Thanks FullOnShred. That is a big help. I do not edit much. But I have found that shrink a free program is good for converting those VR files to more friendly regular VOB files.

can it record on to hd and watch a dvd at the same time

Yes. I finally got around to checking this last night. Works fine. Sorry it took so long. :eek:

Is there a limit to how many Edit Points you can put on one recording with this unit? I was editing a football game I had previously recorded to the HDD and about midway thru the 2nd half when I tried to edit probably the 15th or 16th commercial out all my Edit Points preceding that one disappeared and I could not place the New Edit Point!!

When I rewound it just a bit all my Edit Points re-appeared. When I went forward again they all disappeared again! Then the Unit stopped responding to my remote, nor would the buttons on the unit function. Meanwhile, the game was still "playing" so I let it run to the end of the Title hoping that would help. It didn't. The unit was then fully locked up and only unplugging it from power worked. I plugged it back in, went back to my game, and ALL My Edit Points were gone!! : ( Has anyone here experienced anything similar with this unit?!?!?! : (


I'm also editing football games and have encountered this same issue. It would seem that its a function of faulty firmware. There doesn't seem to be a hard limit, just a corrupted display issue on the progress bar. After the 15th edit, as you said, the displayed edit points will disappear but the unit still keeps track of where you put them. As you continue to put more edit points in, the display bar may choose to not properly display or even show the new edit points at all. Thats okay (well, not really) but if you continue to plug along until the end of your program and exit the editing mode, you'll find that your edited points were recorded correctly as you intended.


As for chase playing a program that is being captured by the timer onto the HDD, a similar work around to one that has been stated in a few posts up is this:

Wait until your recorded program reaches a commercial break and then hit STOP. At this point, the 6 hour buffer is not available to you. Press HDD to enter that menu. Quickly hit the TUNER button to continue watching your show. Hopefully the commercial hasn't ended yet. At this point, the 6 hour buffer should be available to you again and is capturing your program from this point forward. Now press HDD again and watch your recording from the beginning. When the recording stops press TUNER again and navigate the buffer to watch the remainder of your show. If you wish, you can save from the buffer onto the HDD.

This is a bit more convoluted than the previous post to simulate chase playback but it works.


NOTE: Having a small UPS battery backup to plug the Philips recorder into is always a good move.

Ballsybaal, you may have missed this....My unit Locked Up and Totally quit responding to ANY Commands, Remote or on the unit. I was forced to Unplug the Unit to get control of it again. Not Pretty.

On a similar note....I came home tonite and the unit was involved in Recording in a Preset Timer Event to HDD. I was unable to stop the recording, and again had ZERO response from ANY buttons on remote or on the unit. The Display on the unit was showing "UPDATE"?!?!?! Once again the only way to regain control of the unit was to unplug and then plug back into power and restart the machine. Not good, and I am getting just a bit worried about this thing. I left it transferring an older basketball game from VHS to the HDD when I went to bed last night. When I got up this morning the unit had arbitrarily split the recording into 2 seperate titles???? Never did that before. I swear if I had paid full pop for this thing I would be livid.

I hope it straightens itself out, as it has some nice features and beautiful recording quality, but I doubt I will buy Philips again. :( Probably only Panny or Pio from here on out for me.

does anyone know if you can play DIVX videos off of a usb hd?

I haven't tried it. The manual states no external HDD will play thru the USB port. Says USB Flash drives only. But again, I haven't tested this personally.

does anyone know if you can play DIVX videos off of a usb hd?

I have tried it and you can't play DIVX files from a flash drive. If you have divx files, music and pictures on the flash drive... only the music and photos will be listed when plugged in to the unit. :(

I was using a SanDisk 2gb flash drive.

Has anybody had any trouble with the TV display coming up in black and white? Every now and then, one channel, and only one channel, pops up in black and white, yet its fine on regular TV. Any suggestions?

Has anybody had any trouble with the TV display coming up in black and white? Every now and then, one channel, and only one channel, pops up in black and white, yet its fine on regular TV. Any suggestions?

I've played around with this problem a few days and have realized that the black and white picture only appears on Channel 9 (FOX) when I have the cable plugged in. I've switched to an auxilary antenna... and its gone. Now I'm really confused, as I don't know how to alleviate this issue. Jiggling the coaxial cable in the DVR occasionally fixes the issue, but it comes back when I switch channels (back to Channel 9). If this is an issue with the FOX television stream, then I don't know how to fix it (we receive FOX via Dish Network). I will try a different coaxial cable and report back the success, but please let me know if anybody has a recommended solution (or better yet, has encountered this problem).

I've played around with this problem a few days and have realized that the black and white picture only appears on Channel 9 (FOX) when I have the cable plugged in. I've switched to an auxilary antenna... and its gone. Now I'm really confused, as I don't know how to alleviate this issue. Jiggling the coaxial cable in the DVR occasionally fixes the issue, but it comes back when I switch channels (back to Channel 9). If this is an issue with the FOX television stream, then I don't know how to fix it (we receive FOX via Dish Network). I will try a different coaxial cable and report back the success, but please let me know if anybody has a recommended solution (or better yet, has encountered this problem).

I have been using the unit for over a month and have not had this issue. Maybe the tuner in the dvr has issues with tuning in that frequency?

Do I understand correctly, the Time Shift Buffer is used ONLY in Tuner mode? We have digital cable, which currently feeds into a LVW5005X piece of garbage using either S-Video or an AV connection (composite video?) from a set top box. We'd rarely use the tuner in the DVDR, as it won't handle the digital channels. But if buffering only happens on the tuner channels, I need to cancel my order before it ships...

The Time Shift Buffer works with any of the inputs, not just the internal tuner. You must hit the tuner button to reactivate the Time Shift Buffer after a programmed recording but whatever input was selected remains the same.

Thanks, that eases my mind on one score.

Another question; I'm replacing a Lite-On LVW5005X - planned obsolescence at its best! - and one thing (of many) that I hated about it was that timer recordings would only start if the unit was turned off. If it was on, it would put up a message saying "turn me off", but that's no use at 3:00 am. I could understand that on a VCR, where you might overwrite something you didn't want to lose, but for a DVD recorder that seems like an unneccessary restriction. Anyway, as there was no pass-through (when the thing was off, nothing got to the TV), it was always turned on, so timer recordings almost never happened.

I'm hoping that this one will either start a recording regardless of whether it's on, off or in standby. Failing that, I'm hoping that it will at least pipe the signal direct when it's turned off. Although that would potentially limit the utility of the time shift buffer.

Does it need to be in any particular state to start a timer recording?

Thanks, that eases my mind on one score.


Does it need to be in any particular state to start a timer recording?

No, it timer records whether on or off. If on, a message lets you know about 3 minutes before the timer recording starts giving you the option of canceling. It does skip to the end of the timeshift buffer if on and the timer recording is about to start so if you cancel the timer recording you need to manually go back to where you left off.

I just recently discovered another nice feature about this unit that definitely surprised me. While live recording a program to the HDD from the Tuner you can actually go into the HDD Menu, select a Previously Recorded Title and burn it to a DVD Disc. On a whim I decided to try this while I was recording a program that I didn't particularly care about. I was amazed not to get the little red "no-no" sign when I "selected" my HDD Title and then pressed the HDD button to begin recording. Both the DVD Disc and the HDD recording came out just fine.

I had already figured out that I could "Edit" Previously Recorded HDD Titles while a new HDD Recording was in progress, but never really expected to be able to record with the DVD Burner while also Recording to the HDD. Cool!! :D

the walmart Philips has been doing pretty good after ten weeks. I've had to unplug it maybe six to eight times because of freezeups. has anyone NOT had that problem with this model???

has anyone purchased a universal remote that works well with the unit???

I have had only 2 "freezeups" since I bought mine some months ago, one related to trying to pace more than 15 edit points, which seems to be the limit per Title. You might want to check and make sure you have adequate ventilation. My Philips runs very cool to the touch. I haven't tried any aftermarket remotes with mine. I do fine with the OEM remote.

My Philips runs very cool to the touch. I haven't tried any aftermarket remotes with mine. I do fine with the OEM remote.

After reading you and the others reviews here I devided to buy the Philips to try out. I figured the 90 day return at WalMart would give me a good idea if I liked it or not. I actually found the very last one they had sitting where else, the empty spot for the Polaroid. Stacked in the spot for the DVDR3455H/37 was the plain jane dvd recorder model. Anyway they honored the $219 price and $17 for the extended warranty plus the $3 off for miss priced walked me out the door for $250 Yeah!

My unit runs very cool too, even with the Samsung HDTV tuner setting on top of it (also cool running). As far as aftermarket/universal remote, I have a Universal Remote Home Theater Master MX700 Remote. Ugh, try saying that fast!

This is the company website for my remote.
universalremote/product_detail.php?model=46

I programmed it for every key on the Philips remote and it works flawless. I use the << and >> buttons for the FF RR from the remote so I can pause, rewind, blah blah blah live tv when I'm on cable. I'm also using the SVideo output from my cable box but I don't know that it makes much difference from the standard RCA outputs. The contrast might be a touch better through SVideo.

Anyway, the box works great, did the firmware upgrade from a dvd (no cds on hand). I did find that if you do a manual record for say 2 hours and then rewind to watch from the beginning and then press select to "Cancel Recording" (which I did when I saw the movie being recorded was over in picture in picture) it does indeen Calcel the recording. Not a big deal as it was in the Live Buffer so I went back and did a REC from the buffer and then selected the end of the movie. It saved it to the HDD and it there for me to watch again or dump to a dvd.

I have not had one freeze up with this unit. I must say that the rear of my unit gets very hot. Not cool to the touch at all. I do not use my machine a lot. I have preset about four shows a week that I record. Some I save, most I just delete after watching. I do any major editing on my computer. Just easier for me that way.

Something that I never figured out was controlling HDD playback, "trick mode" in Philips parlance. The remote doesn't offer these functions directly, but during DVD playback the pressing the Display button (IIRC) brings up a menu from which the various trick modes could be selected, eg. forward or reverse at slow speeds. The same button didn't bring up the menu during HDD playback. The on-screen help referrs to Play and Pause buttons even though the remote has a single unified button for both. So, what did I miss?

DVD Trick modes are not available with HDD Title Playback. Play and Pause serve as normal by same button. ( >ll )

With HDD Playback Slo-mo Forward is by Step Mode Only. Press Play/Pause button ( >ll ) for Pause Mode, then press the "NEXT" button ( >l ) repeatedly to "step/frame" advance forward. There is no "step/frame" reverse in HDD Playback, at least that none I have found. Also available in HDD Playback are a 10 sec. Reverse Skip and 30 sec. Forward Skip via the < and > buttons that "frame" the (OK) button. These do not serve the same function in DVD Playback, again, an aggravation because it becomes second nature to use these extensively when viewing HDD Playback and they don't work the same in DVD Play.

The necessity of accessing a "Trick Mode" to Slo-mo Forward and Reverse for DVDs is yet another of the aggravating oddities of the Philips. I find this unit to be rather exasperating because it so outstanding in a number of ways, and yet so clumsy, primitive and downright backwards in others. I have a Love/Aggravation affair with the 3455/37 because of these factors.

Does anyone know if this dvd recorder can play MPEGISO (a mpeg on a DVD with no authoring)? Also, can it play an out of standard DVD-Video, like a DVD with a resolution of 544x480?

Thanks.

Hello, If you mean just burning a MPEG onto a DVD or cd, like a complete stand alone movie or tv show, yes. Or in my case, a bunch of MPEGs on a DVD. I haven't had any problems playing any of the formats yet from divx/xvid to mpegs to svcd or vcds. Cant comment on the second part of your question.

[QUOTE= You Can watch a Previously recorded program by using the HardDrive.[/QUOTE]

Hello
Can you tell me how to do this? When I try, a red "NO" symbol pops up. Same thing when I try to watcha DVD while recording. I can live without "chase play", but this is annoying! And no "Jump" between two channels feature.

Hello
Can you tell me how to do this? When I try, a red "NO" symbol pops up. Same thing when I try to watcha DVD while recording. I can live without "chase play", but this is annoying! And no "Jump" between two channels feature.

Well, on mine I simply use the remote control buttons as usual and access the HDD Titles, select the one I want and press the (OK) button. Same thing for the DVD Player features.

Question,what Firmware is installed in your Philips? I did a Firmware Upgrade in Sept. or Oct. I am not sure if that made any difference in these areas or not.

DVDR3455/37 Firmware Upgrade (http://www.usasupport.philips.com/productDocuments.html?ProductCode=DVDR3455H/37&subCat=DVD_HARDDISK_RECORDERS_SU_US_CONSUMER)

Well, on mine I simply use the remote control buttons as usual and access the HDD Titles, select the one I want and press the (OK) button. Same thing for the DVD Player features.

Question,what Firmware is installed in your Philips? I did a Firmware Upgrade in Sept. or Oct. I am not sure if that made any difference in these areas or not.

DVDR3455/37 Firmware Upgrade (http://www.usasupport.philips.com/productDocuments.html?ProductCode=DVDR3455H/37&subCat=DVD_HARDDISK_RECORDERS_SU_US_CONSUMER)

Same with the Polaroid. Very similiar machines. FullOnShred - you are the man! Nobody better than you with the Philips. Thanks!

Thanks nextoo, but we all pale in comparison with what you have wrought with the Polaroid! (I miss my clapping hands emoticon at times like this!!)

I almost bought another Philips last night to see if I could mimic any of your excellent modifications with this unit. If only Wally World would sell me another one at $115 OTD I would jump right on it! :D

Thanks nextoo, but we all pale in comparison with what you have wrought with the Polaroid! (I miss my clapping hands emoticon at times like this!!)

I almost bought another Philips last night to see if I could mimic any of your excellent modifications with this unit. If only Wally World would sell me another one at $115 OTD I would jump right on it! :D

You have won the the "best check out" award of 2006. Enjoy!

By the way thanks for hanging in there. You have been around for a long time with the Philips. A lot longer than I have been with the Polaroid.

Cool.

Question,what Firmware is installed in your Philips? I did a Firmware Upgrade in Sept. or Oct. I am not sure if that made any difference in these areas or not.



Thanks, I upgraded firmware and it now plays HDD or DVDs at the same time as it records. After reading some of the posts thought the available firmware upgrade was useless, but this seems to be useful.

I have another question, for you or anyone, if you dont mind. In my manual, and the one posted on the Philips website, it pictures the remote has having a "P" on the remote on the channel up/down button. My remote just has "CH" on this button. If your remote has the P, does it switch back and forth between 2 channels? Im thinking the P stands for Previous channel?

Again thanks

My remote has the P on the channel up and down button. However, I have not found the last channel jump on the remote if there is one.

Question,what Firmware is installed in your Philips? I did a Firmware Upgrade in Sept. or Oct. I am not sure if that made any difference in these areas or not.



Thanks, I upgraded firmware and it now plays HDD or DVDs at the same time as it records. After reading some of the posts thought the available firmware upgrade was useless, but this seems to be useful.

I have another question, for you or anyone, if you dont mind. In my manual, and the one posted on the Philips website, it pictures the remote has having a "P" on the remote on the channel up/down button. My remote just has "CH" on this button. If your remote has the P, does it switch back and forth between 2 channels? Im thinking the P stands for Previous channel?

Again thanks

Drifter, you are welcome. I wasn't sure if the upgrade would do it or not - glad it did.

