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Reviewed by UK Guest, 28th Mar 2003. |
| Review Summary: Philips DVDR880, great machine for the money |
Overall Score: 4/5
 
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Review: I had to replace a vcr recently and after reading various reviews decided on the Philips DVDR880 DVD recorder.
Connecting it up to my home cinema system was straightforward, the connections similar to the vcr it was replacing.
I used it initially to back up programmes recorded on Sky+, including lots of music programmes. I used the default SP mode (2 hours) and was very impressed with the results. The recordings look better when played back on my other dvd player, which plays dvd+rw in all recording modes without any problems.
I have since recorded direct from Sky and also standard analogue signals and again have been very pleased with the results, even on EP (4 hours). I usually use SP or LP.
Should you wish to play DVD+RW discs on an older dvd player then I recommend using Maxell. With these you can record (using SP only) and alter the bit settings to play on an older machine (I have a Toshiba 2109 - 2nd generation player).
To do this, open the drawer, place the recorded disk in the drawer, press and hold button "2" on the remote until the drawer closes. This changes the bit settings and allows the DVD+RW disk to play on most machines (if "2" doesnt work try "3"). It doesnt however work with TDK disks, I haven't tried any others.
Downsides : The buttons are a bit fiddly, with the multi-purpose fast foward/rewind or skip chapters but you do get used to them.
All in all I can recommend the Philips 880, I would never go back to using vhs tape. Being able to play DVD+RW on other machines is a great benefit as DVD+R are write once which seems a rather expensive way of recording unless you want to keep something forever of course. |
Ratings
| Value For Money: |
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4 |
| Review Score: |
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4 |
| Recommended? | |
Yes |
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DVD, TV & Video