Good looking, relatively easy to use, great sound

Incomplete and inadequate owner's manual

UPDATE- OK! I spent the weekend "discovering" my CDR785. I only wasted 3 CDR's before figuring out most of the pretty neat features of this unit. I think I've used most of the features. I've made some pretty good sounding cd's by using the 3 in-deck cd changers, my old cd player, my turntable, the vcr and my tape deck. I finally figured out to adjust the analog recording volume you push and hold in the REC LEVEL button and turn the jog button (who designed this thing?) but I still don't know what the two little arrows below the jog button do. And when in the COMPILE mode, I haven't been able to erase an erroneously programed cut except to open the cd tray and clear the entire memory. HOWEVER! All in all, I'm very happy with the way the recorder works, looks, and sounds. 4* for no "auto-fade", crummy manual, and having to "jog" thru so many modes with the JOG button. 4* for getting all the cool stuff it DOES do into a $400.00 package. I'm very happy I bought it!

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Suberb reproduction

Convoluted manual

I purchased this from Ebay and THEN read the reviews here. I had heard from other sources that the Philips CDR785 was THE choice for CD recording. After reading the reviews I was a bit concerned about the ease of using this unit. However, I received the item, brand new in the box, and as a CD burner novice, I had my first CD done in less than an hour! Yes, absolutely, the manual is confusing and does not explain everything in easy to understand procedures, but with a little common sense and, even the 'cheesy' video DID help, I was able to record a bunch of CD singles onto a CD with no problem. When it came to recording some older records though, I had no idea where to plug in the output cables, since my receiver had no auxillary outputs. I just used the tape monitor outputs and BINGO, I was burning some great 80's stuff not available on CD. I used the manual recording level on these, because the ALC recorded to high for my tastes. I called their 'tech' support for a couple of questions and found my 'tech' a bit lacking, but I've found that when calling ANY tech support people, be it Microsoft or Earthlink or anyone else. It's just hit and miss. Sometimes you get a real pro and other times, a moron. All in all, the unit seems to be a great one and the sound playback in the other CD players I have used is superb. Don't be afraid of this one, it's fast, clean and a great value.....at least at MY purchase price!

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None

Made good recordings (when it worked).
Easy to use.

Very Unreliable.

This CD Recorder just flat out did not work reliably. The first unit I bought worked for about a month. Then, it would not finalize discs automatically when doing a full disc copy. Shortly after that, it would not auto-finalize a compiled CD. When the recording process was complete, you'd go to get your disc out and the recording tray would not open. the display would say "READING". You could wait for 1/2 an hour and still the display said reading. Finally, only after unplugging the power, the unit would go into recovery and you could then finalize the disc manually.

I returned that one and got a new one. The new one did the same thing a couple of times, but even worse, it stopped reading commercially recorded CD's the the player side of the unit. I returned this one and based on review I've read elsewhere, I decided to go with the Pioneer PDR-W839 instead.

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N/A

Looks simple to use, clear display

Poor manual, Unit failed on most brands of CDR, a little bulky

Will not record on JVC and TDK CD-R's. SONY CD-R's cause the unit to lock up in the CD-R tray and only removing the power plug at rear will cause the unit to reset and thus eventually cause ejection from the CD-R drawer. On/Off on remote control only does OFF and not ON. The manual is not for the complete novice and some previous experience of interconnecting of audio seperates to obtain the best results is required. Unit has been returned to dealer to purchase a more exspensive model. Many of the flaws have been covered in other reviews of this product hence the one star rating.

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Philips 775

Tray for source CD's, programming options

Quality

Well the price with rebate was too good to pass up so I took a chance. Even though I have had spotty experience with Circuit City on products with less than stellar repair histories (nightmare experiences with an Onkyo receiver). But I jumped anyway. I did, however purchase the extended warranty coverage just in case.

I was burning all kinds of stuff in no time. Records, CD's tapes. Since I buy a lot of stuff that is difficult to find, I don't want to risk it by putting it in the car. I could burn car dupes and anthologies effortlessly without tying up the computer. Level control was nice, although my ears question how effective it really is. Programming was also pretty easy. The way it would allow me to mix and match analog and digital copies without having to go back to originals and re-dupe everything(I learn songs by listening to them over and over and every now and then I age a couple off). I was really prepared to give this thing a monster review.

