Newbie here. I've been reading the threads on these two models with great interest.

Here is my situation: I'm looking to transfer many hours of home video from Hi-8 to DVD. I also have hundreds of VHS tapes that, over time, I'd like to transfer to DVD as well. I'm not too super-tech savvy, so I need something fairly easy to use and reliable. Unfortunately, the VHS machine I recorded these hundreds of tapes on (a VERY old JVC) recently died, so I don't have the original machine to play them back on for recording purposes.

I just purchased the Panasonic EZ48 with the Costco special coupon. I haven't opened it yet, as, after reading so many raves on the Phillips, I'm thinking about that as well. I like the fact that the Panasonic has the SD card slot and so many other features. Of course, I've read the praises of the HDD on the Phillips. Now, I'm more confused than ever.

Given my needs, which do you recommend and why? I've read on this forum where users have said it's much better to transfer VHS to DVD with the original machine the tapes were recorded on - therefore using two separate uints for the transfer and not a DVD/VCR combo, however, keep in mind, I don't have my VHS machine available to me, so I would have to purchase a new, (if I can find one) VHS unit.

I greatly appreciate your advice. Thanks.

Well I'd get the Philips because you can record a bunch of tapes to the HDD, then edit and split them up easily. I wont do a non HD dvd recorder after first getting a Panasonic E80h machine, then the Polaroid, then a couple of Philips machines ;) I'm pretty sure it has a TBC or something similar that helps clean up older tapes with bad color and sharpness, I know my e80 has it and it really helps.
As far as a VHS machine Ebay and Craigs list are your friend, though for a machine like that I'd prefer a local seller so I can test drive it.
IF you want to spend some money you might still be able to find a JVC 96 to 9800 series SVHS machine that will do a stellar job of playing back old slow VHS tapes because it does have a Time Base Corrector circuit built in, plus it can record and play SVHS tapes and also do it on regular tapes.

I personally prefer the picture on a Panasonic although I've been around long enough to know that my preference is not necessarily right for everyone. Others prefer the Philips or other brands. I don't think anyone can question the benefit of a HDD. Having worked with HDD less (hey they should market new US DVDRs as "HDD less" like they do the "tuner less" models, people might actually think they're getting something better:D) anyway, having worked with DVDRs without a HDD and now having one (Panny EH-55) I can say their so handy it would be hard to believe not having one. RAM discs on a RAM type recorder are handy for chaseplaying but really don't work for tape conversion like you're talking about, well unless you want to involve your computer. So in your case, as long as you have the Panny, I'd carefully unbox it and save all the packing material, I personally never open the shrink wrapped batteries until I know I'm keeping the unit. I'd play with it for a while, making several test recordings to -RW discs, paying particular attention to the SP and espically LP(4 hr) speeds. Then I'd get a Philips 3576 at Sams(hopefully you're a dual member like me, or know someone with a Sams club card) then I'd do the same thing testing the Philips.
If you prefer the Philips PQ then it's a no brainer. If you like the Panny then you'll have to decide if the PQ is worth the trade off of not having the HDD. At first you may not see the benefit of the HDD, but after you've had one for a while I'm sure you'd be singing their praises like most everyone else here.
In the end it's up to you, but since you've already got the Panny you'd be in a great position to do some testing and see what's truly important to you.
Good luck!
BTW if you get the Philips you'd have to get a VCR also. Dartman's recommendations were good. I might also suggest Garage Sales. Lately I've seen some great looking VCRs going for cheap. I think many are unloading them before the "digital cut over" and many probably because they never use VCRs anymore.

At first you may not see the benefit of the HDD, but after you've had one for a while I'm sure you'd be singing their praises like most everyone else here.Whad'ya mean most? ;)

I have a question about format of DVD's to use. Please keep in mind I'm a newbie to DVD's and disc burning so these questions may seem very basic.

Taking jjeff's recommendation to try out both units, he suggested using -RW DVD's for the Panasonic machine. Is -RW the best format for this machine?

What is the recommended format for the Phillips? Whichever unit I keep, I want to be able to play the discs on different home DVD players as well as my computer.

What brand discs are the best, but most affordable, to purchase. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of money to spend on very expensive discs. Looking for something good and reliable.

Thanks.

Panasonics tend to prefer - media while Philips is native to + media. That said both units will play all disc types(the Panny also adds RAM). I think the Philips is a little more forgiving on using - than the Panasonics are of using + media. In your case I'd buy a few -RWs for your testing. If you liked the Philips better, then purchase +RWs from then on(although with the HDD you probably won't be buying many more).
When I had my 3575 I basically just used the same -RWs I had used in my Pannys and never had a problem.
I've personally had good luck with -RW discs in a 25 pack spindle from Office Depot. I think they run on sale for less than $10 although I haven't bought any for a while. I keep using the same ones over and over. I also have many Maxells I bought at Walmart for something like $10 for a 15 pack. Sams sells a 30 pack of Verbatims for a pretty decent price. Most everyone seems to like the Verbs.
Honestly I haven't had a bad -RW disc yet. Many are original discs I bought back in '05 and I've reused many for 30 or more times. I just rotate them, reformatting as I finish watching the show. Of course now that I've got a DVDR w/HDD my stack of reformatted discs is larger than ever. Now basically everything goes on the HDD is watched then deleted. So much handier than RWs, but hey I lived with RWs for more than 3 years so I can't complain. They got me away from using VCRs for time shifting.
Lastly for compatibility - media might be a tad more compatible. Some older players many not play + media although I think most players made in the last 5? years will be fine. A player must specifically state it will play RAM discs. They would be the least compatible I mentioned.

