"One more thing, my old drive just sounds few click...click...click..then it stops (I don't feel anything when touching it). During that time, the LCD keeps showing "LOAD" and " BOOT" ..and repeats the same cycle again.....!!!
My new drive, by touching I still feel the motor is turning, but as I mention above, nothing is working."


I would try another hard drive. If it is giving you a "load" on the LCD display, from my experience, the firmware is trying to load, but there is no hard drive found. Like I said I had two WD's recently that worked fine as a slave, but the 3455 needs them to work as a stand alone master with no jumpers. I returned them until I found a drive that would work. In a couple of weeks I am going to try putting in a new 400 or 500 gig drive without the firmware to see if you need it. I can not say 100% that you do until I can test the theory. All of the drives that I have tested so far have been previously formatted in Windows and I did need the firmware to "reformat" them to work in the 3455.

For what it is worth, I burned my Firmware Upgrade Disc to a CD-R, not a DVD. I used an older version of NERO and
followed the instructions found in the Philips Firmware Upgrade PDF file. It went perfectly for me doing it that way.


pica304, did you remember to REMOVE the firmware disc before powering down the 3455? This is a must.

Did you Power Down by Pressing the Power Off button on the front of the unit instead of using the remote? IIRC this method was specified in the Firmware Installation Instructions in the PDF from Philips. I will try to find a copy of that PDF to make sure.

You can power on the machine with the firmware in it. A screen will come up, if the hard drive is recognized, and you can choose to either upgrade or cancel. If you cancel it will eject the disk and continue to the channel of TV you were last tuned to. If you choose to upgrade it will do the upgrade, and then eject the disk, and you have to turn off the 3455 and back on.

In my test 3455, I currently have an old 40 wire cable plugged into the "burner" slot connected to the burner with the outermost connection connected to a dual layer "computer" DVD burner 22 speed HP connected to the power supply of a computer that is running at the bios prompt as my power supply. I took the "burner" ribbon cable and hooked it to witchever hard drive I am accessing at the time. It is getting it's power from the DVD burner circuit, since the one for the hard drive seems to have stopped working. I have a 250 seagate and an "original" 160 WD that refuse to be recognized by this unit since the powers supply circuit on the "tuner" PCA stopped working. I cloned the non-working original 160 WD to a Exelstor 160 (third attempt after the 2 failed WD's that would not work as masters) and I was able to get the titles I thought I had lost forever Off of it and have been recording and burning to DVD new shows. My original problems with the "computer" HP Burner, were either power related or the fact that I use cheap Blank material. I need to "clean" a couple of my burners to help rectify part of my problems, but have not gotten around to it. The HP burner used to burn shows using Beyond tv when I had a computer recording TV shows. A computer at 550 watts uses a lot more power than the 3455 and while the content is more portable the quality was just the same, so I stopped wasting electricity and stuck to the 3455 (4 of them) ;)

Today, I tried to burn the firmware with Nero V6.3.0.3 with the setup as in pdf file from Philips on CD-RW....the result is the same...."LOAD"..."COPY"..."BOOT"....and ....the famous "Philips" appears again...nothing is working!
With this cycle, I think 3455H recognizes the drive because it tries to copy to drive and also tries to boot from there...correct me if I am wrong.
Some how it does not work!
The drive is new, there is nothing on it...it does not work...it might be from the drive, but I can not return the drive neither spend the money for another drive without knowing the reason why! That is frustration!

FullOnShred,
when it repeat the cycle, I can not turn it off nor eject the disk nor do anything except unplug the power. I tried to unplug the power, remove the CD then plug it back, turn it ON ...it can not boot from the drive so it ask for the CD to LOAD. I put the CD (with firmware) in...its cycle ..load...copy....boot again..

Timtofly, FullOnShred, dont give it up, keep give me your advice what I should do.
One more thing, I remebered on one of the post from some where and also from Philips mention that problem might be from the brand of CD itself, what are your opinions? I waisted so many CDs already...HP, Teak, Verbatim CD-R untill I tried CD-RW. What a question?

Please don't give it up.

Thanks again.

Can you return the drive as defective and try another one. I went through 2 WD's before I tried the third of a different make. If you get the Load Copy Boot then your firmware is working just fine. The Machine "looks" at the DVD burner first before the hard drive. If it is not seeing the hard drive it will just keep going through the cycle.

Thanks.
My theory is different, because it can copy from CD to drive that means it is able to communicate with drive....but ...in another sense, the old drive is not good but it does the same thing...uhm..you would be right.
The drive I bought is not returnable! I will look for another occasion.
What drive do you suggest Timtofly?

One that will work;) If you research the drives, they have some that were built for this type of recording, while others were built more for computers. I think that all drives are probably about the same, and do not have a preference. If you have the means by which you can hook up your drive as a master and see how a computer will react to it. you can test my theory. The 2 WD's I tried did fine as slaves, but not as masters. I am not sure it that is fixable or not.

My original drive did not make the clicking sound, but it just sits there in the eternal loop and will not do anything also. The drive can be going bad and not reading right, and a drive can not be properly configured like as a slave and the 3455 will not recognize it either. Two different problems, but the same eternal loop. If you take the firmware disk out does it just loop, or does it say "load copy boot" That is another test to prove you burned your firmware correctly.

What I can say is thank you all.
One of my wish is if there was someone around my area so I can give him my drives to test...
Any idea still is my saver.

Fullonshred, Are you still using your 3455 or have you switched to the 2160?

After about $40.00 and the hard drives left over from my other two 3455's, I have 3 more functional 3455's. I am still working on outside the box "power supplied" esata hookup for both the burner and the hard drive, since I am short one burner and the power for the hard drive stopped working. I also am not using that small cable that was taped to the hard drive. Maybe it was the connector for the front panel hook ups, since all the lights seem to be working just fine. The added HP "computer" 22 speed burner on external power seems to be doing just great. I would like to try one of the new sata burners one day, but am still trying out ide2sata converters. I have tested and they work just fine 40 pin either 80 wire 0r 40 wire dual connecter standard ide cables. You have to hook up the burner and drive to their respective connectors though. No doubling up allowed.


I cannot find any IDE cabled external Enclosures. Not sure if there were any, since fire wire seems to be the first followed by USB and now Esata. It would be nice to be able to put both the drive and burner in the same external case and swap them out easily when needed. Right now the burner is being powered by an old IBM computer. I cannot even find a power supply that does not need the motherboard to turn on. Hate to waste 450 watts on a 28 watt machine when I know that there used to be a 150 watt power supply available years ago.

I am in the process of putting a 320 gig drive in and see if it needs the firmware to load. I will try it first formatted for NTSF, and if that does not work Fat32. I have tried one sata drive and it even opened up the drawer asking for the firmware, but I think the ide2sata converter is the hold up. It is bi-directional and works great when cloning on the PC. I want to try a dedicated one way converter before I totally give up. I think it may have to be standard IDE instead of ultra since the onboard connector has all the wires instead of the missing middle pin.

I would like to try and find some AV hard drives, instead of the "computer" ones. I have a feeling that bad sectors may be more frequent in PC drives. I am not sure if it is from files getting cross written. Every drive should be able to multitask, I am not sure as to what extent.

Tim, I still use my 3455, mainly for my daily record and erase stuff now. I think I have seen adapters at newegg that will let you make a rig like you mention, with IDE or else it was the IDE to SATA connectors you mentioned. i am running on fumes right now, but after a nap or tomorrow I will look around and see if I can find something. Are you in the USA? I am. I am just asking to try to figure out whether anything I find here would be available to you.

I really appreciate the guys like you who have kept these machines running thru experimentation and innovation. I will need this info on the ill-fated day when my 3455 finally has a serious problem. Thanks for posting these mods.

It's a bit clunky a solution, but possibly workable. Get an External HDD Enclosure with IDE Internal Connection and USB 2 External connection. Then bridge the gap with one of these....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156101

As I said, clunky, but the best I could find on short notice. I did also see a few cool Docking Stations for SATA drives that have External USB 2 that might work with the above cable. For the Docking of the Hard Drive, you just Plug It In Kind of like an old 8 Track tape if you go back far enough to know what I am talking about.:)

It is a sweet look, but so far I see only for SATA. Newegg has a TON of these, and reasonably priced, but all for SATA1 or SATA2. I know, this doesn't help.:(

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010010092&QksAutoSuggestion=&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Configurator=&Subcategory=92&description=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=docking

http://www.xpcgear.com/n0028usu.html

Thanks, for the reply and info.

To update the progress on my 320gig adventure, both the sata and an ide both failed. It may be that both of these drives failed because they were pre-formatted as NTFS. I had wanted to try Fat32, but both of my PC's only offer NTFS as a format choice. If I can figure out a way to get it formatted with Fat32, or even a Linux format, I can rule out that NTFS is the bug. If it is, getting a new virgin drive, may not work either, since Most of them come formatted as NTFS these days. The firmware may not be able to "read" the drives enough to re-format them. That May be where people are having the biggest problem, though I still think that some of the "cheaper" PC drives are being sold as "hard wired" for being a "slave" as opposed to being the "master" which is crucial in the 3455 firmware. The other option I am faced with is maybe there is "size" limit in the firmware of the 3455. It may be 250gig similar to the 500 gig limitation of the next generation: 3457, 2160. From the post in this thread Dartman was successful with a 250 and I was also. Although you think it should recognize a larger drive, but give you an out of space error when it reached its limit. However this recorder does protect the current timed recording which gives "chase play" a no-go, but allows you to edit previous recordings while recording both to the hard drive and DVD at the same time which the new models do not allow for. Maybe there is a "hard-wired" size setting to protect this ability. Some older Panasonics only allow the replacement of a same-size drive. Maybe there is a section of the drive that is protected and if it is at the "end" may only allow for certain size drives. I will let people know though if the 250 size barrier is broken.

The other issue is can the firmware handle ultra IDE "transport code". Normally this is determined by the missing pin in the connector of the PC motherboard. The connectors in the 3455 have all their pins. If this is the case sata will only work if the "transport protocol" is translated for IDE. Which in today’s "high-speed" world may not be available. Ultra may be the only choice when it comes to converting from a Sata Drive. Once again the firmware may not be able to handle this option. I have ordered a different "converter" to try. The first one was bi-directional. The new one is the same one Auskck is using. Using USB is totally out of the question, unless it is used to get the "info" off of your old drives you have collected over the years to free them up for use in your 3455. Remember if you can get a 250gig to "take" you can clone it to one that Does not take and force it to work. I have a 250 drive that I had been trying to clone from my 160's that successfully cloned from another 250 and is currently working. I also was successful in cloning an original 160 drive the 3455 no longer would recognize and the cloned drive has worked ok in two different 3455's. One day I may "reclone" it from its clone to really prove my point. ;)

Now that I have another 320 drive, I may purchase a new 320 to see if it will "take". If it does take I will then clone it to see if I can force the 320 I have now. If the new one does not take, I will probably return it, at least once if not twice, and declare the 250 gig limit. A 320 would be nice since it essentially doubles the size. There are some 400 and 500 gigs out there, I think the scrolling between the titles might start to "lag"; with the 250 there is more "lag" time when you scroll the title list than there is with the 160. Editing may be more interesting on a larger drive also. I think the person who spends time editing may prefer to keep the "copy" on the hard drive longer than those who do not. That may make "swappable" Drives more tempting for them. Opposed to those who are just transferring a vcr collection to DVD. My editing is basically just to get the "shows" to Fit on the DVD. The only other thing to leave recordings on the hard drive would be if you knew that you had to make more "copies" later on and did not want to record in real time the original back to the hard drive. Coming to mind would be church services. Maybe if the manufacturers realized the market in church applications alone; they would market more HDD DVD recorders - tuner less or non tuner less. I realize that "larger" churches would already have a totally different way of recording and editing, but there are thousands of smaller churches that would love to break into the niche, if there were more cost effective ways of doing things. If I was only an entrepreneur.....

I HAVE TRIED A NEW 500 GIG. THE 3455 WILL NOT "LOAD" IT. TRIED AS "VIRGIN", NTSF, FAT32, AND AS A CLONE. 250 MAY BE THE MAX ALLOWED.
I WILL TRY A SATA 300 AS SOON AS MY IDE2SAT CONVERTER ARRIVES. THE 320 MAY BE OUT ALSO.

thx for everyone's contribution as i find lots of info. usful from here

timtofly, I saw that you have much experience on changing the harddrive, would you mind giving some tips here.

The original hard drive WD160gb doesn't work a month ago and produce click sounds when it runs. Today I was wondering around and plug the hdd back into the philips and its working. I immediately plug the WD back to my pc through USB hoping that I could make a clone. However, when i read the drive its 160gb unallocated rather than any partition format and the Ghost refuse to do a disk to disk clone due to this reason.

could anyone suggest what is shown as the hdd content in those software and how you clone it? million thx.


p.s. I've the seagate 250gig drive awaiting to plug into the philips but doesnt work. I tried to put the drive into the recorder. as the dvd3455h switched on it shows "LOAD" in the LED, the rom eject, i insert the firmware disc, it still stays on LOAD and eject my disc back..... seems i cannot create a good firmware disc but i've tried few times.... now the only hope is to clone but i couldnt as it shown as unallocated in windows/ghost.


any help please. thx

freevideoblog:

You cannot clone it in windows, unless you can isolate it from the operating system. If window changes any of the file structure, you are out of business.