The unit was fine for about the first 6 weeks or so, and then developed a series of issues. The recorder drawer would cease to open and would only do so after completely unplugging the unit for a while. It would intermittently refuse to burn a CD, only to take it with no problem a bit later. Even the old reliable Memorex. Finally it would intermittently power off in the middle of burning a cd for no apparent reason.

I had the unit it for service twice. It came back from the first one with the power off problem still there. I called the tech and found that only one of the problems I had detailed had been included in the description by the service person at CC so that was all he fixed. It managed to keep the power on for the one test burn he did so it was pronounced healed and shipped out. He said send it back with a note attached next time.

I sent it back(with note) and heard nothing for a couple of weeks. I finally called the service center again and found it had been sent off to Phillips. Bad sign. Didn't hear anything for a couple of weeks, called again, and found it was back at the local CC but no one had called to let me know. Picked it up, brought it home, and found that the recorder drawer would not open - opening the slot cover showed that it was now tilted at an angle that would not allow it to exit the slot. Not sure where it happened, Phillips, CC service center, or the shipper, but the fact that it could not seem to survive routine handling and that no one at any of the contact points caught it concerns me.

I know I am putting my review in some jeapordy here, but I have to say that part of the reason I took the chance was because of a number of assurances from the personnel at CC that my previous service experience was an anomaly, and that I would be taken care of in the future. Suffice it to say that was not the case, and that even the safety nets you pay for have holes. You really can't even read the fine print these days - they just leave it out entirely until they need to quote it.

But the main thing here is that if you are one of those people who likes to buy something and not fool with it again you may want to pass on this deck. If you have the kind of patience it takes to keep pulling the thing out of the rack, dragging it back and forth, and following up - fine. Buy it. I am willing to do that stuff for the functionality, which has been described already and I would agree with. When it works, it is the greatest thing since sliced bread and peanut butter. But I knew going in that it might not be the most stable unit in the world and I was not disappointed in this expectation. My own suspicion is that QA has been deteriorating among audio products over the last several years, fueled by shrinking margins and a heated economy. In addition, the consolidation of electronics chains has also resulted in a pretty much "where else you going to go - big chain down the street will do the same thing," attitude. If you do have a problem unit, recognize that getting something done about it may be a multi-day/week process with a great deal of aggravation and accept it. Given this, if you have any reservations about duplicating my experience, you may want opt for a brand/model with a better track record or wait for the (coming? current?) recession to make the usual adjustments to quality and customer service that lower sales generate. My guess would be that if the current slump continues to Christmas the rebate and sales action should be enough to make the prices attractive enough to make the attempt. So even if that is the case, I would wait until the last minute to buy one of these. Make the mfrs. and retailers sweat a little about making their Christmas sales and see if the inventory pressure generates some deals even better than mine.

Can't give it less than 3 stars, because I did half expect the repair problems, obviously. And the price was competitive. Still, when you consider what you can build a low end PC for and what a high quality deck like the Plextor costs, I think if I had to do it again I would opt for spending just a bit more and putting a PC next to the existing stereo rather than this unit. I think it would have been a better value in the long run and if something had gone wrong I would have probably been able to resolve it myself in a shorter period of time.

The many features, if & when they work.

Philips CD recorders have reliability problems.