Unfortunately I am guilty of posting that the Firmware Upgrade was basically worthless shortly after I did mine. I was wrong. I was mostly ticked that it didn't fix the no "True Chase Play" issue. Sorry that my post mislead you. I have the Firmware dated 9-21-06 (R19.10) from the link I posted here.

On my remote the button has "CH" in the middle and "+" at the top and "-" at the bottom. I have found no "Last Channel" function on this unit.

Please post anything new that you figure out about this unit because that is how we learn here. :D

I found this Region Free Hack for the Philips while searching for Service Menu Codes - which I did not find. I make absolutely NO WARRANTY as to the effectiveness or safety of this hack. If you use it you do so at your OWN RISK!

It was attributed to CaveMan.....I wonder if that is our very own caveman_17 who posts here??


- Power on
- Switch to DVD mode
- Open tray
- Press 0 0 8 6 0 0 0 on remote
- Press OK
- Power off the unit using remote (<- important step)

- Open tray

Since the remote doesn't have an eject button I used the one on the front panel when I tried this hack. There wasn't any feedback so no way to know whether it worked.

Funny thing. If you press and hold the "Stop" button for a few seconds it will both open and close the DVD Tray. I forgot not everyone knows that. I think I read it somewhere other than the manual myself.

As to the Hack, the Post I read stated there would be no onscreen confirmation, but that Powering Off with the remote was an important piece of the puzzle. Only way to tell if it works would be to try and play some DVDs from another region. Please post back if you get results......Thanks.

Anyone here got any clues about other Philips DVDR Service Menu Codes? I would love to get my hands on them.

Hello
I have this unit, my first DVR other than Comcasts version. Got tired of paying 29 bucks a month extra.

I have never messed with VCRPlus codes before, and was wondering if someone could clue me in? When I use the ones from TVGuide online for my area code, the time and date and length are correct, but most times it does not fill in the channel at all. On rare occasions, it will also fill in the correct channel. Is this just the nature of the beast, or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks in advance

When I used VCR+ codes in my Pio 640, I had to set the "Guide Channels" (GC) in Setup 'cause not all channels for VCR+ match the actual channels in my area. Ch. 33 ir actually GC 30...go figure!

Maybe same situation in your area. Check again at the website and see if you notice any differences and set your DVDR accordingly?

i am looking for a good quality dvd recorder/HDD that will do chapter markings..i have a philips dvdr 3455H and it will mark my chapters from tv to dvd but wont do it on the hard drive...is it possible to do that with any of them? also, to do the chapter markings even straight to the disc, you have to have yesdvd...does anyone know anything about how that really works? it says i can do as many recordings as i want, but can only make 1 copy of each recording..i dont quite understand that...can anyone help me on these issues? thanks!

lilmama40, rest assured I wasn't ignoring your post. :) You have asked a question I am not sure I fully understand.

1-Are you asking if you can Have Chapter Thumbnails directy within the Hard Drive Title meus on the Philips? If so, I think the answer is No. You can divide, and rename and edit Titles on the HDD, but I know of and see no way to Add Chapter Thumbnails inside of the actuall HDD Title Menu.


2- Or are you asking if you can add Chapter Thumbnails when burning from the Hard Drive of the Philips to the DVD Recorder of the Philips? If so, the answer is I am not sure - it depends on how you Define "Chapter" and "Thumbnail".

You can certainly "Divide" and "Rename" any recordings that are stored on the Philips Hard Drive (HDD) as many times as you wish and then rename each "New" Title with any name you choose. Then when Recording from the Philips HDD to the Philips DVD Recorder (DVD+/-R) each "Seperate" Title will have it's own Thumbnail, and you can certainly edit those Thumbnails (without using YesDVD) before you "Finalize" your DVD Disc. Essentially, each seperate "Title" will now be like a "SuperChapter" on the finished Disc and will be played back continuously (I think) in any recorder that will recognize the Disc. You should be able to make as many DVD+/-R copies in this fashion as you so choose.

This is what I am thinking you may actually be trying to acheive. If it is, respond and I will advise how to Change thumbnails when Recording from the Philips HDD to the Philips DVD Recorder(DVD+/-R). Sorry if this is confusing, but I am not totally sure I understand what you want to do.
'Shred

last night i went and got the pioneer 640h cause they said you could do that, add chapter thumbnails on the hard drive and when you copied it to the dvd, they would stay there..NOT! so now i'm ready to take the philips back, the pioneer back and go buy the toshiba...lol...on that one you CAN do it, and it will also let you set how far apart you want the chapters and will set them automatically....grrrrrrrrrrrrrr...this is getting to be a pain in my hiney! LOL....but still would like to know how to do what you said from the hard drive and see if i get the results i want...getting tired of buying things and taking them back..:)

but like you said you'd in your e-mail that you'd do, i need to know step by step how to do that..lol..thanks!!

I think 'Shred covered it quite well. I'm familiar with the Polaroid and I believe the Philips and the Polaroid are the same when it comes to this.

You can edit chapters on the HDD. These edits will be transferred to the disc when burning. You can't change or set title thumbnails on the HDD. You can't set chapter thumbnails on the HDD (or disc).

On a disc after you have burned from the HDD to the disc you can continue to edit chapters (your work from the HDD will be preserved). You can erase all of the chapters you set on the HDD if you want and start over. This is before you finalize the disc.

You can also change the title thumbnail on the disc before you finalize. One thing you cannot do is have chapter thumbnails. For that I would recommend a Toshiba.

I would suggest a practice run. So Record a program just under 2hrs. long and that you don't mind messing up to the Philips HDD in SP Record Mode. Once that is done......

(To keep this example simple let's say you want to break the 2hr. program into 4-30 minute Chapters with Thumbs.)

1- Press the HDD button on the Philips remote. This will bring up all HDD Titles(recordings).

2- Use Navigation buttons (Right, Left, Up, Down, OK) on remote to "Select" the program you want to create Chapters and Thumbnails for. Then Press the Rt. Navi button ) and then select "Rename" to rename the Chapter any name you would like ("Test Chapter 1", for our purposes here).

3- After "renaming" and then returning to main HDD Title Menu Screen, Press the Right Navigation ) button on remote to show the options for that title and use Navi buttons to select "Divide Title". Press (OK) button.

4- Use Next Button ( >l ) to move Forward in 5 min. increments and then the FFW/REW or the 30 sec. skip button ) and 10 sec. reverse skip ( if needed to move ahead 30 min. to your first Chapter endpoint. Press the pause button precisely where you would like the 1st Chapter to end and 2nd Chapter to begin. I find it easiest to "Pause" just before where I want to "divide" a Title, and then use the "Next" Button ( >l ) to "frame advance" to the exact spot I want to place the Split.

5- When you are sure you are where you want the division Press (OK) and then Confirm you want to "Split" the Title. BTW, the Prev Button ( l< ) will move backwards in 5 min. increments if needed. Be careful because you cannot "Undo" Splits!

6- Now you are back to the HDD Title menu again. "Rename" the remaining 1hr.30min. of the program "Test Chapter 2". Select "Divide Title" and move forward another 30min. to the end point for Chapter 2 and Press Pause. When you are sure you are precisely where Chap.2 should end and Chap.3 begin Press (OK) and then confirm (OK) the Title Split.

7- Back to the HDD menu we go. Rename the remaining 1hr. portion "Test Chapter 3" and repeat the process moving forward 30 min. to your last Divide point and select and divide as before. Back to the HDD Menue Screen to Rename the last 30min. section Test Chapter 4.



Now we prepare to burn the DVD.

1- Use Navi buttons to "choose" Test Chapter 1. Press the Select Button to add this title to the DVD Compilation.

2- Now use Navi buttons to "choose" Test Chapter 2 and Press "Select" to add to the DVD que.

3- Use Navi buttons to "choose" Test Chapter 3 and Press "Select" to add to the DVD que.

4- Same thing for Test Chapter 4. It is important to select the Chapters in the exact order you want them to play back once the DVD is burned.

5- Double Check the order of the Chapters, then load a blank DVD-RW (for the test a RW would be better since it can be re-recorded later) into the DVD Burner tray. Close the Tray.

6- Press the HDD Button and the DVD Recording will start. When the recording is done, we can now set/choose the Thumbnails we want for each of the four "Chapters" on our New DVD.

1- Use Navi buttons to select Chapter 1. Press the Right Navigation button ) . Select "Edit Title" from the list of options and Press (OK). Use FFW/REW to navigate thru the Chapter until you see the Frame you want for your Thumbnail Image. When you see what you want press Pause.

2- Now use the Navi Buttons (down) to select "Index Picture". Press (OK) and then press the Left Navigation Button ( This will select the Paused Frame and Record it as your new Thumbnail Image.

3- Repeat as needed for all Chapters.

4- When you are done choosing your new Thumbnail Images, Press the UP Navigation Button until you are all the way to the top. Now Press the Rt. Navi Button ) and Select "Finalize" and when that is done you will now have a 2hr. DVD with 4 Seperate 30 min. "Chapters", each with it's own Thumbnail.

You can of course make your "Chapters" any length you choose, and create as many "Chapters" as you need or want to.

It seems pretty difficult reading it, but rest assured it took almost as long to type this as it would have taken me to actually do it. And like everything, it gets easier with practice. Good luck! :)

wow...lol....ok, i'm gonna sit here and do this now and see what happens..thank you so much for taking out the time to type all this for me, its greatly appreciated!! i will let you know what happens! :)

I think that covers it. :)

As an addendum, pretty much all that I posted above can be found in various places throughout the manual, but I learned most of it simply by messing around with the Navigation buttons and paying attention to the onscreen display prompts. Experimentation is your friend as long as you are using non-essential recordings to learn. ;)

Just to add on. If you are recording tv shows with commercials fullonshred is right on the money. However if you are recording movies that are commercial free. You can set the auto chapter maker to every 15 min or evry 30 min. Then when dividing the title. Just hit the >| button, to jump to the point where you want to divide.

thats what i am doing, movies without commercials...:)

ok, i got to here..."1- Use Navi buttons to select Chapter 1. Press the Right Navigation button ) . Select "Edit Title" from the list of options and Press (OK). Use FFW/REW to navigate thru the Chapter until you see the Frame you want for your Thumbnail Image. When you see what you want press Pause.

2- Now use the Navi Buttons (down) to select "Index Picture". Press (OK) and then press the Left Navigation Button ( This will select the Paused Frame and Record it as your new Thumbnail Image.
on #2 it wont let me go down to select the index picture..i get the red circle with the line thru it...lol

boy do i cell stupid tonite... :(

oops..feel...must be getting aggravated, now i cant type...

hot damn! i have pictures for my chapters! dont know what i did but they are there so i will accept that for now! LOL....now we are finalizing....

shred, you are a genius!! LOL...it worked, i have the thumbnails that i wanted so bad.....thank you so much for your time and patience, it is greatly appreciated..and no, it wasnt that hard, just looked that way reading all the instructions! :) and thanks for the comment nextoo, thats exactally what i'm doing!! i am a happy camper! :)

Cool - only thing might be that we may be confusing "titles" with "chapters" but who's counting! I'm glad it worked out!

lol...i was wanting the thumbnail chapters..when you start the dvd, it has all the scene selections with the pictures and i have that now...:)

maybe i was explaining it the wrong way...

It works! That's all that matters.

thank goodness....i was starting to get a collection of dvd recorders here that have to be returned...lol

i'm still debating whether to go to the toshiba which will do it automatically at whatever intervals i want, or to just keep this philips....

shred, you are a genius!! LOL...it worked, i have the thumbnails that i wanted so bad.....thank you so much for your time and patience, it is greatly appreciated..and no, it wasnt that hard, just looked that way reading all the instructions! :) and thanks for the comment nextoo, thats exactally what i'm doing!! i am a happy camper! :)

llilmama, you are most welcome and I am glad that it worked for you. I am amazed that anyone could make their way thru my long post and get the desired results, but I couldn't seem to shorten it up anymore and say all I felt was required. Glad it worked out for you, you must be a patient person! :)

I learn mostly by playing around a lot with the unit, interspersed with occasional forays into the manual. I have also learned a lot by reading other's post here, and on the Polaroid thread as well.

nextoo, I was trying to use the terminology in the way I felt llilmama was perceiving it with regards to "Chapters" and "Titles". In a previous post (or it might have been a PM) I actually referred to the Main Segments (Titles actually) as "SuperChapters" because there are the many smaller "chapter" markers within each Thumbnailed Segment.

Anyhoo, I think we have a great bunch of folks here at AVS Forum and I appreciate all the help and inspiration you have given me since I joined! Thanks to all. :)

i'm still debating whether to go to the toshiba which will do it automatically at whatever intervals i want, or to just keep this philips....
When I answered your question in the other thread about the 640 not being able to create CHAPTER thumbnails, I didn't know that divided TITLE thumbnails would suffice. Needless to say, any HDD recorder that can divide TITLES (640 and many others) can do what you just did.

Still, only the Toshibas, AFAIK, can insert true CHAPTER thumbnails rather simply, without all the dividing of Titles that you're doing.

i will be keeping up with the posts on here so i can learn new things with this.....this is the greatest forum i have found.....my husband laughs at me and calls me his techo geek cause i just love all the gadgets and stuff.....lol...he has no patience for it! i felt so stupid trying to learn this thing, but now get me on a computer and i can run circles around most people...lol....so if you ever have any questions there, ask away and i just may be able to help!! :)

wabjxo, toshiba is the only one i've heard that can actually do that too.....thats why i'm still debating whether to go to the toshiba....its nice to be able to set it to do that automatically.....i was playing with the pioneer 640 today and i have to say, i really wasnt that impressed with it.....

llilmama, does the Toshi do Chase Play of a Preset Recording that is still recording to the HDD? You know, start watching at the beginning while the end of the show is still recording? I know you have Tivo so you may not use the Toshiba for viewing like that.

What model Toshi did you get, and if you don't mind saying, what did it cost? Thanks.....

BTW, No hard feeling if you don't want to say..... : )

i havent gotten the toshiba yet shred, but i am thinking about it....from what i heard, i think it will do the chase play so you can start watching while it finishes recording..i am calling toshiba in the morning because i have another question and i will ask them that, just to be sure......i am thinking about getting the xs35 and i dont mind saying what it will cost..:) its regularly $400 but bb has it on sale for $350....

Thanks...... : )

btw, the other recorder i have is the pioneer...

hey shred, i talked to toshiba and they said yes, you can do chase play of a preset recording while it is still recording to the hard drive...:)

I don't know much about Toshis, but that is a strong point in it's favor in my opinion. But again, with you having Tivo it's probably not a big deal for you. If the Thumbnail/Chapter feature is as important to you as I think it is, the Toshi might be a better fit for you if it easily does those things you want it too.

In the Philips' favor is that it is about $50 less expensive, and does have terrific recording quality. I like the 6 hour "Live TV Cache", but anyone with Tivo doesn't really need that feature either. If Philips would write a Firmware Upgrade that would give me True Chase Play of a Preset Timer Recording Still In Progress, and fix it where I can "hide" or turn off the status bar and/or control the onscreen duration then I would have a nearly perfect DVDR.