You have to boot with a cloning software boot disk, and the two that I have downloaded does "see" it as unallocated, but A clone is a copy of the hard drive independent of the operating system. There are some Linux people who can get the info off the drives since it uses a form of Linux, but I am not one of them. When You clone, you have to use the same size hard drive. So far the Linux people are not passing on any info on whether or not they can copy the info onto a larger drive to see if it works.

FOR ANY ONE WHO THINKS THEY HAVE BAD FIRMWARE. IF YOU HAVE ACCESS TO A WORKING 3455, PUT IT IN. IF IT IS OK, A FIRMWARE SCREEN WILL POP UP.

I still think that you may not need it to "install" a new drive, unless it cannot read the file structure and it needs to change it. The firmware disk does not update the firmware when a new disk installs. In MHO I think it just copies a file structure to the hard drive.

Hi Timtofly,

I decide to clone old 160gb to my new WD 250gb, you already had experience with cloning, can you tell me what Cloning software that you used?

Thanks

Hi Timtofly,

I decide to clone old 160gb to my new WD 250gb, you already had experience with cloning, can you tell me what Cloning software that you used?

Thanks

Download Easeus Disk Copy from this site: http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/ Make a bootable CD. Hook up the 250 gig to a computer as the master. Hook up the 160 as a slave. Make sure that you can boot from the CD/DVD player on the secondary IDE bus. When you start the computer Easeus CD should boot up. Choose option 1, then choose next. Choose The Disk copy option. If the disk copy option is "greyed" out then you either do not have the jumper settings on the 160 (slave) or 250 (master) right or your hard drive is not being recognized. Choose the Partition option, and the next page will show you which HARD DRIVE IS OK. In my case the 160 was fine. It was the "new" drive that did not show up. If both Copy options do not work Check your Master Slave configurations on the hard drives. If they are correct or if the 250 shows up as fine, then your 160 is shot and you will not even be able to clone it. If the 250 does not work as the master, then it is defective.

If the first scenario does not work you can try the 250 as slave, however you have to turn it back to master when you put it in the 3455. This may or may not work for you. I have found that if the 250 will not clone as master, it usually will not work as a master in the 3455. This is up to you if you want to try it as a last ditch effort.

If your drive does clone successfully, then you should be able to see it in the 3455. Your titles will probably not play and it will lock up on you. If you can not see a picture next to your title, go to the Setup - HDD menu. Choose the delete HDD. This will clear your titles. Choose the Show item and you should see the full 250 gig available. The only way to Keep your titles if you clone the same size drive: 160 to 160.

Timtofly,
Thank you very much Tim for your very clear instruction.


If your drive does clone successfully, then you should be able to see it in the 3455. Your titles will probably not play and it will lock up on you.


Can you explan if the titles does not play then the player will not play, record nor do anything...?

Tx.

First, thanks for having a great board with a wealth of information. I've had the Philips 3455 since 06 and it has worked great. I turned it on the other day and no signal is getting to the TV (Samsung 32in LCD) via any output. I tried CAM1 and 2, EXT1 and 2, component, etc and still no audio or video to the TV. It seems it is booting up OK and I am able to use the remote to change sources. I've tried holding the standby button while plugging it in with no change.

I've searched this thread and others on the internet and can't seem to find a similar situation.

The unit worked on this same TV via component and the TV is progressive scan compatible.

I'm aware of changing the source on the TV to match the input from the DVD.

Is there any way to reset it other than holding the standby button?

Is it possible that the unit power up, but not send a video or audio signal?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Timtofly,
Thank you very much Tim for your very clear instruction.





Can you explan if the titles does not play then the player will not play, record nor do anything...?

Tx.

I mentioned this to point out the fact that your titles will not be able to be played if this condition is true. Before you try to record anything, go into the Setup-HDD and delete the hard drive. If you do this ater you record something it will also be deleted. If you have gotten to the point that you can see titles on the hard drive you have passed the point of needing the firmware. However if your title do not play and your machine starts to lock up, you need to delete the hard drive. You will then have a fresh start at filling the 250 gigs of space. The machine will work just fine.

The firmware is somewhat of a boost when trying to install a new drive. (it might write the MBR table. The main thing for the firmware is that it allows for longer title names. (20 ch.) instead of (8) It also allows the status bar to disappear after 15 seconds instead of staying on all the time. The other change is when playing titles on a DVD, you cannot hit the return button, you have to use the DVD button which is a longer stretch for the finger than the return key.

First, thanks for having a great board with a wealth of information. I've had the Philips 3455 since 06 and it has worked great. I turned it on the other day and no signal is getting to the TV (Samsung 32in LCD) via any output. I tried CAM1 and 2, EXT1 and 2, component, etc and still no audio or video to the TV. It seems it is booting up OK and I am able to use the remote to change sources. I've tried holding the standby button while plugging it in with no change.

I've searched this thread and others on the internet and can't seem to find a similar situation.

The unit worked on this same TV via component and the TV is progressive scan compatible.

I'm aware of changing the source on the TV to match the input from the DVD.

Is there any way to reset it other than holding the standby button?

Is it possible that the unit power up, but not send a video or audio signal?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

It may be stuck in progressive mode which will only allow progressive out through the RGB component. There will be a "Pro Scan" icon on the display panel. Your tv has to be correctly displaying in Progressive mode. Since you have not been successful, you may have to try this procedure:
3) Turn on the DVD recorder and wait until the display panel
shows a channel number. Press SETUP on the remote control
once. Enter the code “1168” and wait for the screen to be
refreshed after a few seconds. The “Pro Scan” icon on the
display will disappear.
I gave up and turned mine off years ago, since I kept switching the units back and forth between tv's. You can still use the RGB Component, It will be interlaced as oppposed to progressive. 480I instead of 480P


If this does not solve your problem, then your PC board may have something wrong with it. However if you see the "Pro-Scan" icon on the front, all other outputs will not work until the Progressive mode is turned off.

I have noticed something though. ARE THESE UNITS DIGITAL TUNERS? You can adjust the frequencies of the channels manually. Can they be adjusted to the Clear Quam frequencies? Just a thought for any one with comcast and time on their hands. ;)

It may be stuck in progressive mode which will only allow progressive out through the RGB component. There will be a "Pro Scan" icon on the display panel. Your tv has to be correctly displaying in Progressive mode. Since you have not been successful, you may have to try this procedure:
3) Turn on the DVD recorder and wait until the display panel
shows a channel number. Press SETUP on the remote control
once. Enter the code “1168” and wait for the screen to be
refreshed after a few seconds. The “Pro Scan” icon on the
display will disappear.
I gave up and turned mine off years ago, since I kept switching the units back and forth between tv's. You can still use the RGB Component, It will be interlaced as oppposed to progressive. 480I instead of 480P


If this does not solve your problem, then your PC board may have something wrong with it. However if you see the "Pro-Scan" icon on the front, all other outputs will not work until the Progressive mode is turned off.

Timtofly,

Thanks for your help. The "1168" turned off the progressive scan and now I'm getting a very broken, black and white display, that frequently gives no signal when using every output except RGB component. I don't get a signal at all when using RGB Component hook up. The RGB cables work fine when hooked up to the Direct TV receiver.

I was able to see the screen well enough to burn a recording from HDD to disk. The recording turned out fine and plays perfect using another DVD player. Does this sound like a PC board problem? I forgot to mention we had several power flickers during a t-storm about a month ago. Of course I had the DVDR plugged into a cheap surge protector.

Again, thank you for your excellent advise!

I am not sure what the Factory reset is. You might try leaving it unplugged for a couple of days to see if any of the capacitors fully discharge. If that does not help, then you might pop the cover and see if any of them look blown. Can you return it under warranty?

It is very clear Tim.
Once again thank you for your support.

I have this sinking feeling that the 3455's may be capped at 250 gig upgrade. I am trying a 300 which may be close to unpractical to buy now days. I have two "laying" around. First pass went through the load, copy, and boot sequence continuously. The second pass after cloning a 160 original went to time, but upon turning the unit on just sat there and rebooted over and over again. I am currently trying the 250 to 300 clone, if this does not work, will have to try to get a SATA 250 gig to finalize my theory. If the 250 sata works great, then the 250 gig is the limit. If the sata 250 does not work, then I have gone through 2 bad ide2sata adaptors, :(

I think that it is 98% likely that 250 gigs is the max. upgrade for the 3455, unless someone else can prove me wrong. The ide2sat converter works just fine on a 160 gig hard drive will test it out on a 250 in a month or two, but I am pretty much done testing. I will try to figure out some way to easily swap out external sata drives if any one is interested in that. Probably the "docking" version. You would just have to turn off the 3455 swap drives and then turn the 3455 back on.

When it comes to formatting, I have found that an unallocated "virgin" drive does the best. If the firmware is working and a NTSF drive is installed it will "boot" up, but it always seems to have left over space that will never be available for use. And if you delete the HD in the HD menu, it will ask for the firmware disk again when it is turned back on. A title can be recorded to the hard drive and played back, but not for sure about transfer to DVD. I can not remember the exact "transference" of my first 250 drive, but I have found that since then the only way to get a good working drive, (since mine were previous PC MPEG2 archivers) was to clone them from one 250 to the next. That is another reason to see what a new 250 sata drive will do. My converter Is a SIIG IDE to SATA Which has a jumper that allows you to set it as either a slave or master. Happy Upgrading.

Is there enough people interested or think that it is worthwile to start a sticky thread for the 3455? I have noticed that the 3390 and 3350 models may be similiar in nature. They have the same menu structure. If I ever get my hands on one, I would know for sure. It may be possible to replace the original 80 gig hard drive, with at least a 160, but maybe a 250 with the latest 3455 firmware. Like I said, If I could get my hands on one, I would know for sure. Also , I think for those of you who are having dvd drive failures, the HDMI upconverting 3400, may have a useable drive. They look like the same drive, but without one half of the dust cover. These units do not not have a fan, therefor they do not need the cover. I am going to try to take the cover off of one of mine and put it on one from the 3400 to see if it would work. I guess one could swap either way, if they had either machines. The 3300 series may also offer up parts. Also the UK counterparts may work also, since we seem to be using the UK firmware upgrade. ;)

When it comes to formatting, I have found that an unallocated "virgin" drive does the best. If the firmware is working and a NTSF drive is installed it will "boot" up, but it always seems to have left over space that will never be available for use. And if you delete the HD in the HD menu, it will ask for the firmware disk again when it is turned back on.

Hi Timtofly,

DO I understand it correctly that the new drive was formated with NTSF from Window and use the new firmware to boot it up?
What do you mean in "an unallocated "virgin" drive does the best"?

Thanks.

It has not been touched by a computer. I am planning on getting a brand new sata 250 today. I am going to first boot it up with the cloning software to see if it is formatted in either NTSF or Fat32. Some newer Western Digital's are preformatted and contain software. The older ones you had to "load" the software after they were in the computer. You have to "look" at these drives as being manufactured for computer's not our DVDR's. They do offer drives that are made especially for "video" recording, but unless you order these online from certain vendors, you are stuck with the "computer" variety.

I will report back to let you know how the drive was formatted and how my 3455 handled it. This is what I do know. You can use a drive that was formatted with NTFS, but it seems you have to keep loading the firmware in the DVD drive each time you turn the player off and back on which could get tedious. Once I have four working 3455's at 250 gigs each, I may play around to see how far a person has to go in recording on the hard drive to get past this scenario. Also If the computer left some unallocated space when it formatted the drive in NTFS, this space will never be used for recordings in the 3455 and you will have less than 160 or 200 or 250 gigs available. I think the 3455 can use the NTFS format, since it recorded on it, and it still showed NTFS when I booted up with my cloning software. However to answer your question, the 3455 did open the DVD drawer and "asked" for the firmware dvd/cd in order for it to continue booting each time the 3455 was turned off and back on.

"virgin" = not allocated by windows or mac. Linux is the format it is using, however it is a proprietary format that shows up as unallocated with Ghost and Easeus cloning software.

A further note, IF I can ever figure out how to format it in Fat32 which unless someone corrects me is what Linux uses; someone may be able to format it in Fat32 and avoid the NTFS hassle. All I have been able to do is "clone" a Fat32 drive and it does not seem to do anything since it was only an 80 gig harddrive and I do not have another 80 gig to clone to. Remember we are still only successfully cloning from same size drives. XP original may have formatted in Fat32, but my current computer setup only allows NTFS. If someone would format a Fat32 drive, I am curious to know their results.

