From Robert Silva,
Your Guide to Home Theater.
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Recently, a reader, Walt Oleksy, purchased a Philips DVDR75 DVD Recorder and wanted to share his experience with the other users of the About.com Home Theater site. It must be noted that all opinions expressed in this review are those of Walt Oleksy, the submitter. The review has been edited for formatting into the About.com review format. Major changes or comments from your Guide affecting content are specifically noted. I would like to thank Walt Oleksy for his contribution.

Recording DVDs is a home theater lover’s dream come true. There is no bad news on the subject. Only about a year ago a DVD recorder cost $1,000 or more. Now you can get one of the best on the market for under $400. I’m talking about the Philips DVDR75 DVD recorder.

The Philips DVDR75 can record at 1-hour for maximum sharpness, 2-hours for pre-recorded DVD quality, 2.5-hours for better than S-VHS quality, 3-hours for S-VHS quality, 4-hours for better than VHS quality, and 6-hours for VHS quality (although I noticed some pixilation playing back at the 6-hour mode).

Guide Note: The DVDR75 also includes features such as a TV Tuner, both analog (composite and S-video) and iLink video inputs, progressive scan, component video outputs, and has the following playback format compatiblity: DVD+RW, DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD-RW (video mode), standard DVD, SVCD, VCD, CD, MP3-CD, CD-R, and CD-RW. Audio recording on the DVDR75 is performed through standard analog stereo inputs and the recording is encoded into two-channel Dolby Digital. The DVDR75 also has both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 pass through (with both digital optical and digital coaxial connections) for playback of standard DVD 5.1 channel soundtracks.

The Philips R75 makes archival copies of anything off regular TV, cable, or satellite TV onto blank DVD+R/+RW discs (up to $5 each in most stores, but $1.20 or less at online discount stores. Office Depot often has sales on them). The DVD copy will look as good or better than the broadcast signal. It makes back-up copies of any video tape when hooked up to a VCR. Again, the copy will look as good or better than a video tape, but most videos aren’t all that sharp unless they were store-bought.

Despite what you may have read elsewhere, no DVD recorder sold in America has a built-in VHS slot for recording videos onto blank DVDs. It may be coming, but isn’t here yet. (Guide Note: Just after this article was submitted Sears announced it was selling a VHS/DVD Recorder made by Sansui. In addition, GoVideo has also announced pending release of such a unit also, however, the word is still out the performance characteristics of these units). And why wait for it? You already have a VCR you can hook up to your DVD recorder to copy tape onto blank DVDs.

Give it something to do instead of just letting it sit there gathering dust now that DVDs have replaced VHS as the recording device of choice because the backup copy is sharper and the sound better than tape, and discs will last years longer.

The Philips DVR75 also makes back-up copies of laser discs when hooked up to a laser disc player. It makes back-up copies of DVD movies when hooked up to a DVD player (Guide Note: Read addtional info following regarding the copying of DVDs). If the original DVD movie has copy guard, a little black box can be hooked up to the DVD recorder to override it. Other killers may be cheaper, but not dependable, but one that does the job of overriding copyguard beautifully is FacetVideo Clarifier Macrovision Killer for $89.95 (Guide Note: 04/08/08 - The FacetVideo Clarifier is no longer manufactured).

The Philips R75 manual is good but not always as easy to follow, as few manuals are. I’ve quickly gotten great free help from Philips’ web chat (at the Philips web site) where an employee will walk you through anything.

Other DVD recorders on the market from makers such as Sony and Panasonic do just about the same things the Philips DVDR75 does, but may be more expensive.

I’ve heard that the Apex DVD recorder may freeze, so I stayed away from it. And I’ve read that other Asian-made DVD recorders are going to be in stores before Christmas that may sell for around $300. But a very knowledgeable friend who evaluates home theater equipment and installs mine has always cautioned me to stay clear of unknown brands that may be a little cheaper but not work as well.

If you aren’t good at hooking up home theater equipment or adding a DVD recorder to your present system, help is just a phone call away. Best Buy will send a technician to your house to hook everything up for $100. Or look up computer helpers in your local newspaper classified ads and ask if one also hooks up home theater systems. Most do, but they may charge more than Best Buy.

So if your question is, “Is now the time to buy a DVD recorder?” my answer is a resounding YES! Whether you buy the Philips R75 (and they’re not paying me to endorse it) or some other known brand, you are in for the home theater fun of your life!

Final notes from your Guide: I would again like to thank Walt Oleksy for his review of the DVDR75 and his contribtion to this site. In addition, I would like to state that I concur with his comments on the performance of the Philips DVDR75 and I also recommend it highly if you are considering the purchase of the a DVD Recorder. However, all other opinions expressed in this review, not directly related to the performance of the Philips DVDR75, are the opinions of Walt Oleksy, and not necessarily the opinions of this site or About.com.