Either way you go I am sure you will have a fine recorder. : )

well, i'm now thinking about keeping what i have.....the toshiba will automatically set the chapter thumbnails going from the hard drive to the disc, but not from the external source to the disc which i can do now if i get the yesdvd, which would put them at the same cost....so its either or with each one.....and you said you cant hide the status bar? are you sure??

hey shred, i talked to toshiba and they said yes, you can do chase play of a preset recording while it is still recording to the hard drive...:)



ToshibaDVDR thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=668158&page=1)


You might want to read this thread to help you decide........

i havent had this that long yet, which status bar are you talking about? any bar i have come up, i can immediately get rid of by hitting the display button...

well, i'm now thinking about keeping what i have.....the toshiba will automatically set the chapter thumbnails going from the hard drive to the disc, but not from the external source to the disc which i can do now if i get the yesdvd, which would put them at the same cost....so its either or with each one.....and you said you cant hide the status bar? are you sure??

Not completely. It will disappear after about 5 sec if I am watching the "Live TV Buffer", but it hangs around on screen for 20 -25 sec when I am watching a Pre-recorded HDD Title. If you know how to cut it off please let me know.

P.S. I mean completely hide it where it doesn't EVER come up. I get morbidly tired of hitting the "Display" button (twice each time) to make the darn thing go away. I would love to have the default option of No Status bar with pressing "Display" in order to make the status bar appear only when i want to see it.

i'm not sure you can actually turn it off so it NEVER comes up again, but i will play with mine today and see......i was reading that thread and it sounds like there are alot of problems with the toshiba as far as trying to record from cable and satellite and saying its copywrited or can only copy once...that will NOT work for me..lol

i'm talking to philips and seeing if they know any way to do that...i'll let ya know...:)

they say no way to disable it....i'm recording something right now, but when its done, i will play around with it and see if there is some way to work around it, but i doubt it...:(

I am pretty sure it would take a firmware upgrade to do it.

Was it hard to get philips on the line?

You didn't happen to mention the No True Chase Play Problem to them did you?

I'm out for a bit. I will catch up later...... ; )

i still need to do the firmware update for mine......and no, it wasnt hard to get them on the line at all, it was pretty quick and painless..lol......and i did mention it and of course he said there was no firmware upgrade coming at this time for that problem...grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I just got off the phone with Philips Support. I talked with a very nice, efficient person who took down my suggestions and says he will forward them to a "Level 2 engineer", whatever that may be. He gave me a Case reference number. I had already typed out my suggestions, but as fate would have it, Philips Email support was currently down. I am going to post my suggestions here. I only addressed the four major issues that are bugging me at the moment. We will see what happens from here.

Dear Philips Support,

I purchased a Philips DVDR 3455/37 DVD Recorder with 160gb Hard Drive some months ago. Since that time your company has released two Firmware Updates, both of which I have applied to my unit. Unfortunately, neither of these Firmware Updates addressed the most serious shortcoming of this machine - The inability to begin viewing a Preset Timer Recording from the beginning in True Chase Play function. I am fully aware that the "Live TV Buffer" allows this ability, so I am quite sure the unit should be able to "Pause, Rewind, and Fast Forward" during an Ongoing Preset Timer Recording as well.

Please address this serious flaw with a new Firmware Update as soon as possible. I have been unable to recommend the 3455/37 to my family and friends, and further, unable to recommend it on any of the various Internet DVD Forums that I visit because of this glaring omission. Panasonic, Toshiba and Pioneer all have True Chase Play available on their DVD/Hard Drive Recorders, and so should Philips! Please correct this serious problem as soon as possible.

While you are at it, there are several other less glaring but still quite annoying problems that need improvement as well.

First, please provide a way to "Completely Turn Off" the "Display Bar", or at least a way for the consumer to shorten the amount of time that it remains onscreen. A "zero to 20 second" adjustment would be ideal. When I am viewing a Hard Drive Title Playback with the 3455/37, the "Display Bar" "pops up" and remains onscreen for 20 seconds anytime I press the play/pause, rewind, ff and other buttons. That is waaaaaaay too long. I get tired of having to press the "Display" button twice to clear the "Display Bar" from my screen every time I touch another control button, especially when using the Slow-Motion Forward "NEXT" button during editing! Give us a way to turn this thing completely off, please! Even better would be if you would provide a way for the consumer to choose the number of seconds the "Display Bar" remains onscreen. An adjustment range from zero to 20 seconds would be ideal.

Also, there is no Slow-Motion Reverse available when viewing and editing HDD Titles, only Forward Slow-Motion is available, by presssing the "Pause" button and then pressing the "NEXT" button repeatedly. If possible, it would greatly aid in editing to have a Slow-Motion Reverse available, preferably by pressing the "Pause" button, and then pressing the "PREV" button repeatedly.

Finally, the 3455/37 has the most annoying habit of occasionally "Powering Off" at the end of a preset timer recording, even if I am currently in the middle of watching or editing a Hard Drive Title at the time. Then I have to Power the Unit back on, wait for it to "initialize", switch it back to the HDD Menu and then try to find where I was at in my HDD Title when the unit decided to "turn itself off"! That is very annoying. Please fix this so that the unit will detect other ongoing processes and not "Power Off" while the consumer is involved in other activities with the unit.

I would really like to purchase another 3455/37 for myself because the recording quality is excellent, and overall it is a good unit, but until the No True Chase Play Problem is resolved, I simply cannot buy or recommend the 3455/37 to anyone. The other problems I mentioned should be resolved as well, but they are not as important as having True Chase Play of a Preset Time Recording in Progress! Thank you for your attention to these problems.

OK, please forgive me if this has already been asked. I would like to know if there is a place that I can find firmware hacks for this machine.

Since I bought it, it has been one headache after another.

jayvilla

The best thing to do is to go to philips web site and upgrade to their latest firmware. Also this machine is not like the simply burners for a computer. A piece of hacked firmware, if it does exist, could be very dangerous.

I know the programers for this machine really dropped the ball. But trusting someone else to get it right could be a worse situation for you.

great letter shred, keep me informed and let me know if you get a response! :) you said there were 2 firmware updates, i only found 1...hmmmm

Thank you for your kind remark. : ) I think as they add a new Update, they remove the older one. I tend to save mine, just in case. The latest Update fixed a few things the last one messed up, such as denying me access to several of the Menu options. I lost them after the 1st Update, and regained them with the second.

I am a fairly persuasive person, so I will do my best to see if we can get True Chase Play. I haven't pushed the issue up 'til now because I was hoping/expecting Philips to address that on their own. Oh well, we shall see....... : )

Dear friends,

I am following this thread with great interest from the very beginning and I fully agree with the FullOnShred's report to Phillips support and especially "chase-play".

Configuration:
Satellite SKY decoder -> Input Phillips DVDR3455 (RCA cables)
Output Phillips DVDR3455 -> TV set (S-Video cable)

I have the following problems and I'd like to know if it is a normal behavior:

1- When DVDR is in stand-by, I am not able to have the SKY decoder signal to reach the TV input. I mean there is no by-pass from DVDR input to DVDR output when DVDR is in Stand-by.
The only way to get a by-pass signal is when using a RF (coaxial) between the SKY decoder and the DVDR input (Antena IN)

2- Each time the DVDR unit is switched off, the default input is back to CH3 and should be manually set again to the correct input (EXT1 or EXT2). This point has been already mentionned but I think it could be forwarded to Phillips.

3- Don't understand very well the input design. You can choose EXT1 or EXT2 for Video signal but there is only one Audio input. How can I connect SKY decoder on one input and another DVD player on the other input?

4- Can I view a previously recorded program and record a new one at the same time?

Thanks to all for your contribution to this very unique thread on the Phillips recorder!

Georges

Welcome ghannelais.

1- I use coaxial directly into my Philips, and I have no idea how to help you. Perhaps someone else here will be able to help.

2- I didn't mention this one because the other items were of greater concern to me at the moment.

3- There are additional audio/video inputs on the front ext. input, lower right hand corner behind a flip-down door.

4- Yes, you can watch a previously recorded HDD Title, or a DVD while actively recording a new program to the HDD. Additionally, and quite a surprise to me, you can be recording a Previously Recorded HDD Title to a blank DVD while an active new HDD Recording is in progress. Now that one REALLY surprised me!

You know it might be nice if they could add a menu button to the remote. It is hell watching DVDs sometimes. Also, have they discontinued this machine? I cannot seem to access it directly on Philips website without doing a search.

Can anyone explain what chase play means?

i too have a question....if i have a timed recording say start at 8pm and i get in the door at 820 can i watch from the beginning (8 pm) while it is still recording? i know the pioneer will do this...thanks

and question 2... i connect it through coax in and cableout to the tv with video out as well...the only way i get a picture is if it is on video 1,will it not display the picture on channel 3 like the old vcr does...is this normal does it not output through channel 3
/

Can anyone explain what chase play means?
That's when you are watching the same material that you are recording, although delayed by some amount of time. The playback point is "behind" the recording point. Hence the playback is "chasing" the recording.

...is this normal does it not output through channel 3
Yes.

Can anyone explain what chase play means?
It means watching a recording in progress from its beginning, while it continues recording.

You set a timer recording and its starts but you're watching something else or not watching TV at all, then, at some point in the recording, you decide to watch the show from the beginning...you'll be playing the show from its beginning and "chasing" the recording, FF and skipping commercials, until you catch up to the point of the recording still in progress.

i too have a question....if i have a timed recording say start at 8pm and i get in the door at 820 can i watch from the beginning (8 pm) while it is still recording? i know the pioneer will do this...thanks

and question 2... i connect it through coax in and cableout to the tv with video out as well...the only way i get a picture is if it is on video 1,will it not display the picture on channel 3 like the old vcr does...is this normal does it not output through channel 3
/
See "chase play" answers above, and a DVDR doesn't ouput anything thru its RF Out...that is a "pass-thru" only, like a signal splitter, sending the cable signal on to your TV thru it's Ant connection.

Anything you play on the DVDR or watch thru its tuner must go thru one of its Line Outputs to a Composite, S-Video or Component connection on your TV...or HDMI. No channel 3 involved like it is on VCRs, which do output thru RF Out.

shred, so the update they have now should update me completely?? or no? lol...

raymondeast
your question is answered on page 9 starting with post #244. There are a couple of methods of doing this. No true chase play as most know it.

shred, so the update they have now should update me completely?? or no? lol...

Yes, updated completely. :)

thanks shred...:)

You know it might be nice if they could add a menu button to the remote. It is hell watching DVDs sometimes. Also, have they discontinued this machine? I cannot seem to access it directly on Philips website without doing a search.

Try the DVD button. On my 3400, which is almost identical to the 3455, if I press the DVD button when I'm in DVD mode it acts like a MENU button (I found this out purely by accident)

Press the Round (OK) Button twice during replay for the DVD Menu...........

Can you help answer this about my setup and me possibly buying this?
I use Dishnet HD and have a Westinghouse 1080p lcd. But I can't/won't afford the Dishnet HD DVR so I'm thinking this may work. I know it wont be HD, but does it upconvert the SD when playing thru component inputs to TV? I can't seem to find the answer - And if so, How does SD upconverted content look? Presently SD content on my Westy looks like &4it.
Unless you guys have a suggestion for still using my Dishnet SD DVR and running it through some type of upconvertor box? At what price? Thanks, very, very good info here.

TomBudC

Have you tried adjusting your set to normal view and make sure that it is only upconverting to 480i or 480p. If you try to upconvert to 1080i or 1080p you will not get a good picture.

SD content should not look bad on your TV. You need to adjust the settings on your TV. If you are talking about playback from your DVR. Then you might try to change the recording quality to it's highest level.

The thing that pisses me off this player is that it has a USB input but u cannot play divx files from say a flashdrive. Whatsup with that? But to watch divx on a burnt dvd is fine. Sigh*

The other thing is that the recording is on the less efficient mpeg2 format. Nowadays player shd be able to record in mpeg4! & in AC3, DTS etc

I believe there is a royalty payment for AC3 and DTS recording formats.

Well, I have found another new aggravation with this unit. I will take a recording, say a basketball game, and get an absolutely PERFECT edit with it on the hard drive. Not one frame of a commercial to be seen anywhere. Then when I burn the darn thing to disc in some places the unit has included a frame or two of the dang commercial that was totally hidden by my HDD Editing. I know this doesn't sound like much, but I go to great lengths to get completely commercial free edits, and it makes me a bit angry that those perfect edits are not transfered "as is" to the DVD recording! Grrrrrr........... :mad: :mad: :mad:

Well, I have found another new aggravation with this unit. I will take a recording, say a basketball game, and get an absolutely PERFECT edit with it on the hard drive. Not one frame of a commercial to be seen anywhere. Then when I burn the darn thing to disc in some places the unit has included a frame or two of the dang commercial that was totally hidden by my HDD Editing. I know this doesn't sound like much, but I go to great lengths to get completely commercial free edits, and it makes me a bit angry that those perfect edits are not transfered "as is" to the DVD recording! Grrrrrr........... :mad: :mad: :mad:

On my Polaroid, which seems to be essentially the same machine, I get the same problem on some cuts. I thought I did a good edit at that point, but when I went back and looked at it on the HD, the additional frame/s were there also. So my edit was not as good as I thought or the break point did move a bit. So it may be the machine or it may be us. In any case, they are not great machines for editing.

If you are doing High-Speed (bit-for-bit) copies then the cut points have to be moved to the nearest GOP boundary (every half second typically). This is a fairly well-known limitation to editing MPEG2 material.

BeeKeeper,I have gone back and checked my edit points on the HDD and they are flawless "fade to black" and "fade back in" when I view them there, but on the DVD Disc they grab just a flash of the commercial.

I check all my edit points. Easy way is to hit play and use the NEXT button to jump forward in 5 min. intervals. It will stop at all edit points,even if they are less than 5 min. apart. With a little practice it becomes very easy to see when it hits an edit point. Then I use the 10 second "Back Skip" button and let the program "play through" and view the edit point.

BobKart, thanks for the info. I haven't studied this stuff from the technical standpoint very much. I appreciate the tip. I guess I will bump my edit points slightly, even if it means not getting my "fade to black" the way I like it. I would rather have it "cut off" in a bright frame than to have a frame of commercial in it.

For general information purposes: I found a really easy way to remove the edit points if they are misplaced. Keep in mind that my Philips is set up to create automatic chapter markers every five minutes, so ymmv.

If when checking a previously placed edit point I find that it isn't exactly where I want it to be, I have found a pretty easy way to get to the precise edit points in order to remove and then replace them.

From the HDD Title Menu select the Title, and then select the Edit option. Then press the NEXT ( >l ) button to skip forward in 5 min. jumps to the bad edit point. As you see the bad edit approaching pay attention and when you see that the next 5 min. jump will "hit" the front end of the bad edit point, press the NEXT ( >l ) button and then immediately press the pause button. If done properly this will "Pause" the frame exactly where the start of the bad edit resides. Press the (OK) button to begin editing.

Press Play to resume. Then press the NEXT ( >l ) button and jump to the end point of the bad edit and immediately press pause on the last jump. This will usually take 1 or 2 jumps at the most. If done properly you will be "Paused" at the ending point of the bad edit. Press the (OK) button to"end editing", and the bad edit will be gone.

Now just back up and "re-place" the starting and ending edit points where you want them.

