Philips DVDR985 DVD Player

Help us keep the list up to date and Submit new DVD and Blu-ray Players here.

Search player:	(leave empty to search for all)  or/and with these features:
Media formats: (Based on user reports)	CDR CDRW DVD-RAM DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL BD-R BD-RE BD-R DL
High Definition:	Blu-ray Disc(BD) HD DVD
Video formats:	DivX/XviD MP4 MKV JPG
Audio formats:	MP3 WMA
More Features:	+ List all features
Order by:	Name Rating Comments Price Views/Popularity Date Hits per page: 2550100150200

DVD Player	CDR CDRW	DVD-R DVD-RW	DVD+R DVD+RW	BD-R BD-RE	DivX JPG	MP3 WMA	Price	Rating Info	Reports Comments
Philips DVDR985	CDR CDRW	DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL?	DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL?	BD-R BD-RE BD-R DL	DivX JPG	MP3 WMA?	$200	6.5/10 19 votes	View 22 reports (19010 views) Post report
	More Features:
	Video formats: VCD SVCD DivX XviD JPG, Audio formats: MP3 max 320kbit/s MP3 long filename WMA?				Other features: Progressive Scanning DVD Recorder Visit manufacturer's site Region code free hack here Google this player.
	DVD Media comments for this DVD Player (click on the link to read the comments)
	1 CompUSA 2.4xDVD+R (OPTODISCOP1) comments, 1 plays 0 dont play. 1 DVD-ON 2.4xDVD+R (RICOHJPNR00) comments, 1 plays 0 dont play. 1 DVDPro 4xDVD-R (PRINCO......) comments, 1 plays 0 dont play. 1 Fujifilm 2.4xDVD+R (RICOHJPND00) comments, 0 plays 1 dont play. 1 Legacy 8xDVD-R (GSC003......) comments, 1 plays 0 dont play. 1 MDA Technology 4xDVD-R (AN31........) comments, 1 plays 0 dont play. 1 Nashua 2.4xDVD+R (MPOMEDIA001) comments, 1 plays 0 dont play. 1 Panasonic 2xBD-R (MEI...T01) comments, 0 plays 1 dont play. 1 Princo 4xDVD-R (PRINCO......) comments, 1 plays 0 dont play. 1 Prodye 8xDVD+R (DT-D03..004) comments, 1 plays 0 dont play. 1 Target e-gear 4xDVD-R (CMC MAG. AF1) comments, 1 plays 0 dont play. 1 Verbatim (DataLifePlus) 2.4xDVD+R (MCC.....001) comments, 1 plays 0 dont play. Post your DVD Media comments here
	Comments
	22 comments, Showing 1 to 22 comments  -
	quickener from United States reported April 11, 2005: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR? CDRW? Few DVD-R Few DVD-RW DVD-R DL? DVD+R? DVD+RW DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3? WMA? CVD? $200 60 days 3 of 10 Comments: When it works, it works pretty well. For example, it's never had trouble playing one of the discs that I burned with it. Unfortunately, it is completely unable to read about 15-20% of all store-bought or rented discs. All of the discs I own are in mint condition - maybe 5 minor scratches per 100 movies. However, this player fails to even read the TOC of many of them. Netflix discs, with their much worse quality have an even worse failure rate. My parents gave me this turd as a hand-me-down after they used it for about a year. They didn't have as many problems with it as I have, but then they used it almost entireley for recording off of cable and watching those recorded discs. It does have a few bugs with its recording software as you can read about below, but most of them went away after I flashed it to the 7/8/2004 firmware. Basically, for the current retail price of about $200 on this thing, it's grossly over-valued. I'm going to put it out front on the doorstep and hope that some other poor sucker has better luck with it than me. If you have the money to buy at this level, buy something else. Any player that requires as many excuses in its review section as this one should be priced around 74.99. At least it's called a "DVD Recorder." You have to give Philips credit for honesty - they're not trying to convince anyone that it actually plays DVDs. Only that it can record them.
