Though a satisfied user of the Philips 890, I see what appears to be a lot of genuine dissatisfied owners - can Bob C create a register of genuine users (in FAQ maybe)with faulty decks to add some weight to an en masse negotiation with Philps for an official recognitian of the faults.
A few replies may help Bob to see how many owners have genuine faulty decks -
Hi I sent my 890 back about 3 months ago to shop at hills.
due to it overheating, and not reading discs,
that where made on it .
now got a panasonic.
different class.
Tom G
According to all the posts on this 'faulty deck' There must still be legions of unhappy owners busting to register and see something done about it!
I don't believe all those faulty decks have healed up overnight - c'mon guys now's the time to register all genuine faulty decks!
Hi. Maybe they have all cleared up!! As I have mentioned in other postings about this product, for everyone who has found fault there are dozons of people who have not.
The local shop where I got mine really is up front and honest and he maintains that there has been very few if any real problems that can be put down to the product being no good.
One of the most popular was due to it over heating, when looked into in one case, it was because it had been used for normal TV recording and had like most VCR are, been left on all night and day.
The 890 does not like this.
Having said all this I would be the first to go running back with my 890 if it played up. But it has not.
Ron.
The 890 has a Tuner and all the features of a VCR. It is supposed to work all night if needs be.A facility is there to record 6 hours. The deck has to pass tests and should be able to be left on 24/7/365 without problems.
If users of this deck are having it pack up and be given the reason that it`s overheating
as a cause. Then the design of the deck is wrong - not the user.
There's still no sign of the first genuine 'faulty Philips 890' user?!
John AV. do you really believe that a DVD Deck can or should be left on 24/12/365 ??
especially if being used as a domestic recorder tucked away in a cabinet surrounded by other things like DVD-CD-VIDEO cases etc which is how many situations are.
Would the Disc stand up to it?? Several months ago there was a big thread on this forum and over heating came up quite a lot as possible causes to cause problems.
The 890 was I am sure, in the main purchased by people, like me, who wanted to use it in connection with video work and therefore treat it with a little more care and consideration. In these situations it should and I feel does perform well.
However, the subject was more about what are the faults, so I will finish giveing praise.
Ron.
My 890 refused to play any discs, commercial or home made, after a while. I sent it back to my supplier who sent it off to Belgium. It was returned to me after about 3 weeks and, fingers firmly crossed, it has worked OK since. As a matter of interest mine was not left on and had had very little use.
I have a friend whose 890, which he used a lot, failed with the same symptoms after only 3 weeks. Likewise his was sent back to Belgium and he reports that it is now working properly.
My supplier told me that approximately 15% of the units sold by him had to be returned for repair.
Reading the forums it does seem that there has been a problem and it would be helpful if Phillips would make a comment.
Best wishes,
Tim
Although I cannot chapter and verse electrical standards (but I am sure that there is someone who can.
Any Domestic product has to undergo rigorous testing as regards operating temperature
(typically +50 C) electrical insulation etc.
I did post a theory about overheating when both the 880 & 890 gave up the ghost.
Both decks were on seperate shelving and well ventilated ( as all my machines are)
The Panny`s are yet to give me a problem
All logic points to a stock fault with some of the Philips decks - Possibly overheating ,in which case it`s a design fault. or weak hardware.
The whole point of my post was not to dig at you , but to try and highlight that there are Standards & conventions to be met before domestic products are retailed.
So! - up to press there are no faulty decks to be reported, those (2) that were in doubt have been remedied - so where are all the rumoured 100s of apparently seething and irate philips 890 owners hiding?
Hi All
I to have a 890 (UNFORTUNATELY) and it also has been away for repair 6 weeks to be exact, it had the no disc and disc error problem, I wanted a refund from Comet as the machine was only 2 months old but they refused and sent it for repair, I am now waiting for it to break down again because I am sure it will, then I will demand a refund and probably buy a Panasonic.
Regards
Steve
I've only used my 890 for about 12 disks and am already getting trouble. Gets to end of 120m minute burn then get a disk error. Sometimes when disk is finished and about to finalise I get an error code something like DF7OF3 then you have to switch off and on and the disk is binned. Great idea for basic DVD burning, but unreliable.
Still under guarantee - Should I return to supplier? Problem is it was bought on-line.
Branny ,
The problems being published fall into two very distinct faults:
1. Disc error messages whilst recording - degenerating to non operation. retail discs are unable to be played when it gets to that state.