I had a Philips FWR7 CD recorder mini-system, & the CDR/W part of it was malfunctioning & the Best Buy service ctr was taking so long to fix it that they finally let me trade it for the 785 changer/recorder. I also bought a 55W X 5 Onkyo receiver at Circuit City, so I no longer needed a mini-system. But the 785 developed the same problem as the FWR7, and I took it back and got the Sony RCD-W1, which has far fewer features, but works (so far). From what I've read about Philips, they seem to have some really good ideas & innovations, but quality control & build quality are subpar. The problem on both units was that the recording would stop shortly after beginning & the word "update" would appear, & no further recording would take place. Then, after waiting several minutes to see if anything would change (nothing ever did, it remained stuck on "update"), I cancelled the recording, but the CDR/W drawer would not open. If I turned off the unit & unplugged it, then plugged it in & turned it on, it would open, altho I sometimes had to do this several times to get the CDR/W drawer to open. This was not an intermittent problem. I made sure I was using the right discs & following the manual, but the same problem occured on both units. The 785 was even worse than the FWR7, as it also failed to read normal, prerecorded CDs in the CDR/W drawer.
If yours works, great. It has lots of nice features. The CDs I recorded while the units were working sound great. I only used CDRs. God knows what would've gone wrong if I'd gotten into redoing a CDRW.

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Philips FWR7 CD recorder mini-system, an AIWA CD recorder mini-system, & the Sony RCD-W1 dual-drawer CD recorder.

Good looking. Sounds great

How the hell are you supposed to use this thing with the piece of crap owner's manual they give you?

I had read a couple of reviews on Amazon.Com before buying
this from Lee's Audio in Washington State (good price - rapid delivery). I thought I would be able to avoid most of the pitfalls I read about(I AM an engineer, afterall!). I bought TDK Audio CD's, 74 minute and was all set to go. The unit was easy to set up once I decided to use the TAPE IN/OUT on my reciever and relegate the cassette to playback only for dubbing. Then reality set in. So, I watched the really cheezy video. Ahh that's better. Ok, let's go. Video watched, manual in hand I tried dubbing a couple of songs. The manual was hardly any use at all. The cheezy video was much better, but still incomplete. I managed to dub 3 songs finally, and thinking I'd check it out before finishing it, I didn't "Finalize" the cd. It played back fine and sounded great! Now to finish it. I put it back in the record slot and it says "Insert Disk". No way to add more songs and no way to finalize it.
I sure wish there was a usable manual.
I get back to you.
0 stars for the crappy manual, 4 stars for the rest of the unit.
Can anyone out there help me?

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Glad I read the reviews below as I couldn't figure out how to pause a recording. Otherwise, I've been successful in recording off the radio and tapes. I was able to figure out the manual in about ten minutes. I usually don't need the manual, but definitely did at first. Now, I can do without it.

I wish the changer worked faster, but I can live with that.

Three disc changer, internal disc to disc recording.

Won't work with all brands of "consumer" cdr's!

What happened? I've owned the Philips CDR 870 since 1998 and it works great.

The CDR 785 won't work "well" with all brands of "consumer" cdr's, according to Philips' tech support. What? Specifically they said that it will not work "well" with TDK and Memorex. I've discovered that it doesn't work at all with those brands, and numerous others (Smart & Friendly and Hotan).

What happened? My Philips CDR 870 takes any brand of "consumer" cdr--for that matter, it takes any computer cdr, too. All of those brands mentioned above work flawlessly with my older burner. Why won't they work with this new burner?

Man, am I burned.

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A bit slow to load. Clunky instructions.

I want to give this product some credit and boost its rating a bit, as I feel it's being unfairly criticized. First off, I have had no problem recording on any brand of CD-R. Maxell, TDK, Memorex and Sony have all worked just fine for me. Yes, Philips does claim that the machine works BEST with their CD-R's, and may or may not work with other brands, but what else would you expect them to say? The reviewer who complained below probably has a defective unit.

As far as the manual goes, it is indeed somewhat confusing. It might take you an hour or so, two at the most, to "crack the code." But come on - it's not like you're learning how to deactivate a thermonuclear warhead. It's a CD recorder! How hard can it really be to figure out? Not so hard that you should avoid buying what is a pretty decent product for the money.

I like the analog to digital converter in this unit quite a bit. Recorded vinyl maintains much of its warmth and clarity. Is the machine perfect? Of course not. But it isn't priced to be perfect, either. You want perfection, go spend a couple grand on a pro-grade CD recorder. If on the other hand you want a unit with lots of nifty features (I won't list them all here) and decent utility (changer) at an affordable price, this one nicely fits the bill.

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