	Master Encoder from United States reported April 02, 2005: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR? CDRW? DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL? DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3 WMA? CVD? $200 over 1 year 5 of 10 JPG/JPEG DivX XviD Comments: People KEEP YOUR WARRANTY CURRENT!!! I can't stress that enough, PAY FOR EXTENTED WARRANTY WHEN YOUR FACTORY WARRANTY IS ABOUT TO EXPIRE!!! The DVDR985 is a Fantastic Recorder.... it just wasn't built to last! AT SOME TIME, YOU WILL EXPERIENCE ERROR CODE PROBLEMS WITH YOUR UNIT!!! But On The Plus Side Of Things: The DVDR985 does just about every editing feature that I can think of. You can Divide Titles, Create your own Chapters, Erase titles, Hide certain chapters during playback and many more. This player records with Excellent Quality, at 1Hr/2Hr but can record up to 8Hrs with the right update There are lots of bugs fixed, with firmware 1.01 (This Is The Most Current Update as of 2 April 2005) Here's A Link http://drivers.softpedia.com/progDownload/Philips ... -5766.html To Upgrade: 1. Unzip the folder & SAVE ALL of the Files Not The Whole folder (Just The Files from Inside The Folder) onto a Disc (CLOSE THE DSC, NO CD-RW, JUST CDRs). 2. Put that disc into your DVDR985 Recorder, and let it update. It takes about 10 Minutes Using this particular update, I have yet to encounter any other problems with my unit. Just wish I had a chance to try this particular update on a NEW DVDR985 OH WELL!!! With that said, I'm going to let you all in on a little secret that most people don't know about this recorder. The DVDR985 has a "Special Ability" NoT Listed in the Manual. I've noticed that many people complain that there other Household DVD players won't play the disc recorded by there recorders. Well the DVDR985 has a way of getting around that little problem (Force Play) This is how it’s done: 1. Press the Open/Eject button on your DVDR985 Your player should turn on & the tray should open 2. Put your Un-finalized disk in the tray, but leave the tray open 3. Pick Up your REMOTE, HOLD the #1 button down until the door closes. Your player will process for about 45 seconds 4. Once your DVDR985 is finished with its process, take your disc out and see if it will play in your other DVD Players If not, repeat steps 1-3 but hold the #2 button instead of #1 If you want to take it back to its original format, repeat steps 1-3 but hold the #3 button instead of 1 or 2 Cool Huh, Another thing I like is its ability to play XSVCDs; on most Players this just isn't possible I have over 100 XSVCDs that I've created, all ranging between 80-90Min long, onto a single CD-R. Some players, such as my Apex AD-1600 and my Philips DVP-642, will play these kinds of XSVCDS But only with PBC (Play Back Control) Turned OFF Lots of players won't play my LONG XSVCDs AT ALL! Well my DVDR985 plays all of my LONG 352*480 XSVCDs With No Problem In Conclusion: It's a Fantastic, Buggy, Recorder! It’s capable of having a 4Yr life period with your Factory 1Yr & your Extended 3Yr Warranty together. Good when it's working, a DOORSTOP when it's not!!!
	Andrew Gosnell from United States reported September 23, 2004: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR CDRW DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL? DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3 320kbit/s WMA? CVD? $200 180 days 9 of 10 MP3 long filename MP3 ID3 TAG Comments: Great DVD Player and recorder. So far I have not found any DVD+R disks that will not work. All of my recorded movies also work on my friends and families different DVD players.
	Vic from United States reported February 26, 2004: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR? CDRW? DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL? DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3? WMA? CVD? $? N/A 2 of 10 Comments: I bought this recorder 5/03 at Sears. Problems began almost immediately. It would not save recorded material and when it did save the material, then it would flash chapter /title. Philips sent an upgrade that solved some of the problems. The problems reappeared with a venegence to the point the recorder would not recognize any disc. The factory serviced two weeks ago. The problems have already returned and I am sending it back to the be reserviced. On the good side, the dvds that I did burn work well on my dvd players(Emerson and Apex).
	goldar from Other reported January 09, 2004: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR? CDRW? DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL? DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3? WMA? CVD? $? N/A 1 of 10 Comments: highly incompatable with many dvd players, uses wierd non dvd complaint file structures on the discs it writes.
	Mitch from Other reported December 20, 2003: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR? CDRW? DVD-R DVD-RW? DVD-R DL? DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3? WMA? CVD? $? N/A 7 of 10 Comments: So far I have enjoyed this recorder but I both a Plextor 8x burner recently and I was unable to play a backup copy of a DVD burned with DVDXCopy at the max 8X +R recording speed. I am going to flash my firmware to make sure it is the latest version. That may work. Beware if you are planning on an 8x DVD+R burner, all the players out there may be in trouble. I can't play an 8x +R DVD in my DVD-Rom of my laptop also. So far I can only play it back in the Plextor burner.