2. Disc records but unable to finalise or
be read from. I don`t know if retail media can be played.
I'm sure any problems can and will be remedied by firmware updates by Philips or if you're feeling brave, there are firmware updates available from the Philips site you can update yourself.
I hardly think it worthwhile petitioning Philips to shut their 890 plant on the back of (4) so few apparnntly easily remedied fixes.
Busbyvideo,
I too bought mine on line and returned it to the supplier, who in turn sent it off to Belgium. It has been returned to me and "seems" to be OK. With the problems you are having, don't hesitate to send it back.
I think, Branny, you are understating the case. If you were to read further comments from others elsewhere, you might get the impression that there had indeed been problems. As I have already posted, my supplier felt that, on the basis of the units sold by him, approximately 15% have had to be returned to Belgium for repair. I call that a very considerable percentage.
Tim
Originally posted by tim:
[B]Busbyvideo,I think, Branny, you are understating the case.
Considering you have posted twice with the same case history, I can hardly understate others pstings - I was hoping disgruntled users may have the genuine ammunition rather than rumours, perhaps you'd care to post your 'unnamed supplier' to add weight to the argument
http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/t/49204/ds.html.
I took me all of 10 seconds to search for a forum regarding phippis problems with their dvd recorders
Branny check out the above link-u have to face up to it that they are crap(most of them) and no matter how hard u push the Phillips barrow(for whatever reason) there are some serious misgivings about Phillips dvd recorders at the moment.
Sorry -the above link doesnt seem to work-go to the digital spy forums and check the forum on personal dvd recorders(Phillips) these are not rumors-they are facts!!!!
Branny,
In one of my postings I did state that I bought my 890 from ASK DIRECT. I also said how helpful they had been in respect of the return.
I can assure you there have been many disappointed buyers who have posted to other forums.
Tim
So, that's still 4 complaints here then?
Hi
quote: I'm sure any problems can and will be remedied by firmware updates by Philips or if you're feeling brave, there are firmware updates available from the Philips site you can update yourself.
This isn’t correct; firmware updates can not fix problems that develop over time. If a machine works for 3 months and then starts giving problems, how can that be firmware related? It is called “firmâ€ware because it is firm 
! The firmware doesn’t wear out or breakdown overtime, giving intermittent problems, it either works or it doesn’t.
Firmware updates may appear to fix issues, i.e. new firmware might up the laser power, tweak the recording algorithms, add in compensation for aging optics and servo’s. However these sorts of fixes are very short-term and only hide any problems that will only show up again at a later date, hopefully outside of the warranty period for the manufacturer.
quote: So, that's still 4 complaints here then?
Maybe this is the wrong place to ask for reports of complaints?
Look in the right place and there are people saying they have been told by their retailer that Philips have told dealers to replace faulty machines with new models or refund the customer. Philips is cutting back on taking units in for repair likely because a) They are inundated, and b) They just go wrong again.
If you go to here:
http://www.dvdplusrw.org/cgi/forum/ikonboard.cgi?act=SF;f=4 it doesn’t take much reading to see that a lot of people have the same problems.
This poll http://www.dvdplusrw.org/cgi/forum/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=4;t=4832 shows a very high failure rate.
I have said it here before many months ago that the Philips machines have serious problems and have been flamed for it in this very news group. It doesn’t take a genius to see that the same re-occurring issues that typically appear after a few months usage of the Philips machines are indicative of serious quality or design issues.
Personally I feel that +RW is not all it is cracked up to be. It is interesting to note that other manufacturers now introducing +RW only set-top recorders (Mustek, Apex), and then these are Taiwanese companies and not your big Japanese names, are not implementing the full feature spec of +RW. Why? Is it because the format just can not cope?
In addition Sony has included +RW on its dual set-top recorder (no +R though) but has stripped 90% of the recording features of +RW. The only advantage +RW has over DVD-RW (when DVD-RW is recorded in the Video mode to play elsewhere) is that it doesn't need a separate finalisation step. DVD-RWs recording features are fully supported in both the VR mode and the compatible mode. Considering Sony is a member of the RW Alliance and +RW is its own format, if anyone should have supported +RW fully it should have been Sony.
There are a lot of marketing claims and promises surrounding +RW and how much better it is over other formats, but that is all they are, as none of the so called advantages of +RW are being seen in the field IMHO. Certainly out of all the DVD formats it is the least reliable when used in real-time situations, which arguably are the most demanding uses for media and hardware.