Also if you are having trouble in going from the 160 to the 250 even with cloning, my last one did this. It booted fine, but "locked" up, and now will not work at all, and recloning it again from 2 different sources (160's) has been unseccessful. That is why I am getting another 250. Since I have now gotten my first original 160 drive working by recloning it, I think it may take a reclone from the same size drive to free up any drive, unless formatting Fat32 will do it as well. If I knew more about Linux there is probably an easy software solution to try, but for me it is "easier" throwing hard drives at the problem over the course of 3 months than "learning" the Linux langauage. I think that if someone cloned their nonworking drive to the same size and then turned around and cloned it back the other way, they may be surpised to see that they now have 2 working drives. My theory is still that the MBR table has been corrupted and needs to be rewritten. But you have to Know Linux to crack the code of these drives to rewrite the MBR. That is how it is in Windows. Going from a 160 to 250 may cheat it once, but if the new table is corrupted you have to go back to a working 250 to correct the problem. If you have a nonworking 160 and it makes a working 160, you then take the working 160 to correct the first 160 voila. Since I have been trying to go to a larger size the thought to do this never interested me, until I had all of these 160's laying around. In my case I have taken my new 500 and freed up 2 250's so I can have a good 250 and 160 to have for back up and backup of the backups. Even with a new Sata 250 gig drive, my "test" 3455 would not initialize it. I had to clone it from another 250 gig. So I give up on figuring out this system. All I know is that sometimes a drive takes and sometimes it does not.

Just picked up a 3455H/37 in great working condition for $35,
but it needed the remote control.

Found it here:

PHILIPS 242254900971 REMOTE CONTROL
Works with the following models: Philips DVDR3455, Philips DVDR3455H/37
[948 in stock]
Price: $10.00

Ships out of Buffalo, NY


http://www.radioequip.com/servlet/Categories?$catalog.Start=1&$catalog.Total=3&category=ALL&keyword=PHILIPS+242254900971+REMOTE+CONTROL&searchpath=122109

PHILIPS 242254900971 REMOTE CONTROL
@ $10.00 = $10.00


Sub-Total: $10.00
Shipping: $7.95 (Standard)


Sales Tax: $0.88

Invoice Total: $18.83
Store Credit: -$0.00

TOTAL DUE: $18.83

My 3455H/37 Manufacture Date is: April 2006.
Is Region Free and has all the FW updates.
Works great.
I'm happy with the $54 cost of admission.

Got my $272 back for the 2160A.
Had to use the Cable Box to get all the channels with that piece of c*!# anyway.
And I can actually burn and finalize with the timer set.
My HDTV upvert's from SD to HD anyway.
Good PQ.

Wow, someone who likes a 3455 better than a 2160. If they could make a digital tuner based on the 3455, it would make me happy. You can manually change the frequency of a channel, but I am not sure how this can work with ATSC or QAM.

I am not sure if Philips passed on the rights to this model or if they kept it. It is a very versital and forgiving machine. It has a couple of major quirks. Sometimes it will lock up like any computer running "98", and it does not have "chase" play. The lack of "chase" play is how we got the 3575 model, which has nice Icons, but is hard to handle, and finally the 2160A. On mine, with the "cheaper" store bought DVD's I am not sure if the laser just needs cleaning, but I have to experiment which blank media will work on which machine. PQ is great even on different recording speeds.

Wow, someone who likes a 3455 better than a 2160. If they could make a digital tuner based on the 3455, it would make me happy. You can manually change the frequency of a channel, but I am not sure how this can work with ATSC or QAM.

I am not sure if Philips passed on the rights to this model or if they kept it. It is a very versital and forgiving machine. It has a couple of major quirks. Sometimes it will lock up like any computer running "98", and it does not have "chase" play. The lack of "chase" play is how we got the 3575 model, which has nice Icons, but is hard to handle, and finally the 2160A. On mine, with the "cheaper" store bought DVD's I am not sure if the laser just needs cleaning, but I have to experiment which blank media will work on which machine. PQ is great even on different recording speeds.



I'm stuck with Comcast Cable.
The 2160A couldn't tune a whole lot of channel's.
Have to use a converter anywho.
I think the Finalize with timer FW FU is huge.
Chase play? I haven't even noticed. Guess I'm still in VCR-Land.
For the money I'm pleased with the 3455.

I spent so many hours messing with the 2160A trying to get Comcast channels that are Basic...
The solution offered was the DTA box. WTF?

I like ability to Sort by Label's with a list rather then paging through video boxes.
Feel's like a Bing Video search.

For my needs the $54 3455H will do just fine until tax refund time or an unexpected windfall.

It's 3+ years old and everything works perfectly.
Region free, PAL & DIVx aren't bad to have.
Plugging in a 8 gig USB stick for some quick music, or
a USB card reader tor view pix's off the 'ol 4 gig SD for friend's is cool.

I'll need to have it around to finalize disc's, if and when I upgrade :)

BTW - The 3455 Remote actually control's the volume and mute on my Viewsonic HDTV.

Just picked up a 3455H/37 in great working condition for $35, (less) the remote control...


At the very least the price was right and you got a good deal on the remote!

It might be a good idea to always keep a disc in the tray to potentially reduce problems from the 3455's well-known mechanical tray opening glitch.

It might be a good idea to always keep a disc in the tray to potentially reduce problems from the 3455's well-known mechanical tray opening glitch.

I kept a clear blank CD, the kind that comes with a spindle pk.
Worked fine.

However, I replaced the drive 'O' "rubber band" with a thicker gauge (a tad tigher? More grip? *idk).
Problem solved.

I tried the solution found here:
3455H/37 Disc Drawer Fix (http://www.fixya.com/support/t2496660-dvd_drawer_will_not_open_just_shows)

It works for me.
As always: YMMV

Ah, you know all about the problem and the fix! Good.
---
I'm about to send you a PM.

For what it is worth, I burned my Firmware Upgrade Disc to a CD-R, not a DVD. I used an older version of NERO and
followed the instructions found in the Philips Firmware Upgrade PDF file. It went perfectly for me doing it that way.


pica304, did you remember to REMOVE the firmware disc before powering down the 3455? This is a must.

Did you Power Down by Pressing the Power Off button on the front of the unit instead of using the remote? IIRC this method was specified in the Firmware Installation Instructions in the PDF from Philips. I will try to find a copy of that PDF to make sure.

I had a brand new known working sata 250 and a known working firmware and a known working ide2sata converter and still got the load copy boot over and over again. After I cloned from a "working" 250 gig drive, it worked perfectly. BTW there was nothing in the DVD drawer and it automatically opened like it was asking for the firmware. After putting the firmware in, it then went to copy and boot. I finally had to just unplug it. I am thinking about offering to clone people's drive for them. Not sure how to go about it.

I sent out a few PM's already but have received no takers so I'm throwing it open. Here's the info:

My 3455 failed a couple of days ago. I had set it aside and had just re-connected it to use its 6 hour recording buffer but its HDD appears to have gone bad. It constantly recycles through the entry display screen and goes nowhere. I did get it to open the disc drawer once and got the blank disc out.

You can have the recorder for free except for $15 for UPS/Fedex ground shipping. Send me a PM if interested. Otherwise it's off to the recycle center.

I bought the 3455 on eBay and until today it worked uneventfully. It has a remote in like-new condition provided by the eBay seller. The metal cabinet cover has significant dings and dents from the previous owner but the disc drawer never was balky. Since I heard about the mechanical glitch I always kept a blank disc in it just in case. Perhaps a replacement HDD would give the recorder another service life. You'd apparently have to load new software from Philips to go this route.

I will take it or fix it for you, if the offer is still open. Do you have a paypal account?

Hi folks,

was wondering if this is how this thing works. I want to copy videos from the hdd to a DVD+RW disk, but even if I successfully 'erased' the disk, when I select the video, it complains that the 'disk is full'. My question is, is RW disks not supported as far as copying videos from hdd to it? and can only copy to DVD+R or -R disks?

thanks.

The 3455 should make copies from the hard drive to both + and - RW's. Did you erase it in the 3455? Make sure the disk is unlocked. Try the overwrite option. If that does not work, go into the main menu under HDD and choose Delete Optical Disk. Do not Delete the HDD!

thank you so so so much timtofly!

I actually figured out the problem myself as the problem was because the disk wasn't big enough to hold certain contents. I'm new in this new HDD recorder arena so excuse me...

but you also solved another question I was about to ask. you pointed me to where I can erase a disk, which I had a hell of a time finding.

thanks again!!

I will take it or fix it for you, if the offer is still open. Do you have a paypal account?

I've been away for awhile, but just for the record Tim and I have arranged via PM for him to get the 3455! :)

Does anyone know how to upgrade the hard drive? i want to upgrade it to a 250 or 320. anyone has done this, or have some instructions, please let me know, or point me to it.

also, is it difficult to clone the hd's software? i just want to explore the idea of saving a copy in the case that the hd dies. thanks.

You can clone the 160 to another 160. If someone could "unlock" the linux "code" I think more could be done. Some have been able to get a 250 to work. I have then cloned that 250 to get more 250's to work. I have tried to get a 300, a 320, and a 500 to work, but have been unsuccessful. If you purchase a sata2ide connector, you can use sata drives, and possibly have an esata external powered docking station if you want to swap out drives. I have quit experimenting for the time being, since a 250 is the largest drive I could get to work. I have also been able to hook up a 20 speed HP "pc" externally powered DVD burner. The internal ide cable can be swapped out with longer dual ended cables, however you can not hook up more than one unit per ide bus. The DVD and the Hard Drive both have to be jumpered as master.

I have succesfully cloned an original drive that would no longer "work" in the 3455 to save the titles. I then recloned it with a different 3455's hard drive and the nonworking one is working again, but it has started to develope some bad sectors. I am only using it for backup, if I need to clone more 160's. If you have any more questions, I will try to answer them.

Hey Tim;

Obviously you don't need the manual!!! ;)

With my DVDR3455H/37B, the problem is with the dvd drive not being able to recognize
any type of disc at all. Simply says that the disc is not readable or compatible. Makes no dif if the disc is a store bought dvd movie, dvd-r, +r, -rw, or +rw. Contacted phillips and they said it was probably shot, and needed sent in. Only thing is, them repairing it costs close to the same as purchasing a new one. What's the prospects for just changing out the dvd drive myself? Does it have to be specifically a drive from philips or are others compatible? Pardon if this is a repeat question, but if it's asked elsewhere, I
guess I missed it.

Your best bet is to try a laser cleaner disk first. If you have used it as a DVD player, then the laser could be shot. You may try purchasing a used 3455 online, I am not sure what Philips quoted you. I am in the process of trying to see what DVD burners will work. I do not know how tech savy you are to replacing the inside parts. Both the DVD and Hard drive are standard IDE cabled drives.

I apologize fallingwater. I have both online and paper back.

Download Easeus Disk Copy from this site: http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/ Make a bootable CD. Hook up the 250 gig to a computer as the master. Hook up the 160 as a slave. Make sure that you can boot from the CD/DVD player on the secondary IDE bus. When you start the computer Easeus CD should boot up. Choose option 1, then choose next. Choose The Disk copy option. If the disk copy option is "greyed" out then you either do not have the jumper settings on the 160 (slave) or 250 (master) right or your hard drive is not being recognized. Choose the Partition option, and the next page will show you which HARD DRIVE IS OK. In my case the 160 was fine. It was the "new" drive that did not show up. If both Copy options do not work Check your Master Slave configurations on the hard drives. If they are correct or if the 250 shows up as fine, then your 160 is shot and you will not even be able to clone it. If the 250 does not work as the master, then it is defective.

If the first scenario does not work you can try the 250 as slave, however you have to turn it back to master when you put it in the 3455. This may or may not work for you. I have found that if the 250 will not clone as master, it usually will not work as a master in the 3455. This is up to you if you want to try it as a last ditch effort.

If your drive does clone successfully, then you should be able to see it in the 3455. Your titles will probably not play and it will lock up on you. If you can not see a picture next to your title, go to the Setup - HDD menu. Choose the delete HDD. This will clear your titles. Choose the Show item and you should see the full 250 gig available. The only way to Keep your titles if you clone the same size drive: 160 to 160.

Hi Tim,

I tried to clone the old 160GB to new WD250GB with the sw you suggested above. The Easeus Disk Copy recognized both of them, but when it tried to copy (clone) from source (160GB) to destination (250GB) ..it just kept trying but nothing was copying. Onething I notice that after about two minutes, it just standed there, I had to move the mouse to activated the process of copying again. I kept doing that for more than a half hour hopefully it worked...but nothing was copied.
I think it can see the the old drive but it can not read the contents of disk..!
Do you have any idea?

Thanks

Are you saying that the little boxes did not advance in the large box, and the numbers on the right hand side did not show any activity change? Did you try putting the 250 back into the 3455 as the master to see if the 3455 would recognize it? If you do try it, and it Works, go immediatly to the HDD menu and erase the Hard Drive option. If nothing is working, would you be interested in sending your 250 to me. I may be able to get it working and will send it back to you. IF Easeus keeps freezing up, then your 160 may be past getting anything off of it. I have not tried stopping the processes to see if the Master Boot Record has copied. My theory is that is what the 3455 needs to "see" the drive. If it is damaged, then the drive is shot. What I am not sure of is where this is stored on the hard drive. I am not an expert on Hard drive repair, I can only go by the 6 hard drives I have already done. My theory that it may be different on each hard drive, or sometimes it can be successfully re-written and other times it cannot be. There are two copies, so maybe if both are damaged, then the hard drive may need to be reformatted. This process will have to be done with Linex tools though. If it is done in Windows, I have found that everytime you turn the unit on, it wants the firmware disk to re-initialize the drive, even after it has already recorded to the hard drive.

Hi Tim,
I am in Montreal, Quebec, Canada...May I ask you where are you Tim?