	Michael T Gehret from Other reported October 10, 2003: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR? CDRW? DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL? DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3? WMA? CVD? $? N/A 10 of 10 Comments: I have owned this product from when it first came out and must say, it is the BEST Thing EVER. I have had some disc errors but it was the disc not the unit. When you swap out with another brand of DVD+RW Blank, there is clear evidence that the disc manufacturer's can be to blame, not Philips. I love my recorder, the quality and dependability has been great. This is an excellent system, copies my freshly made home made video's and older VHS tapes . This is a very good recorder.
	diego minguela from Other reported August 20, 2003: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR? CDRW? DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL? DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3? WMA? CVD? $? N/A No rating Comments: great product but isn´t compatible by i-link connection with the Sony Camcorder (pc120).
	Ken from Other reported July 25, 2003: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR? CDRW? DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL? DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3? WMA? CVD? $? N/A 8 of 10 Comments: Just picked up this recorder from bestbuy for a total of $219. Works as good as the pioneer dvr9000 and the menu is better. picture quality is good. so far so good. lots of features that i would never bother with. tuner is a little noisy.
	Hunt from Other reported April 15, 2003: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR CDRW DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL? DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3? WMA? CVD? $? N/A No rating MPEGISO Comments: I love this machine, had some problems with it in the beginning but when it was in the shop they upgraded it for me for free, so now I have HP SP SP+ LP EP & EP+ so now it will record up to 6 hours this is so cool. The quality of the recording is superb. Buy it if you get a chance
	Peo from Other reported March 05, 2003: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR CDRW DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL? DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3 VBR WMA? CVD? $700 N/A 8 of 10 MP3 long filename Comments: You must get the firmware upgrade from www.dvdplusrw.org/video/firmware_download.html to get mp3 to work. Here are the changes for the latest firmware For American DVDR985 models: *Adds SP+ (2.5 hours) and EP+ (6 hours) recording modes *Adds MP3-CD playback *Fixes a number of timer and clock related problems *Improved Smart Clock setting For European models: *Best picture quality negotiation via EasyLink / Cinema Link *Improved picture quality for RGB recording / loopthrough via SCART *Adds SP+ (2.5 hours) and EP+ (6 hours) recording modes *Adds MP3-CD playback *Adds CinemaLink support, for better communication with CinemaLink equiped TVs and receivers
	Craig Tompkins from Other reported January 14, 2003: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR CDRW DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL? DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3? WMA? CVD? $800 N/A 8 of 10 Comments: PLEASE NOTE I HAVE THE 985A but don't see a spot to report on the A version, so I am doing so here -------------------------------------------- I got this primarily as a DVDR. In the testing that I have done, it plays my X/SVCDs and VCDs if they are in NTSC format. PAL formatted ones will scroll like an old TV with the Horizontal Hold that is off. PAL also play B&W on the S-video connection, but color on the R/G/B connection. My TV does not support Progressive Scan, so I was unable to test that. Since I have several PAL S/VCDs I have to decide if I want to keep the Apex connected as well or just watch those movies on another TV. As for the Recorder itself: It does great. Think of it as a VCR, but recording on DVD instead of tape. It creates menus for you and gives me all the options I can think of wanting. The price is up there and should come down in the coming months. I was tempted to wait for the new Tivo/DVDR that was announced at CES, but just couldn't wait that long...particularly since no price has been announced on it.
	thecolor from Other reported December 27, 2002: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR CDRW DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL? DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3 WMA? CVD? $600 N/A 10 of 10 MP3 long filename MP3 ID3 TAG Comments: Still testing other formats. Nice to be able to replace my VCR. :) To bad this thing does not play Mp3's or SVCD's, but making a copy of a DVD is not hard, so I don't hassle with VCD/SVCD anylonger. It does not like Video Van VCD/SVCD's, be forwarned for those that have any.
	Hans from Other reported November 16, 2002: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR? CDRW? DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL? DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3? WMA? CVD? $? N/A 9 of 10 Comments: Everything works fine. Got the latest firmware update from Philips Care Center UK. SP+ (2.5h), EP+ (6h), and MP3 are enabled now.