Regards
Philip
[This message has been edited by PhilipL (edited 06 July 2003).]
I have just collected my 880 for the 2nd time from Comets. We will see how long it lasts.
If John AV is using the 880 and not the 890 that takes it down to 3, on this the Computer Video DVD forum then.
Earlier postings reveal that the 890 went back for a refund with "disc error" messages
Costco have since discontinued the 890 in favour of the Panny E50`s. One day they had around 50 (890`s) , a few days later they`re all gone. They would not tell me how many they had back.
NUFF SAID !
[This message has been edited by JOHN . A.V. (edited 06 July 2003).]
Still 3 then!
Despite the theories, and rumours, I really thought there would be at least double figures with genuinely faulty decks on this very popular forum.
Since the subject has come uo several times maybe they could not be bothered to post to this thread?
The whole point of this (new?)post was, (based on the old posts)to see how many genuinely faulty decks there still are out there!
My 890 has stopped recordin +r discs and is becoming unreliable with some +rw's. There is also an audio sink problem which is about 4 frames. I also have a friends dvdr-980 which I was going to use while my 890 is repaired. On contacting Philips their fault code D7FC56742 was familar to them and the unit should be returned to base via the retailer.
Could I point out the under the 'Sale of Goods Act' that it is responsibility of the retailer for up to five years and their one year warranty is 'In addition to your satutary rights. You satutary rights are that the unit should last for a resonable amount of time considering its cost and purpose. In our case a £500 recorder should last much longer than 1 year.
Add me to the list. My DVD 890 went back 2 weeks ago. According to the report that came back with it they had updated the firmware and also replaced the disc unit. As it came back with the top cover incorrectly fitted I had a look inside. The new disc unit had a rather large fan fitted to it apart from that it looked like a standard PC DV writer. I hadn't looked before I sent it back so I don't know if the fan is a mod or standard. So far it does all the things that it didn't do before servicing
As an update to my posting of 2nd July, my friend's 890 has failed again with the same symptoms as before.
He is to return it to Comet for the second time tomorrow. I will post again to report the outcome.
Branny, if you were the unfortunate owner of one of these suspect units, I think you would be equally annoyed.
Tim
For some unknown reason BRANNY refuses(despite all the evidence to the contary) to accept the fact that there is a MAJOR PROBLEM with these machines!!!!
I bet he works for Phillips(lol)
quote:Originally posted by hanjack:
For some unknown reason BRANNY refuses(despite all the evidence to the contary) to accept the fact that there is a MAJOR PROBLEM with these machines!!!!
I bet he works for Phillips(lol)
Even while it is illogical for him to deny that there is no problem with the product; it's a bit daft for you to say what you said without looking at his profile and seeing that he runs his own business.
Bob C
Sorry I've been away guys!
No doubt rhe recent flare ups are posted without reading this post from the start - so, lets reiterate - I have no doubts there are a few Philips machines with genuine problems and probably a few more than other manufacturers - my point is - that reading beyond the Hysteria/rumour/multiple postings and sheer whingeing there are only 3/4 on this popular DVD board and not the thousands the doom merchants would have you believe.
I'm not a great advocate of any manufacturer, providing it works I dont care who makes it or where its made and yes, I too would be dissapointed with any faulty product and yes I even have a faulty Philips
DVD player (DVD640)that is going back for the 2nd time with the same fault - and NO - my world and Philips whole production line wont close down because I post on here 20 times about it anymore than they will have an inquest based on the 3/4 decks that have amassed during the last month on this posting.
From what I can gather Philips can and do fix these decks within weeks and all new technology benefits from firmware updates. I have no doubt my 890 will perform some act of delinquency at some stage and when it does and Philips DONT fix it then I'll be on here whingeing with the others.
[This message has been edited by branny (edited 25 July 2003).]
Just got my recorder back from Belgium with form stating "Updated Firmware and Replaced Disk Module". So far, 2 disks have been burned back-t-back successfully. First time that happened.
Steve at Work. Tell Comet to stop messing about with your recorder. They must send it back to Belgium for the necessary upgrade.
------------------
Mike
I have heard through the grapevine that there is now a guy in the UK that deals with them.
i must be lucky.i have had no problems with my 890.and now i have the Matrox RT X100,i can export direct from the timeline into the 890 through the firewire.
Iv'e just joined the club. 890 not playing discs that once played OK. Been sent to Belgium. Hope it's better after it's holiday.