Thanks

Detroit MI

FYI

The DVD burner in the 3400 is the same as the 3455. I have tried to snag them off of e-bay, and only got one. The only difference is the 3455 has two covers that snap off of the the burner that you may want to transfer to the 3400 burner. The 3400 does not have a fan like the 3455, so they left the covers off. I think the 3390 may have the same burner also, but have not been successful in obtaining one to verify.

FYI

The DVD burner in the 3400 is the same as the 3455. I have tried to snag them off of e-bay, and only got one. The only difference is the 3455 has two covers that snap off of the the burner that you may want to transfer to the 3400 burner. The 3400 does not have a fan like the 3455, so they left the covers off. I think the 3390 may have the same burner also, but have not been successful in obtaining one to verify.

The 3390 does have the same burner, but it is also missing the covers - but like you say, you can move them over. I put a 3390 dvd drive in my 3455 around 18 months ago, but it has now failed as well.

The 3390 does have the same burner, but it is also missing the covers - but like you say, you can move them over. I put a 3390 dvd drive in my 3455 around 18 months ago, but it has now failed as well.

Do you use the 3455 to watch DVD's? I was thinking that yes we can use the burners from the non HDD models, but they may get more use than what I would use one in my 3455. There is a theory that these burners last longer as burners than they do as players. Unless it is the closing and opening part. That can be fixed with a new rubberband.

Detroit MI
Hi Tim,

How are you?
If I send you my 250GB drive for cloning, how much do you charge?
If yo send me a working drive, how much do you charge?

Thank you Tim.

Right now, just shipping. If you can ship it and put in a return shipping label, I would be happy to get it working for you.

Right now, just shipping. If you can ship it and put in a return shipping label, I would be happy to get it working for you.
Thank you Tim.
My e-mail : pica304@gmail.com
What address shoulg I mail to you?

Thank you again.

I just installed a used WD 250 gb HD (Ebay $35) in my 3455. I did not try to clone the old drive, think it was shot. I installed the drive, turned DVR on, it goes through load-boot cycle, then DVD tray opened, put firmware disk in, when the DVR started I removed the disk & formated the HD, rebooted the DVR, put disk back in & installed new firmware. It shows the whole HD in setup & everything is back working like new.

. ....., when the DVR started I removed the disk & formated the HD, rebooted the DVR, put disk back in & installed new firmware. It shows the whole HD in setup & everything is back working like new.

Can you explain ..when the DVR started..how could you remove the disk and formatted the HD? You formatted the HD by DVR or by PC?
Also, where did you download the firmware?

Thank you.

I just installed a used WD 250 gb HD (Ebay $35) in my 3455. I did not try to clone the old drive, think it was shot. I installed the drive, turned DVR on, it goes through load-boot cycle, then DVD tray opened, put firmware disk in, when the DVR started I removed the disk & formated the HD, rebooted the DVR, put disk back in & installed new firmware. It shows the whole HD in setup & everything is back working like new.

That is how it is supposed to work, but most of us who are having problems just get the "load, copy, boot" sequence over and over and over again. It will never recognize the new drive and let us even get to the menus. I was able to get one drive to work for me, but all the others ones did not. I had to "clone" the working 250 to get the rest of the 250's to work.

I apologize pica304 for not getting back with you about shipping.

I installed a used 250GB Western Digital HD, when I turned the DVR on, it went through the "load, copy, boot" sequence, then the tray opened up, I put the firmware disk in, "load, copy, boot" sequence again, the DVR started & had a message to set time & date. I took the disk out, went to set up & formatted the HD, put the disk back in & message about new firmware update pops up, I let it update and it works like new.
I did this with two 40GB HDs also, one was a WD & one a Samsung.
I got the firmware from Philips Support, here is the link, hope this helps!

http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/cpindex.pl?tmplt=<not applicable>&scy=US&slg=AEN&sct=DVD_HARDDISK_RECORDERS_SU&cat=DVD_HOME_THEATER_CA&grp=HOME_ENTERTAINMENT_GR&session=20091022020226_71.51.230.210&ctn=DVDR3455H/37&mid=Link_Software&hlt=Link_Software

I'm guessing my HD was formated with a PC before I received it.
Here is the model # Caviar® WD2500BB

Product Information
The Western Digital Caviar® WD2500BB 250 GB ATA-100 Hard Drive is fully compatible with PC systems.The Hard Drive connect by: DMA/ATA-100 (Ultra) for Internal utilization. Spinning up to 7200 RPM and offering capacity as large as 250 GB

[QUOTE=
I did this with two 40GB HDs also, one was a WD & one a Samsung.
I got the firmware from Philips Support, here is the link, hope this helps!



Hi, What are the format of the 40GB HDs?
Also the firmware you have is burned on CD or DVD, and what program you used?

Thanks

Both were NTFS & I think XP Pro was still on both of them.
The firmware is on a CD-R & I think I used Nero 7 to burn it.

Thank you Goheels04 for your info.
I just sent my drive to Tim and hope that Tim will fix it.

Thanks.

I received your drive - 10/29. I am cloning it right now and all seems to be going well. Will let let you know when it is finished.

Did you want to be able to name longer titles - up to 20 characters?

Yes Tim.

Thank you.

Hello Tim,

How is thing going?
I always am waiting for your good news.

Again, thank you Tim.

Hello Tim,
What can I say enough to thank you Tim, the drive(also my Philips) is working fine now.
You are the one Tim.:o))
You are the one Tim....

THANK YOU TIM

Did you want to be able to name longer titles - up to 20 characters?

Timtofly,
how do you add more charactors in the title bar. This has been driving me nuts??

I have built an esata box and have a dvd burner and 2 HDD swap boxes. I am going to try an external HDD swap for my 3455H. It looks like I will have to buy 160 gig drive. From what I have read here none of the larger ones will work. Is this right?

Hello everyone,

I'm brand new to your forum, and found it by googling my newest issue with my Phillips 3455h. Thanks for all the help you have been giving fellow frustrated DVD owners like me.

Here's my issue: I've had my 3455h for about 2 years (it was a replacement from Phillips on an older model that died) and for the most part, it's been a pretty good machine.

Today the machine won't burn to a disc anymore. It starts the procedure, shows the percent done graphic, then just stops.

This worries me greatly as I have over 100 files on the hard drive I want to save on DVD.

Any thoughts? Do I need to replace the drive? It plays discs just fine, and used to burn wonderfully until now.

If I do need to replace it, what is a good source to get a replacement? I would hate to have to send the unit in to Philips for repair - I have shows I want to record several nights a week. Any help or advice you can give would be appreciated!

-James

James,
I had the same problem. I took the unit apart and cleaned the DVD player and lens and put it back together and it work now. However if I were to do it again I would get and DVD cleaner and go that route first.

The new problem: I just updated the firmware and burn a disk. It burn ok and finalize and then it lockup. I unplugged the unit to reset it and now it will not recognize the DVD and I can not play it on any player. The error is unrecognized disc.

All,

I have a DVDR3575H/37 that I bought a few years ago.

I don't record tons of stuff with it (the Hard Drive), but I have noticed that when I record regular TV shows (dramas or whatever) the picture is perfect on playback. Crazy thing is when I record sports programs (Football or Hockey have been the examples) the playback gets snowy or fuzzy or maybe slightly pixilated during live action. ABC's "Lost" looks great. Other TV shows look great. Commercials look great. Any slow movement action is great. But live action sports gets snowy or fuzzy.

I’ve read some of the posts here indicating that the poor PQ is unfortunately not uncommon, but am I the only one with the specific slow versus action PQ issue?

All I have is a coax coming out of the wall into the back of the DVDR, then connections to an RF Modulator to the back of a regular old "tube" TV with a coax input. Obviously it’s an older TV by the need for the RF modulator.

I have tried varying recording quality and it seems to make no difference. When I record onto a DVD and playback the DVD elsewhere, it again is snowy or fuzzy during the live action.

Are there any thoughts or comments or solutions?

Thanks so much.

Thanks for the tips Flash.

I will try to clean the lens tonight, and see if it works.
Just to narrow down the problem, I'm also going to try to burn to CD, as I think it uses a different lens for that.

If none of this works, does anyone have advice on where to get a replacement burner part for the 3455h?
I hear the 3390 uses the same drive, and hopefully has the same DIVX playback capabilities, so if anyone knows where I can get parts for either model cheap, or has an alternative solution, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks everyone,
-James

Pavlov5, sports, especially football look much worse on most all DVDR's including the 3455. If it is a Football game I truly want to archive or see clearly I set Picture Quality to the HQ setting. This helps, and is really all we can do other than make sure the original signal is of the highest possible quality.

Flash Frwd, one of the Firmware updates adds a few more characters to the Title Bar. Other than that I know of no other way to increase the number if characters available for Titling.

Flash, I did not fully understand your DVD Problem. Is it just the one DVD that won't play back in any player, or will the Philips now not recognize ANY DVDs at all? Have you tried several recordings since you updated the Firmware? It sounds like the problem DVD was not finalized. An unfinalized DVD will not play on any player other than the Philips. It is also possible that the problem DVD may be corrupted. If you have not done so already, try burning another DVD if possible.

DJJAMES, how full is your Hard Drive? In some cases DVDR's do not function properly if the HDD is too full. Try deleting any Titles that you do not want/have to keep. I would also recommend trying a DVD Style Laser cleaner and running it at least twice. If you eventually have to replace the DVD Drive I would try EBay for the 3390 or whatever model it is that uses the same drive. They are almost impossible to get otherwise. I think one or more persons did have some success with using an aftermarket burner, but it is a huge thread and my memory isn't as good as I wish it was so I don't recall the details. Try using the advanced search function, maybe with "replacement" and "burner" as key words.

Finally, for both DJJAMES and Flash Frwd, are you using a quality DVD blanks for your recent burn attempts. Memorex and other crap media can cause problems. Sorry for the "shotgun" approach to answering your queries, but without more detailed info this is the best I could do.

Pavlov5, sports, especially football look much worse on most all DVDR's including the 3455. If it is a Football game I truly want to archive or see clearly I set Picture Quality to the HQ setting. This helps, and is really all we can do other than make sure the original signal is of the highest possible quality.

Well, that's disappointing. Football plays back nicely on my cable company provided DVR. But the wife and kids dominate that thing. That's why I bought the DVDR.

Is there an inherent technological difference between the two?

Thanks Shred & Flash - cleaning the lens with a standard DVD lens cleaner did the job! I tried making room on the Hard Driver first (as the Hard Drive is Full error message is why I needed to burn to DVD anyway, but even after deleting 14 hrs of shows, it still wouldn't work.

Luckilly, a $12 trip to Staples got me the tool I needed to make it all better.

Thanks for all the help guys! Given the reliability of the Phillips products, I'm sure I'll be back again soon - LOL

Well, that's disappointing. Football plays back nicely on my cable company provided DVR. But the wife and kids dominate that thing. That's why I bought the DVDR.

Is there an inherent technological difference between the two?

I am not sure. Is your DVR an HD Model? The 3455 is Standard Def all the way. Just record sports in HQ. It is a significant improvement with my setup. Best I can offer with regard to the 3455.

DJJAMES, glad the DVD Cleaner worked for you.:)

I am not sure. Is your DVR an HD Model? The 3455 is Standard Def all the way. Just record sports in HQ. It is a significant improvement with my setup. Best I can offer with regard to the 3455.

The cable company provided DVR/Cable Box does give me HD stations, but I don't have an HD TV set so I don't watch or record them.

The regular def stations provide a very nice (standard def) picture when DVRing football and hockey games, unlike the grainy quality I get with my 3455.

I'll try to amp up to HQ and see what happens. Uses alot of storage space, but I'll burn it onto DVD right away next time.

The cable company provided DVR/Cable Box does give me HD stations, but I don't have an HD TV set so I don't watch or record them.

The regular def stations provide a very nice (standard def) picture when DVRing football and hockey games, unlike the grainy quality I get with my 3455.

I'll try to amp up to HQ and see what happens. Uses alot of storage space, but I'll burn it onto DVD right away next time.

I am curious, how do you have the signal input into the 3455 versus how you have the signal input into the DVR?

And just a reminder... At HQ Quality Recording you can only put 1 hour of content per 4.5 GB DVD.

I am curious, how do you have the signal input into the 3455 versus how you have the signal input into the DVR?

And just a reminder... At HQ Quality Recording you can only put 1 hour of content per 4.5 GB DVD.

Both come right from wall coax outlet, into DVR/3455 coax inputs, out to an RF modulator, then into a tube TV coax input.

Finally, for both DJJAMES and Flash Frwd, are you using a quality DVD blanks for your recent burn attempts. Memorex and other crap media can cause problems. Sorry for the "shotgun" approach to answering your queries, but without more detailed info this is the best I could do.

FullOnShred,
I have to say yes to the crap media, I used the Memorex DVD-R. What media would you suggest to burn on? I can see the burn on the DVD but as you said it's like it was never finalize:confused:. I did finalize it with the 3455 but after it was done it would not recognize it in the 3455 or any other player; As it was burning it paused a few times before it was done. I will try another one and hope I don't get another coaster out of it.

I'm out of town right now so it will be week before I can burn one and see if it works.

FullOnShred,
I have to say yes to the crap media, I used the Memorex DVD-R. What media would you suggest to burn on? I can see the burn on the DVD but as you said it's like it was never finalize:confused:. I did finalize it with the 3455 but after it was done it would not recognize it in the 3455 or any other player; As it was burning it paused a few times before it was done. I will try another one and hope I don't get another coaster out of it.

