Review: The Philips DVDR80 DVD recorder is a typical Philips product - generally technically superb, but with an abysmal user interface and in this case with a remote control unit the designer of which should be shot.
Quality of recording is superb, and produces excellent DVDs. In particular, the disk menu is very professional compared to any of the alternative recorders I have seen.
However, it is let down by the combination of cumbersome user interface and very poor remote control design (in so many respects). In particular, the fact that the remote control is very sensitive to position - ours won't work if you point it directly at the DVDR80 (it only works effectively if we point it at the white ceiling and let the recorder pick up the reflection!) - coupled with many operations taking several seconds before anything visually changes (so you don't know whether the recorder actually received the command or not) is amazingly frustrating. There is a "command received" indicator on the unit, which is effectively invisible with the unit more than a couple of feet away and so no help.
Probably the single worst feature, however, is ">>"/"<<" and chapter forward/backwards being combined into two buttons (you hold chapter forwards for several seconds and it switches to ">>") - we have wasted literally hours scanning forwards or backwards after the unit did a chapter skip when we wanted ">>" or "<<". Other problems include the lack of lettering on the number buttons (these are the fastest way to enter titles, but this is apparently undocumented and the remote control buttons don't therefore have the letters printed). Etc.
Of the remaining irritations with the unit, probably the next worst is the inaccuracy in frame positioning, particularly when setting chapter marks or dividing titles. For general home use, it doesn't matter that the chapter mark (or title division) can be several seconds away from where you wanted it; if you're actually trying to produce professional looking recordings, it is frustratingly, and even sometimes unusably, inaccurate.So, if you're looking for a replacement for a VCR, you'd have to look hard to find a better unit (particularly if you're looking for a replacement for a Philips VCR). If frustrating user interfaces bother you, or you're looking to have precise control over the recordings, look elsewhere. Particularly if you're used to the ease of use of systems such as "Sky+", try the unit before you buy, as otherwise you may be badly disappointed. We're still giving the unit 4 stars though (the overall quality of the disks produced is superb). |
DVD, TV & Video
