1. The capability to transfer your old vinyls & cassettes to disc (not that I ever attempted to do so). 2. Convenience. The most appealing thing about the Phillips cdr765 is how much easier it is to operate than a pc burner.

Drawbacks/experiences recording on the PhillipsCDR765: 1. To this day, the cost of audio-only cdrs is insane, especially in Canada. This format of cdr is not available in some places. 2. Even if the recording process completes without incident, you're still not "home free". After recording, you must finalize the disc. This is a two minute "baking" process which allows the cdr to be played back on all other audio systems. This 2 minute countdown sometimes "bounces" & becomes a 4 minute countdown. When this happens, there is a possibility that the system will not complete that 4 minute trek & that the disc is ruined/scrap/wasted. The problem became more & more prominent with usage. 3. CDRW's designed for this unit NEVER played on any of my other systems. They did play fine on both decks of the recorder but nowhere else. I used TDK & Maxell CDRW's. When nearing the end of it's fertile-lifespan, the system could no longer read cdrw's. It could occasionally record onto them, but even after being finalized, only the recording deck of the unit could read/play the disc. 4. The unit was always very fussy & many cdrs designated "audio-only" weren't compatible with it. It would burn on some generic audio-only media, so that's mainly what I used for the first 1500 burns. Later on, I discovered that Fujifilm, TDK & Maxell(Japan) were the brands that worked most with the most consistency. Sony, Memorex as well as Maxell(Taiwan) were very inconsistant & the unit rejected them most of the time. 5. I finally laid my PhillipsCDR765 to rest when it could no longer record a complete disc without issue. Near the end, it would record discs fine until the very last track. It would choke within the last minute of ANY & EVERY burn I attempted, always within the last 40 seconds of the recording. When this happened, the recording deck would always register the disc it just ruined as being full (79:57), regardless of the actual length of what I was attempting to copy.

I purchased the unit in 12-99. As of mid 2004, I can no longer use the system for recording, as it's horribly inconsistant & routinely craps-out before the copying is complete,(botching the cdr). However, that's not to say that I've been overly disappointed with the product. In the last 5 years, my system has burned somewhere between 2500-2800 discs!!! The bottom line is that it was a good system for it's time. The way cdr burning technology for the pc has advanced in recent years, stand-alone units just don't cut it anymore. The PhillipsCDR765 makes near-perfect copies. Basically whatever it's able to play on the right deck, it can copy on the left/recording deck. It seems as though many of the users posting on this idem did not fully read their instruction manuel before getting into the copying aspect. This system DOES NOT ADD GAPS between tracks!!!!! Simply press the dub button twice before beginning to record ("dub 1" then appears on the unit face) & your completed copy will come out near-perfect (usually the exact same time as the cd you've copied or 1 second longer). The lack of being able to add fade-outs/fade-ins to the music or any sort of real editing capability is sorely missed.

Perfect Sound, Long Lasting Copies

Only Weakness: Gaps

Ok, Phillips obviously had major problems with the early releases. But, it happens, they totally gave me all my money back. I went ut and bought another and had no problems. The Dub is perfect to original. Unless there is Negative space or no gaps. And when you buy a free Standing DA Recorder, you need to buy DIGITAL AUDIO Disks. I also bought Comp USA DA disks bak in the day, but there not really DA disks. In the beginning some crap companies tried to get away with cheap DA disks that did not work. All real CD''s are DIGITAL AUDIO, to make good recordings or copies that will last you want DA, they do that so that their expensive burners will be backed up by there product not the cd you choose to use. As long as they were not generic cd''s, all DA will work. New or upcoming models should exclude gaps. Also the key to good recording is slow burning thats why you only see a max of 4x free standing burners When I purchaced this it was around 550 or close to 600 before warranty. It was the only thing that was reliable, CD writers were no where near the quality they are today.

Similar Products Used:

Sony RW drive, pioneer free standing

Easy to use, great recordings.

Bad playback quality.

Copying CDs and recording from analogue sources is really easy and the the copy quality is excellent, but as a CD-player the 765 is the worst I've ever listen to. I thought that it could replace my 14 year old Denon CD1000, but the Philips sounded flat and dead in comparison.
This machine deserves five stars for ease of use and recording quality and one star for playback quality.

When it worked,it worked well.

Bad laser assembly the downfall

For everyone who e-mailed thank you. However since my review appeared last year,the recorder has self destructed.It started slowly,c.d's would sound as if they were skipping on playback.When playing them on other c.d. players it was worse.At the end they were unlistenable. I e-mailed the company twice no response.I then called them and was put in touch with an engineer.He advised me that when the players were fist made they sold so fast that the company ran out of laser assemblies. Hense the problem the replacements were of a poor qaulity.This appeared to be my problem. The cost to repair over $500.00. Approx. the cost at purchase.The company is buying them back.I felt I should warn you in the event you were having the same problem.Good luck,a former owner.