I'm out of town right now so it will be week before I can burn one and see if it works.

Flash, either Verbatim DVD-R made in Taiwan, available locally most places, Office Max is one source, Best Buy another, or Taiyo Yuden Premium DVD-R available from Supermediastore.com or Rima.com online. In a pinch, possibly Sony DVD+/-R Made in Taiwan if you can find them. Walgreens Drugstores may stock them. If there is an HH Gregg near you then JVC DVD Media might be worth a try if it says made In Japan on it. It may be rebranded Taiyo Yuden as they have merged as companies.

Also, a DVD Lens Cleaner Disc might not be a bad investment. I usually run mine 2 times if I have any type of DVD Problem and then wait 20 minutes or so before putting a DVD back in the machine. Good luck!

Well, I got home and burned another DVD and this time it work.
I record music shows off TV and when I get enough for a DVD I burn it. I just wish there was some way to edit the DVD. Every place I edit with the 3455 it puts a chapter mark and when I play it back on my computer it stops at every edit mark and I have to hit the play button again:confused:. I have been playing around with AVS video editor but can’t figure out how to edit the video once it’s on the computer and get the chapter mark out of it. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thank for your help Full On Shred

Well, I got home and burned another DVD and this time it work.
I record music shows off TV and when I get enough for a DVD I burn it. I just wish there was some way to edit the DVD. Every place I edit with the 3455 it puts a chapter mark and when I play it back on my computer it stops at every edit mark and I have to hit the play button again:confused:. I have been playing around with AVS video editor but can’t figure out how to edit the video once it’s on the computer and get the chapter mark out of it. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thank for your help Full On Shred

You are certainly welcome for any help. When you "edit" your music dvd's, what procedure are you using? There is a way to edit out commercials with the Philips through the menu. Is that what you are using to do the job?

If yes, then be advised I have playback problems on other DVD layers if I try to FF beyond 2x. Perhaps DVD+R might work better for you.

One other suggestion, try Playback ( on your computer) by a different DVD Player Program. A good free one is VLC Media Player, but you may have gotten some free DVD Playback tools pre-installed on your computer. If you are using Windows Media Player, then maybe try PowerDVD or Nero or the VLC Mediaplayer and see what results you get. Please advise of what you discover.

VLC media Player for WINDOWS (Free) http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

Does anyone else have problems with a dark screen on the Philips DVDR 3537? Any ways to fix this issue?
Mine is just over a year old and not under warranty anymore.

Well, after four great years, my Phillips DVDR3455H might have finally died. The Hard drive still has a lot of great things that I would like to save..either transfer to my computer, to blank DVD-Rs, or to a portable external HD that I have for my PC. Is there a way to do any of these?

Unfortunatley, I can no longer get a DVD (regular or blank) to load. The disc door is "blocked" continuously and will not recognize any sort of disc that I put into the machine.

Please let me know if I can save any of the things that I've recorded on this Hard Drive from over the past few years.

Thanks so much

Jason

Assuming you can PLAY the titles on the HDD you could just play them in real time and copy them to another DVDR via line output/input. If your computer can accept line inputs I suppose you could just go that way too.
Tunerless line input DVDRs start at ~$100. You'd take a slight hit in picture quality due to the re encode but if you stick to a decent speed it shouldn't be much.

Thanks for the quick reply, Jeff.

I can play the titles on the HDD with no problem. Are there currently any good new DVDRs that I could purchase? Unfortunately, my PC doesn't have line inputs. Any suggestions on those tunerless line input DVDRs? Thanks again.

Jason

Thanks for the quick reply, Jeff.

I can play the titles on the HDD with no problem. Are there currently any good new DVDRs that I could purchase? Unfortunately, my PC doesn't have line inputs. Any suggestions on those tunerless line input DVDRs? Thanks again.

Jason

As many hundreds, perhaps thousands of AVS posts have mentioned, the Magnavox 2160 is a required purchase at $159.99 through J&R:

http://www.jr.com/magnavox/pe/MAG_H2160MW9_hy_RB/?JRSource=linkshare&SiteID=X3Th4gZi%2FiQ-yS8mk%2FEqDEj6uC9cNYwgpg&JRSource=linkshare&SiteID=X3Th4gZi%2FiQ-iE5Hsa8FTHd2tAHaW5OuDw

I checked it out. I think I'll buy the new one from Walmart.com just in case I have to return it for any reason.

So, I'm correct in thinking that I will be able to use my broken Philips DVDR3455H as an input to this new Magnavox 2160? I can play (output) the titles from the Philips HDD and From there I will be able to either save the old titles from the Philips onto the new Maganox HDD or burn the discs on the Maganox DVD Recorder? Just want to make sure I know what I'm doing before I buy it.

Thanks again.

I checked it out. I think I'll buy the new one from Walmart.com just in case I have to return it for any reason.

So, I'm correct in thinking that I will be able to use my broken Philips DVDR3455H as an input to this new Magnavox 2160? I can play (output) the titles from the Philips HDD and From there I will be able to either save the old titles from the Philips onto the new Maganox HDD or burn the discs on the Maganox DVD Recorder? Just want to make sure I know what I'm doing before I buy it.

Thanks again.

Yes. Transferring recordings to the hard drive does not use the DVD Drive laser so that's to be preferred. Then high-speed dub to DVDs if you like. The high-speed dub requires far less wear and tear on the DVD Drive's laser assembly than does a real-time dub directly to DVD.

Unfortunatley, I can no longer get a DVD (regular or blank) to load. The disc door is "blocked" continuously and will not recognize any sort of disc that I put into the machine.

Thanks so much

Jason

Jason is the door on the DVD play close so you can't get it open? if so under the DVD drew there is a slop that has a white lever, if it’s like mine it’s all dusty, that you can push to the right to open the DVD drew. If your DVD player will not play any DVD after loading, I had the same problem, buy a DVD lens cleaner and it should work, that's all I had to do.
Good Luck

Inanthony,
I am having a similar problem. Just in the last couple of weeks the darn thing has numerous drop outs, completely losing all picture & audio for a few seconds. This is both in HDD playback AND when just passing the signal though to the TV. And it is happening more frequently as time goes on. Not sure yet, but a common scene may be vey high saturation (Think History channel and Universe series with quickly going to very bright, saturated screen). Not sure if cause & effect or just coincidence.
My 3536 is 1 year and 5 days old now.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Inanthony,
I am having a similar problem. Just in the last couple of weeks the darn thing has numerous drop outs, completely losing all picture & audio for a few seconds. This is both in HDD playback AND when just passing the signal though to the TV. And it is happening more frequently as time goes on. Not sure yet, but a common scene may be vey high saturation (Think History channel and Universe series with quickly going to very bright, saturated screen). Not sure if cause & effect or just coincidence.
My 3536 is 1 year and 5 days old now.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
No matter what DVDR you have, the digital transition is apparently still a "work in progress."

We get regular signal dropouts on LIVE TV all the time, esp. ABC HD, along with several other "artifacts" that suggest signal problems.

The fact that your unit is PASSING THRU a dropout signal indicates the problem is at the source more likely than the unit itself. The dropouts from HDD recordings could just be actual RECORDED dropouts in the signal.

You can test by connecting your coax directly to your TV and seeing if dropouts disappear or are still occurring?, which would prove one way or another?

Months ago someone named "Atomic Vole" suggested a source for replacing the drive belt on the DVD drawer on the 3455. My rubber band solution quit and last night after a new one was put in, the machine is working better, but not quite as good as last time.

I'm wondering if anyone else tried the source Vole suggested, and if so was the belt a match? I PM'd him, but in checking his member name, it seems that was the only post he's ever contributed on these forums, and he's yet to answer the PM.

He may not even visit here any more.

No matter what DVDR you have, the digital transition is apparently still a "work in progress."

We get regular signal dropouts on LIVE TV all the time, esp. ABC HD, along with several other "artifacts" that suggest signal problems.

The fact that your unit is PASSING THRU a dropout signal indicates the problem is at the source more likely than the unit itself. The dropouts from HDD recordings could just be actual RECORDED dropouts in the signal.

You can test by connecting your coax directly to your TV and seeing if dropouts disappear or are still occurring?, which would prove one way or another?
When I view live TV, the picture is much more bright, clear, and defined. Then I switch to "live" on the DVR and it's dark and looks more like an older TV set. Any idea on how to adjust the settings or inputs?

OK, so I read some of the posts on this thread and I think I have the answer I'm looking for and I apologize for not reading all 29 pages here.

I bought an RCA dvd+r recorder that has never worked properly since I bought it. At first I thought that I was just an idiot and was doing something wrong trying to copy tapes.

When new the unit would read prerecorded dvds and record dvds sporadically, now it won't read any disc. It displays a message saying that the blank dvd needs to be formatted or that there is no disc in the unit.

Anyway, I bought the thing in 2006 so it's not under warranty. I opened the unit and found all the dvd recorder (at least that's what it looks like) is a standard philips dvd recorder.

It looks like I should be able to replace it with almost any other dvd drive.

I emailed RCA and this was the response:
There is something wrong with the laser eye lens.
The unit is out of the warranty and if you send it in, they will replace it for $65. Provide me with your phone# if you want to send it in. Thanks.

I can buy an LG dvd+r/dvd-r unit for $50 from Best Buy.

Shouldn't I be able to just replace the drive like I would in my computer?

thanks

I bought an RCA dvd+r recorder that has never worked properly since I bought it... I bought the thing in 2006 so it's not under warranty. I opened the unit and found all the dvd recorder (at least that's what it looks like) is a standard philips dvd recorder.

It looks like I should be able to replace it with almost any other dvd drive.

I emailed RCA and this was the response:
There is something wrong with the laser eye lens.
The unit is out of the warranty and if you send it in, they will replace it for $65. Provide me with your phone# if you want to send it in. Thanks.

Shouldn't I be able to just replace the drive like I would in my computer?

thanks

Most standalone DVD Recorders use proprietary DVD Drives, not computer-type DVD burners. The most likely answer to your question is NO.

Does a "standard philips dvd recorder" (DVD Drive) work in a RCA? I have no idea.

If you want your RCA DVD Recorder repaired $65 might be your best option.

Search the DVD Recorder threads for your model--set the date criteria back to "beginning" to find other RCA poster comments concerning DVD Drive replacement.

I've attached a photo showing the proprietary DVD Drive found in a October 2006 Funai-manufactured Magnavox MWR10D6 DVD Recorder. "Standard" Philips DVD Recorder DVD Drives are probably of similar design.

Wajo has posted several photos showing more detail of a DVD Drive found in a Philips DVD Recorder. He also compares the Philips DVD Recorder DVD Drive with a computer-type Lite On DVD "burner" that can not be modified for use with a standalone DVD Recorder. See this post:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12355769#post12355769

Months ago someone named "Atomic Vole" suggested a source for replacing the drive belt on the DVD drawer on the 3455. My rubber band solution quit and last night after a new one was put in, the machine is working better, but not quite as good as last time.

I'm wondering if anyone else tried the source Vole suggested, and if so was the belt a match? I PM'd him, but in checking his member name, it seems that was the only post he's ever contributed on these forums, and he's yet to answer the PM.

He may not even visit here any more.

Did you find a source for the belt?

The office-max solution has repeatedly failed me as well. I'm currently using an old lite-on dvd drive and it seems to work but looks klunky sitting on top.

Has anyone found a source for replacement belt for the 3455's drive?

http://www.electronix.com/catalog/ad...d+belt&x=0&y=0

Many different drive belts. Measure and order, maybe? Ooops, these jerks have a $10 minimum order. Glad I put one in the "Cart" to check on shipping cost before I typed this message.

This page may be helpful for measuring your belt.

http://www.kenselectronics.com/lists/belts.htm

Here is a suggestion from another webpage

"I had this problem. The drive belt that lifts the disc reader was too worn out to lift up to the disc. I replaced it by taking a regular sized baloon and cutting off the rolled up piece on the bottom. Worked great in place of a belt."

I also called radioshack. They will not order replacement belts here in my area. They want $20 to send product off for repair with zero guarantee of fixing the machine, or promise of final cost if they can fix it. Bleech. I will look around more later. take care....

You may be on to something. A balloon might be a step up from a rubber band - in terms of strength and resiliency.

I seem to have misplaced the original belt, so I'm not able to measure. I think the belt might be in one of the kits available from MCM Electronics (http://www.mcmelectronics.com/search.aspx?K=belt), but I'm not sure of the original belt type or size.

You may be on to something. A balloon might be a step up from a rubber band - in terms of strength and resiliency.

I seem to have misplaced the original belt, so I'm not able to measure. I think the belt might be in one of the kits available from MCM Electronics (http://www.mcmelectronics.com/search.aspx?K=belt), but I'm not sure of the original belt type or size.

I would not be surprised if you couldn't just buy a multi-pak and try just judging it by fit.

Hi All,

My DVDR3455H HD just died (that horrible HD clicking sound) so I decided to see if it was fixable. I replaced the HD (with a small 20G Caviar) and upgraded the firmware using the file I downloaded from Philips (dvdr3455h_37b_fus_eng.zip).

