Hi all....I thought I'd start this thread for the handful of folks like myself who still use OTA to get HDTV.

I found out about the Philips DVDR3575H over in the "Summary of ATSC Recorders" thread.

There is also a good link in that thread to Wikipedia where they have a link to a preliminary data sheet. (I can't post links, so hopefully someone else will post them below.)

I was originally leaning toward the new Pansasonic DMR-EZ17 or EZ27, but then I saw this Philips with the HDD for a comparable price and I'm intrigued. I've read lots of posts where people swear that an HDD unit is the only way to go.

I currently have a Magnavox DVDR, so I'm well aware of some of the quirks and limitations of a DVDR. It's starting to have problems recognizing discs, and I sure don't want to go back to using a VCR.

I've considered a TIVO or some other DVR, but I'm just too cheap to pay that monthly recurring charge. I like to pay one time up front.

Just stopped at Wally World and saw an empty shelf with the price tag.

Hope to get my hands on one of these soon.

I've never owned a Philips before, so I'm a little leary (although, I think Magnavox and Philips are the same company?).

Looking forward to reading others experiences with this Philips DVDR3575H.

Thanks in advance......Mike

What is the price?

There is a big thread here on the Philips DVDR 3455/37. You might want to read it. I own one. I got mine very cheap or I wouldn't be happy with it.

My gut instinct says this new unit will be very similar with the addition of an ATSC Tuner. Same price, both available thru WalMart, both with 160gb HDD, that's why I think they will be similar. There are some nice features with the DVDR 3455/37. There are also some pretty big shortcomings that will make me wait to see who else will offer an DVDR with HDD and ATSC Tuner.

There is a big thread here on the Philips DVDR 3455/37. You might want to read it. ... There are also some pretty big shortcomings that will make me wait to see who else will offer an DVDR with HDD and ATSC Tuner.Can you summarize for those of us who don't want to read 455 messages. :)

Big Pluses DVD+/-R and RW compatibility, 4x DVD burn from HDD, Decent HDD Video/DVD Burn Quality, Nice Tuner, Stereo, Great Multi-Tasker, 6hr. Live TV Buffer, 160gb HDD.

Big Minuses No True Chase Play of an In Progress Timer Sheduled Recording, DVDs burned from edited HDD Titles have FF/REW problems in other DVD Players, Imprecise editing, Less than Optimal Editing Controls, Maximum of 16 edits per Title before unit locks up, Somewhat aggravating Remote,.

Plenty more on both sides, but these are the biggest for me. Maybe add no DVD-RAM or Dual Layer support to the minuses if these are important to you.

Big Minuses No True Chase Play of an In Progress Recording . . . That would nix it immediately for me. That's how I watch "live" sports -- start recording the game then start chase-play an hour later, FF through the commercials and fluff and catch up to the end in real time.

FullOnShred....Thanks for the nice list of + and -.

Could you elaborate on the "6hr. Live TV Buffer".

I noticed the pdf said "A very large built-in memory records the program you are currently watching when you press the pause button....you can resume the program from the moment you pressed pause as if you were watching a live program".

I thought this was some marketing fluff that made no sense, but now...???

Does this mean you can chase play a program you are NOT recording?

Thanks again.....Mike

The Live TV Buffer is indeed "Chase Play" of sorts and starts functioning anytime the Philips is powered on manually and in Tuner Mode. It begins automatically recording 6hrs. worth of whatever you are watching. If you switch channels, so does the recording buffer. You can record all or part of this buffer to the HDD if you so choose, at least until it hits the 6hr. mark and starts recording over the first 6hrs.

Kelson could turn the unit on, tune into his sporting event and go bother the wife for a while and come back later and have Chase Play function up to the point the recording was still in progress. But he could NOT do this if he set up the event as a Timer Schedule Recording.

That's the rub for me. If you have set up a Timer Schedule Recording, and the unit begins recording to the HDD (not the 6hr. buffer), you can't start watching at the beginning until the recording ends. True, there are some "workarounds" that can be found in the DVDR 3455/37 thread, but none of them are suitable for my purposes. None of them equate to True Chase Play in the sense most people understand it.

PLEASE, keep in mind I have no guarantee that the new unit will function in the same manner. I am merely suggesting this may be likely because several other key factors about the unit are identical.

According to Philips, this model will go on sale in JULY.

The previous model is DVDR3455. Stay away from it. It will become obsolete in 2009.

The new model seems to be the same plus it has an ATSC tuner and HDMI.

According to Philips, this model will go on sale in JULY.

The previous model is DVDR3455. Stay away from it. It will become obsolete in 2009.

The new model seems to be the same plus it has an ATSC tuner and HDMI.

Why will it become obsolete?

Why will it become obsolete?

Supposedly in 2009 all broadcasts will be digital and there would be no analog signal available (including from cable). If this is the case the tuner part of the DVD recorder will be worthless since it can not receive any tv signal, therefore the unit itself becomes obsolete.
I have a Toshiba and a /Sony DVD recorders w/HD and will probably use them as door stops at that time!!

Supposedly in 2009 all broadcasts will be digital and there would be no analog signal available (including from cable). If this is the case the tuner part of the DVD recorder will be worthless since it can not receive any tv signal, therefore the unit itself becomes obsolete.
I have a Toshiba and a /Sony DVD recorders w/HD and will probably use them as door stops at that time!!

What about the other parts of the recorder? Besides the tuner I mean. I don't use the tuner. Still a door stop? Would you consider $10 for your Toshiba and Sony? I'm offering. :)

But even if I used a tuner I'd rather have a full featured 2006 HDD model than what has been released in 2007. And based on recent pricing many agree. Supply and demand have inflated pricing. I think it is probably better to call them "legacy" items rather than "obsolete"? Maybe.

Those that decided to wait for ATSC tuner models based on ill informed advice have been left with a whole lot of nothing. Comments like "you'll get your neighbor's pay per view" were comical. But perhaps waiting is good advice when comparing the new Philips - both old and new are HDD models. But bad advice for those that let Pioneer, Panasonic, or Toshiba DVD HDD recorders slip by.

As far as analog cable Comcast said this last month after the Chicago decision was made.

"Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, has not put a firm date on when it will convert all 26.2 million subscribers to digital service. That is not likely to happen until sometime in the next decade. It’s at 52% today.

“The question is, when do we get to the point where it is both cost effective and competitively reasonable to make the shift?” Comcast senior vice president of strategic planning Mark Coblitz said March 12 at the Association of Cable Communicators Forum in Washington, D.C."

From here:

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6429802

If you do the math it would be tough to shut down analog cable over the next 20 months or so. There are currently 65,600,000 basic cable subscribers in the USA(12/06). That would require the deployment of 3,250,000 digital STBs per month - starting now (rough numbers). Where are the boxes going to come from? Especially after the July 07 cable card mandate for new box deployment becomes effective. Chicago by July? Huh - makes more sense especially if the STBs were on closeout. :eek:

Basic cable number I quoted is here:

http://www.ncta.com/ContentView.aspx?contentId=54

I wish more people would site there sources.

Just thinking out loud.

Supposedly in 2009 all broadcasts will be digital and there would be no analog signal available (including from cable). If this is the case the tuner part of the DVD recorder will be worthless since it can not receive any tv signal, therefore the unit itself becomes obsolete.
I have a Toshiba and a /Sony DVD recorders w/HD and will probably use them as door stops at that time!!
Not quite true. The February 2009 analog shutoff date only affects
OTA broadcasting, not cable or satellite.

Supposedly in 2009 all broadcasts will be digital and there would be no analog signal available (including from cable). If this is the case the tuner part of the DVD recorder will be worthless since it can not receive any tv signal, therefore the unit itself becomes obsolete.
I have a Toshiba and a /Sony DVD recorders w/HD and will probably use them as door stops at that time!!

Once again, for the last time.

The shutoff has NOTHING to do with cable. It affects ONLY OTA reception with an antenna. That is it.

Now, will the cable companies use ths as an EXCUSE to FORCE evryone to rent an STB by 2009 to view their service?

Probably. they have already begun that in Chicago, IL(and the surrounding suburbs) it seems.

The uniformed don't know this is the case, unfortunately.

You people do realize that if enough noise was made you could get TWC/Comcast KICKED OUT of your area, right?

They have to have a liscense in order to operate, and these liscences are VOTED ON by the local government. They have regular meetings.

I am not sure how long these liscences last, but if enough people push/bitch about it, a local cable operator can be forced to cease operations, and a new one come in under certain conditions(private or one of the MONOPOLIES)

According to Philips, this model will go on sale in JULY.Where does Philips say this?

Thanks,
Daniel

I say this with great hope but very low expectations - I sincerely hope Philips listened to the folks from this forum who went to great lengths to tell them how to radically improve their product. They could make it one of the best DVDRs ever with a bit of re-tooling. I seriously doubt they will though. We will see.

Where does Philips say this?

Thanks,
Daniel
Yeah, where did he hear this?
I called Philips and they couldn't tell me a release date...

> Where does Philips say this?

I phoned.

Why will it become obsolete?

As said elsewhere, the tuner won't have any analogue broadcasts to tune in.

It will be possible to buy a digital-analogue converter, just as for an analogue TV (or a converter with two tuners, one for each appliance), but this has a disadvantage: To record, you would have to program BOTH the DVD recorder and the converter each time you want to record off air.

