I am looking to purchase a dvd recorder from Philips. I compared the specs on the 985 and the 75 or 80. I do not see any significant improvement according to the info on the web pages from Philips. I will not be recording in the longer time periods of 8 hours. I understand that the Philips 985 had a bad history of problems but it sounds like those have been resolved. Also isn't likely that a new Philips would have problems until the bugs are worked out. For the price difference, it seems like the older 985 is the better buy. I have seen the 985 available on the web for $495, so it is cheaper.I also want to copy from my digital camcorder and the 985 seems to have the better input. Any thoughts from you more experienced people would be appreciated. Thanks