Editorial Review:Item Description:DVD Recorder and Player DVDR615 - Philips DVD recorders are based on the DVD+RW technology, offering you almost endless reliability, compatibility, performance and simplicity for recording DVDs. This also means that the DVDs you record on the DVDR615 can be played on virtually any DVD player. It also has a disc manager function that helps you to archive all your recordings and an iLINK function to easily transfer your digital camcorder video recordings to durable, high-quality DVD discs. You get about 4-hours of recording per DVD and, unlike tapes, recordings remain true and high-quality for over 1,000 plays and a hundred years. It's a must-have component for any home-theater system. Coaxial digital audio output Progressive Scan output Capacity - 1 Disc Slim Size - 2-3/4 H x 17 Wide x 9 Deep (approximate) for fitting into compact home-theater cabinets Multifunction FL Display with dimmer control Parental controls Designed for NTSC record and play Includes remote control Silver Finish
Amazon Item Description:High on convenience, low on hassles, Philips' DVDR615 progressive-scan DVD player/recorder gives you a simple way to share your home videos with others, relieve your VCR of its regular TV taping duties, and enjoy quality home cinema presentations on standard or high-definition televisions. Using the model's extensive inputs--including an i.Link digital video jack--you can transfer and assemble your most treasured camcorder footage, archive all your old video tapes, or burn video from your PC straight to high-capacity DVD--up to an amazing 8 hours per disc side using either DVD+R or rewritable DVD+RW.
The DVDR615 features progressive-scan technology, which enables compatible TVs to display images at double the frequency of standard TVs, minimizing flicker and making the picture easier on your eyes.
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The DVDR615 also features a disc manager that allows instant viewing of all recorded discs, storing contents details for up to 9,000 titles across up to 999 discs. You can also use the DVDR615 like a VCR, burning televised programs directly to disc using VCR Plus+ simplified programming. Recording functions include favorite scene selection, automatic/manual chapter marker insertion, selectable index pictures, selectable background picture, append, divide, and 'fit to space.'
DVD+RW discs require no finalizing--you can record, eject, and play them with minimal fuss, thanks to 'background formatting.' This feature, which lowers total burning time, is an advantage over the 'dash' formats. Other DVD+RW advantages include on-disc content editing and multisession writing. And, through DVD+RW and DVD+R's compatibility with most existing DVD players, they're a great way for you to share your special memories with family and friends.
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But the DVDR615 is also a first-rate DVD player, featuring progressive-scan video outputs, Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround sound passthrough, MP3 CD playback (CD-R/CD-RW), and compatibility with most DVD media (including video-mode DVD-R and DVD-RW).
Whether your living room is currently home to an HDTV or you're merely thinking of 'someday,' the DVDR615 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.
Top-of-the-line interlaced component-video inputs and outputs (the output is switchable with the progressive-scan output) help minimize digital and line-scan artifacts from component-video sources and on compatible advanced televisions, while composite- and S-video inputs and outputs bring compatibility with nearly any video component and television monitor. Audio inputs consist of 2-channel analog jacks with 24-bit/96 kHz analog-to-digital conversion and Dolby Digital 2.0 audio compression (compression is non-defeatable). Video conversion, to and from digital, is performed by high-quality 10-bit, 54 MHz converters.
Two sets of left/right analog-audio outputs channel audio to Dolby Pro Logic receivers and stereo televisions. Both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround-sound signals can be routed through the player's coaxial digital-audio output for direct connection to a full-featured audio/video receiver.
What's in the Box DVD recorder, remote control, remote batteries, a user's manual (English/Spanish), a quick-install guide, an AC power cord, a stereo analog audio interconnect, a composite-video cable, and an RF coaxial/antenna cable.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
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* Impossible to get support ...
The unit is nice looking but the product is buggy. The company offered no support...the 800 phone number is out of service, no response on chat line or to mumerous emails. It is hard to beleive that a big name company like Philips would totally ignore their customer.
Rating: 
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* There's a newer revision than many people are reviewing ...
The current revision is DVDR615/37. Most people with negative reviews (particularly of the remote) appear to be reviewing the DVDR615/17, which had a different remote, with a non-standard schema.
This item has functioned flawlessly for me, apart from the fact that the new version of the remote died on me the first night. The Logitech Harmony site doesn't have a complete set of codes for the new remote, so I'm kind of out of luck until I have a chance to take the remote back to the store for an exchange.
Otherwise I have no complaints. I picked it up for $50 less than what Amazon is selling it for, and I got a great deal.
Just can't customize my chapters until I go back to the store. Oh well.
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* Philips Recorder- Good or Bad ...
I have purchased Philips DVD recorders before and I really like the Philips however the problem is that you either receive a good one or a bad one. There seem to be nothing in between. I like the Philips because the DVD+RW gives you more flexibility if you want to use it like a VCR. The -RW format makes you delete the entire disc where as the +RW allows you to delete one program or the entire disc depends on what you want to do. Another thing I really like about Philips is their thumbnail format which will display a small picture of the program that you have recorded. This will allow you to see at a glance what is on the disc. You can also edit the thumbnail to display any picture from the program. This thumbnail will also display when you play the disc from any DVD player unlike the Sony which will not allow the edit of the thumbnail in +RW and will display a blank picture when played on other DVD players. Another great thing about the Philips is that you can record two programs together like Simpsons and Friends in a one hour continues recording and then instead of one thumbnail of Simpsons, you can divide the 1 hour program into 2 30 minute programs with 2 different thumbnails.
I have read that a lot of people do not like the remote control and the Philips manual however for me after getting used to the remote control and understand the manual, the recorder is very easy to use.
I have tried a lot of other DVD recorders like Sony however I still come back to Philips DVD Recorder. The only problem with Philips is their quality control. You either get a good machine or a bad. If you can stand the problem of buying a Philips recorder, set it up, find out that is has problems, return it back to the store, get another replacement, and see if you have a good one this time.
I went through a few before finding a good one. The first one did not work right out the box, returned for an exchange. The exchange unit worked for about a week then the tuner started to flash bright and dark every second which really bothered me. Returned for another exchange. This new exchange worked for 10 days and then started to lock up. It would not record anything but just freeze. This happens every other recording which is a real pain because you thought you had recorded something and then find out that it frooze. Returned this unit also. Waited for a few weeks while trying to find other brands like Sony but still came back to Philips. Purchase another Philips and found it again did not work right out the box. Returned back and got a replacement. This time, everything is fine. I have had the Recorder for over 30 days and everything is fine so far. So if you really want a good, flexable +RW DVD recorder, I would recommend Philips if you are willing to keep returning the recorder until you find one that works.
Rating: -
* Wouldn't recommend this DVDR to anyone! ...
I have experienced all of the issues that the other Negative reviewers have had with their recorders. In fact my DVDR drive has gone out 1 month out of warranty. It gets disk error's. I should have bought the Sony, In fact I just replaced this POS with the Sony RDR GX300, So far I have been pleased as will all my Sony products.
Rating: -
* Nightmare Interface ...
I never write reviews, but my experience with this machine has inspired me to do so. The interface on this thing is so bad I can't even find words to describe it. Bottom line? I never use the thing because it's not worth my time to set it up to record. On the rare occasions I have invested the time, it produced a nice quality video. But I can count those occasions on one hand. Don't waste your time or your money.
