Philips DVDR75 acting wierd.

[RonBoy]

My DVDR75 has decided it doesn't like RICOHJPN media.
I've burned a couple hundread or more in the DVDR75and a few months ago the DVDR75 started not recognizing a few of them and now it doesn't play hardly any of them whether they were made on the DVDR75 or my computer.
Having no problems with MXL, Tayio Yuden, TTG02 but even the few Philips branded CMC mag will not play in it any more.
Anyone else had this problem and if so how did you fix it.
I called Philips tech support but that was a total waste of time.

TIA

[OldeMan]

From my experiece with the DVDR75, your laser assembly is starting to go. It will eventually get to the point that its won't read/write any DVD+R media. Mine now has to warm up for a while before it will read a DVD+RW.

Laser failure is a common fault with Philips DVD recorders. I burned about 600 DVD+rs over about a 14 month period on my DVDR75 before it started acting up.

Upgrading to the latest firmware will help it accept more media, but long term..........replace the laser or the unit.

I have upgraded to the later DVDR77 which has several improvements. I bought five DVDR77s over eBay three of them died within first day of use. One of the remaing doesn't have a working DV input, but the last one works perfectly (it was a refurb from Philips outlet).

The 77 has an external fan, a more standardised laser assembly, selectable menu background etc etc and overall improved performance compared to the 75.

I haven't heard of any laser failures on the 77 yet. I don't think many of them were sold compared to the 75.

I think Philips is withdrawing from the US DVD recorder market. They didn't deliver all the models that were announced in 2004 and announced no new models at the recent Consumer Electronic show. The new Philips 520 hard disk model appears to be a Lite-On clone.