The upgrade seemed to proceed w/out problems, and after rebooting the unit as instructed, I set the date and time.

I can play a DVD, display images from a USB stick, but the tuner portion appears to be non-functioning.

Unfortunately, it now says "No Signal" when the unit is set to tuner. I've confirmed that it is getting a signal (run the coax from the wall outlet to the TV input, all works; connect the same coax from the wall to the DVR input and it says no signal).

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Hi All,

My DVDR3455H HD just died (that horrible HD clicking sound) so I decided to see if it was fixable. I replaced the HD (with a small 20G Caviar) and upgraded the firmware using the file I downloaded from Philips (dvdr3455h_37b_fus_eng.zip).

The upgrade seemed to proceed w/out problems, and after rebooting the unit as instructed, I set the date and time.

I can play a DVD, display images from a USB stick, but the tuner portion appears to be non-functioning.

Unfortunately, it now says "No Signal" when the unit is set to tuner. I've confirmed that it is getting a signal (run the coax from the wall outlet to the TV input, all works; connect the same coax from the wall to the DVR input and it says no signal).

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Have you rechecked all the Flat Ribbon Cables to make sure they are all connected?

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I ensured that the cables were back in place.

There was one cable (1112 on the Tuner board) that was taped to the dead drive, and I detached it to remove the drive. The board is well designed with notations such as "contact side" and I replaced the cable appropriately.

I checked all the others to ensure that I didn't accidentally dislodge anything else.

I used to do QA for electronics manufacturing companies so I know how much havoc an incorrectly inserted cable can cause!

Alas, no remedy there. Any other suggestions?

coop

(I think) Somewhere in this thread is info on how to do a hard reset of this unit. Forgive me, I do not remember where, or how. Something along the lines of unplugging the unit for a good while, then holding in the Power button as you plug it back in? I own 4 different brands of HDD based DVD recorders and all this stuff kind of runs together for me.

Additionally, for one unit (I think the Sylvania HDRV200F) it will not pass thru video by coax. It requires either S-Video or Composite connection to the monitoring device.

I'm Not saying the Philips requires this, but maybe try connecting to your monitor by a different output method and see what happens. Won't hurt, at any rate.

Best of luck to you.

Will it let you do the upgrade again?

You can clone the 160 to another 160.
I have succesfully cloned an original drive that would no longer "work" in the 3455 to save the titles. I then recloned it with a different 3455's hard drive and the nonworking one is working again, but it has started to develope some bad sectors. I am only using it for backup, if I need to clone more 160's. If you have any more questions, I will try to answer them.

timtofly,
I've been trying to clone my hard drive, I am using EZ GIG II. It does not see any thing on the hard drive to clone and so it comes up with can't clone empty drive:confused:. what are you using or any help you can give would be great.

Thanks

My Philips works great but I would love for it to have a bigger hard drive.
I have a 500 GB SATA drive available that I bought for my computer but never installed. I also have an older 250 GB IDE drive.

How could I replace the original with the 500?

I love this machine and do not want to foul it up.

Thanks.

timtofly,
I've been trying to clone my hard drive, I am using EZ GIG II. It does not see any thing on the hard drive to clone and so it comes up with can't clone empty drive:confused:. what are you using or any help you can give would be great.

Thanks

If you are doing it through windows, it may not work. I burned a boot disk using Easeus disk copy software. When this disk boots up, it will let you do a sector by sector copy of your original drive to the new drive. The new drive needs to be a 160 gig drive. I usually set the original to slave and the new drive to master.

My Philips works great but I would love for it to have a bigger hard drive.
I have a 500 GB SATA drive available that I bought for my computer but never installed. I also have an older 250 GB IDE drive.

How could I replace the original with the 500?

I love this machine and do not want to foul it up.

Thanks.

If you use the 500 sata, then you will need an ide to sata converter. You will need to burn a cd or dvd with the firmware upgrade. If the 500 sata is recognized by the Philips then it will ask for the upgrade disk and "initialize" the drive for you. I have only been able to get a 250 to work though. Seems there may be a size limit.

If you try the 250, just put it in. If it boots to ok and you can get the channels to tune, go to the hard drive menu and "format" the drive using the erase titles option. This should give you all of the 250 gig available. If this does not work, then you will need to have the above mentioned firmware disk to get it to "initialize" the drive. I was only successful with one 250 drive "taking". I had to clone that drive to another 250 and any 250 after that I had to clone from a "working" drive.

If you are doing it through windows, it may not work. I burned a boot disk using Easeus disk copy software. When this disk boots up, it will let you do a sector by sector copy of your original drive to the new drive. The new drive needs to be a 160 gig drive. I usually set the original to slave and the new drive to master.

Thanks timtofly,
The EZ GIG has a CD that I can boot from and I will try that.

I have a new 160 gig sata that I am going to use with the IDE to SATA adapter. I have the CD with the FW for the 3455. If the Philips 3455 will not see it I will clone it and see if that will work.

Thanks for the helpful info timtofly.

Since you suggest that 250GB is the workable max, I am not certain that I will take the risk to try and upgrade to a larger hard drive.

Nevertheless, your expertise is really appreciated.

Bumped

Hi Folks,

Following how to solve the BLOCKED problem at DVDR 3455H philips. I've posted some pictures about it.
Have fun.

lmonfa

Stellar work, lmonfa! Bravo, and Thank You! :D

I burned a boot disk using Easeus disk copy software. When this disk boots up, it will let you do a sector by sector copy of your original drive to the new drive. The new drive needs to be a 160 gig drive. I usually set the original to slave and the new drive to master.

After one frustrating weekend I am returning for more advice on the cloning of my Philips DVR 3455h. Timtofly if your out there I sure could use some information:confused:. The new HDD is a WD 160 SATA I have the converters for it.

I down loaded the boot disk from Easeus and booting to it but the Philips HDD showed up with no partitions and looks like an unformatted drive (unallocated). I can see all 3 HDD; my computer shows that it can be cloned and the new HDD show up unallocated same as the philips HDD. I looked at the bios on the computer to see if there might be something in there that I could change but I hate to start messing with that not knowing what I am doing. So if anyone has a suggestion I am open.

I even hooked the new HDD to the Philips DVR but it did not recognize it and the dvd drawer keep opening and closing I tried putting the FW disk in but it did not do anything but open up again. As far as I know there is no master and slave setting for SATA Drives. It is what it is unless you know how to make it master and be recognize by the Philips 3455. I think this is why it did not work in the DVR because it does not have a master setting.
Hope all of this is not the confusing.

Flash

If you have succesfully made a copy, then you need to get a converter that has a jumper that you can choose whether it is a slave or master. It needs to be the master. That may be your only hold up.

If it does not work with the converter set as master, then you will have to reclone the drive. Have you tried putting the original drive back in the 3455? Does it work?

If you have to reclone the drive, take out your original computer drive and put the sata with the converter set to master in its place. The original drive from the Philips should be re-jumpered as the slave. When you are in Easus make sure that your slave is the source drive and the master is the destination drive. The slave (original Philips drive) will show up as unallocated, that is why you need to be really carful since you do not want to make a copy of a blank drive over the existing information of the original drive.

I did not get a copy of the 3455 HDD. I only have a copy of the Easus boot disk.

On the Easus boot disk do you use the Clone function or the Disk copy function to copy the disk?

The new sata drive and the Philips 3455 drive both show up as unallocated with the 3455H set to slave or master. So do I use the disk copy function to copy the 3455 HDD to Sata? Because the clone function does not give me any part of the 3455h HDD to chioce to clone. Lots of question:confused:

Do I need to wipe the partition off the SATA drive first before I copy the 3455 HDD to the SATA or will the program take care of that for me?

I can still put the Philips drive in the 3455 and it still work, (it has a the bad sector that pauses the picture and the voice keeps going on. This does not happen very often though.)

Thanks for all your help. I am just one of those people that likes to learn.

You will not be able to "see" anything on either hard drive. They both will show up as unallocated. When I used Easus, it would only allow me to make a copy of the disk. The other options were greyed out. As long as you are sure which drive is which, you will be ok. You are making an exact copy of the original.

Are both disk western digital? Does Easus clearly define the new drive as a sata?

The most important thing is to make sure the drive from the 3455 is the source and the new sata is the destination. Be prepared to wait about 4 hours for it to finish once you start the copy.


The reason Easus shows them as Unallocated, is because these drives are formatted "probably" as some form of Linux. Unless you mount a linux drive you cannot see any information. All Easus is doing is making an exact duplicate which does not involve whether a drive is formatted or not. You do not need to Pre-format the new sata. The cloning part of easus involves drives that are formatted using dos/windows. Under this function, you can clone mutiple smaller drives or even Partitions of a single drive and either keep them intact or create a new single partition. That is why it is greyed out, because it cannot find those types of formatted partitions on the drive from the 3455 and the new sata. The cloning part of Easus is handy if someone has an older computer with multiple smaller drives and they want to put everything on one new larger drive in a newer computer.


When you do put the new sata in the 3455, you do need to make sure your converter, designates the drive as the Master. It will not work unless you do so.

The same thing has happened with me. I was putting the sata without designating the drivers as a masters. After putting the sata with designating the drivers as a masters it works perfectly.

I did not get a copy of the 3455 HDD. I only have a copy of the Easus boot disk.

On the Easus boot disk do you use the Clone function or the Disk copy function to copy the disk?

The new sata drive and the Philips 3455 drive both show up as unallocated with the 3455H set to slave or master. So do I use the disk copy function to copy the 3455 HDD to Sata? Because the clone function does not give me any part of the 3455h HDD to chioce to clone. Lots of question:confused:

Do I need to wipe the partition off the SATA drive first before I copy the 3455 HDD to the SATA or will the program take care of that for me?

I can still put the Philips drive in the 3455 and it still work, (it has a the bad sector that pauses the picture and the voice keeps going on. This does not happen very often though.)

Thanks for all your help. I am just one of those people that likes to learn.

Did you get it to work?

The Silence is too much.

Sorry for the long silence timtofly, I was on vacation and then could not get back into the form.

I have not tried to copy yet I wanted to get another DVR before I did. I got the Magnavox 2160 so I can still record shows while I play around with the Philips 3455H. I am going to try it out on Tuesday after the wife and kids go back to school so I can pay attention to what I am doing. I’ll give you an update on it next week. If I wipe it out I will have a very unhappy family, we a lot of movies on the HDD.

Hey guys,

I am new here, so I hope this problem has not come up before. I tried to find it within the 30 pages on the Phillips DVDR3455H, but I struck out.

I have only had the infamous drawer problem with this unit up until now. Today I went to record another disc from the HDD and with every disc I try, I get a short clicking noise from the recorder.

I can still record to the HDD for use as a DVR and I can still watch previously-recorded DVDs from the same machine and some variants of store-bought DVD movies (though not all store-bought discs work in this machine).

I am just no longer able to record to the DVD+Rs from the HDD, which I have a great deal of shows left to move to disc.

Again, I apologize if this has already been asked. I have followed several threads here and appreciate all of you guy's knowledge and hope you can help me with this problem.

IF the recorder drive needs to be replaced, please let me know what brand to get. I am a PC tech, so I am no stranger to installation and replacements of drives, cables, etc.

I sent an email to Phillips, but with the machine out of the measily 1yr warranty, I doubt they will help.

Thanks for any help you can give.

-Soldiers10

Hey guys,

I am new here, so I hope this problem has not come up before. I tried to find it within the 30 pages on the Phillips DVDR3455H, but I struck out.

Thanks for any help you can give.

-Soldiers10

This is a 3455 and not a 720?
Have you tried a DVD-R? Or another brand?

Good morning,

I have a major problem I tried updating the firmware from R07 to R10 on my 3455 and received an error message that it didn't go through, now my 3455 has a blank blue screen and the display shows load ,copy ,error and then the tray opens. I tried uplugging the unit and so far I get the same error message on the display. I can't get pass the blue screen, the remote only open and closes the tray. Is this unit toast? Does anyone have any suggestions? I think the firmware disk was not corupted because it did recognize and ask if I wanted to contine, once I clicked okay I received the error message stating that it couldn't be upgraded. Is there anyway to get it bck to its original state? Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated.

What happens when you put the firmware disk in again?

Your hard drive may have been starting to fail and the area that new firmware needed to access was corrupted.

If booting with the firmware disk in does not prompt you to install the firmware, then I would say the hard drive is toast.

If it does give you an install firmware prompt, then I would re-download the firmware and burn another firmware disc and try that. The firmware I used, I burned it onto a DVD. Some say to use a CD. Maybe try the one you did not use the first time.

Was the 3455 acting up before the firmware upgrade?

Thanks for the quick response, the unit now only displays load with no response from the unit or the remote. The unit had a couple of issues like freezing up ,wrong date and time, recording the incorrect channel and lets not forget the draw issue. I wish I never tied to update the unit , at least it was serving its purpose. I guess I will have to start using my archos 605 wifi until I get a replacement any suggestions?

How attached are you to how the 3455 operates? Funai now manufactures the Next Generations of the 3455. The Very first thread (Magnavox 2080/2160/513 and Philips 3575/3576) covers all the info of current models. The First page has all the links for any question you have. The latest the 513 has both a digital and analogue tuner and a standard 320 Gig hardrive. The User interface is different and the way it handles may have a learning curve. There are friendly people here that will help you in making your decision.