If you happen to "miss" on a jump or pause, just use the reverse buttons and try again. All in all it is pretty easy with a little practice. I just wish it were absolutely accurate when recording to a DVD. :(

thanks for the tip shred...so far my recorder is doing exactally what i want it to do...i basically use it to copy ppv movies and i did buy the yesdvd...other than it saying yesdvd, my movies look like they are store bought ones....i used to be stubborn and wanted to buy them all cause i wanted the original cases, yada yada....lol..once i hit 800 movies, i decided i could do without the original cases and start doing them from pvp, and the yesdvd turns them out looking like i want them to look....i was worried that if i tried to burn the movie to another disc on my computer, that the chapters wouldnt work, but they do....there are still some movies i insist on buying, and some that dont come on ppv so that i dont have a choice but to buy them...can you say ADDICTION! lol

Hi everybody, first of all sorry for my english, i'm from quebec ;)

i'm looking for a dvd recorder, my first, and I see this phillips that seem relatively good to me, and with 50$ off it's seem better lol

So i read a bit this topic and understand that there is no chase play? Why on the the bestbuy product they say yes, and even on the philips site?

It is said on the philips site (traduction from french, so sorry it's a little bit chaotic :p ) : With the function of the instantaneous replay, replay great moment of your tv show! You only need to push a button to see one particuliar scene of a movie or an action during a football game. The hard disk can retransmit the scene while the the recording of the program is still in play.

So isn't that the chase play? why you say this dvd recorder don't do it?

Another thing just to be sure I understand the 'Live TV' option, with this, when you are looking the tv, if you press pause button, the recorder will automatically record the progran you listen so that when you press pause again, you can continue your listening, even if it's live tv? But when you press pause the second time, does the recording stop? how you will be able to see the end if it's live?


thanks in advance for your answers :cool:

hem... there is the real translation... i even didn't think to change the language of the site... :eek:

With Instant Replay you are in control of exciting TV moments so you can enjoy a precious TV moment like a scene in a movie or football match again ? immediately, at the press of a button. The Hard Disk can play back any scene while continuing to record TV program.

Welcome Tigidi. :) With the Philips DVDR 3455/37 there is "Chase Play" only of a program you are watching "Live" on the Tuner. There is No Chase Play of a Preset Timer Recording that is still in Progress.

In other words, you can not Pause, Rewind, or FF a program that began recording from the Timer Schedule.

I hope this helps clarify things a bit.

As to Live TV, the Hard Drive is constantly recording when you are in the Tuner Mode, you don't have to do anything, this is always happening. You can Pause, Rew, FF as many times as you please and the Philips will continue to automatically record a Live TV program to the 6 hour Live TV buffer. Important to know - it will not automatically "save" the program to the hard drive. It is a 6 hour recording buffer. At the end of 6 hours it begins to record over itself from the beginning point.

If you want to "save" a program from the 6 hour Live TV buffer, when the program ends, press and hold the REC. button for a few seconds, and it will empty the contents of the 6 hour buffer onto the hard drive as a new "Title", or saved recording.

Hello folks. I spoke with Philips Support (there's a misnomer) again today. I was advised that there is no plan to support Chase Play of an In Progress Recording through a Firmware Upgrade because there are not enough people asking for that feature. Support says they make Firmware changes based on Phone calls and consumer surveys.

If you feel the Philips DVDR 3455/37 SHOULD support Chase Play of an In Progress Timer Recording please fill out the survey at the Philips site, Philips Support Website (http://www.usasupport.philips.com/caseSubmitBridge.html?ProductCode=DVDR3455H/37) or call them at 1-888-744-5477.

Please be sure to specify that you want to be able to "Chase Play" a Timer Recording that is Still in Progress. The only way they will fix this is if enough people bitch about it.

:rolleyes: Never mind that just about every other HDD based DVD recorder on the planet has this function. If we want it for ours,we need to complain.

ok ok, so if I understand well, everytime I look at the tv, even if I want to use the dvd recorder or not, I go in the Tuner mode, so if see something interesting for example, I can save it? So I can watch the tv everytime on the tuner mode?

Another thing, is there is possible to copy my old VHS to DVD by playing my vhs in my VCR and burning what's on the tv with the dvd recorder? Or to do that you need a combo VCR/dvd recorder? And the quality will be the same as the VHS?

As for the chase play, is this a possibility that a new firmware see the day soon? Because this feature is maybe not my only interest in a dvd recorder, but it's sure that it's better with...

I read about the pioneer also... I don't really know which to buy... there is this philips at 300$, the pioneer dvr-543HS at 330$ (80gb instead of 160, but can burn DL dvd...) or the pionner dvr-640HS at 400$ (160gb)

hum... hard choice... now I think a little bit more on the dvr-543HS..... is there is other things that make the pioneers better?

edit: oh didn't see your post shred, maybe i'm gonna do a little tour on their site :)

Tigidi, you can easily record your VHS tapes (unless they are copy-protected) to the hard drive of the Philips. Connect the video and audio outputs of the VCR to the front panel inputs of the Philips. Begin playing the VHS tape. Press the Input button on the Philips remote until you see the VHS playing on your TV screen. REW the VHS to the starting point and quickly press rec. on the Philips remote. It will record the VHS to your HDD at whatever Recording Quality you have specified in the Philips Setup Menu. I suspect you can also record them directly to a DVD by pressing the DVD Rec. button and skip the HDD step, but I have never done a recording that way myself. I prefer to record the VHS to the HDD so I can edit it there, and then record to as many DVDs as I choose.

It is a shame Philips is being obstinate about supporting Chase Play of an In Progress Timer Scheduled Recording. Frankly, if this function was available the Philips would be the best value on the HDD DVD recorder market, by far. The only other major shortcoming would be the inability to record to Dual Layer media. I would use that primarily to archive football games.

i asked philips about the chase play of an in progress timed recording a couple of weeks ago and was told they had no plans of a firmware update....so, after reading your post shred, i called them back and bitched about it....maybe if we all do this several times a day, it will seem like there are more people calling in about it! lol..just a thought....

The remote for this unit is absolutely the worst. There is no MENU button for one thing. And I have difficulty navigating through a DVD's main menu with the arrow buttons. For example, when I load the first disc from Season 1 of Get Smart, then try to select a different episode (other than the first one it defaults to) by pushing the right arrow button, it drops a menu down from the top left part of the screen. Only after I watch the first episode (or chapter through it) and am sent back to this screen will the right arrow function as a means to select another episode. Very weird.

I'm thinking about picking up a cheapy $10 universal Philips remote from Wal-Mart tomorrow. I'm not sure whether or not it will work any better but, that said, it would be difficult for it not to. This is, IMHO, the worst remote I have ever encountered.

The remote for this unit is absolutely the worst. There is no MENU button for one thing. And I have difficulty navigating through a DVD's main menu with the arrow buttons. For example, when I load the first disc from Season 1 of Get Smart, then try to select a different episode (other than the first one it defaults to) by pushing the right arrow button, it drops a menu down from the top left part of the screen. Only after I watch the first episode (or chapter through it) and am sent back to this screen will the right arrow function as a means to select another episode. Very weird.

I'm thinking about picking up a cheapy $10 universal Philips remote from Wal-Mart tomorrow. I'm not sure whether or not it will work any better but, that said, it would be difficult for it not to. This is, IMHO, the worst remote I have ever encountered.

The (OK) Button serves as a Menu button in the DVD playback mode. You can use the numeric buttons to select which episode you want to view. Input the number and press (OK). Due to being a multi-function remote a number of buttons serve dual purposes. For instance, press and hold the Stop button for 4-5 sec. and the DVD Tray will open. Repeat, and the DVD Tray will close. Experiment, and press different buttons to see what happens. That's how I figured out that the (OK) button was a Menu button during DVD Playback.

Dear friends,

I am following this thread with great interest from the very beginning and I fully agree with the FullOnShred's report to Phillips support and especially "chase-play".

Configuration:
Satellite SKY decoder -> Input Phillips DVDR3455 (RCA cables)
Output Phillips DVDR3455 -> TV set (S-Video cable)

I have the following problems and I'd like to know if it is a normal behavior:

1- When DVDR is in stand-by, I am not able to have the SKY decoder signal to reach the TV input. I mean there is no by-pass from DVDR input to DVDR output when DVDR is in Stand-by.
The only way to get a by-pass signal is when using a RF (coaxial) between the SKY decoder and the DVDR input (Antena IN)

2- Each time the DVDR unit is switched off, the default input is back to CH3 and should be manually set again to the correct input (EXT1 or EXT2). This point has been already mentionned but I think it could be forwarded to Phillips.

3- Don't understand very well the input design. You can choose EXT1 or EXT2 for Video signal but there is only one Audio input. How can I connect SKY decoder on one input and another DVD player on the other input?

4- Can I view a previously recorded program and record a new one at the same time?

Thanks to all for your contribution to this very unique thread on the Phillips recorder!

Georges


ghannelais,

I've been using a work-around for the stand-by problem (#1 in your list above) that you might find useful. It works by using a passive Audio/Video selector switch for the output of a satellite receiver (cable box too) and the Philips recorder. In this manner, I'm able to watch the decoded satellite signals with the DVDR off.

First, the hardware you'll need for this set up:

1. At minimum a 2-way audio/video selector (4-way will work just as good)
2. 3 sets of Composite audio/video cables (thats the 3 RCA cables [yellow, white, red])
3. 1 audio cable (white & red)
4. 1 S-Video cable
5. 2 RCA Y splitters (with Male connector at top and 1 female connector on each of the two branches)


Before fooling around behind your TVs, make sure that every component is turned off and unplugged just to be safe.


My satellite receiver is a Dish Network 301 model that has both its S-Video and composite video outputs active concurrently. I'm not sure if this is true for every model satellite receiver or cable converter box. If it isn't then you may be out of luck. Check your manuals to be sure.

1. Connect the S-Video cable between the satellite receiver and the DVD recorder.

2. On the receiver, plug in one RCA Y splitter into each of the Left and Right audio outputs.

3. Using the Audio Cable, plug in the White (L) connector into one of the female jacks on the RCA Y splitter that was plugged into the Left Audio jack on the receiver.

4. Still using the same Audio Cable, plug in the Red (R) connector into one of the female jacks on the RCA Y splitter that was plugged into the Right Audio jack on the receiver.

5. Still using the same Audio Cable, plug in the opposite end connectors into the Left (White) / Right (Red) audio input on the Philips DVD recorder.

6. Using one of the audio/video cables (hereby known as cable #1), connect the the Yellow connector to the video output on the receiver. Connect the White plug (Left Audio) to the available female connector on the RCA Y splitter that was plugged into the Left audio output on the receiver. Do the same for the Red connector (Right audio) to the other RCA Y splitter.

7. Connect the other end of cable #1 to "Input 1" on the Audio/Video Selector.

8. Using a second audio/video cable (hereby known as cable #2), connect the composite video & audio outputs of the DVD recorder to "Input 2" on the A/V Selector.

9. Using the third audio/video cable (hereby known as cable #3), connect the "OutPut" of the A/V Selector to your TV.

10. Plug everything back in, turn everything on, and be sure to set the Philips recorder to EXT2 with the remote.


By having this setup, one can watch decoded tv signals via a satellite receiver or cable set top box without having to turn on the DVD recorder. Also, it doesn't matter what input channel is chosen on the A/V Selector. The Philips recorder will still see the audio video signal and be able to record any program because it is directly connected to the signal source.

Since my current TV only has composite inputs and no S-Video nor component video inputs, a 2-way Audio/Video Selector works best for me.

Most 4-way A/V Selectors can also select between S-Video sources. In this case, two more S-video cables can be used. One between the DVD recorder and the A/V Selector and another between the Selector and the TV set. Just make sure to disconnect the composite video connector on the #2 a/v cable or swap it out with an audio only cable.


Pluses:

All those RF coaxial cables between the receiver, DVD recorder, and TV can now be discarded.

No extra Composite video cable is needed between Sat. receiver and DVDR because the Philips unit can convert the incoming S-Video signal to an outgoing Composite signal.


Minuses:

If the Philips recorder is ON and tuned to EXT2 and if the 2nd audio output from the recorder is connected to external speakers while "Input 1" is selected on the A/V Selector, you'll notice a delayed audio effect. Just click over to "Input 2" to get rid of it.

Another device will need to be purchased that'll let you split an S-Video signal so that a connection can be made from the satellite receiver to the A/V Selector in addition to the cable going to the DVD recorder.


Hope this helps.

The (OK) Button serves as a Menu button in the DVD playback mode. You can use the numeric buttons to select which episode you want to view. Input the number and press (OK). Due to being a multi-function remote a number of buttons serve dual purposes. For instance, press and hold the Stop button for 4-5 sec. and the DVD Tray will open. Repeat, and the DVD Tray will close. Experiment, and press different buttons to see what happens. That's how I figured out that the (OK) button was a Menu button during DVD Playback.

Thanks FOS. I'll try those hints out. Much appreciated. I think I may invest in the Philips Universal Remote all the same...if it doesn't perform much better/much more intuitively I can always take it back.

And, by the way, I think I'm going to harass Philips about including "Chase Play" for timer recordings in their next firmware upgrade.

Your welcome, Sofa Spud. Please let us know how the universal remote works out for you. I have considered buying a Logitech Harmony Remote to consolidate all of mine on one, but the $99 price tag has held me back just a bit.

I do hope you will contact Philips about the Chase Play of an In Progress Timer Schedule Recording. Only way they will move on it is if enough people bother them about it.

ghannelais,

I've been using a work-around for the stand-by problem (#1 in your list above) that you might find useful. It works by using a passive Audio/Video selector switch for the output of a satellite receiver (cable box too) and the Philips recorder. In this manner, I'm able to watch the decoded satellite signals with the DVDR off.


Hi BallsyBaal,

Thank you very much for taking time to explain in such details your solution.
I am out of the office until next wek, I'll come back to you asap.

BTW I have sent a report to Philips' support about this point and Chase Play.

Have a nice day,
Georges

You're very welcome ghannelais.

If you have any questions I'll try to answer them to the best of my abilities.

Good Day.

I've noticed a problem where the timer delays recording by several minutes, sometimes close to ten minutes, before it even posts the "Three Minute Warning." However, this doesn't always happen, which means I can't just set the recorder's clock ahead. If I hit Setup and check the clock, then exit the menu, it starts recording instantly, but otherwise it just sits there. It's almost like the recorder gets distracted and needs me to wake it up, which I can't always do. Has anyone else noticed this problem, or have a work-around? Thanks.

I've noticed a problem where the timer delays recording by several minutes, sometimes close to ten minutes, before it even posts the "Three Minute Warning." However, this doesn't always happen, which means I can't just set the recorder's clock ahead. If I hit Setup and check the clock, then exit the menu, it starts recording instantly, but otherwise it just sits there. It's almost like the recorder gets distracted and needs me to wake it up, which I can't always do. Has anyone else noticed this problem, or have a work-around? Thanks.

Wow! Mine never, ever does that. The manual says to set the recording for 1 min. earlier than needed for recorder to have time to Initialize the recording. That sounds like something you should call Philips Support with. And if you would, also mention that it would be a big plus to have Chase Play of an In Progress Timer Scheduled Recording. Thanks, and good luck! :)

(Thank you (especially FullOnShred) for all the helpful tips I have found here.)

Just made my first call to Philips support, and now for my first post here...

Paul was very knowledgeable and did offer many tips, but still was not able to answer too many of my questions (offering to pass them along as suggestions or feedback instead).

I did ask about True Chase Play for Timer Recordings, and was told it probably would not happen with this model.

There have been lots of calls about working with an entry at the top of the Timer Schedule, only to be dumped out to the bottom entry upon completion. Something might be in the works for this.

My question / comment on the Timer Schedule: It would be very nice to be able to sort the entries (similar to the sort of the HDD recordings), or to at least manually move something up or down in the list (so I could group together recordings for the same day of the week), but this does not appear to be possible.

