DVDR75 or 880?

Hello all,

i'm new to DVD-recording, so i could use a little advice: i'm looking for a DVD-recorder at a reasonable price, and i saw the Philips DVDR880 recently at a shop for only 500 euros (and it's supposed to be good). But now i bought the october issue of home entertainment and they have a review of the DVDR75 (5 stars). What's the difference between the two, because they're about the same price? I have a mimo32 by the way, don't know if that makes a difference.

[primitive]

Get the DVDR75 it is a newer design than the 880 and has iLink for direct input from a DV camcorder. Functionality is the same between the two. The 880 has also had some reliability problems and overall the DVDR75 simply looks better.

[dude1971]

I would second that, as I'm saving up for the 75 as two of my friends have the 880 and have had them repaired twice already. Might want to get the extended gurantee as this technology is in it's infancy and needs to be treated with kid gloves!

It's available for £380 at Amazon.

[calscot]

You could always get the 880 from richer sounds for £300 + £60 for a 5 year swap out warranty. And if you don't use the warranty over the 5 years you get your money back or you can trade it in for half the original value.

[Rasczak]

Just to make an observation that may or may not be useful:

The 880 has been replaced by the DVDR70.

The 890 has been replaced by the DVDR75.

The major difference between the 880/DVDR70 and 890/DVDR75 is iLink In. If your a digital camcorder user this is worth paying for, if not I would suggest it's not. Thus if the 880 did everything you wanted the DVDR70 will do the same.

[nwgarratt]

I have read numerous reports that the 880 has a lot of problems. They don't appear straight away but things like recording problems, no DVD's being recgnised etc.

I don't know how the 70 and the 80 is like for this sort of thing.

[PhilipL]

Hi

Yes there are continual problem with the Philips recorders, and similar problems have been reported on newer models, but it is too early to assume they will be as bad as previous models.

However Philips continues to mislead their customers, with new models now including Time Base Correctors to match what has always been a standard feature of real DVD formats, but wait, Philips calls them Virtual Time Base Correctors. Either they have one or they don't Philips! Virtual of course is a marketing term meaning it hasn't got one, and you can’t sue them for lying about it as they did use the word “virtual”!

It is this sort of desperate marketing tactic that really puts me off Philips as a company, not just their set-top recorders.

Regards

Philip

[primitive]

Yes it's a exactly like Panasonic claiming that some of it's tv's come with VIRTUAL Dolby Surround, or Sony saying that MiniDisc is VIRTUAL CD quality. Basically the marketing info from ALL manufacturers is suspect and is trying to mislead the public. So don't make out this is just a Philips trait!

[Rasczak]

I think you'll find with Philips tend to do this without any reservations. Take the claims about the Dolby Digital recording for example - people on this site (who are more tech saavy than most) got sucked in and thought it might have 5.1 recording - when infact it has the same recording as ALL the other DVD recorders. Claims such as "the sound is the same as commercial DVDs" are very, very deceptive. Likewise with there claims on being superior because of "lossless linking" and having a "Variable Bitrate". You can get away with some comments designed to mislead but not basing an entire product on it. They are setting out to mislead on this whether you like it or not Primitive.

[PhilipL]

So don't make out this is just a Philips trait!

I guess the promised firmware upgrade to allow writing to +R discs in first generation writers was just a "virtual" upgrade as well. Still there was nothing virtual about the class action lawsuit against HP who was found misleading customers, other members of the RW "virtual" Alliance got off pretty lightly.

Regards

Philip

Thanks for the advice, but now i'm even more confused

Do Panasonic recorders have similar problems or are they generally more reliable? They seem to be a bit more expensive over here, but if it's worth it... I know they have time slip, but i don't see myself using that function a lot, so it doesn't really matter to me.

[nwgarratt]

There no problems with Panasonic, they have alays been reliable machines.

YOu say you won't need time slip but oonce yo u use it you will. YOu can record/playback on the same RAM at the same time. You can start recording while watchinh the beginning og the program. And lastly you can do a replay while stil recording.

If you have a computer that can read RAM then you cna edit the recording even more using software like TMPGEnc DVD Author. A really great porgram that create DVD's and can read straight off RAM discs.

[phelings]

Forget Timeslip-its a nice bonus but rarely useful when its restricted to playback of a single disc that is in the machine.As a former 880 owner I have to back up the reliability problem.It seems their DVD recorders have the same reliability as their other products.For this reason alone I would agree that a Panasonic will suit you.The DVD+ format needs to grow without Philips traditional unreliability holding it back.

[dude1971]

As long as you have a good gurantee, the Philips shouldn't cuase you too much grief. Both my friends had the 880 and they were eventually swapped for the latest models which have been fine (touch wood).

I'm going for the 75 myself as I don't need timeslip, I just want to archive camcorder footage of the family and I don't have a PC :-)