As I understand FCC rules, no DVDRs without ATSC tuners were supposed to be shipped after March 2007, so in theory all those now for sale were already in retail inventory.

The sad story is the disappearance of HDD. These were always hard to findin the USA, though there are dozens of models for sale in Europe. People here, it seems, prefer not to learn how to use them and to pay monthly the rest of their lives to TIVO or cable companies to get a DVR. Bizarre!

gadfly,

Are from Europe(living there currently), or you just don't knoe the American spelling of ANALOG(not ANALOGUE)?

The reason I ask is because you do understand the analog shutoff for the U.S. in 2009 is for OTA stations(major broadcasters such as NBC/CBS/ABC/PBS/FOX/CW/Independent) only.

Nothing to do with cable. Again. Nothing to do with cable.

Now if you are placing your money on cable FORCING people to an STB, right now, I would 51% agree with you.

But it is too early(Chicago may be a test case for the Cable co.'s to see what they can get away with) to tell.

By the 3rd-4th quarter of 2008 we will know. And so will cable.

Just like people flocked to satellite radio for certain reasons, the same may happen to cable if they go a little "crazy".

When people realize they can get a great picture with an antenna, and a cheaper price on other television channels with satellite, it will force their hand.

Also, their are alot of powerful people that own alot of those broadcast networks, and they could force them to leave their analog signal alone, if their ad revenue(viewership) is directly hurt by that move.

Money talks, as always.

Unless the cable company provides all unscrambled signals that I can split to multiple units with QAM tuners I will drop them like a bad habit. If I can't record 2-4 channels at once I will just go back to OTA and/or find a satellite alternative if possible.

According to Philips, this model will go on sale in JULY.


Wow, Wal*Mart really jumped the gun on that shelf tag then!

Wow, Wal*Mart really jumped the gun on that shelf tag then!
Walmart wouldn't be putting up shelf tags for something that won't arrive for 3 months. The Phillips person that handed out that info could be as accurate as the Walmart web site in terms of availability in the store.

Why does it seem like a lot of these model specific threads degenerate into a "when analog is shut down" discussion. :rolleyes:

I found some info on it at Bright & Sleek...

http://www.brightandsleek.com/pdf/PHILIPS-DVDR3575H.pdf

http://www.brightandsleek.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=DVDR3575H

...I never heard of Bright & Sleek (until my search), but the pdf looks creditable.

PHILIPS DVDR3575H PRODUCT FEATURES - (DVDR3575H/37)
- 1080p HDMI with true high definition video upconversion
- Progressive Scan component video for optimized image quality
- 160GB Hard Drive records all your favorite TV programs
- Dual Media records on both DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW
- i.LINK digital input for perfect digital camcorder copies
- Plays DivX, MP3, WMA and JPEG digital camera photos
- Built-in SDTV Tuner for digital television reception
- USB Direct plays photos and music from USB flash drives
- Pause Live TV lets you take a break without missing a thing

Availability: Available to ship in 3 to 4 weeks

$359.00 (for that site)

I currently have the Pioneer 533Hs and looking at this Philips as a replacement.

LG, depends on how much Philips improved this from last gen (if at all), and what you want to use it for as to whether it will suit your needs. If you do get one, WalMart will carry these and likely be much cheaper than the price you posted, with that lovely 3 month "experimentation" window.

I sincerely hope Philips listened to the folks from this forum who went to great lengths to tell them how to radically improve their product. They could make it one of the best DVDRs ever with a bit of re-tooling. I seriously doubt they will though. We will see.

Thank you FullOnShred.

I have been wondering, to myself...never posted anything about it, whether or not any of these big companies (Philips, Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Toshiba, etc...) do come in here and look at what all of us would like in a unit and then make one that does exactly just that.

Don't they realize how successful it would be if they made sure it had all the connections people wanted, features, video quality, 16x9 recording, preset and variable recording speeds, etc... The list could go on and on and if one company (lets say Philips does it with their 3575) made a unit based on reading from this, and I am sure many other forums, they would have the ability to corner the market like Microsoft has with computer Operating Systems.

Even for no other reason but greed and wanting to make money, it's beyond me that companies don't come in here, just like FullOnShred suggested, and make us all a "master" machine...if you will.

Here is a unique question to ask everyone who posts in here.

What would you pay for a DVD Recorder that has EVERYTHING you would want in features, quality, etc.? You name it, and it's got it, bar none. How much? $300, $400, $500, $600? Suppose another perk was that the unit never failed you and became future reliable with infinite firmware updates. Just contact the company and say I would like for my unit to have this new feature and presto, they direct you to a web site, you download the update, install it, and it works perfectly.

Don't they realize how many of them they would sell if they did such a thing, and the only thing that hurts more than the fact that they don't is that in all likeliness they very well COULD make a machine that was great, and they don't.

To many people who want to pay $100 and too few who want to pay $600.
The people who are willing to pay $600 have bought a Tivo.

suplex, may I make a humble suggestion? Your last post would make an excellent topic of it's own. Could you be persuaded to create a new topic for it? I will certainly respond to it. :)

...Availability: Available to ship in 3 to 4 weeks[/I]

$359.00 (for that site)[/COLOR][/B]

I currently have the Pioneer 533Hs and looking at this Philips as a replacement.
They've been saying 3 to 4 weeks for two weeks now.
Also, the list price on the recorder is $329.95 so their
price is high.
Another site has it listed for $300.05 plus shipping
and still another has it for $312 with free shipping.
None of the above have a definite release date.

I say this with great hope but very low expectations - I sincerely hope Philips listened to the folks from this forum who went to great lengths to tell them how to radically improve their product. They could make it one of the best DVDRs ever with a bit of re-tooling. I seriously doubt they will though. We will see.

...WalMart will carry these and likely be much cheaper than the price you posted, with that lovely 3 month "experimentation" window.

I haven't bought a Philips product in years, so I'm no long familar with their quality or issues.

I assume there were problems with prior Philips recorders (or products in general)? Was it build quality, lack of features, poor functionality, something else?

Provided this new model performs well, it would be a tremendous step over my Pioneer (at least feature wise - HDMI, 1080p, twice the HDD, etc).

I haven't bought a Philips product in years, so I'm no long familar with their quality or issues.

I assume there were problems with prior Philips recorders (or products in general)? Was it build quality, lack of features, poor functionality, something else?

Provided this new model performs well, it would be a tremendous step over my Pioneer (at least feature wise - HDMI, 1080p, twice the HDD, etc).


I have been a loyal Philips fan since about 1986 when my parent bought a 14" Philips TV which still works like new. Lately though I've been incredibly disappointed by Philips product in general, and DVD recorders in particular.

I think the problem is a global trend, and not brand specific. Ever since all major companies started having everything made in China, the quality is just not the same. But I think there is an even worse situation now - all the major companies seem to have halted completely direct production and only work on development of new products, which they license to others after words. Then they sell their names to no name chinese companies for the brand recognition.

Speficially with Philips' products of late have been major software bugs that have made their operation extremely inefficient and they often require software upgrades which are not easy to perform, and their customer only reads from the same instructions already available on their support site.

The latest DVDR3505 brings me a little hope, but I strongly suspect it is not made by Philips at all. The firmware is identical to the Funai clones of the past, and more importantly the new Magnavox models, which even say on the unit "a product of the Funai company".

This is why so many companies are willing to sell at a loss at first, like Toshiba is now with their HD DVD - they are counting on making their money back in the future from licensing to the no name brands.

Philips has been at the top of innovation for decades - the CD, DVD recorder, DAT, SACD, and pretty much every major product on the market was developed or co-developed by them. But when it comes to production, since the products stopped being made in Holland it is not the same anymore.

When exactly did they stop manufacturing them in the Netherlands?

I had a non-HDD model for just one day at least three years ago (if not more), and I thought so little of it I returned it the next day. The Panny E85H I ended up with instead (smart move, I'd say) had an overall picture quality worlds better. Seemed a bit on the flimsy side, too (although, I'll be the first to admit that the E85H isn't exactly built like a tank either - but it IS still going strong).

Well the last time I bought anything made in the Netherlands was in 1995, but that was back home in Europe. Don't even know if there ever were such products in the States.

Philips is still the biggest and most reputable company in Europe, and the catalog there is hugely different than the one here, but even in Europe all the stuff is made in China now.

suplex, may I make a humble suggestion? Your last post would make an excellent topic of it's own. Could you be persuaded to create a new topic for it? I will certainly respond to it. :)

Sure, I'll give it a shot. I'll label it the: "Make your own DVD Recorder" thread.

SIL was meandering through her local Wally world last night and reported there was a Phillips unit 160 GB hdd and digital tuner sitting on the shelf next to the still empty spot for the Polaroids. Unfortunatly she did not get a model number, sounds promising though.

what is SIL and where is SIL

Sister in law is in Co Bluffs, Iowa. If they are there though surely they will hitting the rest of our shelves soon.

Is she 100% positive it was the newer model?

The reason I ask is because I was also at my local WM last night, and while they had the new, HDD-less Philips and Magnavox models, they also had one Philips w/HDD on a lower shelf. But the box looked EXACTLY the same as the non-HDD model's, and I really had to inspect it closely to see that "digital tuner" wasn't mentioned on it. At first glance I really thought it could be the new model though, as they didn't have it on the shelf last time I was there.