Another question / comment: I would like the system to strip trailing blanks off the manually entered title for a Timer Recording. (The default title is "Timer0" if I change this this to something shorter, I don't seem to be able to get rid of trailing blanks, so when the title shows up in the (center justified) title column of the HDD recording listing, it appears misaligned. (E.g. "LV " pushed to the left instead of "LV" in the center.) There does not appear to be anyway to remove the blanks while editing the Timer Recording, although we can remove them from titles that have been saved to the HDD. [ Different editor for the identical functions, depending on where the function is accessed. ]

Another outstanding question: (Paul thought this was possible, even though his supervisor said "No". Paul tried on their test system, but could not get it to work.) When viewing the contents of the Buffer, there are many things that I can do that will cause me to jump to the Live Program (e.g. holding down the right arrow). Is there any way to jump to the beginning of the buffer (other than pressing the previous button more times than I ever want to do)? [ Ideally, holding down the left arrow would jump to the beginning of the buffer. I will try this, but my hopes are no high. ]

There were a few more minor topics, but not really worth mentioning here, except for one that deserves its own post. (See my next append.)

Stephen

DVDR3455H/37 Reset Procedure:

Learned this during a call to Philips support. (I don't recall seeing it posted here already...)

I was told to use this Reset Procedure if I experience something odd (like a lockup while playing a DVD, or system turns itself off after completing a timer recording (apparently, it is supposed to stay on after a timer recording completes instead of reverting to the standby mode - sometimes mine shuts off and sometimes it doesn't.)

This procedure is not supposed to erase any recordings from the hard drive, and the person I spoke with thought it would not affect scheduled timer recordings. (I personally would assume the Timer Schedule will be erased, unless I try this and find that the entries survive the process.)

1) Turn off the DVR
2) Unplug the DVR
3) Wait at least 10 minutes.
4) Press and hold in the STANDBY-ON button on the front of the DVR.
5) Plug in the power cord (while continuing to hold in the STANDBY-ON button on the DVR).
6) Count to 5 and release the STANDBY-ON button.


< If someone tries this, please let us know how it goes. >

(Thank you (especially FullOnShred) for all the helpful tips I have found here.)

Hello and welcome Stephen. I am glad my posts have been of use to you. I really like this forum, and welcome you and please be sure to post whatever you discover about this unit so we can all benefit. That is how we all learn here. Thanks! :)

Just made my first call to Philips support, and now for my first post here...

Paul was very knowledgeable and did offer many tips, but still was not able to answer too many of my questions (offering to pass them along as suggestions or feedback instead).

I did ask about True Chase Play for Timer Recordings, and was told it probably would not happen with this model.

I really hope they fix this. Let's keep up the pressure. ;)

There have been lots of calls about working with an entry at the top of the Timer Schedule, only to be dumped out to the bottom entry upon completion. Something might be in the works for this.

I have not personally experienced this one.

My question / comment on the Timer Schedule: It would be very nice to be able to sort the entries (similar to the sort of the HDD recordings), or to at least manually move something up or down in the list (so I could group together recordings for the same day of the week), but this does not appear to be possible.

I agree with you, and would like to be able to do the same. Currently I know of no way short of Reprogramming the Timer Entries. Not worth it to me.

Another question / comment: I would like the system to strip trailing blanks off the manually entered title for a Timer Recording. (The default title is "Timer0" if I change this this to something shorter, I don't seem to be able to get rid of trailing blanks, so when the title shows up in the (center justified) title column of the HDD recording listing, it appears misaligned. (E.g. "LV " pushed to the left instead of "LV" in the center.) There does not appear to be anyway to remove the blanks while editing the Timer Recording, although we can remove them from titles that have been saved to the HDD. [ Different editor for the identical functions, depending on where the function is accessed. ]

I have noticed this same thing, and have found no way to fix it. I suppose we could "fill up" all the available "blanks" and even things out that way, but again,it would not be worth the effort to my way of thinking.

Another outstanding question: (Paul thought this was possible, even though his supervisor said "No". Paul tried on their test system, but could not get it to work.) When viewing the contents of the Buffer, there are many things that I can do that will cause me to jump to the Live Program (e.g. holding down the right arrow). Is there any way to jump to the beginning of the buffer (other than pressing the previous button more times than I ever want to do)? [ Ideally, holding down the left arrow would jump to the beginning of the buffer. I will try this, but my hopes are no high. ]

Again, I am in full agreement with you. Navigation of recorded/recording programs leaves quite a bit to be desired with this unit. I will try some things in a bit, but right now have no solution.

There were a few more minor topics, but not really worth mentioning here, except for one that deserves its own post. (See my next append.)

Stephen

:)

DVDR3455H/37 Reset Procedure:

Learned this during a call to Philips support. (I don't recall seeing it posted here already...)

I was told to use this Reset Procedure if I experience something odd (like a lockup while playing a DVD, or system turns itself off after completing a timer recording (apparently, it is supposed to stay on after a timer recording completes instead of reverting to the standby mode - sometimes mine shuts off and sometimes it doesn't.)

This procedure is not supposed to erase any recordings from the hard drive, and the person I spoke with thought it would not affect scheduled timer recordings. (I personally would assume the Timer Schedule will be erased, unless I try this and find that the entries survive the process.)

1) Turn off the DVR
2) Unplug the DVR
3) Wait at least 10 minutes.
4) Press and hold in the STANDBY-ON button on the front of the DVR.
5) Plug in the power cord (while continuing to hold in the STANDBY-ON button on the DVR).
6) Count to 5 and release the STANDBY-ON button.


< If someone tries this, please let us know how it goes. >

So I am not the only one who has experienced the Philips "powering off" at the end of a Timer Recording. I am almost glad to hear this, because like your case,it happens intermittently for me. I am wondering if this occurs when I have a "one time only" recording scheduled? It has happened to me only twice so it is hard to be sure.

I posted this on another thread, but I think it deserves a spot here too.

Today while I was burning an HDD Title to DVD, and Recording Live TV to the HDD,I was also able to go to the HDD and watch another previously recorded HDD Title with full FF, REW, and Pause functionality. Pretty darn cool, though I will not be doing that all simultaneously on a regular basis.

There is absolutely NO WAY a unit that can do all this at the same time is truly incapable of True Chase Play of an In Progress Timer Recording. If Philips would get off the dime and write the Firmware to enable this, they would have a nearly perfect DVDR!!

Is there any way to jump to the beginning of the buffer (other than pressing the previous button more times than I ever want to do)? [ Ideally, holding down the left arrow would jump to the beginning of the buffer. I will try this, but my hopes are not high. ]


Looks like holding down the left arrow will jump me to the beginning of the buffer - at least for a mostly empty buffer. (Yay!) Will try again tomorrow with a full buffer.

Update: Holding down the left arrow button will jump to the beginning of the buffer when the buffer is full.

So hold down the right arrow to get to Live TV and the left arrow to get to the oldest material in the buffer. (Even though the Philips Support Supervisor said this was not possible...)

Another question / comment: I would like the system to strip trailing blanks off the manually entered title for a Timer Recording. (The default title is "Timer0". If I change this to something shorter, I don't seem to be able to get rid of trailing blanks, so when the title shows up in the (center justified) title column of the HDD recording listing, it appears misaligned. (E.g. "LV " pushed to the left instead of "LV" in the center.) There does not appear to be anyway to remove the blanks while editing the Timer Recording, although we can remove them from titles that have been saved to the HDD. [ Different editor for identical functions, depending on where the function is accessed. ]

I have noticed this same thing, and have found no way to fix it. I suppose we could "fill up" all the available "blanks" and even things out that way, but again,it would not be worth the effort to my way of thinking.


Should be easy enough for the program to strip trailing blanks off the Title text string before saving the Timer Recording... (Or when saving the recording to the HDD.)

One of my alternative suggestions was to make the default title something like "T0" instead of "Timer0", so it would be a lot less likely to end up with a title shorter than the default. (The manual suggests that the default title used to be "MyTitle0". At least "Timer0" is a step in the right direction - wouldn't bother me at all if the default was an empty string.)

Hello
I am new to this but hope you or someone else may be able to help. I have recorded a video from my camcorder to the HDD. I have burned it to a dvd+r and it will not play on other dvd players or even my laptop which has a dvd burner on it. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome, winburg. The most likely reason a DVD will fail to play on other players is neglecting to Finalize the DVD in the Philips. To Finalize the disc, put it back in the DVD Tray of your Philips, press DVD button at top of your remote . When the "Title Screen" pops up, Press the "UP" Semi-circular navigation button on the remote several times. It will take you to a Full Screen Area. Now Press the RIGHT semi-circular Navigation Button. A Context Menu will appear. Navigate to "Finalize" and select OK. When it asks if you are sure, select YES and press OK.

If you had already Finalized and the DVD still won't play, I would suspect a "bad disc".

Is there a way to transfer whats on the hard drive of my philips to the hard drive of my laptop to edit the programs using TMPnG?

Yes:

- copy from HDD to DVD (be sure to Finalize!)
- put DVD in PC
- copy from DVD to HDD on PC

So I am not the only one who has experienced the Philips "powering off" at the end of a Timer Recording. I am almost glad to hear this, because like your case,it happens intermittently for me. I am wondering if this occurs when I have a "one time only" recording scheduled? It has happened to me only twice so it is hard to be sure.

It happens because you had the recorder on or off at the start time of the recording. It reverts to the state it was in at the start of the recording.

Just a suggestion, but a lot of "problems" here are the same as the Polaroid, since they seem to be very similar. This, and other things are covered there.

Thanks beekeeper. I wasn't sure WHY it was doing this sometimes and not other times. Should be fixed though. I was watching a DVD with friends last night, and when my preset recording ended, Down goes the Philips, Down goes the Philips!! Had to cut it back on, wait for it to initialize, switch back to DVD, and then track down where we were in the movie. Ridiculous, actually, and it should be fixed.

Welcome, winburg. The most likely reason a DVD will fail to play on other players is neglecting to Finalize the DVD in the Philips. To Finalize the disc, put it back in the DVD Tray of your Philips, press DVD button at top of your remote . When the "Title Screen" pops up, Press the "UP" Semi-circular navigation button on the remote several times. It will take you to a Full Screen Area. Now Press the RIGHT semi-circular Navigation Button. A Context Menu will appear. Navigate to "Finalize" and select OK. When it asks if you are sure, select YES and press OK.

If you had already Finalized and the DVD still won't play, I would suspect a "bad disc".

That made it work on my computer but it will not play one the cheap dvd players it says bad disc. Any idea.

If it can be read by some DVD readers/players but not others, that helps rule out a bad burn/bad media. There could still be a problem compatibility-wise between the media and player in question. Trying different brands/speeds/types of media can help rule media problems out, leaving you with just a problem with the player.

I see you mentioned it was DVD+R media, some players (older ones typically) don't work with that type of media. Perhaps a check of the manual would help determine if that's the case.

That made it work on my computer but it will not play one the cheap dvd players it says bad disc. Any idea.

What Brand/Speed was that +R winburg? Just curious.

I would try the burn again with a quality 8x DVD-R and see what happens. Be sure to finalize. I mention that because I forget that step myself occ. when I am in a hurry. :)


On a side note, since I don't mind pointing out the faults of the unit - let me point out a Strength as well. The DVDR3455/37 has a fantastic tuner section. Very, very nice PQ, and it carries over to recordings made on this unit as well!

Here is/are some suggestions I sent to Philips:

"Subject: Suggested Firmware Changes for DVDR3455H/37

I recently purchased this unit to replace a Philips DVDR985 unit that became defective. There are several suggestions I would like to see incorporated into the DVDR3455 unit:

1. Have the unit remember the last input (e.g. EXT2 or EXT1 or CAM2 or C026, etc) from session to session.

2. Allow the use of the SELECT button to change the case of the current character when inputting Title/Recording information.

3. Allow use of the number keys when inputting Title information with the following key assignments when editing Title information:

SHUFFLE /
REPEAT .
SUBTITLE -
ANGLE '
ZOOM ?
AUDIO +

4. Allow HDD recording blocks to exceed 6 hour durations (I simply wanted to record a full day of material and then later edit). Upon my inspection of the recorded material, I saw there were four 6-hour blocks! :-(

5. Allow HDD recorded blocks to be joined together into a single record block.

6. While editing an recording, allow precise control of split location. When the recording is paused for editing, allow the REW and FFW buttons to switch between one-eighth, ¼ and ½ speeds in the given direction. Additionally, allow PREV and NEXT while paused to step to the previous or next frame in the recording."

Hi,

So why don't you guys set-up so you just record it channel 3 instead EXT2? Does it easier.

I just purchased a cheap ($150) refurbished DVDR3455H/37.

I'm wondering if the buttons on the remote are supposed to illuminate? They look like they should illuminate, or at least glow in the dark - but they do neither.

No, they don't illuminate. Would be nice though. :)

Hi, I was wondering if anybody here uses a ProntoPro TSU-6000 remote with RFX-6000 to control their recorder, I tried programing my remote with some luck, it learns the codes, and works sometimes, I know that somebody would think that it's a problem with the antenna of the RFX-6000 but it's not, the rest of my equipment works without any problems...
Any ideas?

I don't recall any mention of anything similar on this thread. Sorry.

So, I've had my "factory renewed" DVDR3455H/37 for about a week. I like it ok, but I have to like it because it was sold "all sales final" for $139 ($150 w/tax).

I thought I tested everything and all was working ok. I upgraded the hard drive to 250gb and everything seemed fine. But I had only done capture stuff to the HD.

Now I've played with the DVD drive and I've found that when playing any disc (commerical, burned, whatever) the DVD drive will freeze around 2/3 of the way through the disc. It happens the same way with every DVD disc I try. Has anyone else had this problem?

I temporarily swapped out the factory dvd drive and connected my computer's dvd drive, and the replacement drive works perfectly.

So, obviously the factory dvd burner has a problem. It looks to be a super-cheap drive in a non-standard size (it is about 1/4 less tall than a PC style dvd burner.

Has anyone replaced the factory dvd burner with another dvd burner that fits nicely inside the philips?

Blimey, please give us all the details on your HDD upgrade!! Eventually I would like to upgrade mine.

To date I know of no-one who has replaced the DVD Burner in this unit. However,the Polaroid 2001 is also made by Philips, and several folks (nextoo being one) have replaced their internal burners. I think one replacement was a OEM Sony.

I think nextoo eventually settled on an "outboard" burner to cut down on heat within the unit. There is lots of info on that on the main Polaroid thread that is always near the top of the board.

The Polaroid has a standard size dvd burner (different size, model and manufacturer) so it would be easy to replace it in-place inside the case. The Philips has a slimmer, shorter dvd burner. It is going to be much more difficult to replace it inside the case. I was hoping some manufacturer made shorter size dvd burners, but my search has turned up nothing so far.

Blimey, I thought I recalled some drives by TDK, and Philips that were slimmer design. They may have been slot loaders though. I will look around on NewEgg.

Nextoo's ext. burner mod might be possible for the Philips if that's an option for you.

Newegg has 4 Slim DVD Burners including a Philips model. Three are in stock.

Slim Burners (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=ENE&N=2010100005+1036508673&Subcategory=5&description=&Ntk=&srchInDesc=)

Found a Lite-On and a Sony that didn't show in the first search for some reason.

More Slim Burners (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Page=2&Category=10&Nty=1&N=2000100005+1036506653&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=5)

Blimey, wonder if a reset could help your Philips. This was shared by orienteer from a call to Philips Support.