	O Franken from Other reported October 29, 2002: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR? CDRW? DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL? DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3? WMA? CVD? $? N/A 6 of 10 Comments: Just bought this machine 3 weeks ago. It works fine. Easy to use. I bought this machine because I want to backup these fragile miniDV tapes that I have(3 of 20 tapes are damaged!!!). But I'm interested in quality only. Not in the other functions. The quality is generally great, but this machine has problems if there is AND high detail AND motion in the recordings at the same time. Thus my trembling amateurish camcorder recordings of my family which I recorded in the forest don't work that well with this machine (you can see blocks),although you do not notice it if you watch the screen at the recommended viewing distance. But sometimes you can see this in DVD's you can buy in the store as well!! I rate this machine a 6 because of the lesser quality, altough I do not have any idea if other machines can do this better. PS:I have witnessed one bug.Once it didn't recognise a DVD+RW disc. It said "no disc" on the display.At first I thought it was because the disc was dirty. But the problem kept occuring. The problem disappeared when I switched the recorder off and then on again. The dvd+r and dvd+rw's won't play in my Samsung SD-612s DVD-rom drive.
	sebastien from Other reported October 18, 2002: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR? CDRW? DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL? DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3? WMA? CVD? $? N/A No rating Comments: I used to record movies from dvd player to vcr (i have two black box) that worked fine. Today i bought the philips dvd recorder and it doen't want to tape when i try to tape an protected movie (even using my two black boxes) p.s: any ideas what i have to get to make it work excuse my english, but i'am french. thank you
	BBJohn from Other reported October 01, 2002: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR? CDRW? DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL? DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3? WMA? CVD? $? N/A 3 of 10 Comments: Lots of bugs. playback has lots of combing just for regular Progressive Scan playback... even on Commercial disks. Not using full potential of Faroodja chipset! Recording brightness set way too high - extremely noticeable on animation or anything with lots of white. Terrible overscan problem. The pluses: +R and +RW seem to work in all players I tested Can record/playback PAL (but won't convert on playback). Recordings appear to be R0 This recorder is NOT ready for primetime. OK if you want to be the first. Perhaps the next generation will.
	Peo from Other reported August 22, 2002: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR CDRW DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL? DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3? WMA? CVD? $1000 N/A 9 of 10 Comments: No comments
	Belle from Other reported August 17, 2002: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR? CDRW? DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL? DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3? WMA? CVD? $? N/A 7 of 10 Comments: I've experienced 3 errors over the past few months: Once when I was storing a new name for a title, I hit the left arrow button while it was already "storing" & it caused an error; it froze & couldn't not be played or finalized. Another time, I was creating & deleting a lot of chapter markers, then when I was done, pressed stop, the screen showed that it was "updating". It froze. I tried countless times to remove & put back the disk, but it would not play & was not able to finalize. 3rd time, I was recording & used the pause, record, pause again... etc. alot in a single title. When I tried to give a name to the title, it started "storing" but then gave me a blinking screen on the recorder & would never play & was unable to finalize. It works well when I don't use the editing functions as above.
	Emric Delton from Other reported August 11, 2002: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR? CDRW? DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL? DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3? WMA? CVD? $? N/A 2 of 10 Comments: Just ran tests from Firewire and S-Video sources onto DVD+RW disk. Playback is of good quality when recording in High Quality mode which yields 1 hour worth of recording per disk. Any other recording mode (2 to 4hr) has too many digital/pixelation artifacts on moving scenes... event the 2 hour mode. I don't think it is due to the compression rate, but rather, a poor IPB frame sequence which is not configurable. Real-Time recording sounded good, but not on this recorder, unless willing live with the 1hr limitation.
	Jim from Other reported August 07, 2002: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR? CDRW? DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL? DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3? WMA? CVD? $? N/A 7 of 10 Comments: Lots of bugs, despite a system patch from Philips. See the forum section at http://www.dvdplusrw.org Excellent picture quality, however.
	opwaiak from Other reported August 06, 2002: Read features: Price: Time used: Rating: CDR? CDRW? DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL? DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL? BD-R? BD-RE? BD-R DL? MP3? WMA? CVD? $? N/A 9 of 10 Comments: no mp3 playback support i-link connection (for DV camcorder) excellent video quality easy to use
	22 comments, Showing 1 to 22 comments  -
1 DVD Player hits, Showing 1 to 1 DVD Players  -
Column Explanation Click on this for more technical information. New comments= New comments since your last visit. New Player = New DVD Player since your last vist. CDR Few CDR CDR CDR? This medium works This medium works on some few media/brands, read the comments for more tips. This medium does not work This medium is not tested VCD VCD VCD? This feature is supported This feature is not supported This feature is not tested ? kbit/s The maximum allowed bitrate for the above feature Price Info The price, remember that it is our user that report the price More detailed technical informations from either manufacturer sites, review sites or stores. Rating The first rating is based on a weighted rank (the true Bayesian), it requires at least 5 votes to get a weighted rating. The second rating between the () is a normal average rating Reports Total reports, click on view reports to view them and add to post your own report and comments We can Not gurantee that this list is 100% correct and don't forget to read the user comments for more info about each player.