Product Description

• Plays DivX, MP3, WMA and JPEG digital camera photos
• DivX Ultra Certified for enhanced playback of DivX videos
• HDMI 1080i with high definition video upscaling
• Integrated Freeview tuner and analogue TV reception
• On-screen TV guide for intuitive recording

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28081 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Philips
• Model: DVDR5500/05
• Released on: 2007-08-08

Features

• PHILIPS DVD PLAYER AND RECORDER
• MP3 PLAYBACK
• 1 X HDMI OUTPUT
• IN BLACK

Manufacturer's Description

Dual Media conveniently records on DVD+-R/RW, DVD+R DL

Philips DVD Recorders support €˜dual media' recording - the ability to create recordings on DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW and DVD+R DL discs. Now you can buy any disc and the Philips recorder will always create fully compatible recordings, which can be played by any DVD player.

Plays DivX, MP3, WMA and JPEG digital camera photos

Play virtually any media format you want - whether they be DivX, MP3s, WMA or JPEGs. Experience the unbeatable convenience of great playability and the luxury of sharing media files on your TV or home theatre system - in the comfort of your living room.

DivX Ultra Certified for enhanced playback of DivX videos

DivX Ultra combines DivX playback with great features like integrated subtitles, multiple audio languages, multiple tracks and menus into one convenient file format.

HDMI 1080i with high definition video upscaling

HDMI stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface. It is a direct digital connection that can carry digital HD video as well as digital multichannel audio. By eliminating the conversion to analogue signals it delivers perfect picture and sound quality, completely free from noise. HDMI is fully backward-compatible with DVI (Digital Video Interface).

Integrated Freeview tuner and analogue TV reception

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On-screen TV guide for intuitive recording

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Progressive Scan component video for optimized image quality

Progressive Scan doubles the vertical resolution of the image resulting in a noticeably sharper picture. Instead of sending a field comprising the odd lines to the screen first, followed by the field with the even lines, both fields are written at one time. A full image is created instantaneously, using the maximum resolution. At such a speed, your eye perceives a sharper picture with no line structure.

VIDEO Plus+ for quick and easy programming

With the VIDEO Plus+ system, all you need to do to program your video recorder is to enter the €˜Pluscode' - a single code of up to nine digits (but usually less) that is printed next to each TV program in most TV guides.

USB Direct plays photos and music from USB flash drives

Simply plug your device into the USB port on your Philips DVD system. Your digital music and photos will be played directly from the device. Now you can share your favourite moments with family and friends.

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

Nice picture - terrible everything else!
This machine give a great picture through the HDMI, and plays Divx very well. That's about it for the good stuff.....

I've had the dvdr5500 about a month now, and I'm less than impressed. It freezes very easily, doing the simplest things such as turning the machine on or off or going to the Home menu, and the only way out is to cut the power at the plug, which means you lose all your settings (e.g. HDMI output level). That is the biggest problem.
The interface is also VERY slow to respond, taking seconds to respond to even one button push, which frustrates you in to pushing more buttons which - you guessed it - causes it to freeze up!
Apparently the machine keeps the disc spinning when left in the tray, even when turned off, which means the motor burns out quickly. This is just what I've heard, but the `Eco' mode you can turn on presumably stops/reduces this, but means the machine takes a full minute to load up (its not exactly snappy when the Eco mode is off either though).
Recording is sporadic - not a single recording I have made using the TV guide has worked properly, always missing either the beginning or the end of the programme. The aspect ratio is always messed up as well.
A final thing is the standby light, which is so incredibly bright that I have to have it covered when watching TV in a darkened room or else it is very distracting!
In all, this is going back to Richer Sounds. It's the only machine I have found which does everything I want, but unfortunately it is a typical Philips in that it is very poorly made. The remote is so cluttered and ill-though out that you are always pushing the wrong button or thinking you've pushed something when you haven't.
DON'T BUY THIS!!!!

Update: I repeatedly tried to update the firmware on the machine in the hope that it would solve the MANY problems. However, after trying with several disks (including TWO that Philips themselves sent me!) I gave up, as the recorder simply wouldn't accept the update. I sent it to Richer Sounds for a repair, but it was returned 'non-repairable'. So that was that. After a brief stop gap at an equally-shoddy Samsung, I am now awaiting the delivery of a more expensive Sony DVDR & HDD combo unit, the RDR-HXD870. This has had much better reviews and fingers crossed it won't drive me up the wall!

Good picture quality and easy to use but has recording problems
I was pleased with everything about this DVD until I discovered that mine had a couple of faults (not sure if these are common faults). When recording, it often doesnt switch off after the selected program has finished recording and so it records the next program until it uses up all the disk space, then the disk keeps spinning and gets hot, and you can only stop it by switching it off at the mains. Also there is no way of knowing how much room you have available on the disk and it will accept a recording request when there is not enough room on the disk. I'm afraid to say I will be taking it back.

Agree with the others - poor
I bought one of these today in spite of reading the reviews, thought I would at least give it a chance however I have to agree with the others here. It's frozen twice needing a plug power reset, first time I pressed TV Guide and it froze, second time after finishing a timed recording it froze in standby and failed to respond to remote or front panel buttons.

The USB port is good and does support hard drives however the current provided isn't enough for my 2.5" SATA one so I had to use an external supply. It will also not play DVD images on the mass storage which is a shame.

The EPG is truly awful - you only see now/next and a handful of channels. There's no auto-pad option and you can't edit the record data before storing it in the program list (once it's there you can manually edit the item to add padding).

I also found a DVD+RW burnt with a DVD image on my PC would not erase at all, it just bitched about the disc being "finalised" so I had to erase on the PC before I would use it. Even my old LiteON would erase anything!

Remote handset is pretty huge and plasticy too. A real shame but it's going back. Two freezes in a couple of hours is unacceptable. Shame on you Philips. I even flashed it up to the latest firmware before all this so it's not that.