Reset Procedure

1) Turn off the DVR
2) Unplug the DVR
3) Wait at least 10 minutes.
4) Press and hold in the STANDBY-ON button on the front of the DVR.
5) Plug in the power cord (while continuing to hold in the STANDBY-ON button on the DVR).
6) Count to 5 and release the STANDBY-ON button.

FOS- Thanks for all the links. Those drives will definitely fit, although they probably have spring-loaded eject as opposed to motorized eject, and I'm not sure if that will be entirely compatible with the eject control system that the philips unit has. I'm going to try the smallest 5" form-factor dvd burner I can find, and remove the cover and most of the other metal to try to get it to fit.

Blimey, you are welcome, and please let us know how you resolve this. I would maybe try the Reset Procedure just because it is free. Simple things first, and all that. :)

Blimey, you have probably already tried this but I will mention it anyway. Are there any numbers on the Burner from the Philips you could Google and perhaps find a match?

Blimey, you have probably already tried this but I will mention it anyway. Are there any numbers on the Burner from the Philips you could Google and perhaps find a match?

Yeah, I tried that. The best info on the drive is the url "asatech.cc" It looks like the dvd drive is a WXD-9332 (http://www.asatech.cc/eproduction/ewxd-9332.htm).

I could just send the whole thing back to philips (the "renewed" warranty is 90 days). But since the drive works and only hangs 2/3 of the way through a disc, I fear that the techs wouldn't take the time to pick up on the problem.

I'm not sure I'd want to replace it with the same dvd drive anyway. The drive is super cheap and flimsy. It probably weighs 1/4 of what even a lightweight PC dvd drive does. Now I'm in the midst of dremeling up a lite-on dvd drive so that it will fit.

Please Post Pics of your modification if you are able, Blimey. We may all need to do this mod eventually. Thanks, and good luck!!


I used the UL Number. It comes back to:


PHILIPS ELECTRONICS SINGAPORE PTE LTD E143838
PHILIPS OPTICAL STORAGE
BLDG TP4, 5TH FL
620A LORONG 1 TOA PAYOH
SINGAPORE, 319762 SINGAPORE

CD laser chassis, Model(s) CDM48#, VAM12#, VAM2201#, VAM2202#, VAM2204#, VAM2221#, VAM23#, VAM50#, VAM6003#, VAM6024#, VAM6035#, VAM8041#, VAU12#.

CD loader chassis, Model(s) C1203#, CDL4009#, CDL4200#, CDL4400#, CDL4800#, CDR Kenwood, CDR mini#, CDR785#, D4.2 Open, D4.2 Open/BBK, D4.2 Open/VT, D4.3 Closed, D4.3 Closed/AG, D4.3 Closed/TS, D4.3 Open, D4.5 Closed, D4.5 Open, D5.# Closed, D5.# Open, L1210#, MAR1250#, MAR770#, MAR775#, VAD60#, VAD6035#, VAD8031#, VAD804#, VAD8041#, VAE1250#, VAE3000#, VAE5020#, VAE5025#, VAE5120#, VAE6013#, VAE8010#, VAE8015#, VAE8020#, VAL12#, VAL2211#, VAL2212#, VAL2214#, VAL2311#, VAL2312#, VAL3000#, VAL5020#, VAL6011#, VAL6013#, VAL6024#, VAM6001#, VAU5011#, VAU5021#, VAU5026#, VAUR770#, VAUR775#.

CD optical pick-up unit chassis, Model(s) 9305 011 24xxx, 9305 011 29xxx, 9305 011 41xxx, 9305 011 44xxx, 9305 011 54xxx, 9305 011 64xxx, 9305 011 66XXX, OPU24#, OPU29#, OPU41#, OPU44#, OPU51#, OPU54#, OPU64#, OPU66#.

DVD loader chassis, Model(s) VAD6037/21.

# - May be followed by suffix letters and/or numbers.

Marking: Company name and model designation.


Pretty much useless info, eh?

Hey Blimey...... any progress on your Burner upgrade? Just curious.......

Oh, I found one more new Dual Button Function last night. While playing a DVD, Press the DVD button at the top of the remote to jump to the Main DVD Menu Screen. Doh!!

Hey Blimey...... any progress on your Burner upgrade? Just curious.......

I've become convinced that there is no possible way to fit a standard PC-sized dvd drive inside of the 3455H/37. So, I will look for a like-sized replacement, or setup a drive externally.

Please keep us posted on your efforts, Blimey. You are a trail-blazer on this unit, and likely we will all need to follow your lead sooner or later - if we are to keep this unit cranking out DVDs........

So, I've had my "factory renewed" DVDR3455H/37 for about a week. I like it ok, but I have to like it because it was sold "all sales final" for $139 ($150 w/tax).

I thought I tested everything and all was working ok. I upgraded the hard drive to 250gb and everything seemed fine. But I had only done capture stuff to the HD.

Now I've played with the DVD drive and I've found that when playing any disc (commerical, burned, whatever) the DVD drive will freeze around 2/3 of the way through the disc. It happens the same way with every DVD disc I try. Has anyone else had this problem?

I temporarily swapped out the factory dvd drive and connected my computer's dvd drive, and the replacement drive works perfectly.

So, obviously the factory dvd burner has a problem. It looks to be a super-cheap drive in a non-standard size (it is about 1/4 less tall than a PC style dvd burner.

Has anyone replaced the factory dvd burner with another dvd burner that fits nicely inside the philips?

Hi, I am interested in upgrade my HD to something bigger. What did you do to upgrade your drive? Just plug a blank(unformatted PATA) drive? Or is there some formatting involved?

I don't think the slim dvd burners from newegg will work. They are for notebook computers. The interface cabling is different. Although it is still IDE.

Thanks, Jason

where are you picking up the 3455 for 150bux? I need another one.

I upgraded the hard drive to 250gb and everything seemed fine.

Based on your post, I just installed a 300gb into my Philips and now it doesn't boot. What did I do wrong? Are you sure an upgrade works on this? The front just displays something like 'loading' and I see only a blue screen forever and ever. If your's really worked maybe 250gb is the max. Please let me know because I am very sad now. I hope the old drive works when I put it back.

buttplug- See your PM. You will get your 300 GB to work, I'm sure.

What is the secret to get it to work? My hard drive is almost full and I would like to put a 500GB drive. Is it as easy as remove and reinstall? nothing else?!?

blimey, if you don't mind please post the procedure here so we can all have a look see.

I seem to recall nextoo or someone saying they had to Load their Firmware CD into the DVD Tray while trying to upgrade the Philips DVDR 3455/37 to a bigger HDD, but I am not sure I am recalling correctly.

Yes, the "load" prompt is for the firmware disc (after installing a new blank HDD).

I sent him a note because I haven't pinned down a problem I had when I used an older firmware disc by mistake. Initially, I thought any firmware disc would work. I had him check his firmware version.

I still don't know why there was a problem. I'm not sure if the Philips firmware is all on the HDD, all on mainboard EEP, or some combination of both.

If you have the latest firmware and install a new blank HDD and use the same firmware disc afterwards, it should work fine.

Thank you blimey. I will mention here as I have elsewhere that I read a a thread on another board about upgrading the HDD in the Accurian DVDRs. I didn't really read it all that closely, but the gist I got was that there was not enough Onboard Memory for the Accurian to support the way the much larger HDDs "wrote" the files, or something along those lines. The unit would recognize and Format bigger drives, but the user experienced file corruption and unit lockups. This person was light years ahead of me in electronic and computer knowledge and application. He figured out a work around, but it really seemed deeply involved.

All that to say - it is possible that there is a pretty narrow limit to how big an HDD we can successfully use. Until college basketball season is over I won't be experimenting with anything that could possibly lead to file corruption. I am following a team closely and archiving their games on DVD. I want those all to be done properly. :)

The drive is working fine now. It is 300 and I have recorded about 6 hours so far.

Blimey I'm sorry for all the terrible things I thought about you. It would have been nice if you mentioned the firmware loading in your steps but I understand how you could leave it out.

I am planning to buy DVDR3455H.

I read most of the posts in this huge thread but I have one important question

In the manual, " Television programs, fi lms, video tapes, discs, and other materials may be copy-protected and therefore cannot be recorded on this recorder."

Does anyone faced such a problem before?
I am interested to record shows and movies broadcasted as video on-demand.

can i record them using this recorder???

Thanks in advance

Welcome samasimo. I have not tried recording "On Demand" television with this unit. From my readings here and on other threads I strongly suspect the ability/inability to record "On Demand" television will have far more to do with your Content Provider than with the DVDR you chose.

thanks FullOnShred for ur reply

In fact, I asked this question coz i read alot of complains in the LG thread about the unability to record from certain channels and ppv while samsung one records. so the DVDR has a role in this, i think.

I didnt c any complain here although whats written in the manual.

I hope someone tried recording ppv with this unit and tell m b4 i buy it

FWIW, I think Toshiba has a reputation for being picky about "Copy Once" and "Copy Never Flags". I haven't read anything negative about this unit so far. Please let us know what you discover. Thanks.

hi samasimo--i record from ppv ALL the time and it works beautifully....:)

llilmama40,

thanks for ur reply.

I hope it also works with my provider

i use directv, so thats the only one i am familiar with......

Hello llilmama..... Where ya been?

anyone figure out how to connect the HDD from the DVR to a computer to copy off recorded material? For me it just shows up as an unallocated drive, and upon changing nothing, and re-connecting in the DVR, i have to put the firmware disk in.....

hey shred...just been lurking and trying to learn something..lol.....how ya been?

Not bad..... But I want to buy more DVDR/DVD recorders than I need though. I want that $79.99 (now $89.99) Samsung 330 DVD/VHS unit, and I want the Sylvania with the 160gb HDD, and I almost bought a Pioneer 640 at a good price locally. I would also like to have another Philips 3455/37 just to experiment with.....lol I think am getting just a bit obsessed. ;)

anyone figure out how to connect the HDD from the DVR to a computer to copy off recorded material? For me it just shows up as an unallocated drive, and upon changing nothing, and re-connecting in the DVR, i have to put the firmware disk in.....

Welcome polarys425. To my knowledge the answer is no. I did read on another thread somewhere (Polaroid maybe?) that someone had claimed to do so with another brand.

I am having a problem with my Component Output. It look very washed out. S-video and composite looks fine (picture bright and clear). Has anyone else have this problem? Easy fix or send it in.. (Still under warranty but I can't live without one now!)

anyone figure out how to connect the HDD from the DVR to a computer to copy off recorded material? For me it just shows up as an unallocated drive, and upon changing nothing, and re-connecting in the DVR, i have to put the firmware disk in.....

Details about the partition structure will be forthcoming.

Note that the HDD can be moved back are forth between the 3455 and the Polaroid 2001 without loading the firmware disc on the Philips every time.

For example, say you pulled the HDD from the Polaroid with video stored on it. The first time you put this HDD in the Philips, it would need the firmware disc loaded - but all the stored video would still remain. Then, the HDD could go back to the Polaroid, and then back to the Philips - and not need the firmware disc again.

However, note that the HDD jumpers for the Polaroid are set to CS while on the Philips no jumpers are installed.

Details about the partition structure will be forthcoming.

Note that the HDD can be moved back are forth between the 3455 and the Polaroid 2001 without loading the firmware disc on the Philips every time.

For example, say you pulled the HDD from the Polaroid with video stored on it. The first time you put this HDD in the Philips, it would need the firmware disc loaded - but all the stored video would still remain. Then, the HDD could go back to the Polaroid, and then back to the Philips - and not need the firmware disc again.

However, note that the HDD jumpers for the Polaroid are set to CS while on the Philips no jumpers are installed.
Interesting findings. I have not been successful trying to read a Polaroid HDD on a PC. I've tried off and on over the past few months. Tried a lot of different combinations. Let's us know if you find anything out.

LOL...you sound like i was when i was deciding which one i wanted to keep....let me know if you get any of those and how you like them...i need another one for downstairs...my toshiba and my panny both went out at the same time...ughhhhhh....

llilmama, I just learned I won't be buying a Pio 640 due to no user replacement of failed components. The Refurb Samsungs are all sold out now, so it looks like I will be buying the Sylvania or another Philips if I buy anything..... Lol..... I really want that Sylvania, but I keep hoping for a pricedrop on it.

LOL....i havent seen the sylvania, but i did see the samsung at best buy and it looks really nice......i really need to stay out of that store, they called me last week and said for being their best customer, they were treating me and a guest to dinner at the red bird club at the ball stadium, and a tour of the new stadium last night....i live in st louis and we just got a new one but i didnt get to go..:( i had a tooth that was really hurting, like down on my knees and beating the wall hurting....went to the dentist the other day and he did a root canal and found out that wasnt the problem at all, i had a wisdom tooth that needed to come out, so had to have that done yesterday....needless to say, after both, i didnt move from the sofa last night...:(

well my second 3455 is on the blink. I've made about eight or nine dvd's from programs on the HD. Last night, I tried burning some more programs to a new dvd and the red light lit up, the zero percent indicator came on for ten seconds, then shut down. It's no longer burning programs to dvd. Yes, i've tried unplugging, different dvd's, and even tried putting the update back on again. Does anyone know of a fix?

I am sorry to hear of your bad luck with this unit. There is a Reset Procedure listed a few pages back on this thread. I might give that a try. Hope it works.



llilmama, I am sorry you have had such a hard time with your teeth!! I hate dental work, and the idea of you undergoing an unnecessary root canal makes me angry!

I almost went and bought the Sylvania with the 160gb HDD and VCR from WallyWorld tonight. Made myself take another day to think about it.

I've been follwing these threads, especially about the lack of chase play on timer recordings. Still no firmware update it seems (though I'll happily contact tech support about that). But has anyone found any workarounds, besides using the buffer. From other posts looks like you can't have the timer started, then stop and continue with chase play?

yeah, once I make the final payment on the philips , the second dvdr will probably goback to walmart. You know what they say about the third time...

btw, I seen the Sanyo LCD, think it was a 26 inch or 32 at wally world the other day for 698. anyone used one of them and how's their return policy on lcd's?

http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_query=sanyo+lcd&search_constraint=0&ic=24_0&ref=&search_sort=3

thanks shred...it wasnt fun.....i'm a dentist wuss and when they took out that wisdom tooth, hubby had to literally hold me down, i was kicking and trying to get away..:( ...i'm angry at the dentist but i guess in a way i understand....he took x-rays and there was nothing obvious that should have been causing me pain..he did 3 sensitivity tests and there was absolutely no sensitivity in that wisdom tooth but there was in the one he did the root canal on...he said he knew that wisdom tooth needed to come out but didnt wanna do 2 procedures at once, and he was going on what i said hurt, so he said he went that way to try to make sure he got me out of pain.....but being a dentist and KNOWING that something wrong with one tooth can make another feel like its the one hurting, i would have started with the obvious...especially when the tooth he did the root canal on showed there was nothing wrong..sheesh.......i have a beautiful smile because i am one that takes meticulous care of my teeth so i never have to go thru this stuff, so i get stuck with a root canal and wisdom tooth removed all at once.....i think i deserve to punch the dentist!!! :)

so you've had another day, did you go buy it yet? and if you did, how do you like it so far?

Unless you have all kinds of money, my recommendation is just to have it pulled. btw, this isn't the dental forum. haha

on a side note, I unplugged the 3455 last nite for five hours and then hooked it up this morning. It still doesn't record from the HD to DVD, ah well, time to visit walmart again :(

I was looking this morning at the DVDR3455h at Wally-World. And I came to look at you guys review 1st.

