Page 1 of Philips dvdr880 firmware upgrade

Hi I have a philips dvdr880 which has now all but died, it wont play, it wont record, it wont do anything much apart from spin discs. I have contacted several local repair companies and they all say the same thing "sorry, we wont touch one of those!". Before I throw it in the bin I have decided to try to upgrade the firmware to see if it makes any differece but have no clue how. Does anyone have any info on where the upgrade can be found and how to use it? Please help as my patience is wearing thin and this very poor excuse for a dvd recorder is moving ever closer to the rubbish bin.

Hi There,

Firstly is the 880 out of guarantee ? If it isn`t then the original retailer is responsible for organising a repair with Philips ( I think the machines are sent to Belgium, or at least were). Secondly if you are thinking of upgrading firmware. Have a look at www.p4c.philips.com and follow the links for downloads. I did just that for my 890. AFAIK the download is applicable to not just the 890 but the 880 and other models as well. Don`t forget to download the instructions as well ! Have you also had a look at the forum for DVD +R/W formats www.dvdplusrw.org ? Good luck

Regards

JohnF

Hi,

my dvdr880 does/did exactly the same as yours, discs just spun around and did nothing else. I contatcted my on-line supplier who arranged to have it collected from me and they have sent it to Philips in Belgium because, in Philips helpdesk staff`s own words "nobody in the UK knows how to fix them" !!!
According to my supplier they have sent several back with the same problem and according to them Philips carry out a software upgrade on the machine which solves the problem !!
I havent got it back yet but its only been a week.
We shall see......

Hi. Sorry to hear you had the same problems, I think Philips have a lot to answer for with this machine, I for one will NOT be purchasing anything else like this from them. I`m going to see if a DIY firmware upgrade helps, if not then who knows. I havent found a local repair shop who is willing to even look at it.

Hi JohnF. There is no guarantee left on the machine and local repair shops wont even touch it. I dont want to take it to Currys as they are reluctant to provide me with a price for for fixing it and it`ll probably end up costing a couple of hundred quid knowing them. I`d rather put the money to a new panasonic. I`ll try the firmware and if it doesnt help then the machine will go on ebay for spares.

I wouldn`t abandon all hope of getting a free repair, as I seem to remember reading somewhere that if it can be shown that if there has been an underlying fault since manufacturer, (there does seem to be such a fault with this range of recorders), then expiry of the guarantee is irrelevant. If I were you, in this case I would leave Currys out of the loop and try dealing direct with Philips direct. Can you let us know how you get on ? Thanks

JohnF

This item was edited on Saturday, 14th June 2003, 16:35

Have upgraded the firmware and the player is no different than it was before, It wont play original region 2 discs, it wont play or record onto +R discs, it will only work with +RW discs and finalizes these at random. Have contacted philips direct and they have said we need to write to thier head office but wouldnt commit to what they would actually do. I`ll get the letter off on Monday and wait and see.

OK on that. I seem to remember from one of the forums on dvdplusrw.org that Philips change the drive and/or the optical engine. Might be worth having a peek at that forum like I said before and if you do find anything relevant, it might be "ammunition" for you in your letter to Philips. If you do send a letter (by snail mail) it might be worth sending it Recorded Delivery, that way it can be tracked by you, should there be any dispute of receipt . Regards again.

JohnF

Update on consumer legislation. Just unearthed the article which explains new consumer legislation re electrical goods. Article is on page 14/15 of June issue of What Video Widescreen Entertainment (mag is still on shelves in this locale). Quote: Faults which were present at the time of purchase, even though they may not have been manifest at that time, can be claimed against even after the initial 12 months Unquote. In the main body of the article it mentions Quote: Complaints about "inherent" or "latent" faults can be brought to court up to six years after the date of purchase, but that does not mean that the product is necessarily expected to last six years. Unquote. Have a look at that article in full if you can, it`s most interesting. Regards.

JohnF