hi guys, well can anyone help...

i took my Philips DVDR880 to a local repair guy and he said i need to send it to germany, but when i finially got it delivered back the local firm had stripped the bloody serial from the back so now philips say they will fix it, but i need the serial number is there anyway i can get this, oh i also dont have the bloody recipt

any advice guys.

cheers

Laskos

The local firm are taking you for a ride.

For a start removing the serial number is illegal. Are you sure you have back the same unit you took in? They sound like a decidedly dodgy outfit to me.

Also the units go back to Belgium, not Germany.

With no receipt and no serial number you are going to get nothing out of Philips. Your best course of action is to report the local firm to trading standards and force them to buy you a nice new shiny DVDR70.

--Loob.

Hi all, I've had my DVDR80 for two days now.
It plays back fine but when I put an +RW disc in to record it says no disc.
I've tried another half dozen or so (same batch) with the same results.
reading these posts is getting me worried

Hopefully, it's just pilot error but we'll see.

I'm going to try some different media and see how that goes - glad I got the 3 year warranty.
The player (that's what it is at the moment!) has some good features but the main one is currently missing

What make of media +RWs did you try?

For my first batch I used MR.DVD +RWs purchased from Makro - no problems at all. Price was £35.23 for a spindle of 20.

Just had a thought, check your R80 is not in DVD Player mode, this might exhibit the symptoms your seeing.

Ahh, OK, cue stupid, newbie question - how do I do that?

Didn't see anything like that in the manual but by then anger and a couple of bottles of Abbot were having an effect

Bring up the System Menu and under the first icon (tools), it should be the last icon down on the left and be titled remote control settings. In here you should be able to switch between DVD Player and DVD Recorder.

It might be a long shot, but you will never know until you try.

I had a DVDR890 which developed the symptoms referred to. I demanded a replacement - not a repair, it was refused. Philips refused to get involved. I involved my credit card company and received a full refund. Assuming it to be a one off experience I went elsewhere and bought the same model. Less than six months afterwards the replacement has gone the same way.

This time no messing, refund demanded and I am strongly looking at a Sony RDR-GX7. More money but.....

Anyone buying - remember, the Sale of Goods Act changed on 31st March this year, and for the first six months it is up to the retailer to prove that there were no inherent faults.

Scream and shout and use the board as evidence. I am.

Good luck.

Thanks English John, the remote was set to player only but it still doesn't work.
The extremely helpful person at the RGB Direct helpdesk suggested I call back tomorrow when the man that knows about them is in.
He also said that he hasn't heard of any problems with them which made me feel uneasy.
For info, I'm using Ritek discs that are said to be generation 4, twin speed DVD RW.
Whatever that means.
I might try and find some different discs tonight though I have a feeling this will be sent back and I'll stand there until I get a replacement or a refund - I don't do repairs on new equipment.
Cheers.

Jings !

I'm having a dvdr80 delivered on Friday from rgbdirect also. I went for the + format cos that's what I have on my pc and I didn't want a mix of dvd formats lying around.

Hope I haven't made the wrong choice.

Let us know how you get on with different +RW's !

SORTED!!

Serves me right for buying cheapo discs from a computer fair.
Went to Currys and got 10 DVD+RW and 10 DVD+R for £60 and it shows empty disc!
Turns out that the discs I bought originally are -RW
I will now go away and hide in shame for a week
Cheers.

Steve - now the journey begins

I had play around with mine last night and could not recreate the problem except by putting a disc in upside down.

Good to hear your up and running.

£3 a disc is a bit steep though, if you have a Makro card, go for the Mr.DVD discs they stock - on my second batch now and not a coaster in sight. Other than that shop around on-line and you can get discs for around £1.50 a disc.

I have the philips DVDR75. I bought the sample pack from www.blankdiscshop.co.uk. They all worked fine including the overprint and the 2.4 speed. All the discs played perfectly in my cheap and ancient Grundig player.

+R discs are available for less than a quid. Branded / cased discs for £1.50.

Thanks for the advice on discs everybody.
The 'rush to buy' last night was to aid in fault finding but I will certainly buy from another source from now on.
Oh, nearly forgot, the quality of recording was very impressive - almost as impressive is when the thing starts glowing red during recording !