If you are comfortable with replacing the hard drive, it is possible to replace yours with another 160 or even 250 replacement drive. See post #814 to #818 in this thread. This is a hobby for me and all I ask is that one handles all shipping returns. If you are going to get rid of the 3455, I would be interested in the unit for parts for a reasonable offer.

Hi

After I spoke with the phillips support desk rep and he basically told me the unit was no good and not repairable, I decided to try your suggestion of using a dvd disk instead of the cd-r and guess what, it worked. The unit is updated and working again :D. Thank you for your assistance and I will continue to read this thread because the information here is so valuable.Thanks again:)

I am glad that worked for you. You can now create title names for both the Hard Drive and any DVD titles with 20 characters, instead of 8.

Bumped the link for the firmware upgrade:

http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/cpindex.pl?scy=US&slg=AEN&cat=DVD_HOME_THEATER_CA&sct=DVD_HARDDISK_RECORDERS_SU&grp=HOME_ENTERTAINMENT_GR&session=20080303161918_74.227.136.86&ctn=DVDR3455H/37&mid=Link_Software&hlt=Link_Software

While it does allow you to make titles 20 characters long on both the HDD and any DVD you "burn", I also noticed that it takes away the ability when playing a title on the dvd to hit return to get back to the menu. You have to either hit the HDD or Tuner button and then go back into the DVD menu. Another note, it seems to "work" better if you burn the firmware onto a DVD.

I put some music vids on a dvd from my computerand tried to play it on my dvr(Philips 3455H) and I cant get the dvr to do anything. It tries to read the disc and cycles from off to trying to read it. I can't use machine for anything or get tray to open. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I put some music vids on a dvd from my computerand tried to play it on my dvr(Philips 3455H) and I cant get the dvr to do anything. It tries to read the disc and cycles from off to trying to read it. I can't use machine for anything or get tray to open. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

If the DVD Drive is open at the right side the white drive gear may be rotated toward the front to open the disc tray, see the photo and illustrations here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12355769&postcount=39#DVDeject

I put some music vids on a dvd from my computerand tried to play it on my dvr(Philips 3455H) and I cant get the dvr to do anything. It tries to read the disc and cycles from off to trying to read it. I can't use machine for anything or get tray to open. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

On the bottom of the unit under the DVD is a narrow slot. With a screw driver start on the inside and "catch" the plastic and work it towards the outside edge. This is the release for the tray. You can do this with the unit unplugged. You can leave the tray open, when you power it back up, it will automatically close.

good morning,

i have a major problem i tried updating the firmware from r07 to r10 on my 3455 and received an error message that it didn't go through, now my 3455 has a blank blue screen and the display shows load ,copy ,error and then the tray opens. I tried uplugging the unit and so far i get the same error message on the display. I can't get pass the blue screen, the remote only open and closes the tray. Is this unit toast? Does anyone have any suggestions? I think the firmware disk was not corupted because it did recognize and ask if i wanted to contine, once i clicked okay i received the error message stating that it couldn't be upgraded. Is there anyway to get it bck to its original state? Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated.
here are some things. You have to have the right type of "burn disk" one program that works is cd burner xp ! First make a iso image just paste all 4 files in the window after image is made burn it! That should work if not the do data burn and paste in. After disk is in drive and you power on, some times you have to hold the button for the dvd drive in you have to do it between the blinks. Also if you are using a different type of hdd sometimes you have to put the jumper in some brands require master some cable select
and some slave.. Hope this helps

Guys? Over the last few days I've done another DVD drawer repair on my 3455. A simple rubber band and the machine was back in business. I'd like to be able to stop doing these once or twice a year fixes, tho'. Does anyone remember the source to go to for the actual drive belt?

Also, two other questions-

Was or is there a source for replacement remotes for this machine? Preferably identical?

Should I do the firmware upgrade? Does the 'it also takes away a feature' thing make a big difference?

Guys? Over the last few days I've done another DVD drawer repair on my 3455. A simple rubber band and the machine was back in business. I'd like to be able to stop doing these once or twice a year fixes, tho'. Does anyone remember the source to go to for the actual drive belt?

Also, two other questions-

Was or is there a source for replacement remotes for this machine? Preferably identical?

Should I do the firmware upgrade? Does the 'it also takes away a feature' thing make a big difference?

I have never had a problem at all in that department. I am wondering though: on all my machines, I used to have to open the drawer via the manual way (the slot on the bottom). I am wondering if that did not wear down the plastic in the mechanism that might be too binding for the "rubber" bands. Maybe if you manually moved that slider back in forth a couple of times if it would cause less wear and tear on your replacements.

I am sorry, but other than going through Philips for the remote... You might try a local TV repair shop to see if they have some more robust rubber bands.

The feature that the firmware takes away is this: I always check the last couple of titles on a disk to see how they play after I have burned the disk. If you hit the back button (the one under the Timer button or the lower left one under the circle of buttons) it will take you back to the list of titles on the DVD. This feature no longer works. You have to hit either the HDD or the Tuner button and then go back to the DVD button.

If you do not use the "back" button on DVD's then having the ability of using 20 characters to name titles both on the HDD and DVD's would warrant an upgrade.

Found a remote replacement source-
http://www.philips.newremotecontrol.com/catalog_item.php?catnum=242254900971

As for the upgrade software, I've become a bit wary.

I downloaded both the zip file with the upgrade, and the readme file.

The readme file keeps showing up corrupted. (Adobe Reader X won't open it and says it must have been corrupted each time.)

I'm now fearful of trying to use the zip file to do the upgrade, in case that arrived corrupted too. (Tho' winzip does open it.)

Does anyone here have a copy of the readme file?

Try this link (http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/cpcontent.pl?mid=Link_Software&scy=US&session=20101207165801_207.148.203.226&ctn=DVDR3455H/37&slg=AEN&dct=FUS&did=ENG&reldct=FUR&file=/files/d/dvdr3455h_37/dvdr3455h_37_fur_eng.pdf#toolbar=0&zoom=100).

I used a DVD to burn the upgrade onto.

I have a 3455H where the HDD is getting dodgy. I believe it is related to fragmentation since the unit is some years old and the HDD has been near full a number of times - right now it is about 85% full. But here is the problem:

When I record something new, it destroys the ability of a previous recording to jump to the next "fragment." So I've lost a number of cherished TV captures because of this.

So I really need to get everything off that drive and either format it or replace it.

So is there a way to basically clone the drive onto another one. I saw there was recent discussion of this in this thread but it seemed like that discussion was never completed. It sounds like you use Easus and clone even though the drive looks unformated. I'd just like to be sure about this if I'm going to attempt it because the content of this drive is very dear to me.

I have also had problems selecting titles and burning to DVD. Evidently, when jumping to the next fragment, something goes haywire and the DVD hangs at that point with nothing apparently after it. I tried recording each track individually into the remaining space on the DVD (VERY tedious process) and that seemed to work.

I'm thinking that cloning the drive will not run into these problems because, hopefully, clone, simply records the sectors without caring about actual files/titles.

So my questions:


Can the OE drive be cloned?
Should I get rid of the OE drive and replace with a new one?
Which new one?


Thanks in advance,
Tom

PS. my firmware is ..._37_R19.10

EDIT: PPS: It just occurred to me that clone my HD won't let me hang if off my PC which is really what I want to do - make it a permanent server. I guess I can clone to preserve it on a fresh drive but then simply keep the 3455 as a "one drive server"

The Drive you need is a PATA 160 Gig drive.
Depending on where the drive is failing, you should get an exact copy with Easus. There is still a possability that some titles may still be damaged, but the new drive should work just fine. Using the old drive is at your own risk. A drive may self repair to some extent, but drives are not really made for permanent storage. It is recommended that drives be replaced every so often to ensure the data is not lost. Having a hard copy is the best, although even those should periodically be copied also to preserve the copies.

Any 160 PATA will work? EDIT: What about drive rpm?

If I clone, what model Philips will read that drive. Obviously the 3455, but will any of the newer ones? Like the one with digital tuner? Or even the Magnavox 513/515??

Should I forget about trying to figure out how to read that drive on a PC - even if a Linux OS?

What would be nice if there was a recovery software that would retrieve the lost chains because it would be so easy to reconnect them since it is video and not data.

As far as Easus, just Clone? Is 3.0 Home version OK? Nothing else to do? Can clone onto a larger drive for archive?

Thanks, I'll keep thread informed on my progress, but I warn all, I am really pretty much buried with other fires to put out.

Any 160 PATA will work? EDIT: What about drive rpm?
Yes, should not be a problem.
If I clone, what model Philips will read that drive. Obviously the 3455, but will any of the newer ones? Like the one with digital tuner? Or even the Magnavox 513/515??
Just the 3455. Based on firmware.
Should I forget about trying to figure out how to read that drive on a PC - even if a Linux OS? What would be nice if there was a recovery software that would retrieve the lost chains because it would be so easy to reconnect them since it is video and not data.
Hard Disk File System investigation for the Magnavox 2080/2160/513 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1277209)As far as Easus, just Clone? Is 3.0 Home version OK? Nothing else to do? Can clone onto a larger drive for archive?
You can clone to a larger drive, but will still be the same size 160 gig, or see above (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1277209). I have only been able to get the 3455 to recognize 250 Gigs.
Thanks, I'll keep thread informed on my progress, but I warn all, I am really pretty much buried with other fires to put out.

I found an advanced thread on this topic here (http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/311434-I-fixed-my-Philips-DVDR-3455H-dvd-hdd-recorder).

Some highlights from that long thread:


Ubuntu will read the OE drive
The OS is a real time OS, VXWORKS
There is mention of a program Gparted too.


One person's method:


Rip w/Hex Workshop
Open w/Isobuster (will get many MPEG2 files)
Convert to AVI w/Pinnacle TREX
Cut & Merge w/Adobe Premiere


______________________________________________

If Ubunty sees the drive, I wonder if Game Over and I can watch content on that Ubuntu PC?

Just thought of this:

If the 3455 can take any 160/250 hard drive, it would make sense to get a A/V streaming type drive.

Is this correct thinking?

Thanks
Tom

They may last longer seeing that that is what they are designed for. Hard to come by though. Now the people on the other thread said that they were able to get a 320 and a 500 to work. I would love to get the first gig ISO of those drives. I tried, but the 3455 that I have, would just not initialize that size. If you buy a SATA to PATA that allows the sata to be seen as a master adaptor, you can also use SATA drives (both 3.5 and 2.5).

Timtofly
I did not realize it had been over a year from my last post. I got the 160 gig SATA drive to work and now have a 320 I am going to try and clone to see if I can get more life out of my 3455H.
I like this unit because after backing up to the start of a show and recording it you only loose the buffer on the back side of the show and keep everything after you are done recording.
But on the 2160 it clears the back of the recording from where you start, which it should do, but takes everything that is left in the buffer on the front end and puts it into your recording. Then you have to edit out the end of the recording so you just have what you want.
I’m looking into the Mag 515 with the 500 gig hard drive I have read a lot of good things about it.

Hi Tim,

I see you've help people with Philips 3455H by formatting Hard Drives for them. Would I be able to send you a hard drive to format for me?

Could you email me at john@davidsonfamilyfarm.ca?

Also wondering how I do this to pay for shipping while I live in Canada.

Thanks for your time.

John

Arrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........... After 5 years of mostly faithful service I finally had my 3455/37 go down last night. I had just watched and then deleted a fresh HDD recording. There was still plenty of room on the HDD so that wasn't the problem. I think the HDD may have crashed. She wouldn't cut off, and even unplugging and replugging power cord did not get her back on track. I kept getting just the Blue Philips screen, but nothing but the background, like it was halting at a Boot screen. I want to try to salvage her as the unit was very handy for recording Throwaways, and also because it gave me one more DVDR without the Maggy Remote crossover problem. I will also need to do the DVD Drive Door repair. As usual, failure came at an unexpected and inconvenient time.

Tim, IIRC, you said you were only able to pull off the 250GD HDD upgrade one time via the Philips itself. Is this correct? Will a PATA 160GB work better? Thanks for any help.

Arrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........... After 5 years of mostly faithful service I finally had my 3455/37 go down last night. I had just watched and then deleted a fresh HDD recording. There was still plenty of room on the HDD so that wasn't the problem. I think the HDD may have crashed. She wouldn't cut off, and even unplugging and replugging power cord did not get her back on track. I kept getting just the Blue Philips screen, but nothing but the background, like it was halting at a Boot screen. I want to try to salvage her as the unit was very handy for recording Throwaways, and also because it gave me one more DVDR without the Maggy Remote crossover problem. I will also need to do the DVD Drive Door repair. As usual, failure came at an unexpected and inconvenient time.

Tim, IIRC, you said you were only able to pull off the 250GD HDD upgrade one time via the Philips itself. Is this correct? Will a PATA 160GB work better? Thanks for any help.

Do you have recordings that you want saved? If not try a 250. If you have the firmware upgrade, it is worth the shot to try. I would be willing to create a working 250 gig if you can send me one with return shipping pre-paid. If you put a 250 in and it ask for the firmware, you are good to go. If it just sits there and keeps rebooting, then it did not like "that" 250. That does not mean that 250 will not work, I can still clone a 250 and get it working for you.