S=I=L was meandering through her local Wally world last night and reported there was a Phillips unit 160 GB hd and digital tuner sitting on the shelf next to the still empty spot for the Polaroids. Unfortunatly she did not get a model number, sounds promising though.

She may possibly have done what I did tonight. Local Wallyworld, I wander into the electronics section, see the empty space for digital Polaroid 160gb HDD model, lo and behold there is a Philips 160gb HDD model right beside it. $298.......My eyes got really big....... until I looked closer and saw it was the older NTSC model. The 3455/37. Wonder if that's what happened to her?

.......My eyes got really big.......Same initial reaction here :eek: :).

Maybe it was Walmart trying to sneak a few older models under the other label.

Hey will this new model record in 16:9 if recording from the ATSC antenna source? I understand this is recording in 480i or 480p but will it display in the 16:9 format when playback?

Is she 100% positive it was the newer model?

hmm I'm not absolutely sure, did she read the box or the tag, knowing she is usually a pretty savy shopper I'd think box.

After spending many hours on the phone with her in the last few day trying to help her locate a hdd dvr that didn't disappear the minute you tried to buy it I'm reluctant to call her right now. I'm sure I'll hear from her tomorrow when XS35s she bought are supposed to be there, I'll check then and get back to you.

Apologize in advance if I got your hopes up for nothing.

demuddle, no need for apologies at all. It was just that I initially thought the same thing and then upon closer inspection saw it was the older model. Your SIL may be dead on the money, or it could have been similar to what happened to Rammitinski and me. Either way, no biggie. If it is the new Digital Tuner Model, we respectfully request a full report as soon as she (or anyone else with connections to this board) gets one. Thanks! :D

Yes indeed! Enquiring minds wanna know! If we can't have HD passthrough, how about a HD unit? If one shows up here, I'm testing it!

Besides HD passthru I gotta have the latest ATSC chip set. The chip that handles multpath issues like my STB Samsung DTB-H260F. If it does not have it I might as well buy a legacy model.

BTW- What does this mean? "Built-in SDTV Tuner for digital television reception"

I am guessing a SD not HD tuner but not sure.

Funny thing about the big companies doing the design and then in the future licensing to the no name brands.

You would think that would give the big companies incentive to design something the no names would want to buy from them.

-DonB2

BTW- What does this mean? "Built-in SDTV Tuner for digital television reception"

I am guessing a SD not HD tuner but not sure.


The marketeers had to come up with something to explain easily what the unit does without further confusing consumers. I think in general whenever you see SDTV it will mean that the display (not the tuner) will end up being SD. So an SDTV TV or SDTV tuner (in DVDrs or anything else) nets you the same thing - an SD quality display. An SDTV tuner will tune an HD signal just fine - it just won't pass it on as such. So even tho the unit may have HDMI or component output and that output is HD the source material is still SD cause the tuner downrezed it.

An SDTV tuner will tune an HD signal just fine

So...in essence this would apply to any station broadcasting in 720p/1080i.

SD program received from local station
Local Station upconverts to 720p/1080i and adds pillar bars to maintain aspect
SDTV tuner receives upconverted signal and downconverts to 480i
SDTV tuner upconverts 480i signal to 720p/1080i and outputs over HDMI.

Hmmm...a lot of conversions to just find out if you are "smarter than a fifth grader"

The reason a lot of us want a unit that will output true HD...even the SD DTV programs will look better :)

So will/does this unit pass through an HD program to an HD set in HD?

That's all I really need to know.

Is this the only HDD player that is available with an ATSC tuner?

So will/does this unit pass through an HD program to an HD set in HD?

That's all I really need to know.
Probably not, but it won't be known for sure until the actual release,
hopefully sometime in May.

Is this the only HDD player that is available with an ATSC tuner?
None are actually available as of this date, but there will also
be a HDD model from Polaroid.

Do any of the recorders out now w/ ATSC tuners actually pass local HD programs through to an HD set? The DVDR 3505? I was also wondering if any of these have USB ports and if so can you record to an external hard drive as opposed to recording to DVD.

None of the ATSC recorders currently released and available for purchase pass a native HD signal though. That's not their job. These things are not being built as digital HD tuners, they are built as SD DVD recorders. Some models offer upconversion through HDMI but I suspect it has more to do with that feature being in vogue than anything else.

I can understand the desire for HD pass through. People who bought HD-TVs that were "HD-ready" -- meaning no digital tuner because they were too expensive -- are largely screwed for OTA reception. There only seems to be one or two HD tuners on the market to choose from -- the Samsung is the only one talked about here and it cost $200. It would be nice to spend that and get a DVD recorder too boot. But that doesn't seem very likely now, does it.

Well, then this is VERY deceiving to a prospective buyer:

The Philips DVDR3505 DVD recorder with TV tuner allows you to watch and record HDTV programs like never before. Its built-in SDTV tuner receives over-the-air digital broadcasts. There's no need to invest in a separate HDTV converter box or HDTV receivers. Watch and record all your favorite programming in perfect quality HDMI.

That's copied off of Wally World's site.

if you don't know the difference between SDTV and HDTV I would say yes...but it is actually more accurate than what most manufacturers provide. It clearly states SDTV Tuner and OTA digital, nothing about tuning an HDTV signal. However, you will still need a separate box to get encrypted channels (HD or not)

Actually it tunes and records the HDTV signals just fine - what it doesn't clearly spell out is that the signal is downrezed (no longer HD) and no where after the initial tuner is the HD signal present.

Do you think we will ever be able to record in HD? (other than onto DVR). WIll we ever be able to pass a a high rez signal through to an HD TV?

Do you think we will ever be able to record in HD? (other than onto DVR). WIll we ever be able to pass a a high rez signal through to an HD TV?Well since you are looking for speculation on the future: I believe that if we ever see an HD recorder, it will pass through the native signal from the tuner. I don't believe we will ever see an SD DVD recorder that passes anything other than 480 out (that includes 480 that is upconverted to 1080 via HDMI). I believe that when the HDD-DVDR's make their appearance they will also downconvert anything they receive to 480 before recording to the HDD in order to maximize the recording time for a given HDD size.

I hope I am wrong on the last 2 predictions, but if this market is now controlled by the chinese/korean what we see now is what we will continue to get. What they will concentrate on is getting the price down and that means the feature set will be slimmed down also to compensate.

FWIW, I had pre-ordered this recorder from Buy.com.
Overnight I received an e-mail with this message:
We were recently informed that the item listed below from order #33214431
is no longer available from that supplier. Please accept our sincere apologies for this inconvenience.
Not a good sign...

None of the ATSC recorders currently released and available for purchase pass a native HD signal though. That's not their job. These things are not being built as digital HD tuners, they are built as SD DVD recorders. Some models offer upconversion through HDMI but I suspect it has more to do with that feature being in vogue than anything else.

I can understand the desire for HD pass through. People who bought HD-TVs that were "HD-ready" -- meaning no digital tuner because they were too expensive -- are largely screwed for OTA reception. There only seems to be one or two HD tuners on the market to choose from -- the Samsung is the only one talked about here and it cost $200. It would be nice to spend that and get a DVD recorder too boot. But that doesn't seem very likely now, does it.

I agree with Kelson. Personally I consider the lack of appropriate tuner built into the TV to be a deal breaker.

When I bought my Toshiba 34hfx84 it was the rule rather then the exception to get a hd ready set which meant a analog tuner only. I tried a Samsung 451 which had a great picture but everything else about it sucked so I got a LG 4200a and have been a happy camper ever since except for buying a extra 250 tuner after a few months of getting the set. Now they are pretty much a gone and the few that come up usually sell for more then I paid by about double.
If I could have gotten a set with as good a HD picture and a QAM tuner for what I paid for the Toshiba I would have been all over it but the only set that had it was the Sonys for quite a bit more then I could afford. I liked CRT video quality and still do so the big lcd and plasma sets out then were too spendy and most I didn't like the video quality anyways. When a stand alone HD recording portable solution comes about for a reasonable price I'll do that too, but right now price is just too high for units and blanks.

When I bought my Toshiba 34hfx84 it was the rule rather then the exception to get a hd ready set which meant a analog tuner only.

In cases like that, I would not have bought it. I don't see why I should support manufacturers that do silly things like that. It only encourages them.

At at least 1 local Wal-Mart the Shelf Cards for the Philips and Polaroid ATSC Tuner 160gb HDD models have vanished. I am not pleased about this.

In cases like that, I would not have bought it. I don't see why I should support manufacturers that do silly things like that. It only encourages them.It was just a couple years ago, that the FCC mandates for digital tuners were kicking in. The mandates were phased so initially a manufacturer had to have 50% of his large-screen TV's sporting an ATSC tuner. ATSC tuners were new and very expensive because they were in low volume. A Sony TV would come in 2 indentical models -- one with and one without an ATSC tuner; the price difference was $400 for a Sony with an ATSC tuner. Other brands such as JVC and Mitsubishi had a lower but still hefty $300 price premium for their ATSC tuner models.

The marketing at the stores was, why spend that money now on an ATSC tuner. There are few digitals broadcasting and by the time you will need a tuner, you'll be able to buy a STB dirt cheap. At all stages of the phase-in there were few models with ATSC tuners on display in B&M stores until a mandate kicked in for 100% of a particular screen size to have ATSC. So, you see it was quite reasonable and "the norm" for people to not spend a lot of extra money on a tuner they wouldn't need for a while (the 2/09 date was only recently "fixed in stone").