I also found the fact that when in Monitor and you change the recording quality setting, you actually see what it might look like before hitting the Rec button. Did not see that mentioned anywhere before I purchased.

Well I got my dvdr80 yesterday. I have to say I'm very disappointed with it. I must have done a factory reset 5 times already as it keeps locking up. I've had mixed success with recording from sky+ using the copy function.Started one tonight then went out and came back to find that nothing had been recorded. This happened earlier today as well.

I'll be giving the manual a thorough reading over the weekend to make sure I'm using it correctly. If it still plays up it's going back.

Anybody else experiencing lockup problems or have I been sent a Friday afternoon machine?

Can't fault the picture quality in 2 hr mode when it works !

Hi, Ive got a Philips 890 and I havent tried using the Copy function on Sky+. Id rather watch through the recording and make sure it goes through fine than risking the chance of using up DVD+Rs.

My Philips dvdr890 packed up last night - wouldn't recognise any disks at all, took it back to Richer Sounds today and the clued up chap behind the counter processed the paperwork, told me the unit would be away for 4 - 6 weeks as they were returned to Philips in Belgium to have a complete new laser assembly of a later type fitted. Then he lent me a replacement 890 whilst it's away without me having to ask, and all in 5 minutes!!!
He also said it was a "common occurrence, but more so in the 880 than the 890 from their experience" and they'd never - to his knowledge - had a machine returned that had been back to Philips in Belgium.
Richer Sounds at least seem to know about the problem, and don't mess you about whilst getting it sorted.

I can but hope!

Bargepower

Richer Sounds are very good in terms of Customer Service.

nice one!

Dan

Richer Sounds are so good, when they sent my 890 for repair and LOST it, they refunded me the full value that I paid 18 months ago. Now that's service.

I bought a digital camera with the cash, think I'll wait a few years beofre my next recorder

oddly enough when I was considering a philips but has heard there were problems I went to Richer Sounds on the grounds that if there was a problem I knew I would get decent service. In my case though the guy at Richer Sounds denied all knowledge of there being problems on the machines and had a pretty poor attitude in general, So I went and got a panasonic
It is a pertinent story to the thread really! Most people who have shopped at Richer sounds myself included know them to be a damn good chain, but you can always get unlucky, conversaly a few people bleating on a thread like this that they have had no problems with their Philips, does not alter the fact that the first generation machine is an unreliable dog for ways more people than chance would dictate.

jema

I HAD A PHILIPS 880, it worked ok for about 4 months, then started missreading or not reading disks, took it back to Argos, no argument - I think they have seen this before, gave me a DVDR70 in exchange + £20 back! So far it is OK, & the pic quality seems better too....time will tell!
Bob

I've posted on my problems with my 6 month old 890 before - the common one where disks can't be read - originals and copies made with my 890 and also those dodgy dvdr's.

It's now been back at Currys for the last 4 weeks and i've been told that it could take up to 6 weeks total as it has been returned to the manufacturer abroad.

Must admit the number of posts scare me.......
provided that the repair goes well and it works again, I'm really weary of keeping hold of it. Anybody had good experiences with reliability after the repair that may make me change my opinion of the 890. Is it really such a error prone lemon ? Have I been sold a duffer.....are they all duffers.....

Unscupulous as it may sound, I would like to know the main problems that will get me that refund. Main one seems to be dislike for disks.....
Originals & DVDRW

Help would be appreciated.

Hi
I have owned a DVDR880 for about 4 months now and it has worked flawlessly since the day i bought it. My unit was an ex-display one as it was the last my local Currys had of that range. The assistant informed me it had been sent back to Philips for a recall when I enquired about reliability problems I had heard of. So I wouldn't be concerned about it's reliabilty when you get it back.

I bought a Philips DVDR1000 for Christmas 2001 - it's never worked properly, and the main problem is that it keeps crashing - strange gobbledygook figures appear on the display screen. It also caused the colours on my Sony widescreen TV to go awry, as well as causing havoc with my Sky channels. Fortunately I took out an extended warranty and it's now back at Philips for the second time - they've had it for over 5 weeks now (they said it would be 4 at the most).

Does anyone know if I've got the right to ask for a new one within the extended warranty period?