Thanks for the great info jjeff. At this point, I'm not planning to use the new unit for watching and/or recording current programs, as I have a TIVO that I use for that. I'm purchasing the unit to archive my many years of cherished home videos from my Hi8 Sony camcorder and to archive hundreds of very old VHS tapes.

Since my needs are mainly for archiving and I don't want anything to happen to the content on the discs accidentally down the road, are -RW discs still the best bet for me? (I have two little kids, so anything and everything can happen. Should I consider regular -R discs?)

Thanks again for all your help.

Yes in your case use -R or + R discs. The RW's are best for rerecording, I would not suggest those for archiving or permanent storage.
You'd probably want to spend a little more and get Ty or Verb discs. Their are many threads discussing the various merits of different brands. If you have kids and one of a kind DVDs you might want to make 2 copies of each title, espically the ones the kids might use. That way you've always got a backup since lots of times once a DVD is damaged it may never play again. At least with a VHS tape it will probably only snarl in one spot and you would still have access to the rest of the tape. If you want to make 2 copies then a DVDR w/HDD is also a bigger plus. With those you can copy your VHS to the HDD and then burn off as many copies as you want and all will be the same PQ as the original on the HDD if using lossless High Speed copy.

Can I jump in with another question? I recently bought the Philips DVD recorder with hard drive, and like the original poster, want to transfer S-VHS tapes to DVD. I guess to record to the hard drive, there isn't much to decide -- just plug it in and hit record.

But, when I get around to making the DVD's is there much difference in quality between using the best recording mode (HQ), and the next best (SP)? -- keeping in mind these are S-VHS tapes made off-air with a Sony SLV-R5UC recorder.

I'm not concerned with the cost of the DVDs, but the convenience of recording a two hour tape to a single DVD would be nice.

Thanks.

There shouldn't be too much of a noticable difference, if any.

Just try each with an RW disc first and see.

Can I jump in with another question? I recently bought the Philips DVD recorder with hard drive, and like the original poster, want to transfer S-VHS tapes to DVD. I guess to record to the hard drive, there isn't much to decide -- just plug it in and hit record.

But, when I get around to making the DVD's is there much difference in quality between using the best recording mode (HQ), and the next best (SP)? -- keeping in mind these are S-VHS tapes made off-air with a Sony SLV-R5UC recorder.
With the Philips 3576, the approx. bit-rates for HQ vs SP is 9.5 vs 5.5. The 5.5 Mbps for SP is quite high, so you really won't notice a lot of diff. between the two modes. I use my Philips at SP at all times and everything looks good. As Rammitinski said, do a test at each mode cuz only you can decide what looks best to you.

In case you didn't know, there's a set of organized help subjects available on the 3576 if you click on my signature. Here's one of those subjects on high-speed dub (HSD), which will give you a list of how much extra time HSD gives you at each rec mode (1:04:55 at HQ and 2:10:00 at SP). (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12298490&postcount=19)

Thanks for the replies and the link to those help posts.

Hope I'm not being too much of a nervous nelly, but one other thing occurs -- even if I can't notice a difference now, I think eventually discs will go the way of tape, and we will again be transferring our stuff to flash drives or some such. Would the higher quality recording offer some advantage then?

Also, those help posts from Wajo look very useful. Have people made similar efforts for other products? Is there a list of them somewhere?

You bring up a good point. If your TV is so-so now and lets say you record in a 4 hr speed because you can't tell a difference, then later if your get a 56" HDTV you'd probably wish you had recorded in a better resolution now.
Personally back in the days of VHS I always used SP(2hr speed). Many others were using ep6 but I figured if commercial tapes were using SP, it was good enough for me. 20 years later when I got a HDTV I'm was sure glad I used SP instead of SLP. The SP tapes I made actually look quite good on my DVDR/HDTV. I've seen tapes that friends recorded in SLP and quite frankly they look like *rap.

I guess the moral would be you can never really do anything too good. That said I guess I wouldn't probably use XP(HQ) speed for casual archiving discs. Maybe very favorite items but for the most part I think SP(probably close to what commercial discs might be) is a good compromise. If you get the Philips personally I'd try and avoid speeds above 2hrs/disc. Philips like most mfgs. drop the resolution on speeds above 2hrs. The Panny will keep full resolution up to LP(4hrs/disc) although when you get much over 3hrs/disc you'll probably notice the macroblocking on fast moving scenes. I didn't heed my own advice when I got my first Panny DVDR. I didn't notice a difference on my 26" Sony analog TV so I used LP, thinking I could then fit 2 VHS tapes/disc. luckily I didn't dub very many tapes when I discovered the nasty secret about DVDs/MPEG compression, that is resolution might look great for still images but once fast/unpredictable movement is added the picture goes to hell. For anything you care about a lot if using a Panny I'd really stick under 3hrs/disc. Since many of my events I record are 2-3hrs long I really like Pannys. With the HDD on the Philips you can even use speeds like HQ(1hr) and fit many hours on the HDD, its just offloading that you'll take a hit. When recording to the HDD(if you plan on archiving to DVD) it's best to use a speed that will fit on a DVD without changing speeds. This way you can use a High Speed lossless copy and retain the same PQ as was on the HDD.

On your last point, no I don't know of another thread on any forum that has made a similar effort as Wajo has done here at AVS. His thread is truly one of a kind and I believe a reason many people end up with a 3575/6. I know I personally wouldn't have tried one without first reading his thread/posts.