As things have turned out, I think people who bought HDTV-ready sets for OTA are basically screwed. They bought into a transitional product line that was declining from the start. There are only a couple of HD STB tuners on the market and they run ~$200. They'll probably disappear altogether before they get any cheaper, especially when the transitional flood of cheap subsidized SD ATSC tuners are released to adapt current SD analog sets to digital TV.

FWIW, I had pre-ordered this recorder from Buy.com.
Overnight I received an e-mail with this message:

Not a good sign...

Anyone contact Phillips and ask? I searched and found a PDF spec sheet and was impressed with what I saw. Now I want one! One retailers website even says July 2007 as date that it should be available. In addition to haveing a HD, both this one and the Polaroid both claim to play VCD's and SVCD's as well. No mention in either one of they can play PAL disks, but it's not like I'm goin to throw away my Raite anytime soon.

Anyone contact Phillips and ask? I searched and found a PDF spec sheet and was impressed with what I saw. Now I want one! One retailers website even says July 2007 as date that it should be available...
So far, I've seen this recorder at only three sites.
here, (http://www.buy.com/prod/dvdr3575h-37-dvd-rec-160gb-hd-1080p-upconvert/q/loc/111/204297936.html) here (http://www.compumusic.com/p228063.htm)
and here. (https://www.brightandsleek.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=DVDR3575H)
Was the July date at one of these, or somewhere else?

you can also now find it at dell:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=hied&cs=65&sku=A1126773

you can also now find it at dell:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=hied&cs=65&sku=A1126773
Great work finding it there! I'm amazed. :D

you can also now find it at dell:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=hied&cs=65&sku=A1126773

In the Home Theater section of the "Higher Education" Site...what are our kids learning these days :p

Great work finding it there! I'm amazed. :DYep, google is pretty powerful.

I ordered one, after they assured me the "One to Two Weeks"
shipping time frame is correct. Well see...

I ordered one, after they assured me the "One to Two Weeks"
shipping time frame is correct. Well see...I find that walmart usually gets them before the online retailers. So I bet ya, I'll get it first. :p

I find that walmart usually gets them before the online retailers. So I bet ya, I'll get it first. :p
Wal*Mart's price will probably be a little cheaper too.
The deal clincher for me with Dell was when she
threw in free Overnight Shipping. :D

So far, I've seen this recorder at only three sites.
here, (http://www.buy.com/prod/dvdr3575h-37-dvd-rec-160gb-hd-1080p-upconvert/q/loc/111/204297936.html) here (http://www.compumusic.com/p228063.htm)
and here. (https://www.brightandsleek.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=DVDR3575H)
Was the July date at one of these, or somewhere else?

Search just for DVDR3575H and you will find the PDF and the brightandseek site. cheapelectricals.co.uk gives it a July date (even though I live in the US, I figure the date might give me some sort of idea)

Search just for DVDR3575H and you will find the PDF and the brightandseek site. cheapelectricals.co.uk gives it a July date (even though I live in the US, I figure the date might give me some sort of idea)
Yes, I found those too. I didn't bother with the UK site because
the release date there is irrelevant, as I too live in the US.
The problem with the brightandseek site is it's been saying
Available to ship in 3 to 4 weeks for a month or more.
So, I ordered from Dell, after Buy.com cancelled my order
because (they said) their distributor said they no longer can say
when or even if they will have it.

My Wal-Mart has had the tag up for a few weeks. Their inventory scanner says they should have 4 in stock but no one can find them. So they have an allotment but just haven't received them just yet. Tried the Polaroid and not 100% happy with it.

My Wal-Mart has had the tag up for a few weeks. Their inventory scanner says they should have 4 in stock but no one can find them. So they have an allotment but just haven't received them just yet. Tried the Polaroid and not 100% happy with it.
Dell is showing my order as shipping on May 21. :D

Unless Philips has made huge Firmware Upgrades from the DVDR 3455/37 I doubt I will be interested. Just way too many functionality shortcomings in that last HDD model for a $298 price tag. I like my Sylvania HDRV200F much better, and it is from a supposedly "inferior" manufacturer, and only has a 1x DVD Burner in Video mode!

I say this with great hope but very low expectations - I sincerely hope Philips listened to the folks from this forum who went to great lengths to tell them how to radically improve their product. They could make it one of the best DVDRs ever with a bit of re-tooling. I seriously doubt they will though. We will see.

One of your main objections is time shift during scheduled recordings. If you had that you would be happy. But then I would not, since I would not be able to time shift during live programs as I watch a previously scheduled program on my HD. I consider that more important than time shifting a scheduled program, since I can use the record button to record and time shift, which does the same thing. If I am away, I schedule it.

Your desired feature is on my Panny which is why it is unplugged and no longer use it. I can do everything it does and more with my Polaroid (basically the same as the Phillips). You cannot time shift live on the Panny without recording! You cannot change the channel while recording but you can when time shifting the Polaroid.

So I consider the way it is set up as perfect for my use. And there is the rub. A manufacturer will never satisfy everyone because the technology is not there to do so unless you make it cost prohibitive (two tuners, two hds, two recorders, two boards...). You get a lot of bang for your buck with both the Phillips and Polaroid.

FWIW, Dell's automated phone system called me yesterday
to inform me that the shipping date for my order has been
moved back, from May 21st to June 25th. :(

Since this unit is very similar to the Polaroid that has been out for a month I have a feeling Phillips may be keeping this unit back to fix some issues discovered with the Polaroid.

...Phillips may be keeping this unit back to fix some issues discovered with the Polaroid...Polaroid has a ton of issues. If Phillips is smart they will hold this unit back to fix them all. I wouldn't expect the fixes to be done with in 6 months.

This unit appeared on the Walmart website within the last few days. Can't say when for sure... I just noticed it today.

Has anyone managed to get their hands on it yet?

Polaroid has a ton of issues. If Phillips is smart they will hold this unit back to fix them all. I wouldn't expect the fixes to be done with in 6 months.

Looks like it is available at Walmart online now. $298.... http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5663214

Looks like it is available at Walmart online now. $298.... http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5663214
I called their customer service and was assured they are actually in stock
online, plus in "limited quantities" in a couple of area stores.
So I cancelled my order with Dell and ordered one from Wal*Mart.
Delivery is supposed to be between May 29th and June 1st.

I looked on the site after TimSH posted. I just took my Polaroid back last night. But I may have to go to Walmart again tonight.

When I was looking for my Polaroid, I called the 3 or 4 local Walmarts and asked them if they were in stock. But I noticed on the site today, that you can check for store availability. I didn't notice this before, but I kinda want to doubt it's accuracy. Well actually I hope not, because the closest one to me has it in 'Limited Stock' and another one has it in stock.

I am excited to see how this works. I may have to leave work early . . .

I looked on the site after TimSH posted. I just took my Polaroid back last night. But I may have to go to Walmart again tonight.

When I was looking for my Polaroid, I called the 3 or 4 local Walmarts and asked them if they were in stock. But I noticed on the site today, that you can check for store availability. I didn't notice this before, but I kinda want to doubt it's accuracy. Well actually I hope not, because the closest one to me has it in 'Limited Stock' and another one has it in stock.

I am excited to see how this works. I may have to leave work early . . .
Please let us know if you actually get one of these home,
what you think of it. We won't tell if you leave work early. :D

Wouldn't philips have it on their own web site before walmart?

Wouldn't philips have it on their own web site before walmart?
Not necessarily. The DVDR3505/37 was listed on several sites
before it showed up on Philips'.

If anyone gets their hands on one, there are a few things I'm particularly interested in... I'm guessing it will handle 16:9 content the same as the Magnavox units (i.e. if the display type is set to 16:9 and the content is 16:9, that's what will record, so it plays back properly on a 16:9 set. Probably won't set the flag, but I don't care so much about that... don't have a 4:3 set anyway.)

Does it allow "chasing playback" of a program being recorded via timer?

Does it allow for watching a previously recorded program while something is recording?

Does it allow for watching a DVD while something is recording?

How many timer slots are available? That is, is it limited to 8 as a standalone DVD recorder/VCR would be, or can more be set up?

I would pick one up myself, but the local stores don't have it in stock yet... made several phone calls today in hopes one might.

Walmart web site says they are in my area, but I called the store and they do not have them... the store search engine says Beta, so I reckon it isn't fully functional yet.

Hope someone finds one soon... we are all waiting anxiously for a review.