Inserts gaps between tracks! ; build quality not great at all

Basically the main problem is this inserting gap thing that is does. It actually doesn't sound like a big deal, but I have a large selection of live CDs which I'd like to duplicate for use in a car and other CD players in the house - and I can't copy them (well I can, but I wouldn't want to play them with pauses inbetween the tracks). Another thing is the build quality which isn't up to scratch. Luckily *touch wood* I havn't needed to take the unit back, but sometimes I place a CD in the tray and it won't read it. If I then eject and reinsert it'll work. Also the trays just seem very flimsy compared to the 10 year old Technics I have as well. I havn't recored analogue so I can't comment on the levels. Digital recording levels are perfect though.

Similar Products Used:

None

PhilipsElectronics CDR 765

BIT FOR BIT COPIES

WILL ONLY CONSISTANTLY WORK WITH PHILLIPS BLANKS!!!!??

THIS IS WITHOUT A DOUBT THE WORST PRODUCT I HAVE EVER BOUGHT! IT HAS BEEN IN SERVICE TWICE, 8 WEEKS THEN 4 WEEKS! IT WILL NOT RELIABLY WORK WITH ANY BRAND BLANKS. WHEN I FIRST GOT IT I USED SONY THEN MEMOREX THEN COMP USA THEN ZENITH. I BOUGHT 100 ZENITH BLANKS IT WORKED WITH A FEW BUT NOW IM STUCK WITH 100 USELESS BLANKS! PHILLIPS SERVICE SAYS I SHOULD ONLY USE PHILLIPS BLANKS!! WHATS THE DEAL WITH THAT!! TAKE MY ADVICE STAY CLEAR!!!

I've now been using this machine for 2-1/2 weeks now. And recorded about 20 CD's, from:* vinyl (!), via a Thorens / SME III / Milltek Aurora MC
* old tapes via a Nakamichi BE 150
* or CD's from either the Philips' own deck or my old Denon DCD 910.
It's hooked up to other quite good (but pre-digital) stuff like a Sony TA-E 86B pre-amp and a Quad 405, on B&W DM2 MkII's. All cabling is I think pretty up to standard (pure silver, or similar).
Indeed, it's a very modern beast in the herd. And it's performing really excellent:
- On play-back: I dare say the CD-R deck sounds a little bit better than the CD deck part, especially in the lows. And both do a better job than the Denon! Funny is that I now hear things I never heard before that way.
More detail. This is especially 'visible' with special recordings like Dark Side of The Moon, the MFSL ultra-disk. Somehow, it is so different that it sometimes sounds almost agressive! I think my Denon is just holding back things... All in all, I am very pleased with it's play-back, and it became my premier deck.
- On recording:
1) from it's own play-back deck, single-speed (dubbing, called "Dubb-1", I didn't try the double-speed yet, no need to): I hear NO difference between the original and the copy. So must be excellent. Actually, it should be like that, as it is a bit-copy, I really do not understand how it COULD be different...
2) from the Denon (digital, via RCA cable provided; the Denon has no optical link): again, no audible difference. I get the feeling the copy (played on the Philips) sounds better than the original played on the Denon. But that can be right, it's a bit-copy, isn't it? So it bypasses the older DA-converter of the Denon.
3) from tape (Nakamishi): some tapes are > 15 years old. This is an excellent test (as is the one from vinyl) for the Philips' AD-converter. I found it to be excellent! Preserves whetever quality there was in the original, no changes. Philips did an excellent job designing a very good AD-converter.
4) from vinyl (Milltek): see tape: outstanding job!
Then: user-friendliness: needs some getting used to. Not as straight-forward as tape-deck. One strange thing in the dubbing (Dubb-1 mode) is the need to program all tracks on the 'sending' CD, otherwise the copying stops after each track! The analog input can be copied in discrete levels only (up to + 6dB), but I
have not found that to be a problem. It acts as a double-deck, so if you put in 2 CD's the play after one another, or random. But if the firstdisk has been played, the second one started, and you put in a new disk in the first, it does not continue. Strange glitch!
Selecting source is clear and easy, buttons are a bit small: you have to be very near, and they buttons are not replicated on the otherwise good, clear remote control.

Good thing is that 'finalised' CD's play very well on other CD players, like the old (Philips) CD-changer in my car, and an old portable Sony player (D33 or so).

And last: build quality. OK, it's no match for the Denon (beautiful sound when it closes its tray), but it is nice to look at, with a good display, although I miss the music calendar. It's a metal case which is good (it is carrying the heavy Quad!). It feel sturdy enough, the disk-trays are a bit fiddly (you must make sure the disks are put in exactly right, or it wont recognise them). The lack of gold-plated RCA-jacks... don't know, my cables have it, and we'll see. I can always put these in myself when the warranty runs out. (I did a complete
rewiring of my Quad, and that really improved the thing, so now it'll have to last into the next milennium. It's now already > 20 years old!).

My overall rating should be 4.5 star (it's not perfect but better than I had). Sound-wise it's 5, use-wise it's 4. I will round to 5 because the sound is the most important and it is excellent value for the money. I love it!

Evert

By the way, I paid NFL. 1199,- = Euro 545,- = US$ 645,- (incl. VAT)

CDR playback sounds just like the original. A good system for the price too!...

Pretty good recording equipment. Easy and fast to make copies. Sound quality of playing is acceptable.