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| Date Reviewed: 10/09/2003 |
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 I purchased unit online in August of 2002. After t ... Strengths: Worked great for eight months. Plethora of input and output ports. Numerous editing capabilities especially with DVD+RW.
Weaknesses: Poor factory service. Unit has been in for factory repair three times--each time back it gets progressively worse. I don't think factory verifies unit's operation after they "fix" it.
Summary: I purchased unit online in August of 2002. After thoroughly reading the manual, I dived in and created about 200 DVD's. I especially liked the ability to edit out commercials using DVD+RW discs. You simply create chapter markers surrounding the commercials and hide the markers. After the disc is finalized, the commercials are automatically skipped. You can even do something similar with DVD+R discs though the commercials are only skipped when playing back on the DVDR985.
However, eight months into use, the unit began getting disc errors on DVD+RW or the system would stop recording in DVD+R and eventually crash, powering off and blanking the disc. When the errors became nearly continuous, I shipped the unit off to the factory in Chattanooga, TN.
When I got in back three weeks later, it would die after 20 minutes of recording. I sent it back and two weeks later it returned again. This time, it died after 20-30 seconds, so I returned it a third time. It is still there as of this writing.
I have written a letter to the Philips North American corporate office here in Atlanta and called the factory at its 800 number. If the unit is not repaired correctly or replaced with a new unit, I will be complaining to my state's Better Business Bureau.
I heartily recommend that those who are unhappy with Philips customer service, do the same. If you don't complain about it, nothing will ever get done.
 100% of People (20/20) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 09/20/2004 |
- catmanzoo
from TX
- Member Since:
Sep 2004
View Member's:
Reviews
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 Too many problems to list. We have several units ... Strengths: has component input and many recording speeds
Weaknesses: Needs to be recalled
Summary: Too many problems to list. We have several units and after 18 months none of them record anything. Some won't even play. It seems impossible to get the X1 write speed disc it requires anymore. Even at it's best, The 985 was full of buggy suprizes. Every users here hates it. It should have been recalled months ago. Phillips is doing it's name some major damage with this unit and the unwillingness to admit it's a lemon.
100% of People (7/7) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 12/28/2002 |
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Strengths: Flawless beautiful recordings from my DirectTV Tivo unit. Picture quality is near perfect and much superior to my best VHS recordings.
Weaknesses: This is very complex technology and the manual is too poorly organized to be entirely useful.
Summary: This is one of my favorite purchases in years. I researched it thoroughly and read reviews from all sources I could find and concluded that Philips currently had the edge on the format. Although the product technology is still new and quirky I am busily archiving footage that I had been saving on my Tivo unit to preserve their digital clarity and am thrilled with the results. It is frustrating and complex technology and make sure you purchase a unit that has upgraded software that fixed prior bugs. Any unit made after October, 2002 should have been shipped with the newer "software model FF11H". The manual is not as well organized as it should be with critical information spread throughout it on several subjects rather than being organized with all information on a topic in it's own section. Although you can probably get results immediately doing one-button recording, other reviewers recommended reading the manual completely before you begin. I think this is good advice, and you will find you will review the manual many many times before you feel you are getting control of the technology. Philips' DVD recording customer service and technical department is located in Jamaica and they are much more easily accessible than most customer service units, although not everyone is as familiar with the product as they need to be to be helpful. Most important: let every operation fully complete before sending another command to the recorder or you can corrupt disks.
100% of People (6/6) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 08/29/2003 |
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It started out very good and easy to use , but as ...
Strengths: NA
Weaknesses: goes bad after a few months use
Summary: It started out very good and easy to use , but as time went on i started to get timer shutting down before it finished recording. disk errors, lock ups, tried different media , only use +rw disks. last night when i played back a program it would keep returning back to the beginning of the recording after playing back the first 23 minutes. also wont play my cdr pics i made on the computer at all, yet my philips 724 and akai 760 both play back pics I DO NOT RECOMEND THIS RECORDER
100% of People (5/5) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 06/14/2002 |
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Recorded audio has frequency change. Audio randoml ...
Strengths: +r A BETTER FORMAT
Weaknesses: DESIGN FLAW IN AUDIO ADMITTED TO BY PHILIPS
Summary: Recorded audio has frequency change. Audio randomly sounds like a tape slowing down and speeding up. Chipmunk effect. Philips team leader in Jamaica admits to problem and says engineers are working on. Have ruined about 15 DVD's. Wait for conformation before purchase. I will report fix is and when it comes.
100% of People (5/5) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 12/14/2002 |
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Strengths: Works as advertised, without a problem. Recorded several programs and movies from Direct TV.
Weaknesses: Using the on screen menu can be confusing. To play DVDs in a normal player, you must remember to finalize the recording. when buying blank disks, be sure that they are compatible with the Philips 985.
Summary: No problems with the hardware. You must be able to read and understand the set up menus or you will experience some of the problems stated in some of the lower rated reviews.
100% of People (4/4) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 02/17/2003 |
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 Had the machine about five months without a proble ... Strengths: Easy to learn
Weaknesses: SEE BELOW
Summary: Had the machine about five months without a problem then it started causing problems (e.g. not accepting self-finalized disc, continuous disc warnings, then disc error "message of death", etc.); I have wasted a lot of money on blanks recently trying to make this machine work. I had bought just prior to these problems another DVDR985 with the intention to record TV then edit out commercials to the second machine. I was told by Philips that this was a possible function; after many wasted disc I was told that I was not able to?! (what's the difference between recording on a VCR copyright-wise?)(Here we go again MiniDisc, CD-R, etc. with copyright crap!) I was asked by Philip's Tech was I spent on wasted discs. At that point, it was only $15.00 (conservatively). Tomorrow I intent to call Philips again, tell then that they owe me more than the $15.00 on blanks and their DVDR985 is a piece of sh_t! Let me know when you get it right!!!