From the product brochure:
Hard Disk/DVD Recorder
160 GB
Date of issue 2007-01-30
Version: 0.4
12 NC: 8670 000 28438
UPC: 6 09585 12899 6
Test leaflet, for internal use only!
© 2007 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
All Rights reserved.
Specifications are subject to change without notice. Trademarks are the property of Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. or their respective owners.
www.philips.com
Picture/Display
•D/A converter: 10 bit, 54 MHz
•A/D converter: 10 bit, 54 MHz
•Picture enhancement: Progressive Scan
Sound
•D/A converter: 24 bit, 192 kHz
•A/D converter: 24 bit, 192 kHz
Video Recording
•Recording system: NTSC
•Compression formats: MPEG2
•Recording Modes: High Quality (HQ), Standard Play (SP), Standard Play Plus (SPP), Long Play (LP), Extended Play (EP), Super Long Play (SLP)
•Audio compression: Dolby Digital
•Recording Media: DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW
•Recording enhancements: Auto Chapter Marking, Chapter Marker Insertion, Divide, Erase, Manual Chapter Marking, One Touch Record (OTR), Safe Record, Selectable Index Pictures
Video Playback
•Playback Media: CD-R/CD-RW, DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW, DVD-Video, Video CD/SVCD
•Compression formats: MPEG2, MPEG1, DivX 3.11, DivX 4.x, DivX 5.x, DivX 6.0
Audio Playback
•Playback Media: Audio CD, CD-R/RW
•Compression format: Dolby Digital, MP3, WMA
Still Picture Playback
•Playback Media: CD-R/RW, DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW
•Picture compression format: JPEG
•Picture enhancement: Flip photos, Rotate, Zoom
Storage Media
•Hard Disk Capacity: 160*GB
•HDD recording enhancements: Pause Live TV
Tuner/Reception/Transmission
•TV system: NTSC, ATSC
Connectivity
•Front / Side connections: Audio L/R in, CVBS in, i.LINK DV in (IEEE1394, 4-pin), USB 1.1
•Rear Connections: Analog audio Left/Right in, Component Video output, Composite video (CVBS) input, Composite video (CVBS) output, Digital coaxial out, S-Video out, Analog audio Left/Right out, HDMI output, RF ant / TVOut - w/o modulator, S-Video in
Convenience
•Programming/Timer Enhancements: Daily/Weekly Repeat Program, Manual Timer, One Touch Recording
•Programmable Events: 12
•Programming Period: 1*month
Power
•Power supply: 110V
•Standby power consumption: < 2.4W
Accessories
•Included Accessories: 2 x AAA Batteries, Quick start guide, Remote Control, User Manual, A/V Cable, RF cable, Warranty Leaflet
•Remote Control 12NC: Black Slim Sofa
Dimensions
•Weight incl. Packaging: 3.5*kg
•Packaging dimensions (WxHxD): 520 x 147 x 362 mm
•Product dimensions (WxDxH): 420 x 254 x 59 mm
•Product weight: 2.4*kg

Only 12 program events? I read this on the Walmart site. Hopefully it is a typo.

I'm still a little confused about how chase mode works on this unit. (and previous models). Can you record directly to a DVD on the fly, while "chasing" ? Or do you have to put it to the Hard Drive and then Burn afterwards?

Lets hope the QAM tuner in this one works. Tried 3 of the new polaroid version and they all pretty much sucked at it. Also no QTR or VCR+ which I think this unit supports as well as DIVX playback. Funny the 2001g played DIVX and had QTR I'm pretty sure.

Tuner was a strong point in the previous Philips DVDR.

I'm still a little confused about how chase mode works on this unit. (and previous models). Can you record directly to a DVD on the fly, while "chasing" ? Or do you have to put it to the Hard Drive and then Burn afterwards?


save timeshift segment to hdd ---> edit on hdd --> burn to DVD

Please let us know if you actually get one of these home,
what you think of it. We won't tell if you leave work early. :D

Well the store didn't have any. My heart did skip a beat because I saw a Phillips tag for $298. It had the 160 gb HDD. But on further inspection, I saw it was the 3455. This happened to me on the Polaroid too. They had a display 3455 for half price ($150). It had no book or remote. But I don't really think that I wanted this one.

I called another store that the Malwart site said had them 'in stock.' They only had the 3455 also.

Guess I'll just have to wait. Hopefully someone else gets one soon.

--Nick

Hi folks,

Does anyone know how/if this recorder will be able to communicate with satellite/cable boxes? I don't see anything about an IR blaster, but I am not that informed about such devices. Thanks in advance.

LaGrey

"Recording system: NTSC"

Does this mean it can not record ATSC tv shows?

-DonB2

"Recording system: NTSC"

Does this mean it can not record ATSC tv shows?

-DonB2
No. It means it records on DVD's as NTSC and not PAL,
so it's for the US and Canada, not Europe or Asia. :)

Ok, Thanks.

I guess I just don't trust anything I read about these 1st Gen ATSC DVD recorders :mad:

-DonB2

Does anyone know how/if this recorder will be able to communicate with satellite/cable boxes? I don't see anything about an IR blaster, but I am not that informed about such devices. Thanks in advance.
If you mean, will it accept signal from sat/cable boxes, of course it will; but if you mean will it change the channel on the sat/cable box to record automatically, I think not. With the units I have researched you will always have to program the DVR and sat/cable box separately using their specific timers. A bit clumsy, but not impossible to do.

...With the units I have researched you will always have to program the DVR and sat/cable box separately using their specific timers. A bit clumsy, but not impossible to do.
That's what I've been doing with my Lite-On HD-A760GX
when recording OTA DTV through a ATSC STB. The STB only has
a timer to turn on at a certain time and off the same way, with
no option for what channel it comes on tuned to, but has to be
on the correct channel when I shut it off. Very inconvenient,
but it works.
The DVDR3575H/37 will eliminate all that. :)

Does anyone know whether you can feed this thing a source that is widescreen, (the signal will probably be squeezed into a 4:3 image) and have it burn a letterboxed DVD???

Does anyone know whether you can feed this thing a source that is widescreen, (the signal will probably be squeezed into a 4:3 image) and have it burn a letterboxed DVD???
Not until one of us actually gets one. :D

That's what I've been doing with my Lite-On HD-A760GX
... The STB only has a timer to turn on at a certain time and off the same way, with
no option for what channel it comes on tuned to ... The DVDR3575H/37 will eliminate all that. :)
My sat receiver (Dish) will set the channel too, so when I tried the RCA DRC8030N I just set both DVR and sat box timers and everything worked fine, including channel changing (the DVR always stayed on CH3, which was the input channel for the sat box).

Why do you say the DVDR3575H/37 will eliminate all that? Are you saying it can change the channels on a sat/cable box? If so, that is a major feature at this price level IMHO (boy do we have to lower our expectations sometimes ... I cannot believe I just wrote that ... sigh!)

BTW Separate thread on the RCA unit here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=767130

- $190 at Wal-Mart, shipping $0.97
- Store stock very limited (or none)
- Mono tuner a major source of issues for OTA users

...Why do you say the DVDR3575H/37 will eliminate all that? Are you saying it can change the channels on a sat/cable box? If so, that is a major feature at this price level IMHO (boy do we have to lower our expectations sometimes ... I cannot believe I just wrote that ... sigh!) ...
No, I'm not saying that. I'm sorry I didn't express myself very well.
I only meant the new recorder will eliminate my having to use the STB,
and will eliminate my having to be sure the STB is tuned to the right
channel before shutting it off, etc.
It'll also eliminate my having to record analog OTA through a stereo VCR's
tuner (the HD-A760GX has a mono tuner). :)

glad someone pointed me to this thread. Walfart sent mine today and it should arrive by the end of the month. The old HD recorder has it's problems, Does anyone know the MAJOR differences between this particular model and the older version?

I ordered one too, got fed up with calling. Now the waiting and hoping it works better then the Polaroid begins....

Mine will arrive Thursday. :D

If anyone finds a link to the owners manual please post it here.
Even though Wal*Mart is now shipping this machine Philips
still does not have any reference to it on their site. :(

FYI, I saw the Philips DVDR3575H on the shelf at Walmart this morning for $298 (Central Virginia). Since I've already purchased and returned several recorders w/ATSC tuners, I think I'll wait to buy until I see some user reports.

FYI, I saw the Philips DVDR3575H on the shelf at Walmart this morning for $298 (Central Virginia). ...snip... I think I'll wait to buy until I see some user reports.I wonder if they are identical to the Polaroid.

I suspect there will be some differences from the Polaroid.

I ordered one too, got fed up with calling. Now the waiting and hoping it works better then the Polaroid begins....
Guys 'n' gals, we are going to be satisfied very soon if Dartman has one of these. You can read his work on the Polaroid 2001G here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=675487

If Dartman could tell us what he thinks about (1) noise issues (2) time-shifting (3) timer recording (4) the remote, we should already know most of what we need. Any other points to add anyone? Dartman is a really first rate tester, and I think he already has the equivalent Polaroid at home to compare with this (probably very similar) Philips ...

Oh, and editing of course ... I forgot that thorny issue, which was the major drawback on the RCA DRC8030N for me (I did not need the wonky tuner).

Oh, and editing of course ... I forgot that thorny issue, which was the major drawback on the RCA DRC8030N for me (I did not need the wonky tuner).
I'm hoping the Editing includes a Merge feature although
I don't see anything about that in the product brochure.
If it doesn't, I'll use my Lite-On (HD-A760GX) for editing...

:eek: Never thought I'd be so tense about someone else getting a new toy!

I appreciate the sentiment but I'm not the only one who has modded and tweaked the thing, I was just stupid enough to open it a half hour after buying it and pop in a 250 gig drive and take pictures of the guts. I also tried several burners and finally modded the remote with the radio shack LED afters other tried it. Nextoo has gone crazy with external drives on his unit and somebody else did the LED thing first, it's a community effort folks but I'll take my small part of it.... :cool:

I appreciate the sentiment but I'm not the only one who has modded and tweaked the thing, I was just stupid enough to open it a half hour after buying it and pop in a 250 gig drive and take pictures of the guts. I also tried several burners and finally modded the remote with the radio shack LED afters other tried it. Nextoo has gone crazy with external drives on his unit and somebody else did the LED thing first, it's a community effort folks but I'll take my small part of it.... :cool:
Let me know when you figure out how to drop an ATSC tuner
into my Polaroid DRM-2001G and I'll bring it out of retirement. :D

That would be interesting to do but I think you'll need firmware support on the board level to make it work. I do know the digital Polaroid was stereo on the digital tuner at least, I think the analog part was still mono but was hard to tell as it doesn't actually have a mono/stereo display like most recorders of any type have.
My 2001 now thinks it's a Packard Bell and has a PAL tuner thanks to a european firmware upgrade I tried.
the french tuner version even has a stereo mono display that can be toggled with the audio switch but it still is mono no matter what the display states. I actually can get many NTSC channels in by manual tuning then restarting the unit cold, then it locks onto them pretty well after I set channel memory.

