Editorial Review:

Item Description:
Whether in homes, factories, offices, airports, or on the street, it's hard to imagine a place where Philips is absent. What Philips wants is to make your life and work easier - and more fun! And Philips continuously explores new ways to improve products and to offer innovative products to its consumers. Philips. 'Let's Make Things Better'.PRODUCT FEATURES:Up to 8 hours of recording per disc with 4 recording speeds options;Records on DVD+R/+RW Discs;Front AV connections for convenient connection to your video camera;DVD, DVD+R/RW, VCD and SVCD;CD, MP3-CD, CD-R/RW, Picture CD (JPEG + MP3);Progressive Scan (3:2 pull-down);Component video output;Dolby Digital - coaxial output;192kHz/24 bit audio DAC for superior sound quality.

Amazon.com Item Description:
The Magnavox MRV640 is a first-rate DVD player and recorder, a state-of-the-art source component that's also fixed to displace your VCR. Now you can archive your home movies and edit favorite scenes to share with loved ones: use recordable DVD+R and re-recordable DVD+RW media for compiling home-video highlights or for storing TV programs, then mail them to loved ones or, with TV programs, watch them at your convenience. The MRV640 stores up to 8 hours of audio and video at varying quality levels, from sub-VHS quality to VHS/S-VHS quality, DVD quality, and full DV quality.

Whether your living room is currently home to an HDTV or you're merely thinking of 'someday,' the MRV640 stands ready to deliver the full potential of your DVDs. Progressive scanning, referred to as 480p for the number of horizontal lines that compose the video image, creates a picture using twice the scan lines of a conventional DVD picture, giving you higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts.

The MRV640 also performs 3:2 pulldown detection. DVD mastering introduces a common distortion when adjusting 24-frames-per-second movies to 30 fps video; reverse 3:2 pulldown digitally corrects this distortion, removing the redundant information to display a film-frame-accurate picture.

Top-of-the-line component-video inputs and outputs help minimize digital and line-scan artifacts on compatible advanced televisions, while composite- and S-video inputs/outputs bring compatibility with nearly any input source and television. One each RF coaxial video input and output simplify hookup with antennas, older VCRs, and cable boxes. The unit's front panel sports a set of inputs for your temporary AV connections.

What's in the Box
DVD recorder, remote control, remote batteries, an RF coaxial A/V cable, a stereo analog audio interconnect, a composite-video interconnect, a user's manual (English/Spanish), a quick-use guide, and an AC power cord.

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Rating: - * Worked great for a while...then it didn't! ...
I have always had a high opinion of Magnavox products - but this one is a lemon. Highly recommend you find another machine. Mine just concluded it's warranty for parts - and is a very large paperweight. Every once in a while a glitch would happen, and I would reset the machine and I would be able to use it.

This week the whole thing crashed and I have maybe a half a dozen dvds of tv shows that I had not "finalized", which means I won't be able to unless I buy another one of these dreadful machines!

Stay away from this product. You will be much happier!

Michelle

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Rating: - * severe problems with this machine ...
Heads up.

I too, agree with many posters here, this machine is very flakey. Too bad, the features are great for the price.

Bought it from best buy in 2005 aug. Out of 20 dvd's I recorded, 2 hung up and wouldn't finalize. During a timer recording, on number 21, the machine went into a stop mode, and had the door blocked message as others have described here. Keep in mind, I'm 6 months into the 1 year manufacture warranty.
I did not buy an extended service plan.

I called customer support, and after they talked my through the trick of cutting the paper on the bottom of the machine, and releasing the drawer and removing the disc, I sent the unit back, at my expense, (about $15.00 ups).

10 weeks later, they sent me another unit. It may have or have not been new, I don't know, but it looked in pretty good shape, visibly.

The new machine is worse than my original. After recording 8 dvds, it sometimes goes into pause mode whenever it feels like it, and will not recognize it's own discs it recorded. Forget about finalizing and play on other dvd players. All 8 dvd's are now coasters for my coffee!

In the meantime, I bought a small Liteon, and it is working 100% of the time like a champ.

Magnavox has got some severe problems here with this machine.

As other posters have said, don't even pay 5 bucks for a used one, it will give you more headaches than you can imagine.

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Rating: - * Does what it says it does ...
I just recieved my DVD recorder and after experiencing some initial set up problems (my own)......you need to go through the channel search even if you have a satelite or cable source...... I tested the recording mode, playback mode and timed recording and all worked just as the manuel says they were suppose to. I haven't recorded from an outside source (VCR or Camcorder) nor have I used any of the more "advanced" options it has. My intent is to record some old family VCRs and programs from the TV so I don't expect to test (or use) most of the options.

Since it does what it said it would do and that's all I expect it to do I'm satisfied with the product.

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Rating: - * Look before you leap (this ain't no great leap forward)... ...
Remember when the cheap stuff was made in Japan and everyone would laugh at that label? Now apparently it is the "made in China" label that is the curse.

This is a very basic recorder that works a little when it feels like it, as you can see below. The one I had for a day would start itself up when it felt like it. Seriously, I'd be sitting there and all of a sudden it would display "startup", do its little cycle and then proclaim there was no disc. No one likes a ghost in their machine.

And it only likes DVD+R discs. Don't know the difference between DVD+R and DVD-R? You should check it out, because you won't find an explanation here and your friendly local "geek squad" have no more understanding than a loose doorknob. "Duh, yeah, dis one works with everything, dude." No it doesn't.

Apparently Amazon can get these things at a very low wholesale price and mark 'em up 75% -80% and move 'em out, while calling it a sale! Sounds like the jeweler in my local Mall.

Look at Sony and Pioneer; all DVD recorders are a little challenged. And take your time checking the features available. If you can't look at the manual first, don't buy. This manual ain't too good.

One final thought. This is an ugly unit, with uncovered hookups on the front, a Red Stripe across the DVD drawer, and a piece of mirror (!) stretched across as a faceplate. Maybe they figured looking at your reflection was better than looking at this design disaster.

I bet that the Red Stripe has something to do with this being made in China....

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Rating: - * My story's a broken record...er, DVD recorder ...
I read through a few reviews here AFTER my experience, and 4 or 5 told my story for me.
99 times out of a 100, I'm meticulous about doing my research on consumer electronics before I buy, and of course, this happened to be the one out of a hundred where I found my self at Best Buy with money in my pocket but no reviews in my head.
Like others who bought this recorder, I did so for the price, but avoided the no-name brands, thinking paying $40-50 more for a well-known name brand is worth the peace of mind. Well, long story short, I'm headed to get one of those no-name brand recorders after work today.
I was initially impressed with the variety of inputs and features it had. The menu was complex, but I figured I could get used to it. After 3 weeks of minimal use, however, it wouldn't read a disc- DVD+R or factory. That's all it took for me to throw it back in the box. Luckily for me, I was still under the 30 days return policy and was able to get a refund without a problem. I'll definitely think twice before paying for a 'reputable' name brand machine when I can get a cheapo that does the same thing and will last at least a month.
I'm happy for the people who have favorable things to say about this recorder, but I have to think they're in the minority for sure.