Philips CD Recorder Failure......

I have a couple of Philips CD recorders that no longer will recognize a recordable disc. I have to wonder if these were designed to fail. It seems to me that if the industry didn't want them to continue to work they could redesign the discs to fail. I can't seem to locate maybe an older slower speed disc that might be able to be read by these players. It has frustrated me. Any thoughts on solving this problem would be appreciated.

 

Anybody?

Why can I put 30 recordable Maxell CD's in this CD Recorder and it will only read one or two?

 

Yes, I tried that. I just think that it is with the newer, faster discs that it has stopped working. I didn't use them for a long time and now they just don't read them. I can't figure out why it will read one every now and then. Maxell's always worked before. Do I need to start searching for something it will read or trash them?

 

How old are these recorders. Sounds like a laser failure.
The 'speed' of the discs is irrelevant.
I didn't know anyone made them for quite awhile.

 

Are the discs specifically marked CD-R Audio? If so, they should be good for 1x burning.

Are these discs made in Taiwan? There are lots of complaints about the Taiwan-made discs not being as good as the old Japanese-made Maxells.

Do you have some kind of media tester program on your PC which can check the quality of the disc?

If the discs are good, then it is likely that the recorder has come to the end of its life.

 

You don't mention how old yr unit is. The early Phillips recorders were notorious for failing. They were cheap machines to buy, I can only imagine how cheap they were to build. I had one early on and recorded too many 'coasters'. I moved on to a Pioneer Elite (fantastic unit but currently out of production). I've got a Tascam now that's yet to fail me.

 

Hardly cheap. Mine was $600. Bought it in 1998. Mine is on the fritz too. If you don't have the discs with the blue/green dye, you can forget about it on these older machines.

 

See if you can get a service manual. There are sometimes adjustments for the laser itself.

 

I had a couple of them and they didn't last very long, possibly a Phillips problem.

 

Sometimes old gear is simply vintage, sometimes old gear is antiquated… I would cut my losses with this one to be honest

 

I bought it in 1999 for a little more than you paid. To be honest, this does seem like a disc problem. After inserting 30 of the same discs it finally read one and I recorded a full 78 minute comp with stops and pauses all through it. I finalized it and played it and it was perfect. I tried to do another and couldn't get it to read a disc. I have cleaned the laser with a cleaning disc. I am not aware of blue/green dye, What is it and where do I get them? Thanks!

 

I have a couple of them left. I think Sony was the last people to make them. I ordered a 50 pack the other week from Amazon and was sent the ones with silver backing. My recorder didn't accept any of them. If you look at some of your older discs, if you have any that is, they most likely would have the darker dye on the back. I have to warm up my Philips CDR 870 for about three hours before it will even play a disc. I think it would record if I would just let it warm up overnight. They were great to do a flat transfer of a brand new vinyl record or to take songs that segue on a CD and put them together. I think a lot of what is wrong with mine is just not using it enough. I'd let it sit for months and months. If you don't use it, you lose it!

 

I have problems with my Philips CDR880 seem to be fine up till 2007, went to use it a couple of years ago and it was fussy with most discs brands, never used it much prior maybe 50 discs total. Most of my CD-R comps are in my Sony carousel ( still play). Great sound, especially needle drops.

 

Exactly. I have always had to let my Philips warm up before it would work properly. I also didn't use it for long periods of time. One day it just would not recognize a digital audio CD. I still believe that it is the evolution of the discs that is keeping these machines from working properly. The machines themselves evolved to not recognize and copy CD-R's. If the industry decided that copying music was detrimental to profits and wanted to change direction they could have designed a disc that could not be read by certain recorders. Everybody just excepts, oh, well, my machine died and has reached the end of it's life. Most will go out and buy a new one that meets the standards the industry wants.


Also, just a side note. I inserted a disc that it would not read and inserted it again and it read it. FWIW

 

Also, I am not a technical person at all. I don't even know if what I suggested is possible. I'm just speculating on what I am seeing here.

 

They are VERY picky and use special "MUSIC ONLY" cd-r's. Your best bet is to try to find some of the original Philips brand blue label 74 min cd-r's. I found this out years ago with my CDR880 so I stocked up on them, still got about 75 or so. I don't really use it much for recording cd's anymore but it's a really nice player.

 

You can add my wife to the long list of people whose Philips DVD recorders don't record or read anymore.

 

My experience with this brand has not been good for CD recorders. The first one I purchased cost a fortune and it crapped out long before I would have expected based on usage. I lucked out and was able to get a replacement based on an extended warranty offer. The replacement died even quicker. I am actually surprised to read that anyone has one that still works.

I have been through two Sony machines and a TEAC since then. I purchased another TEAC that had to returned as defective out of the box.

Memorex Music CDr discs have always worked for me. Staples carries them. My local store sells them in shrink wrapped bundles of ten cheaper per disc than the larger spindle packs. Fail rate is pretty low, but I still need to toss about 5% of those discs too.

 

Can I ask where you find those? I've done a search and came up empty. I'm starting to think this might be about paying big dollars for discs. It seems all the cheap discs that used to work don't anymore.

 

Did you try all sorts of discs to see if any of them work?

 

I have a Philips CD recorder, also purchased in 1998 that is still functional...though I rarely use it anymore (maybe a dozen times a year, at most). I have always done the "cheat" where you insert a blank music CD-R (with the right code that the machine is looking for), then once the disc stops spinning, I manually pull the drawer open (without hitting and remove the disc, add in a standard CD-R, close the drawer, then record my music.

Also, if your CD-Rs are getting old, they may become harder to read. From what I've read in the past, you should try to burn your discs within five years in order to ensure optimal performance. Obviously, many discs will last much longer and will work fine. But I can imagine that some dyes do degrade faster than others.

 

I've owned (3) Philips units over the years, 1 single drawer and 2 double drawer units. I sold the single and 1 of the double units prior to them developing trouble, but I mothballed a 765 unit a couple years when it developed the same problems everybody's describing here.

My current default unit is a Hk DCR-20 I bought used 2 years ago and it operates flawlessly. It sounds excellent, also. Has up to 4x capability, but I only use 1x.

I also own a Pioneer PDR-609 single drawer unit that works and sounds great. I have owned the 509 prior, but an electronics chain lost it while getting warranty work done. That was about 15 years ago......

GT

 

I also have a Pio 509, like yours maybe 15 years old. Knock wood, but it still works, although I don't use it daily.

FWIW, I actually have a TDK CD-RW disc that is as old as the player, and it's my go to disc for transcribing vinyl, which I then immediately rip to digital. I do have a couple other newer TDK CD-RWs that I bought assuming the original disc would fail but it has not yet.

A few years ago, I bought a hundred or so Music CD-R's, figuring they will last me until with I or the player kick the bucket.

 

I have a Phillips recorder that still works. At least it did the last time I fired it up. For some reason they stock the Music CDRs at Walgreens. At least around here. Honestly, you got more than 15 years out of your recorder. That's only $40.00 a year! Not too shabby.