I picked up a DVDR3400 since it has component input and hooked it up to my 8300HD Cable Box. I forced 480i widescreen in the STB setup menu and fed that into the Philips and recorded the 16x9 content from an HD channel. The resulting recording maintained the 16x9 aspect, and it plays that way on all my players.

Only problem is, the gamma seems way off. The DVDR3400 is way darker than any of my other equipment, most notably the cable box. The DVD produced by the DVDR3400 is also too dark and too saturated.

I believe this recorder is our best shot at recording 16x9 content straight from an HD cable box (albeit only when forced to 480i widescreen mode). If I could only figure out the brightness/contrast/color issues it would be the perfect recorder.

Oh yeah, it also converts PAL to NTSC on playback, and plays DIVX off CD/DVD/or even over the USB port on the front.

Any ideas on the color issues? Player is set to HDMI 480p out (no upsampling...drat!) and connected via HDMI.

my Panny has a black level setting for some inputs, does the DVDR3400 have a similar setting?

FYI, I use a non-cable company supplied HD DVR to record a 16x9 signal to my Panny via s-video...it's all about the input device (in which case the 8300HD seems to limit the widescreen signal via component)

My Method (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=736599)

I picked one of these up today from BB and I'm going to return it tomorrow. Here's my laundry list of complaints.

1st. The menus are so horribly slow that I was ready to throw the remote. Seriously, the unit will only accept a button push about every 2 seconds. Makes it almost impossible to edit a title or god forbid scroll through them if you have more than 3 on the disc.

2nd. It won't seem to finalize a DVD+R. The Sony GX315 I was using gave me no such problems.

3rd. There seem to be a lot of buttons on the remote that aren't used for anything. The "Tools" button for instance.

4th. The HDMI output only outputs in 480i/p and 576i/p. If you're going to have an HDMI output, it really should upscale (petty I know, but with so many others on the market in the same price range, it should)

The only advantage I can see to this recorder is the component input, which is why I got it in the first place.

And by the way, there is no black level setting, or any other video settings for that matter.

hell ya!! I just bought this DVD recorder today. I'll read all these posts now.

I have mine hooked to an HD Tivo DVR with S-Video outputs. Like most [all?] DVD Recorders, you have to force the output signal to 480i for it work. But HD Tivo has no problem sending a 16x9 480i signal over the S-Video, and the R-135 records it just fine in 16x9. And it upscales the output to 720p or 1080i on the other end to boot.

Records HD TV shows in 16x9 with very simple, virtually one-button recording. And worked perfectly first time out of the box. Component inputs would have been slightly better; and the DIVX MPEG4 recording format obviously has some impact on what you can play the DVDs in, but I'm very happy with this machine.

Records HD TV shows in 16x9 with very simple, virtually one-button recording. And worked perfectly first time out of the box. Component inputs would have been slightly better; and the DIVX MPEG4 recording format obviously has some impact on what you can play the DVDs in, but I'm very happy with this machine.

Most will ouput 16:9, but most do not make an anamorphic 16:9 recording (I.e. it will play back on a standard 4:3 TV properly...letterboxed)

Most will ouput 16:9, but most do not make an anamorphic 16:9 recording (I.e. it will play back on a standard 4:3 TV properly...letterboxed)

Agreed.
Its just that 4:3 TVs are less common.
We still have 4:3's in action around our house but I envision the day when we speak of them in a historical sense.
Turntables and cassette tapes anyone? :)

Agreed.
Its just that 4:3 TVs are less common.
We still have 4:3's in action around our house but I envision the day when we speak of them in a historical sense.
Turntables and cassette tapes anyone? :)

Everyone in my family older than me (33) still has 4:3 TV's. Only one actually has a widescreen TV to compliment it. All the others are still 4:3. Less common? Not yet, less common to buy in the store, yes.

Actually, out of Aunts, Uncles, parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, only my uncle, cousin, brother and myself have 16:9 TV's / projectors.

So while they are harder to find and buy in the store (raw quantities), they are far more common in the average household than widescreen. In 5-10 years, I could see things being different :D

And yes, I still have a turntable and dual cassette deck in my house...both work, but are only hooked up when I need them.

So, does this Philips unit indeed add the proper anamorphic flag to recordings? I'm very surprised just how few dvd recorders actually allow this oh so important setting. Right now I have a Samsung R135 but very irritated that I can't loan recordings to friends/family with 4:3 sets without them being forced to watch in "squish-o-vision".

-M

4:3 displays should have a "letterbox" and/or "pan/scan" viewing modes, similar to 16:9 displays with their various viewing modes.

What if you had the capability of controlling Widescreen Flag to your recordings?
Would you know if your Samsung recorder can record in the proper aspect ratio?

4:3 displays should have a "letterbox" and/or "pan/scan" viewing modes, similar to 16:9 displays with their various viewing modes.

Huh? I've never owned or known someone with a 4x3 set that could do that.

What if you had the capability of controlling Widescreen Flag to your recordings?
Would you know if your Samsung recorder can record in the proper aspect ratio?

Yes, it would be quite easy to find out. One way is to set your DVD player to output to a 4:3 TV set. If the flag is correct, it will ADD letterbox bars at the top and bottom. I actually had (briefly) two of the few dvd recorders that allowed the flag to be set...Toshiba D-R4 and Cyberhome 1600 but returned both due to OTHER issues with them. I hear the Toshiba RD-XS55 and RD-KX50 (no longer made) can do this as well, but they are hard-drive models thus VERY expensive.

-M

Huh? I've never owned or known someone with a 4x3 set that could do that.
That's why I say they (the TV manufacturers) "should" have that capability, as opposed to they "do". It would make needing to properly flag the recording unnecessary since you could just tell the display how to present it.

Huh? I've never owned or known someone with a 4x3 set that could do that.

I have...I know that the Sony WEGA lines had this setting , but I never used it so I'm not sure how it worked. My understanding is that it gave you all the resolution in a 16:9 area on the screen and that your DVD player had to be set as if your TV was a 16:9 TV.

Yep, I've seen those in stores, they actually just squeeze the height of the screen down 25% (the displayed-on portion) while preserving the same number of scan lines.

So, does this Philips unit indeed add the proper anamorphic flag to recordings? I'm very surprised just how few dvd recorders actually allow this oh so important setting. Right now I have a Samsung R135 but very irritated that I can't loan recordings to friends/family with 4:3 sets without them being forced to watch in "squish-o-vision".

-M

The answer to your first question. No it does not.

I believe this result is more of a comment on the source. Not the Philips. If the Tivo unit mentioned can in fact send full 16x9 widescreen via s-video then any s-video recorder will see full 16x9 widescreen.

But no flag will be set. Unless the recorders are certain Sony or Toshiba models. In this case the flag is set as a recording option. Or in the case of Toshiba a recording option or a post recording option in the editing process.

The Panasonics will record the flag to the hard drive and DVD-RAM (assuming your source sends it), but will lose the flag when recorded (or dubbed) to a DVD-R/RW.

The Panasonics will record the flag to the hard drive and DVD-RAM (assuming your source sends it), but will lose the flag when recorded (or dubbed) to a DVD-R/RW.

The Toshiba XS and KX series allows you to set the flag as both a recording option or editing option regardless of whether the source is sending a flag or not. These options are not lost when recording directly to -R or dubbing from the HDD to -R.

All manufacturers of DVD recorders should include these options.

All manufacturers of DVD recorders should include these options.

Agreed, it will be interesting to see what if the new batch with ATSC tuners have this capability.