of the 890s so it becomes the entry level model.

Well after reading these posts I decided not to get a Philips but went for the Panasonic E50 (for £320)! Got a good deal I think.

I agree in part. But also suspect the 890s will be discontinued. I can get a R70 for £350, but the 890 is over £100 more, so I don't see the 890 becoming the entry level machine.

I haven't seen an R80 advertised yet, but guess the R70 os a replacement for the 880, and the R80 will replace the 890.

The new models look so much better, having said this, the block look of the 880 would have matched my Tivo .

As one of the most regular posters at dvdplusrw.org, I feel I should add my two-penneth here.

All this nonesense about 40% of users have problems with their Philips DVDRs is just rubbish. You have to take into account:

1) The poll where 40% are saying they have problems has had far too votes to be in any way accurately representative of the general populous of Philips DVDR purchasers. A poll started much earlier on the same site, asking if people are happy with their DVDR, returns between 85 and 90% satisfaction. This poll has had over 1000 votes. I suggest it is more accurate, although probably still not truly representative.

2) People are more vocal when they have a problem. It's still the case that there are more silent than participating visitors to dvdplusrw.org, and therefore likely many times more who are disgruntled will comment/vote than will comment if they are completely satisfied.

3) When issues surrounding a product or line of products are discussed, the "snowball" effect is encountered. People say that something is "rubbish" or "badly designed", based entirely on their own limited experiences. However these comments stick in the minds of many and are taken to be representative of a much larger group of people than a small collection of disgruntled individuals.

Yes, Philips have design issues. Yes, they have made mistakes with their firmware releases. Yes we have the right to expect better customer service, which I agree is deplorable. Yes, even 5% of DVDR owners having problems would still be far too much for a major CE manufacturer. So is it worth buying one? Those like myself who have no problems with their units will tell you "undoubtedly". Those with problems will tell you "buy something else". So I suppose your choice will be determined by how much you trust the comments of persons in those two situations, and how representative you feel that those with problems are of the whole populous of Philips DVDR owners.

But the fact is that the vast majority of Philips DVDR owners are completely satisfied with their purchase and recommend them to others.

The DVD "plus" format is here to stay, and is not going away. It will either "win" the format war, or co-exist with "minus". Its features are inherently superior to the "minus" format. Prices of equipment have already come down to an equivalent or lower price, and media is about the same price for comparative speed/branded media, despite "minus" having a year's headstart. That should tell you something about the popularity and momentum of the plus format. Also take a look on the DVD+ Alliance website and you will see that many CE companies are lining up to make recorders. This will accelerate the downward push of the prices of equipment and the upward push of media production.

DVD-RAM is a fantastic format for editing video on-disk, far superior to plus or minus. But it's universal incompatibility with anything other than a DVD-RAM recorder means that it will never have the appeal that DVD±R/RW have for archival of your TV or video footage. It is therefore not an option for the majority of users. I suspect it's only saving grace is that Panny produce recorders that do both -R and RAM in the same unit.

People also seem to forget that Panny and Pioneer have had their own produciton problems also. These may be less severe than with the Philips units, but would anyone who has had problems with a minus deck complain any less vocally? I doubt it.

Summary: Don't knock it till you've tried it. And even then, be realistic about your criticism, should you have any.

--Loob.

It strikes me that this will go in a slightely different way than betamax v VHS.
When the VHS v Betanax war was going on, the recorders were taking into account inflation about twice the price or dvd recorders are now! In another year I expect will will see dvd recorders at about the £200 mark with hard drive models at £350, this will perhaps make people less entrenched in whatever format they started with.

On the other hand, as the finalised disks from either format are fairly compatible, then there may actually be little incentive to change! betamax owners found they could not buy cheap blank media or rent the films they wanted

From a personal point of view, I can see me staying with my Panasonic until the next level of PVR recording technology clicks into place, something like a PVR with swappable HD and perhaps even wirleless network capability for PC link up

jema

I am so frustrated with Phillips right now. I purchased the above player about 8 months ago and at first I oved it. It was easy to use and worked well. Then about two months ago it just started acting up. It no longer records..it has problems even playing many discs that I rent from Blockbuster. I tried resetting it and finally ran the diagnostics listed in the book and that returned a fail code. Customer support has since the get go treated me like an idiot. They never told me about the diagnostics test they just asked me to reset it.

Now they want me to ship this $900 DVD recorder to Pennsylvana and wait 3-5 weeks for them to look at it. Meanwhile I had previously gotten rid of my $150 cheap panasonic DVD player that worked awesome because I didn't see why I needed two players. So not only will I be stuck without a recorder for up to 5 or more weeks I also can't watch and DVD movies.

I will never buy a phillips product again. Can you imagine a $900 piece of equipment breaking down in 8 months and thne getting treated be support like it's no big deal. I escalated this to a supervisor at the support line and was told that he would call me back withint 48 hours..a week later I called them back and it was like ..oh, sorry!.

Anyone want to start a class action law suit?

I know how you feel. It has taken Philips about 6 weeks to tell me they wont be fixing it. I just got my refund through today for my DVDR980. It was hard work getting it but well worth it in the end. I've just bought a Panny E50 to replace it. I just need to replace my DVD+RW's with DVD-R's now.

Hope you get yours sorted.