That would be interesting to do but I think you'll need firmware support on the board level to make it work. I do know the digital Polaroid was stereo on the digital tuner at least, I think the analog part was still mono but was hard to tell as it doesn't actually have a mono/stereo display like most recorders of any type have.
My 2001 now thinks it's a Packard Bell and has a PAL tuner thanks to a european firmware upgrade I tried.
the french tuner version even has a stereo mono display that can be toggled with the audio switch but it still is mono no matter what the display states. I actually can get many NTSC channels in by manual tuning then restarting the unit cold, then it locks onto them pretty well after I set channel memory.
Cool. :)
BTW, I believe ATSC tuners are all stereo by default.
(Not counting if one was in a mono TV. :) )

... My 2001 now thinks it's a Packard Bell and has a PAL tuner thanks to a european firmware upgrade I tried ...
A Polaroid with an identity crisis ... who would have thought! Did you notice if it tries to wash dishes or do the laundry or anything else like that since it got that European firmware?! :eek:

Well it likes to smoke a lot now and will only record A&E specials...

Well, I decided to run over to Wally World today and see if they had any of these on the shelf (they didn't on Thursday).

Low and behold, there were 2 of them on top of the stack of the older model. Grabbed one and took it home.

The digital tuner is as good as the Magnavox combo DVDR/VCR I picked up in the beginning of April. Analog tuner is better than the old one was. This really only matters for the one station for me. All of the major networks come in fine here digital.

Questions I had that are now answered:

16:9 recording: If the display type is set to 16:9, it will record the full 16:9 signal and play it back properly on a 16:9 set. It does not set the flag, so if played back on a 4:3 set, it will be horizontally compressed. Not a problem for me.

Playback of a timer recording from the beginning of the program while still recording works fine.

Playback of a previously recorded program while another is recording (to the HDD) works fine.

Playback of a DVD while a recording to the HDD is in progress works fine.

Having to explicitly place the unit into "Pause Live TV" mode to buffer the live TV stream so that pause, rewind, etc. works is a little strange, but I think I can get used to it. Don't watch much live TV anyway. From what I can tell so far, there is no way to "save" the live TV buffer to the hard drive, but I need to dig through the manual a little more. Not a big deal for me if it can't be done, but it might be nice from time to time.

The unit seems light. Not the sturdiest component I've seen, but I think it will stand up to living in my entertainment center. It does seem nice and quiet. There is a fan on the back, but I haven't noticed any noise from it at all (yet).

There are only 12 program slots, but I think I can work with that. It does arrange them in order from top to bottom based on the order of recording.

Recording quality is pretty decent. Pretty much what I would expect based on the quality I was getting recording to DVD with the Magnavox. Not a big surprise. I believe they're both made by Funai and use pretty much the same components and software, with the obvious differences.

Took the Magnavox back for a refund. I'll stick with this one. I was hoping for something to replace my dead ReplayTV unit as far as hard disk recording with the added bonus of an ATSC tuner and preservation of proper aspect ratio for 16:9 content. I'm strictly OTA. No cable, no satellite. This fits the bill for now. I could hope for true HD recording, but not at this price. Maybe in a few years.

Do you have cable and have you tried the QAM portion of the tuner? My 0160 Polaroid dropped cable QAM BAD, all 3 of them.
Maybe I should call the stores again... :rolleyes:
Well I guess towards the bottom you answered that question, no cable, no satellite.

Thanks for the First Look info!

Please post about editing accuracy and capabilities when you are able. The 3455/37 was less than accurate, and did not remove scenes but rather placed markers that cause the player to Skip those areas during playback and when recording to DVD. But again, it is only semi-accurate.

I have a question about Editing.
Is there a way to edit out commercials (or anything else)
and then merge the sections back together?
It would be nice, but if not I'll use my Lite-On for that
(transfer the recording to the hard drive of the Lite-On
via DVD, then edit).
My DVDR3575H/37 will arrive on 31 May.

Edit:
Is the NTSC tuner stereo? It doesn't really matter
since only two stations I watch are not digital yet...

... Grabbed one and took it home ...
Well done Tim! It seems that you are the first to get one, you lucky boy!

It sounds promising. I use satellite, but would like to have the option of using OTA some day if I decide to do so, since I watch a lot of shows by ordering the DVDs from Netflix now rather than wade through all the commercials.

So, the remote works, right?!

You mentioned that you have to "pause live TV" before being able to time shift. Is it possible to time shift continuously from when the unit is turned on? For example:
Unit turned on at 9.00 am.
Time shift enabled by pressing "pause" immediately.
Programming watched with varying pauses and delays until 5.00 pm

I guess what I am asking is:
How long will it time shift (the duration of the buffer)?
Will it use a continuous buffer, replacing the oldest buffered material constantly beyond the maximum duration allowed, without ever just dumping the paused programming and switching back to live TV or dumping the buffer and starting a new buffer from scratch?
Essentially, what will it do if the time paused exceeds the buffer length set?

Any info would be greatly appreciated

Thanks for the First Look info!

Please post about editing accuracy and capabilities when you are able ...
Yup! I would love to know about the editing possibilities too! I basically want to be able to do the following:

- Place a chapter marker at the start of commercials.
- Place a chapter marker at the end of commercials.
- Hide or delete the chapter with the commercials.
- Record to DVD without the commercials hidden or deleted.

Thanks again for all that preliminary info! I think everyone here is quite excited about this latest arrival on the no subscription DVR scene!

Well, I decided to run over to Wally World today and see if they had any of these on the shelf (they didn't on Thursday).

Low and behold, there were 2 of them on top of the stack of the older model. Grabbed one and took it home.

The digital tuner is as good as the Magnavox combo DVDR/VCR I picked up in the beginning of April. Analog tuner is better than the old one was. This really only matters for the one station for me. All of the major networks come in fine here digital.
...Snip

Can the Digital and Analog tuners get their antenna signal from a single input?
I'm OTA only also, so I prefer not to have to add a splitter, with the associated signal loss to drive both tuners. It appears that you have to do that with the Polaroid.
Is their an antenna-out that can be connected to a ATSC/NTSC tuner equipped TV for direct OTA viewing?
It would seem best for my situation, if a single antenna lead would feed the recorder and an antenna-out from the recorder would feed my TV.

The Polaroid has a built in splitter that can feed the digital. I hooked my cable to the analog part and the rf out I looped back to the digital input, worked fine as long as you have good quality cables.

Post #126 in this thread and someone finally got one. :)

OK, haven't done alot more playing with it, but maybe I can address a few things.

Looking more closely at the manual, it seems you get 36 program slots, not 12 (or maybe it was 32... I'll have to go check again, but it's over 30).

The manual says that once you put it in "pause live tv" mode (what I believe you mean by time shifting, it will buffer up to 12 hours if there's not a recording scheduled prior to that or you run out of disk space. I believe my initial impression was correct that there seems to be no way to save this buffer. Not a big deal for me as I just schedule what I want to watch to record, then start chasing it from the beginning if it's not finished when I want to watch.

There is one antenna input that serves both analog and digital and an antenna out that simply passes the antenna feed through to whatever you want (TV).

I haven't attempted any editing on the HDD, but it appears you can either hide or completely remove any sections you choose. Your choice.

Oh, and before anyone asks, it does NOT pass HD out via HD or component if you just want to use this as a tuner. No surprise there.

Unless a HDD based HD recorder appears in the next few months, which is almost as likely as monkeys flying out of my butt, this one's a keeper as far as I'm concerned.

The only things I could really wish for would be a program guide, and maybe the ability to set an "expiration date" on recordings, so they would auto delete if they aged beyond a certain point without being watched.

OK, haven't done alot more playing with it, but maybe I can address a few things.

Looking more closely at the manual, it seems you get 36 program slots, not 12 (or maybe it was 32... I'll have to go check again, but it's over 30).

The manual says that once you put it in "pause live tv" mode (what I believe you mean by time shifting, it will buffer up to 12 hours if there's not a recording scheduled prior to that or you run out of disk space. I believe my initial impression was correct that there seems to be no way to save this buffer. Not a big deal for me as I just schedule what I want to watch to record, then start chasing it from the beginning if it's not finished when I want to watch.

There is one antenna input that serves both analog and digital and an antenna out that simply passes the antenna feed through to whatever you want (TV).

I haven't attempted any editing on the HDD, but it appears you can either hide or completely remove any sections you choose. Your choice.

Oh, and before anyone asks, it does NOT pass HD out via HD or component if you just want to use this as a tuner. No surprise there.

Unless a HDD based HD recorder appears in the next few months, which is almost as likely as monkeys flying out of my butt, this one's a keeper as far as I'm concerned.