But let the creators of these machines realize by now that these forums are very active and they are gonna have to get it right.

:) ( and get out of the bed with the film industry and just give us what we want. The one that comes closest to doing this 1st, will be 1st on the cosummers list.)

It's insane to spend $298 on this unit now. I don't think walmart ever had enough stock to be able to mark it down.

Had an "interesting" thing happen last week with my 3455H. I have one daily and many weekly manual timer recordings (which have worked fine since I started using the unit). When I checked my HDD listing on Saturday, I found that all of the recordings took place at the scheduled times, but the recorded channel was incorrect for several of these timer recordings. Speaking simply, it would appear that the tuner got "stuck" on the previously recorded channel, and stayed there for a few of the following recordings.

I did not touch the unit or the TV from late Tuesday night until Saturday morning. Recording on Wed. night was fine. Next three recordings on Thu. were all on incorrectly on the same channel as Wed. night. Then the 9 PM and 10 PM recordings were on the correct channel (which is the same channel that should have been used at 8 PM). Friday afternoon recording was incorrectly on the same channel as the last two recordings on Thursday evening.

I called support, and the person on the phone told me this was a new one for him. Asked if I was using a cable box, but the answer is "No" (straight feed of the cable into the back of the DVR). The suggestion was made that I might try reprogamming the channels for the DVR, but I don't really think this would help, as the channel lineup appears to be fine.

What I do suspect is possibly an issue with "Automatic Space Management". The HDD is getting pretty full - was looking at about 9 GB left, and had been thinking that I might let it go, to see if Automatic Management worked. When I tried to power off the unit I was seeing a message: ""Not enough space on the HDD for timer record. Please delete some title on HDD. Press OK to power off the set. Cancel to return." [ I thought I was only supposed to see this message if I was using Manual Space Management... ]

Question: Has anyone tested Automatic Space Management, and if so, how did it go? See any problems?

[ No, I normally would not want to rely on Automatic Space Management - would prefer to try to keep away from the limit by manually deleting titles, but it would be nice to know it was available if I ever really needed it. I would rather lose something old than miss recording something new. ]

Stephen

Have been going over the thread about breaking movies into chapters and setting index pictures for the chapters on a DVD. [ Thank you very much FullOnShred for the details of how to change the index picture - I just used this and it worked perfectly. ]

I REALLY, REALLY wish that when I divided a title, both pieces would end up with the same (original) name of the title. Instead of the first piece retaining the name, and the second ending up as "Title ###". When working with the HDD, I often sort by name, and after the split, I have to go searching through the list to find the new "Title ###" entry. Sometimes I am just trimming garbage off the beginning of a title, and want the second part to retain the name. Sometimes I really do want both parts to have the same name. (E.g. Splitting a title that is too big to fit on one DVD, or perhaps breaking a movie into chapters...) There has never been a case where I wanted a title to be named "Title ###".

I have suggested this on a few phone calls to Philips Support, but don't get the impression that my suggestion is being passed along. (One person told me that my comments had been added to my problem report - I wonder if anyone will read them...)

Stephen

orienteer, I agree it gets old having to rename every Title from scratch. It would be nice if it retained the original title and added numbers, but it doesn't. I think Philips is pretty much done with support of a real nature for this unit. It isn't even on their website anymore. Bad practice in my opinion. The unit is still for sale, but no website support from the Manuf. :mad: :mad: :mad:

Philips disappoints me on a regular basis and it has carried over. There is no way I will be purchasing a Philips HD TV when I finally make that switch.

I have had my 3455H for a little over two months, but just started trying to write DVD's two days ago (time to clear some space on the HDD).

I have seen the following problems:

1) Writing DVD icon appears showing 0%, then disappears.

2) Writing DVD icon appears and value for percent complete increases until it reaches some value (e.g 17%, 30%, 90%) then hangs - in most cases the unit had to be unplugged to regain control.

3) Write progress shows 100%, then device stops writing, but when I hit the DVD button on the remote, I am told that the DVD is empty.

4) I get a good DVD and am able to play the titles, but then try to rename the DVD and the next time I try to view the DVD I am told that the disc has a invalid format.

My first thought was cheap media (had originally been trying "free after rebate" DVD-R's), so I tried some Maxell DVD-R's (media ID = RITEKG05) instead. The first burn with Maxell went fine, but the next two failed. (First failure hung after reaching 90%. For the second attempt, I wrote one title to the DVD; which seemed to go fine, then updated the index picture for that title, then wrote a second title to the same DVD which went to 100% and completed, but when I hit the DVD button, I was told the DVD was empty.

Has anybody else experienced problems writing to DVD's? Any suggestions on things I might try?

Stephen

orienteer... I am sorry that you are having so much trouble. Have you updated your Firmware? That's one thing I would try. And I hate to tell you this, but Maxell/Ritek G05 is horrible media. Some of the worst there is. I have burned these with very good DVD Burners (NEC and Lite-On) and get nasty looking scans from them. Please try some Verbatim 8x or 16x DVD-R. These burn like champs in my Philips, and give good quality scans after the burn.

As I said, I am brand new to writing DVD's. Based on info I found on this site and other places - e.g. http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm , I had the impression that the Maxell's were better than average... (I will order differently next time, but wanted something that I could pick up fast locally.)

Last night's tests: Wrote to a Maxell DVD-RW with no problems at all. Then tried writing to one of the Maxell DVD-R's. This one seemed to work, but was a bit odd. After the write completed, I was able to view the contents, but when I went up to where I would normally finalize the DVD, no options were available. I put the DVD into a different player, and all seemed to work. It appears as if the DVD had been finalized for me at the end of the write process, and without any action on my part.

Stephen

Stephen, that FAQ is quite outdated. Maxell used to be made by Maxell in Japan, and that Media was very good quality. The MIT Maxell has been mostly Ritek G05 Dye, which is much more important than what Brand Label the discs wear. G05 has a very poor reputation.

At this point I would only trust Taiyo Yuden MIJ DVD+/-R's available from Rima, Meritline and Supermediastore online, Verbatim DVD+/-R available at Samsclub, OfficeMax, BestBuy and possibly others, and the last remainiing Made In Japan Sony 16x DVD+/-R that will be available at WalGreens. There may also possibly be some vestige 8x Sony MIJ at Sears. The Sony MIJ 8x +R is made by Taiyo Yuden and very high quality. The 8x Sony MIJ DVD-R is decent media,but not Taiyo Yuden made.

Of all of those the Verbatim 16x DVD-Rs will probably be the easiest to find locally, and the Philips loves them. : ) All Verbatim MIT Media is currently top-grade stuff.

Oooopppps.... One more thing. There will be no Finalize option with -RW discs as the Philips writes to them in VR Mode rather than DVD Mode. No Finalize step is needed or available.

To Finalize a DVD you have to make sure you scroll UP ABOVE where the DVD Title Screens show up - THEN go to the right and the edit option should be there for DVD+/-Rs.

Thank you very much for the detailed media suggestions. Wish I had asked the media question a little bit sooner! I do plan to try at least one of your suggestions - leaning towards ordering the TY MIJ's (so I don't have to hunt anything down locally - although might do a quick check for Verbatim first). Learning about the different media codes has been an education.

Question: Do you have a preference for +R or -R? (I had been going with "-R" based on the assumption that this was more "standard", and might play in more readers.)

As long as I have them, I figure I will experiment some more with the Maxells. It seems like the writes are going okay, but there are some read problems on the last one or perhaps two titles written to the DVD - especially at the very end. [ Might try leaving more blank space on each DVD. ]

About the Finalize: It really was the "-R" that did not give me the option to finalize. When I was selecting titles, the selection bar went all the way to 100%, so maybe it realized there was room for nothing else and finalized for me. I have written a couple since then at 96% to 98% capacity, and with this the finalize is working as expected.

And finding the "Finalize" option was a bit of a challenge the first time around - kind of stumbled across it by accident...

You are most welcome. I don't mean to come across as a know-it-all. I have spent considerable time investigating this area and I do enjoy posting on these forums.

I just recently got a DVD Burner that allows me to do quality scans with Nero CD/DVD Speed, and the Ritek G05 dye discs are the worst looking scans by far. I will be re-burning everything I put on those Maxells because I don't think they are going to be readable several years from now. Some of my Memorex CMC Mag dye DVDs still look pretty good, and some will not scan/play at all.

With our Philips I see very little difference in using + or - R discs. I believe when we finalize these discs with the Philips it is in DVD Video Format and will be compatible with almost all players regardless of +/-R.

Sorry to keep coming back to this... You have mentioned 8x Sony but 16x Verbatim. Is there a reason to choose 16x Verbatim over 8x Verbatim? [ I still have so much more to learn... ]

Either 8x or 16x Verbatim will be just fine. Both the 16x and 8x use the same top quality AZO Metal Dye. The 16x have the Manuf. ID MCC 03RG20 where the 8x show MCC 02RG20. Both are manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemical Company. They are essentially the same except for Burn Speed Rating. If you have access to Samsclub thru a friend or family the 8x can be had for $12.88 per 50 (In N.C.) and the 16x are around $32.88 per 100. Both are very good media. These prices are as good as or better than online prices for the same media. Kudos to Samsclub for carrying these at such decent prices.


The Sony 8x DVD+R Made In Japan are desirable because they are manufactured for Sony by Taiyo Yuden, Manuf. ID Yuden000 T02, another top quality Dye/Manuf. combination. I have yet to have a coaster from these and burn quality is consistently good. If your local Sears still has these, scan the local sales papers and internet for a really great price somewhere else and then have Sears pricematch it for you. I bought around 500 of these top quality discs at far less than internet prices prices because Sears price matches and gives 10% of the difference, which can be a substantial savings in some cases. :)

The Sony 8x DVD-R MIJ are ID SONY08D1. These are decent but not as good as the Verbatim or Taiyo made Discs. The 16x DVD+R MIJ Sonys are SONYD21, again good media but not in the class of Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden mfg. Discs. I prefer the D21 media to the 08D1. Others may hold different opinions. These Media I have mentioned here, plus Taiyo Yuden DVD-R I order online are about the only Media I trust and will be using for myself.

yes stephen, the hd to dvd sucks. Mines' went back to fall apart walmart and another's on the way. maybe the third one will be OK.

Going to give the 16x DVD-R Verbatims a try ($19 for 100 after rebate from newegg.com if ordered by 3/4/2007).

Sweet deal. If your Philips doesn't like 'em I would strongly suspect a bum unit.

I picked up my Philips 3455H about 3 weeks ago. Before buying it I read this entire thread so I was well prepared for what I was getting myself into. Thanks, all, for posting so much useful information.

My own experiences with the Philips have overall been very positive. Mine came with the latest firmware already installed. I have experienced several lockups, but all are now predictable. For example, editing a recorded program to remove commercials works fine at first, but after 15 or 20 edits, the dark blue bands that indicate the removed segments disappear. Consider this a warning because if you keep editing, the Philips will lock up and require an unplug to bring back online. The good news is that the edits remain intact through the reset.

Also, for some reason my very old Sony DVD-RWs will essentially lock up my Philips. During an erase function the progress indicator remains at 0% and no disc functions are allowed. I can change back to tuner mode and flip channels, etc, but I can't perform any disc functions because the Philips thinks that it is still erasing the disc.

So I pull the plug, plug it back in, and eject the DVD-RW. I format it in my PC, and return it to the Philips. Now the Philips says that it's blank and I can try to transfer from the harddrive to the DVD-RW. Once again the progress indicator locks up and for all disc functions are locked. So I pull the plug again and figure that I need to get some new RW discs.

Previously in this thread, people have mentioned plugging in a DVD player to transfer videos to the harddrive. Here's a tip: Take an S-Video cable and loopback the S-Video Output on the Philips back into one of the S-Video Inputs. Switch to tuner mode and repeatedly hit the source button until the S-Video Input you've plugged into is selected. Immediately the screen will start showing funny compounding garbage because of the loopback. Think "point a video camera at the TV that it is connected to tunneling effect".

Anyway, now change to DVD mode and play your movie. Because you've selected the S-Video input as your source, and you are now playing the DVD out of the S-Video port, the Philips will automatically buffer your DVD.

What I've learned from this is that copy protected DVDs can be buffered, but not saved. Non-protected DVDs can be buffered, then saved just like you would with any video source. Unfortunately I ran across one problem with recording using this method. As we all know, some DVDs are presented in "widescreen" formatting. This is the type that has the black bars along the top and bottom of the screen. After years of messing with DVDs, I've noticed that some widescreen DVDs have the black bars actually encoded into the video, while other widescreen DVDs don't. It's like the DVD has no black bars, but has some bit set that instructs the DVD player to generate black bars on it's own.

The reason this is important is because if you have one of these DVDs and you copy it to the harddrive, when you play it back the bars are now recorded as a part of the video signal. Unfortunately, the signal to generate black bars is also recorded. You will get double the black bars. The bars will be twice as thick on playback which makes the video look very squashed. Kind of a weird effect.

Otherwise, if you have a fullscreen DVD or a widescreen that actually has the black bars encoded into the video, then this method works great for creating a little library of frequently viewed videos. Now my young kids can call up their favorite movies without hunting for the DVD (and handling it, scratching it, getting sticky stuff on it, losing it, etc...). Slick.

I do have one question for everyone... How do you bring saved video into a computer in an editable format? I had no luck with recording to my DVD-RWs, so I saved my recorded program on a DVD-R which worked great. I ended up with a pretty familiar set of VOB files. Unfortunately I was unable to do much with it after that. DVD Shrink wouldn't open the disc. Pinnacle Studio 10 wouldn't open the disc (although it will import VOB files from other DVDs). DVD Decrypter would copy it, but wouldn't parse the VOBs. TMPGEnc would open the first VOB, but would not open any of the other VOBs (which meant that I could edit about 35 minutes of my program, but not the rest). Magic DVD Ripper does seem to allow me to play the video and transcode it into another format (like AVI). I need to play around with Magic DVD Ripper some more because my resultant files were of much smaller resolution than my source files.

Several people have mentioned the VR discs that apparently using DVD-RWs will produce. Are these more forgiving? I'm going to have to go out and get some newer DVD-RWs and try that, too.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Did you Finalize the DVD-R? Reason I ask is because I routinely use DVD Shrink to transfer my DVD-Rs from this unit to the computer. The only time I encounter problems is when I have more than 1 Title on the DVD-R (or -RW). In those cases I have been able to use DVDFab Decrypter (free download) to breakdown the files onto my computer, and then DVD Shrink to edit them if necessary. Of course editing with Shrink actuall creates tons of new Titles which play back fine, but I cannot rew. past the beginning of whatever "title" I am currently viewing. In effect, when I edit with Shrink I wind up turning 1 Title into many smaller "titles".

In a few instances I have used the FixVTS in conjunction with another free DVDRipper (can't think of the name at the moment).

fixvts (http://download.videohelp.com/FixVTS/)

Yes, I finalized the DVD-R, but Shrink wouldn't open the disc.

The only thing that may be a little different about my recorded program is that I edited it in the Philips before burning it. I removed the maximum number of commercials in one continuous recording before the Philips wouldn't let me anymore (somewhere between 15 and 20 for the three hour program).

When you burn your programs to DVD that Shrink can read, have you done any editing before burning?

I'll try FixVTS and DVDFab Decrypter and let you know. I guess I can also try burning another DVD without doing any editing in the Philips.

Thanks for the help!