100% of People (3/3) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 12/04/2002 |
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Brand new from the box.All the unit does, it turns ...
Strengths: n/a
Weaknesses: n/a
Summary: Brand new from the box.All the unit does, it turns On and freezes.That's it. Quality control is probably not efficient. Hope we'll get my money back.
100% of People (2/2) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 09/26/2002 |
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Brand new unit would not record reliably. Gaps in ...
Strengths: Good concept, right format
Weaknesses: Serious defects causing recording errors
Summary: Brand new unit would not record reliably. Gaps in audio/video would occur randomly, as if the firmware were rebooting itself (monitor went all blue). Also experienced garbled audio as reported in someone else's review. Sent to Phillips service and they said there was nothing wrong with, but returned with upgraded firmware. Problems still occurred after getting unit back, albeit somewhat less frequently. Customer service was either dishonest or clueless through all this. They never acknowledged any problems, although just the other day said there was yet another firmware upgrade which I now await. I applaud Phillips for pursuing this class of product aggressively and they may eventually get it right, but I would stay away from them at this point. I tried to get my money back, but Philips wouldn't take the unit back from the distributor and wouldn't refund it to me either.
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| Date Reviewed: 08/20/2002 |
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recorder has firmware updates that permit it to re ...
Strengths: record home videos from almost any source
Weaknesses: records only in stereo
firewire in only,
problem with recording b/w(reports no signal through svhs cable)
dvd+r recording must be exact or will render the disc useless
cannot record audio o
Summary: 2003-03-30 19:44:23 recorder has firmware updates that permit it to record 6hrs and 2.5hrs. also firmware upgrades it to mp3 playability. no ff rw buttons, all functions must be enabled through remote control. has problems recording b/w but new firmware may fix that
100% of People (2/2) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 02/10/2004 |
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Read manual, hooked it up recorded 3 DVD+R's and t ...
Strengths: Capabilities to include the editing options. Great when it works.
Weaknesses: Reliability, factory support and telephone support. May never get it working once it quits working.
Summary: Read manual, hooked it up recorded 3 DVD+R's and then the unit would freeze frame, stop recording and shut off every time recording was attempted. Ran the self-test and it passed. Called telephone support, they said it was software problem. They provided software update disk (with very poor manual), upgraded the software and got extra recording options (no explanation of what they did), but the unit still has the same problem. Called telephone support line (on hold for 10 minutes) and was told to call another department (on hold for 15 minutes), where I was told to call the factory repair rep (which is a voice mail service with no humans). The mail in direction come fast and furious then you are disconnected and have to call again to finish getting the information.
I took the unit back to the store I purchased it from and got my money back! Will try different brand next time.
90% of People (9/10) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 07/09/2003 |
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After using this DVD recorder for 4 months, there ...
Strengths: 6 different recording speeds (but avoid using EP and EP+ due to pixellation).
Video quality in HQ, SP, and SP+ modes are excellent.
Weaknesses: Turns off by itself in middle of a recording.
Can't go backward frame by frame while editing.
Many disk errors.
User manual is unorganized.
Tech support in Jamaica is a joke.
Summary: 2003-10-05 16:52:55 After using this DVD recorder for 4 months, there is no way that I can recommend it. It randomly shuts off by itself while recording, and there are many disk errors. By the way, I use Verbatim DataLife Plus DVD+RW blank media which is the very best. So Philips cannot blame these problems on cheap DVD media.
My recommendation: Wait until DVD recording technology matures and then avoid buying anything from Philips.
89% of People (8/9) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 04/25/2004 |
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"Disc Error" message occurred often, beginning at ...
Strengths: Easy to set up, good connection ports etc.
Weaknesses: Disc Error messages common - See comments below
Summary: 2004-04-26 16:51:49 "Disc Error" message occurred often, beginning at about the 8th month, and occurred even while playing pre-recorded DVD movies from on-line retailers. Same "disc error" message occurred after recording DVD's from home movies, and sometimes "No disc" message noted even when a brand new blank disc (DVD+R) was inserted. Problem seemed to disappear after machine cooled down. Seems to have resolved since I placed unit in open shelf with plenty of ventilation. Don't know if this will continue to work , but easy to do and worth a try if anyone is having this problem.
Update 4/26/04:
My unit is continuing to display "No disc" messages etc. Also, it is now randomly powering off in the middle of a recording. Unfortunately, this recorder appears to be an expensive piece of JUNK!!
88% of People (7/8) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 06/07/2002 |
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Strengths: Clean, Crisp Recordings of TV, Cable, Home Video's
The future is here!
Weaknesses: None thus far, Erros are due to cheap, poor dye discs! NOT
PHILIPS, these reviews are not blaming the real problem...
bad discs, and not cleaning the laser lens with DVD lens cleaner.
Summary: 2003-11-07 12:23:56 The hook up is fairly easy to all your various input devices
ie: Cable, VCR, Home Camera, front and rear load inputs.
The on-screen preview is great, this allows you to see
exactly what the final copy of each input will result.
The remote is easy to use, the manual volume with equalizer
is great too, (when taping late at night or when you want
to lower your volume on the stereo or TV). There is up to
6 hour recording on one DVD+RW disc, cost for each are now
at about $ 4.00. For playing on older DVD Players: simply
press 2 on the remote and this will re-define the source
to your older DVD Player or when giving to family or friends. There are several inputs other than RCA jacks,
included are HotWire iEEE 1394, S-Video inputs etc.
This is truly a great system and quality is over all GREAT!
86% of People (6/7) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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