If you want to keep the recordings, you can always try to clone it onto a new 160. It does not nessesarily mean the drive is crashed, it just means that part of the drive it needs to boot with is corrupted. Of course if you put it in the computer to be cloned and the disks are not spinning and it is not recognized, then it is dead.

Tim, you are definitely one of the Big Dogs when it comes to this machine. Thanks to you and some others who's posts I went back and read I have her back up and running with a Samsung Spinpoint ATA133 120gb PATA HDD that I had handy, using it as a backup Image copy of Windows XP. I have that XP machine backed up on 2 other HDD's anyway. I didn't want to buy another PATA HDD unless I was certain the unit was reparable.

First I did the DVD Drawer fix. Took the belt off, took it to a TV Shop - he said no dice on parts but that he uses O-Rings that are similar in size when he needs belts. He sent me to a local hardware store that just happened to have the size I needed. BTW, a plumbing shop might be a good source for these O-Ring Replacement belts too. Thanks to the excellent picture walkthrough posted by lmonfa (who only ever made one post - but a great one!) it was fairly easy. Hardest part was getting the belt over the Bigger wheel where it pressed so close to the side of the Philips. Used a tiny screwdriver and got her worked past the sticking point.

Then I removed the old HDD (It was still spinning up but caught in a loop), took my 120gb Samsung plugged her in, screwed her down and did the Format from CD. After Load Copy Reboot cycle I shut the unit down. It rebooted but was not right so I shut her down again and 2nd time the I powered her up the Firmware Update process began. Went off without a hitch. Very happy about that.

Tim, I greatly appreciate your willingness to help. You have been a leader in this particular thread, and as my situation just proved, this older thread is STILL useful!

Fortunately there was nothing irreplaceable on that 160 original hdd. I had a the first 3 seasons of The Office, but I am about over that show anyway. If I ever want it again I will rent or buy it. I may try to format that HDD under Windows and then run some diagnostics on it just for giggles. See if maybe it has bad sectors.

Tim, you are definitely one of the Big Dogs when it comes to this machine. Thanks to you and some others who's posts I went back and read I have her back up and running with a Samsung Spinpoint ATA133 120gb PATA HDD that I had handy, using it as a backup Image copy of Windows XP. I have that XP machine backed up on 2 other HDD's anyway. I didn't want to buy another PATA HDD unless I was certain the unit was reparable.

First I did the DVD Drawer fix. Took the belt off, took it to a TV Shop - he said no dice on parts but that he uses O-Rings that are similar in size when he needs belts. He sent me to a local hardware store that just happened to have the size I needed. BTW, a plumbing shop might be a good source for these O-Ring Replacement belts too. Thanks to the excellent picture walkthrough posted by lmonfa (who only ever made one post - but a great one!) it was fairly easy. Hardest part was getting the belt over the Bigger wheel where it pressed so close to the side of the Philips. Used a tiny screwdriver and got her worked past the sticking point.

Then I removed the old HDD (It was still spinning up but caught in a loop), took my 120gb Samsung plugged her in, screwed her down and did the Format from CD. After Load Copy Reboot cycle I shut the unit down. It rebooted but was not right so I shut her down again and 2nd time the I powered her up the Firmware Update process began. Went off without a hitch. Very happy about that.

Tim, I greatly appreciate your willingness to help. You have been a leader in this particular thread, and as my situation just proved, this older thread is STILL useful!

Fortunately there was nothing irreplaceable on that 160 original hdd. I had a the first 3 seasons of The Office, but I am about over that show anyway. If I ever want it again I will rent or buy it. I may try to format that HDD under Windows and then run some diagnostics on it just for giggles. See if maybe it has bad sectors.

Sounds good. The next time I try a larger drive, your steps may even help solve the mystery of how to "initialize" a drive. On the 2nd reboot was the firmware disc in the drive or did it ask for it? When you say shut down was that unplugging from the wall?

Thanks

Tim, after the first pass with the firmware disc, the system refused to kick out the Update CD, going back to the Load Copy Boot cycle, so I unplugged from power, plugged back in with the CD still in the tray. Upon initializing, after the first Philips Blue Screen, Tuner "Noise" popped up (I was not connected to a TV input yet) and the message popped up "New Firmware Update" available (or something along those lines). I hit OK on the remote and we were off to the races.

I am thinking maybe I should NOT have placed the CD in the tray before the system did the 1st pass initialization of the "new" HDD ? Then, perhaps maybe place the CD in the tray.

At any rate I recorded and viewed 5 hours of programming on the 3455 last night. I have my eye on some PATA 250gb HDD's Walmart is closing out. Right now they are still way to high, but if they drop enough I will buy one or more and at least try the 250gb HDD upgrade.

BTW, I did a quick format under Windows XP on the 160gb Western Digital I pulled form the 3455. Then I ran ChkDsk and Western Digital Diagnostics Long Test and both showed the HDD 100% healthy. I wonder what is up with that?

Tim, after the first pass with the firmware disc, the system refused to kick out the Update CD, going back to the Load Copy Boot cycle, so I unplugged from power, plugged back in with the CD still in the tray. Upon initializing, after the first Philips Blue Screen, Tuner "Noise" popped up (I was not connected to a TV input yet) and the message popped up "New Firmware Update" available (or something along those lines). I hit OK on the remote and we were off to the races.

I am thinking maybe I should NOT have placed the CD in the tray before the system did the 1st pass initialization of the "new" HDD ? Then, perhaps maybe place the CD in the tray.

At any rate I recorded and viewed 5 hours of programming on the 3455 last night. I have my eye on some PATA 250gb HDD's Walmart is closing out. Right now they are still way to high, but if they drop enough I will buy one or more and at least try the 250gb HDD upgrade.

BTW, I did a quick format under Windows XP on the 160gb Western Digital I pulled form the 3455. Then I ran ChkDsk and Western Digital Diagnostics Long Test and both showed the HDD 100% healthy. I wonder what is up with that?

If you get the channel "noise", then that means the 3455 had no problems with the hard drive. It will not do anything though, until a firmware disk formats the drive. I think putting the disk in may have helped, but it has been two years since I was experimenting. Hopefully, I can try your steps soon and re-check some larger drives. Thanks.

I probably would have ran chkdsk first before quick format. The format in writing the table may have "fixed" something. chkdsk under dos, should have stated if there were unusebale marked sectors. Once these are marked, it would be 100% healthy, but not 100% useable. Of course the 3455 could have also "crossed referenced" its own file system and could not resolve it.

Tim, SATA Drives are so much cheaper than IDE these days. Can you show/tell me exactly what type adapter you have used to make SATA drives work in the 3455? Will SATA 6.0gbps drives work? Thanks in advance.

Tim, SATA Drives are so much cheaper than IDE these days. Can you show/tell me exactly what type adapter you have used to make SATA drives work in the 3455? Will SATA 6.0gbps drives work? Thanks in advance.

This (http://www.google.com/products/catalog?rlz=1T4GGLL_en&q=siig+ide+to+sata+adapter&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=8729582368534305391&sa=X&ei=vrA2TqO7DoimsQLrh8jtCg&ved=0CDQQ8wIwAQ#) is the one that I use. The problem is not that they are cheaper, but PATA's are harder to come by. Remember though 160 and 250 Sata's are getting hard to find also. I would think that if one could find a 250 sata laptop drive, they would work fine also. The 6gbps does not matter. The adaptor converts the sata to the 3455 in the speed that is needed. If you can find any external hard drives that are 250 (not WD) you can pop the shell and use them. You cannot use the WD, since they only have a USB interface, not a sata.

Thanks Tim. I appreciate the link. FWIW, at New**g the cheapest 250gb PATA is $70. A 250gb SATA is available from $41 on up. Pretty big difference.

The Wallyworld 250gb clearance PATA drives I mentioned are Seagates at $82 plus tax. Very limited quantity, but they will have to drop waaaaay below that for me to purchase there.

Thanks Tim. I appreciate the link. FWIW, at New**g the cheapest 250gb PATA is $70. A 250gb SATA is available from $41 on up. Pretty big difference.

The Wallyworld 250gb clearance PATA drives I mentioned are Seagates at $82 plus tax. Very limited quantity, but they will have to drop waaaaay below that for me to purchase there.

You can also get the adaptor there for 19.99. That still brings the price to $61.00. You will only have to buy it once though. You could also run a sata cable out to a docking station if you needed to. I am not sure though how long 250 gig will be around. I sure wish I could get a 500 hundred to work. The seagate 2.5 external will be a lot cheaper when they clearance from wally world due to the fact they were originally half as much as the old PATA's when they came out. It is a shame that the clearance price is more than it cost to by a new drive. They should just cut their losses and discount them 75%.

I agree about Wally world should cut their price. Last PATA HDD I bought was a WD 320gb Caviar Blue from Staples. I waited 'til it dropped to $35 before I popped.

Ok, it is official. I was able to get a WD 250 Sata Laptop 2.5 drive with my IDE to Sata adaptor to work in the 3455. I cloned my failing Seagate Pata drive. A normal 3 hour clone took 7 hours due to the fact that at around 79% it slowed way down due to about 80 bad sectors.

I started out with a Seagate Laptop drive, but in the cloning process, I had a lot of "writing" errors. Instead of trying another one, I just went to a WD. It may have just been the one drive, but the closest Microcenter is out of the way and since I had to drive by for work I did not want to keep going back and forth too many times. So, if one can find a sale ($39.99 for the drive) and a good deal on the adaptor, it is still a far price, and the laptop drive should draw less power.

Just one little bit of information. I found an adaptor (10.00 on sale for 7.00), but it was hard wired as Drive 1. I suppose one could solder the missing jumper and short it as Drive 0. The adaptor did not come with any schematics. The 3455 will not recognize the adaptor unless you can jumper it as drive 0, or Master. It will not work as Slave or 1.

This recorder goes 24/7, so will keep every one informed as to how it holds up.

To All,

I went thru all the pages quickly but can't seem to find the solution for my problem. Hopefully the group here can give me some idea on how to fix my problem.

A few days my DVDR3455 unit stop working. Did the re-cycle the power and other things, but nothing work. When I press the standby button, it is going thru the boot-up, show the light blue wallpaper with no Philips logo on TV, DVD spin, HDD spin, black screen, and back to begining again. LED display show "PHILIPS" on it, prior me pressing the Standby button, it show the time.

I download the firmware and put it in the DVD drive, but it doesn't give me the prompt that people had said here. I tried put in another HDD, same thing. When I connect my HDD to my computers (WinXP and Win7) and it want me to Initial the Disk --- which I said no so far.

Is there anything I can do? Is my unit dead? The HDD seem okay. If it is, how can I get the data out?

I do have another DVDR3575 unit, but my family like the 3455 over the 3575. Main reason is that we like the fact we can record the 6-hours captured data to HDD, which the "Pause Live TV" from the 3575 can't (or we do not know how). We hate the fact that if we can't view all the stuff that we had captured, once it hit the 12 hours mark, we will lost everything that we captured. Unlike the 3455 unit, it will just keep the last 6 hours of stuff that we capture - FIFO.

Help Please.

Thanks in advance.

To All,

I went thru all the pages quickly but can't seem to find the solution for my problem. Hopefully the group here can give me some idea on how to fix my problem.

A few days my DVDR3455 unit stop working. Did the re-cycle the power and other things, but nothing work. When I press the standby button, it is going thru the boot-up, show the light blue wallpaper with no Philips logo on TV, DVD spin, HDD spin, black screen, and back to begining again. LED display show "PHILIPS" on it, prior me pressing the Standby button, it show the time.

I download the firmware and put it in the DVD drive, but it doesn't give me the prompt that people had said here. I tried put in another HDD, same thing. When I connect my HDD to my computers (WinXP and Win7) and it want me to Initial the Disk --- which I said no so far.

Is there anything I can do? Is my unit dead? The HDD seem okay. If it is, how can I get the data out?

I do have another DVDR3575 unit, but my family like the 3455 over the 3575. Main reason is that we like the fact we can record the 6-hours captured data to HDD, which the "Pause Live TV" from the 3575 can't (or we do not know how). We hate the fact that if we can't view all the stuff that we had captured, once it hit the 12 hours mark, we will lost everything that we captured. Unlike the 3455 unit, it will just keep the last 6 hours of stuff that we capture - FIFO.

Help Please.

Thanks in advance.

If you can find another HDD the same size, you can try to clone the old drive.

Do not do this in windows!!! You have to boot the computer with cloning software and do it that way.

What size HDD did you try? The machine so far will only recognize a 250Gig or smaller (160Gig is the standard). It could be the main PC board that has stopped functioning properly.

Looking for a little help with a Phillips DVDR3455H. I just bought it at a pawn shop with the intentions of using it to only copy VCR tapes to DVD for my wife. I came without a remote so I powered it up and tried 5 different remotes I have and none would operate it. I tried a MX-450, A MX-850, and a URC R6 from Universal remote control, and also the programable remotes that came with my Mits tv and Integra receiver. None would operate it. I found a remote on ebay that is supposed to work but before I put any money in this unit I would like to verify if it actually works. Any ideas or suggestions. From reading the manual I downloaded it looks like it cannot be operated without a remote. When I hooked it to my tv and powered it up it went to a screen for setting the time, without a remote it will not go any farther.
Thanks