Philips DVDR3305 review

There are also some video editing options, so when you finalise your disc to be played elsewhere, users will be greeted with a menu screen and chapter headings. While this is more complicated, persevering will result in a much more pleasurable experience for your audience. Finally, a word on discs. This is one of Philips' new Dual Media range, which means it can actually record on both the DVD+R/RW format and the rival DVD-R/RW option. This not only helps on the future-proof front, but also takes the confusion out of buying discs and will hopefully push DVD recorders further into the mass market.

Performance
Judged as a recorder alone the DVDR3305 excels for the price. Copies made at the best quality levels are indistinguishable from the original broadcast, and although this drops off dramatically when you try to squeeze six hours onto a disc, with digital artefacts creeping in and the colours going to pot, it's still good enough to keep the kids occupied with a whole afternoon's worth of Tweenies.

There's also good news when it comes to playing back shop-bought DVD discs, with the DVDR3305 proving itself adept at delivering a detailed performance to the screen. Even when the picture is blown up on the image thrown from a relatively high-end projector, it doesn't embarrass itself totally. While it isn't quite up to the performance you'd get from a similarly priced dedicated player, it certainly puts some of the slightly more expensive recorders to shame in this respect. It also does well on the sound front, and while we wouldn't recommend playing your CDs on it, it does a good job with movies to either the TV or via the digital output to an AV receiver.

Edited by Mary Lojkine
Additional editing by Kate Macefield