The only things I could really wish for would be a program guide, and maybe the ability to set an "expiration date" on recordings, so they would auto delete if they aged beyond a certain point without being watched.

How fast does it change channels? Is it really slow like the non HDD phillips?

... I haven't attempted any editing on the HDD, but it appears you can either hide or completely remove any sections you choose ...

Unless a HDD based HD recorder appears in the next few months, which is almost as likely as monkeys flying out of my butt, this one's a keeper as far as I'm concerned.
This does sound very promising, Tim, but, before you get too excited, beware: the RCA DRC8030N could, in theory, accomplish the above tasks also, but, in practice, I found it to be almost impossible to do accurately (or even at all).

P.S. If you ever see those monkeys, could you please try and capture them on a camcorder and post a link? That should really be worth it!!

Does this Phillips do CLEAR QAM as well as ATSC?

Have not found out yet.

Is it listed in the manual?

I hope this shows up in my local Walmart before those Monkeys...

Does this Phillips do CLEAR QAM as well as ATSC?

Have not found out yet.

Is it listed in the manual?

Yes it does according to page 26 of the manual.
If it's like the 3505 it probably takes up 5-7 seconds to change channels.

I can't post the link for the manual because I haven't made 5 posts yet... :(

According to the manual:
"You can program the unit to record up to 36 programs
within a month in advance. Daily or weekly program
recordings are also available."
Not quite like TIVO's "Season Pass" feature but close enough...
At least you don't have to pay a monthly fee.

Here's the link for the support page:
http://www.usasupport.philips.com/productDocuments.html?ProductGroup=HOME_ENTERTAINMENT_GR&Categorey=DVD_HOME_THEATER_CA&SubCategorey=DVD_HARDDISK_RECORDERS_SU&Product=DVDR3575H%2F37&Submit.x=13&Submit.y=7&Submit=true

This should be the direct link for the manual:
http://www.p4c.philips.com/na4/d/dvdr3575h_37/dvdr3575h_37_dfu_aen.pdf

Channel changes seem fairly quick. Quicker than the Magnavox was at any rate. 2 to 3 seconds is what I'm seeing in general, though I think it depends on how good the signal you're getting is. The tuner is definitely better than the Magnavox was. I can pick up a few channels that I wasn't getting before, both digital and analog.

Did a quick & dirty edit test this morning. Seems reasonably accurate when it comes to placing markers and deleting unwanted content. Cut to within about a second of when I wanted it to. Certainly good enough for removing commercials and archiving.

...The only things I could really wish for would be a program guide...
Page 22 of the manual says it does have a "DTV Program Guide".

Page 22 of the manual says it does have a "DTV Program Guide".
Calling it a program guide is a bit of a stretch. It will show you info on the program you're currently tuned to. Nothing like an upcoming program grid or even a list of what's on on all channels at the moment you check. Pretty useless unless you just want to find out what it is you're watching.

Its gone from Walmarts website again http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp?cat=105664&fromPageCatId=62055&catNavId=62055
Good or bad ?
Joe

Interesting that it's disappeared from the site, but Walmart's not the best when it comes to keeping things up to date. Stopped in to pick up something this morning in my running around and wandered by electronics. There is only one left in North Olmsted and the box has been opened. There is no shelf tag for them, only for the old version sans digital tuner, which is marked at the same price.

Calling it a program guide is a bit of a stretch. It will show you info on the program you're currently tuned to. Nothing like an upcoming program grid or even a list of what's on on all channels at the moment you check. Pretty useless unless you just want to find out what it is you're watching.

So... how do you plan to record upcoming programs?

Its gone from Walmarts website again http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp?cat=105664&fromPageCatId=62055&catNavId=62055
Good or bad ?
Joe
That's really weird. I'm glad I ordered mine the first day,
and will receive it via UPS on 31 May.
I can understand it being out of stock, but the listing removed? :eek:

So... how do you plan to record upcoming programs?

The old fashioned way... check the TV listings on-line or in the newspaper and program it like a VCR, time, date, duration... It does support repeating programs, daily, weekly, etc. so as long as I keep an eye out for odd times and such, I'll be fine. Probably check the listings once a week.

Not an awful thing. I actually spend less time vegatating in front of the tube when I have to plan what I really want to watch.

... Did a quick & dirty edit test this morning. ...
This unit sounds promising to me. It does seem to do everything that I currently need, at least for the next two or three years, and I am not sure I am going to be waiting for those monkeys, so ...

Both the links posted by Beachbum worked fine. A link from the support page to a product "leaflet" shows a decent looking remote control (among other things, but this seems to be of better design than the Polaroids or the RCA). Another link shows the "quick start guide" with all the connections illustrated.

Now that we are finally getting some info, Wal-Mart decides to pull them off its website?! We used to have available units (online, at least) and no info. Now we are finally going to have lots of info, but no units anywhere!

It's not listed on the walmart site because I believe it's out of stock.

Here's the link to the walmart page (showing out of stock): id=5663214 (add this to the end of the url)

I went to my local walmart last night, but they didn't have any in stock (although it did have a shelf label for it)

Walmart typically (in my experience anyway) carries much more in store than they do on-line. Maybe the units that were available for purchase on line have all been sold or allocated to retail.

The remote is pretty nice. All the major functions are pretty easy to get to. Oh, and it has skip and replay buttons, and the functions they map to are settable from 5 seconds to several minutes. So you can program the skip button to 30 seconds for commercials (or 3 minutes of you want to shoot for entire blocks of commercials) and the replay for a few seconds to account for overshoot when skipping.

Here's the link for the support page:

This should be the direct link for the manual:


From reading the manual i'd say the big limitations for me are:
* no TVGOS - i'd prefer a unit compatible with both current (analog PBS) and new (digital CBS) guide or some sort of LAN connection to get info from one of the free internet services
* cant save buffer - it's pretty clear from the note on page 47 "The programs you recorded with [PAUSE LIVE TV] will not be stored in the title list."
* switching analog - dtv will rescan all channels
* 4:3/16:9 flag not set in recordings
* no QAM for cable users

things that i dont necessarily need but appear useless to me since functionality is incomplete:
* USB can't extend HDD space or at least copy/move the contents of the internal to the external HDD so you can avoid writing dvds. you can't play movies off an external hdd either as stated in the FAQ and the list of playable media
* divx has some pretty serious limitations for the size and fps

i guess what i'm looking for is more of a comcast-dvr like unit for OTA without monthly subscription. i don't really care for editing and dubbing to DVD i'm lazy :)

...The remote is pretty nice. All the major functions are pretty easy to get to. Oh, and it has skip and replay buttons, and the functions they map to are settable from 5 seconds to several minutes. So you can program the skip button to 30 seconds for commercials (or 3 minutes of you want to shoot for entire blocks of commercials) and the replay for a few seconds to account for overshoot when skipping.
That's a feature I'll be using a lot. :cool:
I'm counting the hours 'til thursday. :)

The commercial skip and skip back buttons are a big thing for me too, since when I tried the RCA model, I basically never watched anything live ever, using a short delay so that I could skip all the commercials. For certain shows though, that I wanted to send to friends on DVD, I want to be able to edit out the commercials before copying to DVD.

I am not that concerned about the absence of TV guide programming since a lot of people reported problems using these with other units anyway. This function seems to be something of a mixed blessing. With the RCA, I just used the Dish network guide to find out what was on and when, set the Dish receiver to start up and change channels automatically, then set the RCA to start up and record the "old-fashioned" way. It might sound like a pain, but I would mostly be recording certain shows weekly, and then one or two extras a week at the most (if any). It would be nice though if the unit is capable of capturing the title of what it is recording (which the RCA can also do) so that those do not have to be added manually.

It is a pity about not being able to record the buffer (which the RCA DRC8030N does do). The main use I had for this was, if I was watching a program with time shifting (paused live TV), sometimes I got too busy and could not watch the end of the program at that time. The only way to watch the whole thing later was to record the buffer. Starting a new recording immediately would only catch the end of the program, but not the 15 to 30 minutes still in the buffer (as an example) and not yet viewed.

I am going to wait a week or two to see how Tim, Chuck and Dartman get on with their new toys and then, if everything still looks good, get my own if they have since become available again.

Well I was just perusing the manual online and it appears to be a totally different beast then the polaroid version, which is probably a good thing :D It list cable/digital cable tuning so QAM is a go. All kinds of options including STEREO on analog NTSC, it can dub FROM DVD to HD which could be handy, it outputs up to 1080p with selectable options anywhere in between, but it upconverts only, no native HDTV which I can live with for now, no VCR+ as far as I can tell, The timer buffer only works when you press the right button so HD wont be thrashing all the time trying to cap everything, etc, etc....
Anyways if the QAM tuner doesn't drop out badly like the polaroid I think it will be a keeper. I just hope I can slam the 250 gig outa my 2001g in it after I've saved whatever I want from it first, nobody has tried a upgrade yet...all one of us that owns it here anyways... ;)

Well I was just perusing the manual online Yes, it looks significantly different to me too. :-) Thanks to the person who updated the wikipedia page.

...I just hope I can slam the 250 gig outa my 2001g in it after I've saved whatever I want from it first, nobody has tried a upgrade yet...all one of us that owns it here anyways... ;)
If you do risk everything to try that, please post the results
(good or bad) here in this thread.
My 2001G still has the original 80GB, but my Lite-On
has a 250. :D

Looks like Philips took a good bit of advice from me and others here to greatly improve the functionality of this unit. Darn good thing too. Now they need to give us 3455/37 owners who helped them figure all this out a nice Firmware Upgrade to get us up to speed. A free 3575H and a fat check would be nice too, but I'm not holding my breath waiting on any of it.