Yes, I finalized the DVD-R, but Shrink wouldn't open the disc.

The only thing that may be a little different about my recorded program is that I edited it in the Philips before burning it. I removed the maximum number of commercials in one continuous recording before the Philips wouldn't let me anymore (somewhere between 15 and 20 for the three hour program).

When you burn your programs to DVD that Shrink can read, have you done any editing before burning?

I'll try FixVTS and DVDFab Decrypter and let you know. I guess I can also try burning another DVD without doing any editing in the Philips.

Thanks for the help!

The other free program is RipIt4Me. It will integrate automatically with DVDDecrypter, FixVTS, and DVDSHRINK. Pretty nice combo.

I almost always edit my programs on the Philips prior to burning them to a DVD. For me, the key has been if there is more than 1 Title on the DVD. More than 1 Title per disc has been where I have had to get creative. The DVDDecryter and FixVTS have been integral to working with the DVD-RWs. Let me know...... Also the DVDFABDecrypter is very handy for working with the DVD-RW VR Files.

P.S. My limit on edits seems to be 16 or 17. The bar goes blank at 15, and if there have been some very short edits I can do 1 or 2 more before lockup......

For longer games/programs I have to split into seperate Titles to be able to fully edit them.

I didn't have much time to play around with it tonight, but I did learn something worth noting...

First I tried FixVTS. It seemed to crunch through the VOB files and find lots of problems. When it was done, I was confident that things would now work. Bonk! Nope. Shrink still won't read the DVD Files on my harddrive. Pinnacle Studio still won't import them. TMPGEnc still won't read them, either.

Ok, so I install DVDFab Decrypter. It immediately tells me that I am running SlySoft AnyDVD in the background and that I must shut it down before DVDFab Decrypter will work properly. Ok, I shut AnyDVD down and restart DVDFab Decrypter. Oddly, it is able to play the whole video in the small preview window, but it errors out when I try to rip the whole thing to my harddrive.

I'm about to give up for the evening when I realize that until now, I've always been running SlySoft AnyDVD. If you're not familiar with AnyDVD, it is a slick little background app that makes all DVDs appear to not be copy protected among other things. It will strip all the latest copy protections that I've ever seen and basically make DVD Shrink fully functional again even against newer protection schemes.

So now with AnyDVD disabled, I re-run Shrink and what do you know... It works! I don't have any idea why, but clearly AnyDVD was messing with Shrinks ability to chew on the original DVD that the Philips had created.

I'll play with it some more later and keep you posted.

Cool.....glad you figured it out. BTW, in some cases with -RW Discs I have had to use the "copy main movie" option to get my -RW DVD to copy to the HDD.

I just tried to burn a dvd. It starts at 0% then stops. I can't burn any dvds. I thougth it was because I was using cheap DVD +Rs. But now I have tried good ones. -R and +R/W... none of them work... time to send it in...

I've had my DVDR3455H/37 for 2 1/2 months and can't live without the 6 Hr buffer. But, at least three times a week it doesn't complete the 18 second boot/initialization when power is turned on. It is unpredictable. It hangs on power ON from both the remote and the program timer. When power is turned on, the blue screen comes up, but the init process doesn't complete. The unit ends up in a 26 second cycle (25 blue screen, 1 black) that just keeps repeating. It will not respond to the remote or any of the unit's buttons.

It came with the latest firmware. I run the 10 minute OFF, hold the unit's power ON button for 5 seconds (until after the screen blinks) procedure each time. (I made up an extension cord with a switch in it so I don't have to unplug the thing.) It has been OFF so there shouldn't be a temperature problem.

Is there anything else I should try before taking it back to Walmart?

Jazon and rf008...

I'm on a search for more current/new problems that might be caused by the recent change in DST, for which our DVDRs have not been programmed.

There are a couple on Panasonic models connected to SA 3250HD cable boxes that are locking up when connected to the box, but work fine when disconnected. Their boxes had recently had a DST SW update uploaded by the cable co. which (apparently) is causing a conflict with the already programmed DVDR DST instructions.

Those units are also connected via Line 1, and other Line Inputs work OK (I think).

Turning DST off in the DVDR made one unit work w/o lockup, but the total fix was to change the box to an older model that didn't have the current DST timing.

Anything in this that might apply to the Philips?

I've had my DVDR3455H/37 for 2 1/2 months and can't live without the 6 Hr buffer. But, at least three times a week it doesn't complete the 18 second boot/initialization when power is turned on. It is unpredictable. It hangs on power ON from both the remote and the program timer. When power is turned on, the blue screen comes up, but the init process doesn't complete. The unit ends up in a 26 second cycle (25 blue screen, 1 black) that just keeps repeating. It will not respond to the remote or any of the unit's buttons.

It came with the latest firmware. I run the 10 minute OFF, hold the unit's power ON button for 5 seconds (until after the screen blinks) procedure each time. (I made up an extension cord with a switch in it so I don't have to unplug the thing.) It has been OFF so there shouldn't be a temperature problem.

Is there anything else I should try before taking it back to Walmart?

Guys, I would swap those out ASAP. Sounds like they are Fubar'd.

wabjxo

My DVDR, VCR, computers, FAX, etc. are all set for manual time control so I had no problem with DST. My hang ups are only associated with the initial boot of the processor at power ON.

wabjxo

My DVDR, VCR, computers, FAX, etc. are all set for manual time control so I had no problem with DST. My hang ups are only associated with the initial boot of the processor at power ON.
My DVDR is set for manual clock also, but it has a separate setting for DST = ON or OFF. With it ON, it will change the time by one hour on April 1 (or whatever the old DST date was).

Hello again
I scanned over a few dozen posts, didnt see this addressed yet, sorry if its been asked and answered before. When I try to record to a dvd+RW, Memorx 4x, thats been used and formatted with Nero on my PC, my Philips fails to detect the dvd. This occurs when I want to record from HD to the RW, but if I put in a RW that has Divx or .vob files(dvd) it sees and plays them fine. It burns to all my other record once dvds, just not the RWs. Any help?

Try formatting the +RW with the Philips.

For those interested in making this a multiregion player, i can confirm that this method works:
- Power on
- Switch to DVD mode
- Open tray
- Press 0 0 8 6 0 0 0 on remote
- Press OK
- Power off the unit using remote

well all, I took the third one back Sunday night. It's so much quicker going in at 9pm and walking straight to the electronics department. The cashier knew me, and gave money instead of crediting the walmart card (it was purchased on their website.) By the way, I noticed they're no longer in stock. Wonder if they've figured out that 1 in 10 seem to work?

My local WalMart has these on clearance now for just a shade over $240. The new Philips DVDR 3575H Shelf Sku Card was out on the shelf of my local Walmart tonight. It will be a similar unit to the 3455/37 with an ATSC (Digital) Tuner paired with a 160gb HDD.

They had many other DVD Recorders marked down as well.

I was wondering if anyone else that has this dvd player has problems with the following items. I've taken back the DVD player once and the new one has the exact same problems as the previous one..

1. Audio over optical randomly cuts out for ~1-2 seconds during playback of darn near anything. Happens once every 20-30 minutes on average.

2. Certain commercial DVD's, mainly by Sony, lock up the DVD player at the menu. The only way that I've found is to unplug the DVD player, then hit stop before the menu starts it's loop, and manually try to play a chapter. It seems to be related to their copy protection, and has happened on (certainly not a nearly comprehensive list, just a couple that come to mind): An American Haunting, Children of Men, or anything else I've tried with the Sony Arccos protection scheme.

Sadly, the only way I could get them to work was.... To copy them. Sort of ironic IMHO. Philips customer support is some of the worst that I've seen, and they want me to send this one in (they seem to have forgotten the whole 'already replaced the unit' part), so that they can repair it. They refuse to give me a different model until I spend money sending it to them.

Has anyone had any good experiences or luck with customer service from Phillips? I'd love to hear any way to get them to actually solve the problem (most likely firmware related, just like the host of other firmware bugs out there) instead of just wanting you to invest more money sending it into them again?

the 3455 is basically junk. call customer service and maybe they'll send you one that works. or just return it.

the 3455 is basically junk. call customer service and maybe they'll send you one that works. or just return it.

hehe, I WISH that it was that easy. It was 'bought' with points from a credit card, so there is no recourse there, and as far as customer services goes, I can honestly say that I've *never* seen worse.

I have multiple cases with them, and the last time I called to say that no newer Sony discs dont play and lock up the player, the rep (at least honestly) said, "Yeah, most of our machines do that. There's no fix, and I dont think they are working on fixing it". When I went on about a possible replacement unit or different model he refused to connect me to Customer Relations, give me their number, or anything. He specifically said that a DVD player under warranty that does not play DVD's has "no recourse" according to corporate. Upon emailing corporate on this, of course, I have not received a response other than the autoreply that says 'we've received your email and it will be answered in 24-48 hours'.

He was very nice, but it seems that even their techs are fairly disgruntled and may be shooting a little straighter than their script says they should.

Overall, I can honestly say that I'm not buying any more Philips products for me and mine anymore. I used to think that Sony had some poor warranty policies, but Philips has taken the lead in *that* category! :mad:

does anyone know if there is a way to change the recording speed hdd to dvd ? i also have a panny unit that allows the user to compress the programming to fit onto the blank disc.(up to 6hrs).

The Philips will not allow that. My Sylvania HDVR200F does. It is a nice feature.

In case anyone is looking for these, just saw a bunch at my local walmart for 298 even though they are not listed as being in stock on walmarts site

hey, does anyone know where the new 160gb HDMI-model can be found at besides ebay? Links ok, or just give us the model number.

For Region 4 users (Australia) I just noticed a FIRMWARE Update to Version R19.15 on the Philips Webpage.

I have been using my DVDR3455H/75 for a week now and it has not locked up at all on original shipped R19.12 Firmware.

I transferred 21 VHS tapes to DVD in SP mode with no problem except editing scenes can be a bit tricky.

Otherwise I am pretty happy with the unit so far.

Man! I think 19.10 is the last release we got here in the states. What exactly does R19.15 claim to do? I would really like to know because the U.S. Version has many flaws that need correcting.

Never mind. I found it thru Google. It doesn't address anything I have problems with anyway. Like why there is no easy Slow-Mo forward and Backwards, and lots of other niggling little ergonomic faux pas.

I have multiple cases with them, and the last time I called to say that no newer Sony discs dont play and lock up the player, the rep (at least honestly) said, "Yeah, most of our machines do that. There's no fix, and I dont think they are working on fixing it". When I went on about a possible replacement unit or different model he refused to connect me to Customer Relations, give me their number, or anything. He specifically said that a DVD player under warranty that does not play DVD's has "no recourse" according to corporate.
Easy thing to try:

1. Set clock manually.

2. Turn DST OFF.

This has helped with Philips 3505 and several Pannys.

More info here on the possible problem. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=846731)
.

Well I took the plunge and REFLASHED to R19.15

Some PROS -
For a HDD Title name, it can now be up to 30 Characters, I will check later if it is also the same on a burnt DVD

The onscreen "Display Bar" turns off after 5 seconds. YIPEEE

After a Power Up from cold it now remembers the Last Selected Source.

Some CONS -
Still no SLO-MO reverse when editing the HDD.

I will check later the MAX a,mount of characters for a DVD Disc name.

I still like the way this units allows "multitasking", very neat.

It would seem reasonable to credit the people here who keep nagging Philips to do the changes....good work guys.

p4c philips com
/files/d/dvdr3455h_75/dvdr3455h_75_fur_eng.pdf - summary of revsions
/files/d/dvdr3455h_75/dvdr3455h_75_fus_eng.zip - REMEMBER for Region 4 ONLY

"The onscreen "Display Bar" turns off after 5 seconds. YIPEEE"

Is that in "Live TV" mode only, or does it shut the display bar down after 5 seconds during HDD playback and HDD editing as well? My American unit display diappears after 5 sec ONLY during Live TV Playback. If I playback from the HDD, or edit from the HDD it STILL takes a ridiculously long 20-25 sec to disappear. The last Update on the American site is Firmware R19.10 dated 8-25-06.

The folks who programmed this unit are backward dweebs. They missed badly in so many ways, and have been extremely reticent to work with us consumers to correct defects that should never made it into a production model. That is really a shame because the unit has some very nice features. But I doubt I will buy another Philips DVDR based on the shortcomings of this one. I paid only $115 for mine, or I would have returned it shortly after purchase.

My Sylvania HDVR200F made by the often maligned Funai has almost every functionality parameter nailed, and that on a unit produced in 2005. I paid $300 for this one, and greatly prefer it over the Philips even though it cost me $200 more. If it had a faster DVD burning in Video Mode and a few other things tweaked it would be THE Perfect DVDR.

Well then the YIPEEE may be a bit early, forgive me, I only had this unit for a week and read all the negative posts so my mind might have been off.

Yes the 5 seconds is for LIVE TV and it takes 20 seconds for HDD playback.

Also the MAX amount of characters for a DVD Disc name is 30 CHAR

Again, it is a darned shame Philips didn't get the programming right, as in some ways the DVDR 3455/37 is very nice. Like you, I enjoy the very versatile multi-tasking abilities inherent in this machine. And the PQ is quite good, and the live TV function very useful. Not as useful as True Chase Play available from a Pre-Set Timer recording though. ;)

Whew, just read through this entire thread. The manual on this deck is pretty bad. Just to sum up: I'm part of a crew doing live sports broadcasts. The team requires that we produce a DVD of the match within an HOUR of the end of the game. The only way to do this is to use a DVD recorder. Our cameras all shoot 16x9, and are fed into a switcher, audio mixer, etc, and ultimately into our encoding computers for producing a live stream.

The back of the "box" has two video-outs. One of them goes to a DV deck for the game backup, and the other we have hooked to the Phllips 3455.

Our broadcast is 16x9. (the cameras have true 16x9 chips in them). By feeding the out from our system into the Phillips 3455, I produced on the hard drive, what looks like a squeezed 4:3 image. When I took the 3455 home I can tell my widescreen TV to stretch that input to 16x9 and it looks fine... But then what? When it's burned to DVD, is the 16x9 flag put in there so the DVD player will letterbox it? Should I set the Phllips to 4:3, and will that force it to letterbox? Most people aren't going to have 16x9 TV's. You just have to assume that. The manual is VERY unclear about how it handles 16x9. The most important function of this for us is getting those DVDs out within an hour of game's end.

Thanks!

SV

I was going to email Phillips with my 16x9 question, but their email and chat services are down, hehe.

BTW, you can make the display go away in less than 5 seconds or 20 seconds by pressing the display button.

SV

Spass, I knew that, but I get darn tired of continually pressing the display button. ;)

Can I use the Australian firmware if I am in Canada? I want the last source remembered feature.

Only if you want your machine to tune PAL tv systems variants. All ready tried the French and England updates for my 2001g which is a similar machine. If I was in Europe right now it would be great... :cool:

About a week ago, I walked into WalMart looking to buy a TracFone card and discovered they were slashing their display models and I got a somewhat scuffed up looking 3455 for.... are you ready.... $50. Just the unit itself and NOTHING else. I have a Toshiba RD-XS32 so I'm happy to have a backup unit. I guess for the money, I will have no justification for any complaints!

Nice Get!! : )

Tonight I recorded a program on timer and after it completed, the unit was still on. It had been off/standby before the timer recording started.
Anyone else notice this?
Shouldn't the unit shut itself off? Every VCR that I've had on timer programming would shut itself off at the end, provided it was off before it started recording. :(