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Philips DVDR615 review: Philips DVDR615

Dutch manufacturer Philips has always been known for distinctive styling, but its ultrasleek DVDR615 takes DVD-recorder design to a new level. <i>External</i> design, that is. Our reviewer found the unit's menus and remote control about as comprehensible as the Dutch language, so read on for the final verdict.

Ben Patterson
4 min read
Philips's stylish entry-level DVD
Editor's note: We have changed the rating in this review to reflect recent changes in our rating scale. Click here to find out more.

Philips delivers above-average recording and playback quality with the latest generation of its entry-level DVD recorder. Too bad the DVDR615 is such a hassle to use. Saddled with a confusing menu system and a truly terrible remote, this DVD recorder will frustrate beginners and annoy even experienced DVD aficionados, who may nonetheless be tempted by its component-video and FireWire inputs.

4.4

Philips DVDR615

The Good

Extremely sleek look; above-average recording quality in four-hour mode; component-video and FireWire inputs.

The Bad

Confusing menus; terrible remote; spotty DVD-R/RW playback compatibility.

The Bottom Line

This entry-level DVD recorder offers a FireWire input, but its confusing menus and useless remote will confound beginners.

Measuring 17.0 inches wide, 13.5 inches deep and 2.5 inches high, the beautiful DVDR615 has rounded top and bottom edges, a mirrored display, and oval buttons. Its wretched remote, however, drove us nuts. The nonbacklit controller has a four-way navigation toggle that cries out for a central Select button; instead, we get OK and Select keys on either side. (What's the difference?) Other annoyances include the Chapter Forward/Reverse buttons, which double as the Fast-Forward/Reverse keys when you hold them down (a recipe for accidentally skipping chapters when you just wanted to scan forward a few seconds), and a lack of dedicated repeat, subtitle, or angle keys. We highly recommend dumping the included remote for a universal model.

For an entry-level deck, the DVDR615 has needlessly complicated menus. The first screen looks like a jumble of arcane hieroglyphics, with no help or pop-up explanations in sight. After a little trial and error, we learned that the horizontal bar at the top of the screen lets you access DVD titles and chapters, toggle repeat modes, and zoom in on the picture (up to 4X), while the settings menu extends a vertical bar down the right side of the screen. Recording discs (DVD+R/RW only) is a relatively simple matter, but it took us a good half hour to discover that the Channel Up/Down buttons--which double as the top and bottom keys of the four-way navigation control--also cycle through the inputs. Go figure.

Rudimentary editing controls let you manually add chapter markers or put them in at automatic five- to six-minute intervals. You can also turn a still video frame into the background for the DVD menu--a nice touch. You can even hide chapters, which lets you skip segments of the title (commercials, for instance) during playback.

The DVDR615 lacks an onscreen programming guide for easy recording; for that, you'll need to step up to the Philips DVDR740, which has a hard disk. The DVDR615's VCR Plus functionality makes for easier timed recordings, but the recorder can't change the channels on your cable or satellite box, so you have to set your tuner to the right channel when you set up a recording.

The recorder's robust connectivity options include a component-video input--an unexpected bonus, even if the DVDR615 can't use it to record progressive-scan images. The back of the recorder also offers an A/V input with S-Video, as well as component, S-Video A/V, and coaxial digital audio outputs, and an RF input and output for cable. Flip open the front panel, and you'll find an A/V input with S-Video and FireWire for your camcorder.

We were impressed with the DVDR615's recording quality, which equaled that of Panasonic's DMR-E55S at its highest-quality one-hour and two-hour settings (on a 4.7GB DVD+R/RW). In both modes, the recorder cranked out razor-sharp images measuring more than 450 lines of resolution. When we dialed down to the four-hour EP setting, however, the video quality dipped to about 250 lines of resolution, or about the quality of a good VHS. That said, the picture was still sharp compared to the four-hour modes of some other DVD recorders we've seen. The refugees fleeing from attacking probes in Star Trek: Insurrection looked reasonably detailed, as did the bridge of the lurching, smoke-filled Enterprise during a surprise attack. Picture quality dropped dramatically in the DVDR615's eight-hour mode, as the refugees in Insurrection were set upon by blocky MPEG artifacts and juttering frame rates.

On the playback side, the DVDR615 offers rock-solid progressive-scan images. It rendered the tricky haystacks and bridges at the beginning of Insurrection with nary a jaggy--indicating good 2:3 pull-down detection (a notable improvement over the DVDR615's predecessor). In terms of disc compatibility, the DVDR615 handled most of the DVD+R/RW discs in our test suite, but it choked on MP3 DVDs and almost all of the DVD-R/RW discs we tried. That's a big problem, since DVD-Rs are still more common than DVD+Rs.

If you have the patience and expect to use the four-hour recording mode a lot, this reasonably priced DVD recorder is worth a look. Most users, however, will want to get a more user-friendly device such as the Panasonic DMR-E55S or the Lite-On LVW-5005.

4.4

Philips DVDR615

Score Breakdown

Design 2Features 6Performance 6