Philips DVDR600VR DVD Recorder with VCR

If you're looking for a DVD Recorder/VCR that's affordable, easy to use, and of good quality, look no further than the Philips DVDR600VR. This product contains both a DVD+R/RW recorder and a VCR, making it easy to record high quality DVDs and videotapes. You can dub from tape to DVD or vice versa, set your own chapters and titles for DVDs, or record DVDs right from a TV or camcorder, as well as play CDs.The DVDR600VR is surprisingly easy to use, even though the owner's manual looks a bit confusing (and the five sheets of addendums didn't help). I had the product set up in 30 minutes and had recorded my first DVD by the end of the day, complete with index pictures, titles, and chapters where I wanted them. Although it took me a few false starts and a couple of snafus, I've pretty much got the hang of it now and I've only had it for two days. :) Also, it records in DVD+R format, which tends to be compatible with more DVD players, so I can play my homemade DVDs in other devices - a definite plus.The DVDR600VR isn't perfect, of course; you can't pause the recording when dubbing from tape to DVD, so make sure your original tape doesn't have anything you don't want. You can choose to label commercials, etc. as "hidden" chapters, which won't be shown during playback, but those still take up room on the DVD. You can't label chapters the way commercially-made DVDs do, so you just have to flip through a title to find the chapter you want; a minor aggravation at best. I've also had trouble dubbing from another VCR; I don't know if it's the other device, but playback seems slow and jerky when viewed through the DVDR600VR. The biggest problem that I've had, though, is transferring older or less-than-perfect VHS tapes to DVD. If there's any kind of bobble in your tape, it winds up as a brief (think half-second) dropout on the DVD which gives the look of odd, jerky splicing. Also, the DVDR600VR won't copy "protected" tapes - understandable, but it has a weird idea of what constitutes "copy protection". I've been able to transfer a couple of older, commercially-produced tapes from my old skating competitions, but a ballet that had been copied perfectly from DVD to VHS wouldn't record because the DVDR600VR thought it was "copy protected".Still, though, these are minor flaws considering the quality and value of this product. The DVDR600VR is easy enough even for beginners, and it's a great value especially at Amazon's price. If you're looking for the best way to put your favorite TV shows, movies, or memories on DVD, this is a great way to go.

I bought this a few days ago and so far have no complaints. It was easy to hook up (I had it up in less than 1 hr). The recordings are good and fairly easy to make (roughly 1 page manual explanations on each function are well laid out). I have dubbed my wedding VHS tape and this function worked well too. Only minor complaint is that when dubbing from a VHS tape to DVD, I was not able to hit the monitor or video button to watch TV (I had to watch the material being dubbed). This should not be necessary since at the end of the dubbing I will have to watch the DVD again to make sure everything came across OK on the DVD (which it did). I did like that the recording stops automatically at the end of the tape. If you are looking for a VCR/DVD Recorder combo to use as a DVD Recorder and to copy over your VHS tapes (that are not copy protected) then this appears to be a good value at $320 offered by Amazon.

I've had this unit over a year, and have had LOTS of problems. It conked out shortly after I bought it and had to go back to the factory for over 2 months. Now it has a new set of annoying habits, particularly a loud fan that goes on and off seemingly at random. Look for something else!

was a new item but nothing worked! wouldn't play a vhs tape or dvd disk! no buttons worked! had to power off to get it to eject the tape!

I like this DVD/VCR combo because I don't have to change cables whenever I want to watch something on my DVD player or VCR. Even though it didn't have a remote control for it, a universal remote worked just fine.

CRAP

This was a gift to my daughter. She has recorder her old VHS movies to dvd.

I had a lot of problems from the start with this one, and finally decided to return it and get a more expensive Sony.The first problem was that most of the DVDs would not play back on my old Panasonic DVD player (which specifies that it will play DVD+R and +RW, and has played them from my computer and other sources). I tried Philips, Verbatim, Fuji, and Imation discs. I finally got some Memorex and HP DVD+R discs to work; so it just may be that all those other brand DVDs are too shabby. However, I still haven't gotten any brand of DVD+RW to work - they'll record, but not play back elsewhere, even though the other equipment specifies it.Furthermore, often at the end of recording, it no longer recognizes the disc. I recorded on a Philips DVD in the Philips recorder, it seemed to be working fine, but when I tried to acess it again to add titles and finalize it, it said the disc was not the right region code for the player. Another time with an HP DVD+R disc, after I had recorded two short titles, it simply froze up at the end and would not bring up either the system menu or the title menu. Later I put this disc in the Sony recorder and it allowed me to finish editing the titles and finalize the disc.The remote has fewer features than I'm accustomed to. Specifically, they use the same button for Next and Search - you press once to advance to the next chapter, or hold it down 2 seconds to search. I found this awkward and unreliable, though perhaps I would have gotten used to it in time.Finally, the VCR does not eject tapes all the way; they stick when the edge of the cassette is flush with front of the machine, and if you try to pry it out, it pulls it back in. I've had this problem with old worn out VCRs before, but this is a brand new one and should work better.There are other issues, but these were the most important. I used to think Philips was a good brand name; this has changed my mind. But I would have to admit you can get this to work for you if you're tolerant of all these problems and take the time to test the discs and procedures to find a combination that works for you. But I think it's worth another $50-$100 for a model that's relatively problem free and handles more formats as well (I'll review the Sony later - so far it's seems much better).