Philips DVDR 5500

I have owned the dvdr5500 for over a year and have found it useful and without any major problems. I love the high definition upscaled picture it offers from its hdmi port - on a 42" plasma the video was noticeably better with more colour and sharper. It can also upscale input from a scart like a sky or cable box with similar effect. The playback of standard dvd is great also much better than the cheap non-branded players in my experience. The menu system is a bit slow at times but the recording it produces are great and on the right setting indistinguishable from the original. The ability to playback divx/mpeg 4 is another reason I love this ...  Read the complete review

After years of sterling service I retired my Philips DVDR70 DVD recorder for a newer model. As I had recently updated my TV to a HD-Ready 1080i LCD panel I thought I would opt for one that offered both video-upscaling to 1080i and HDMI connectivity. I chose to look among those models of DVD recorder manufactured by Philips, after all they did invent the CD/DVD technology upon which all players and recorders are based together with my great experience living with my first Philips DVDR70 DVD recorder. The DVDR 5500 not only offered a built-in Freeview tuner but also one for analogue TV reception, until the analogue "switch-off" looming in the ...  Read the complete review

It should be relatively simple. All I want to be able to do is to copy some of my old camcorder recordings to DVD. All I should need is a video player and a DVD recorder. If they could be combined into a single unit, so much the better. Of course, being me, I would have some additional requirements as well wouldn't I? I have a flat screen HD TV so an HDMI connection was also essential. I would also like to be able to play DVDs containing DiVX video. Not too much to ask is it? But, trying to find a unit with all of these features seems to be a struggle. You may have read my review of the Daewoo DRVT-40 Combi VCR/DVD Recorder that I posted on Dooyoo ...  Read the complete review