Welcome to the forums John! Just a quick word of warning since you're new here: the forum admins don't generally like people to slag off dealers here unless you also give your full name and address (cos otherwise the forum could be sued for libel).
OK, now that's out of the way, your experience sounds typical of what I've heard from others with this dealer
The Techtronics 'multimod' hack for the 890 is not a chip mod at all, they've just done the remote hack and are claiming it's more than that. Other dealers I've spoken to admit they're just doing the remote hack.
The remote hack stays in place even when you upgrade the firmware but in case you need it here's an explanation of it:
http://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/info/multiregion/full/philips750.asp
Allthough it doesn't say so this hack also works for the 890 and 880. Just a couple of things:
- Before you start ensure that your 890 is configured to "DVD Player" in the "Remote Control" option of the system/installation menu.
- On the 880/890 the display only shows 9 dashes, not 11 like they say. You won't see the last 3 digits of the code you enter but it will still work.
- Make sure you enter the codes 121 212 005 255 and
not the 222 222 005 255 codes used for Philips players as they explain.
- The "Play 1,5,9" thing
does not work for Philips DVD recorders - you have to use a universal remote.
- remember to press "Play" when you're done, wait for "No Disc" and the
power off the player
at the mains and wait for 10s.
BTW check out the forums at
http://www.dvdplusrw.org/ for loads of info etc about the Philips DVDR machines.
Hope that helps,
Michael.