Digital Trends

Philips DVDRW228

March 3rd, 2003 | by Dan Gaul

Setup and Installation

Inside the box you'll find:

Also included were a Microsoft Publisher 30-day trial CD and a $30 mail-in rebate.

The quick install guide is actually the jacket to the installation and software CD. If you are experienced with installing normal cd-rom drives, the DVDRW228 is just like any other. The documentation on the jacket should be adequate for most people. The documentation on the CD is somewhat sparse, but does cover the basics of how to burn CDs and definitions for terminology and technologies. It's also in a web based format so navigating the documentation is pretty easy. There are also links to their download page to download the latest drivers or documentation in PDF format.

The included software CD also contains the drivers and software utilities needed to burn DVDs and CD-Rs. The software utilities installed are Ahead's Nero Burning Rom and InCD, Sonic MyDVD, and Cyberlink PowerDVD.

Almost anyone should be able to install this drive due to the minimum system requirements:

PII 300 or equivalent CPU
32 MB of memory
65 MB of disk space.
Windows 95, 98, ME, Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

One very important thing to note: If you do not install the software from the CD, then you won't be able to write to media. I learned this the hard way when I misplaced the installation cd-rom. I had re-installed Windows XP and downloaded Nero. Every time I tried to make a burn I got an error before the write process saying the disc did not have enough disc space. Luckily I found the installation CD since there are no drivers on Philips website. The drivers are absolutely critical to install if you want a functioning drive. I highly recommend making a backup of the installation CD in case you lose or damage the original, since w/out it you will not be able to use the drive to record on a new system.

Other then that, installation and setup was a breeze. Using the drive to record DVDs is fairly easy with the included software. With Nero you can burn Data or Media DVDs, although media burning in Nero is somewhat lacking in features, like easy to create menus. With Sonic MyDVD you can easily create a media DVD with menu's, recording from a device like a camcorder or from pre-existing files like MPEG, AVI or DivX files. I did notice that a 600MB DivX or MPEG2 file added to a project results in MyDVD reporting that it needs over 6GB of space to burn. That seems ridiculous since a 600MB DivX or MPEG2 clip is usually 2 hours long.

Conclusion

Philips is known for quality products and great technology. Philip's DVDRW228 DVD+R/RW drive is a good example. Easy to install, easy to setup, easy to use. Seamless Link and Thermo-Balanced Writing are also great technologies to include in the drive and further enhance the user experience. There are some drawbacks though. The price, availability with drivers, and incompatibility with standard installs of Nero Burning Rom.

The price is helped by the included $30 rebate, which puts it in the same range of competing burners, around $270 after rebate from the cheapest price I found on the net. The price range before rebate is $300 - $375. However, the only way you can install drivers is from the included CD-ROM. The inability to download drivers from Philip's website is a serious usability issue. I would think that this would not only cost Philip's money in Tech Support phone calls, but also wastes the consumer's time. I also was somewhat let down by the fact that Philip's online chat support would not work for me either (the page would load, but there was no way to actually chat.) If you don't have the installation CD, then you are out of luck with this drive. The default download of Nero Burning Rom from Ahead Software's website will not work. Instead, it generates errors of “Not enough disc space” on a blank DVD+R or DVD+RW disc. The limitation of drivers outweighs the features of this otherwise great product.