As for Saving the contents of the Live TV Buffer to HDD - Try these 2 things.

1- At the end of the buffer (after your program is done) press the Record Button twice in quick sequence. On the 3455/37 this will dump the entire Buffer contents to the HDD.

OR

2- During a Live TV Buffering Session, use the REW or Skip Back Buttons to go back to the start of the program/section you would like to save. At the very beginning press the Record Button. On the 3455/37 the Progress Bar will glow RED showing that you are now in Record Mode. Then FF or Forward Skip to the end of the show you want to save. Now press the STOP Button. On the Philips 3455/37 this will save the Selected Section of the Buffer to the HDD.

In either case (with the 3455/37) you will now have a New Title (number xxx) in the HDD Title list, ready for dividing, editing, etc.

I can't guarantee either procedure will work with the new unit, but you have nothing to lose in trying it. Please let us know if either one works.

If anyone of the lucky few (that already have/are about to have one of these units) have some spare time to play around, I would be very interested in knowing if Shred's suggestions work on this. This would be the final cherry on the cake for me with the kind of use I got to try out on the RCA DRC8030N.

P.S. aren't these forums great at filling the massive black hole blanks left by the manufacturers?!

16:9 recording: If the display type is set to 16:9, it will record the full 16:9 signal and play it back properly on a 16:9 set. It does not set the flag, so if played back on a 4:3 set, it will be horizontally compressed. Not a problem for me.


I note this from the manual on page 42 (I think) following OTR instructions:

• This unit cannot record images as aspect ratio of 16:9. The 16:9 images will be recorded as 4:3.

Curious as to the validity of this in light of your apparently contrary experience.

Michael

Today in my North Orange County Brea Calif Store. Can someone help? I'm still not exactly sure what I've bought. I've been reading this thread but it's slow slogging and everyone picks up on what the last few contributors wrote and I don't know some of the terminology. My set is 720p Sony LCD, works good. I dumped cable a couple months ago, the fees here are a king's ransom and I refuse to pay any longer. I viewed relatively little cable anyway toward the end.

I want a way to record Hi-Def channels even if the playback is std DVD quality; my impression is that it would be vastly improved over my current recordings on VCR with NTSC and SP mode. At least I'm assuming it won't be NTSC for the most part, and I have a couple ghosting channels + some RF interferance too. My HD is generally good and I am using a new CM 4228 antenna for my ATSC. Signal strength is strong for digital.

Will this box record all ATSC channels even if none are in hi def? I have been reading the manual and still cannot tell. Features look good to me; I've only had VCRs however and never used a DVR.

Should I be using -RW or +RW discs? I bought a nominal pack of each but if one is preferable I might return the other.

Today I went to Best Buy to check on this machine after W/M was out of stock yesterday. BB said they didn't have it in the system. I checked back at W/m and there were a couple on the shelf. The package features are lousy, hard to tell what this unit can do from the info on the box. Thanks Don

P.S. aren't these forums great at filling the massive black hole blanks left by the manufacturers?!

No question. I don't buy any "expensive" piece of technology anymore without doing researching and reading forums.

I am glad to see good things so far about this Philips. I'm looking to upgrade from my Pioneer 533 and the 3575 should do the trick.

It will do OTA ATSC/NTSC/QAM all in normal SD so put it to a good antennae and go crazy. According to the online manual it will upconvert DVD's to 480/720/1080i/p over hdmi cable. I don't think it does to the component but who knows. So use the HDMI to the tv and lock output to 720 and you should be good to go. If the tuner can see it you can record it basically.

...Will this box record all ATSC channels even if none are in hi def? I have been reading the manual and still cannot tell. Features look good to me; I've only had VCRs however and never used a DVR.
Yes, it will record any digital (ATSC) channels it can receive.
Whether they are HD or SD makes no difference.

Should I be using -RW or +RW discs? I bought a nominal pack of each but if one is preferable I might return the other.
Since you're new to the world of digital recording, why not check out
the features and learn the basics by recording to the hard drive?
You can record and play programs using the hard drive and be amazed
at how much better than VCR's it is. Plus you never need to rewind. :)
Personally, I only transfer recordings from the hard drive to DVD
if they are something I want to save long term.

Ok, thanks this helps a lot. Basically it looks like it might (hopefully) meet the needs. I want decent pic quality even if it's not quite PBS at 1080i, without all the noise, static and occasional drop-outs I see on tape, not to mention the lousy chroma in general. I am excited that it has a HDD in it, a week ago I had no intention of seeking anything more than an ATSC DVDR. I don't have a HDMI cable at the moment, will use a component or S-Video cable for the short term until I can scope out the HDMI cables at Fry's.

Geez this is a rough and tumble world trying to deal with all the mfgrs and misinformation out there, not to mention salespeople who often don't know much or know just enough to be dangerous. I have not ever understood why DVRs have not been available with ATSC tuners, or if they have then I have not seen them. I also don't understand why manufacturers have to be dragged kicking and screaming to produce sets of all sizes with ATSC rather than doing it willingly so that the public could try it and possibly like it, maybe get some word of mouth going. Most of the general public still doesn't know about digital TV and the changeover, few know about ATSC. Everyone assumes you must pay the cable or Sat provider a lot of money to get TV worth watching.

Ok, thanks this helps a lot. Basically it looks like it might (hopefully) meet the needs. I want decent pic quality even if it's not quite PBS at 1080i, without all the noise, static and occasional drop-outs I see on tape, not to mention the lousy chroma in general. I am excited that it has a HDD in it, a week ago I had no intention of seeking anything more than an ATSC DVDR. I don't have a HDMI cable at the moment, will use a component or S-Video cable for the short term until I can scope out the HDMI cables at Fry's.

Geez this is a rough and tumble world trying to deal with all the mfgrs and misinformation out there, not to mention salespeople who often don't know much or know just enough to be dangerous. I have not ever understood why DVRs have not been available with ATSC tuners, or if they have then I have not seen them. I also don't understand why manufacturers have to be dragged kicking and screaming to produce sets of all sizes with ATSC rather than doing it willingly so that the public could try it and possibly like it, maybe get some word of mouth going. Most of the general public still doesn't know about digital TV and the changeover, few know about ATSC. Everyone assumes you must pay the cable or Sat provider a lot of money to get TV worth watching.
One of the neat things about digital TV is, even the standard definition
(SD) broadcasts are DVD quality. Once you get used to digital recording
you'll wonder why you didn't make the change sooner (I know I did). :)

Well they claim there is no money in making them what with cable renting HD/hard drive boxes cheap and many people paying for tivo. Plus it's hard to get us to pay 5 to 7 hundred bucks like they were doing when these first came out without digital tuners like my e80h machine.
Then there's the industry that doesn't want us to record anything in HD so they can control the software/content distribution and continue to make scads of money as the only option for it.
They will be forced to change sooner or later as more of their protection schemes are broken and BD and HD burners and whatever else come down in price.
Right now we are lucky Wally World stepped up and gave us a solution that may mostly do what we have been asking for.

Question for an owner: Will this recorder automatically pick up the name of the program it is recording?

Question for an owner: Will this recorder automatically pick up the name of the program it is recording?
I won't have mine until Thursday the 31st, but I'd be surprised.

I note this from the manual on page 42 (I think) following OTR instructions:

• This unit cannot record images as aspect ratio of 16:9. The 16:9 images will be recorded as 4:3.

Curious as to the validity of this in light of your apparently contrary experience.

Michael

That's what the manual for the Magnavox unit I had said too, but I think an accurate translation would be that it won't set the anamorphic flag on 16:9 programming. If you have a 16:9 TV and have the unit set to 16:9, you'll get exactly what appears on screen recorded. I'm sure some horizontal resolution is lost, but I don't notice any degradation of picture quality beyond downconverting the HD picture to SD. Of course, I have a smallish 27" 16:9 set, so I wouldn't expect to notice much. If you play back these recordings on a 4:3 TV, the picture will be horizontally squeezed into 4:3. (this as opposed to a true anamorphic DVD which will automatically display correctly on 16:9 displays and letterboxed on 4:3).

I guess this device cannot be used as a standalone digital tuner except for an old
NTSC type set, right? It would not pass through actual hi-def signals to a monitor? Or, would it? Well I don't need a stand alone tuner anyway, but it would be nice to know that I might be able to use it with a CRT set later on, as a SDTV tuner and recorder.

From reading the manual i'd say the big limitations for me are:
...
* switching analog - dtv will rescan all channels
...
* 4:3/16:9 flag not set in recordings
...
* no QAM for cable users


First and third points quoted above are just plain incorrect. I'm not sure where you got the idea that it had to re-scan. Unless you're talking about switching between OTA and cable. You can select Antenna, which scans and stores analog and digital stations, Analog Cable, which, of course, only scans analog cable, or analog/digital cable, which scans and stores analog cable and QAM. (though, I admit I don't think I saw the acronym "QAM" used no the box anywhere)

I don't think I've ever seen a consumer unit of any stripe, DVD, VHS, etc, that can even go so far as to scan and store a combination of analog OTA and analog cable channels. You have to choose one or the other, not both. Add QAM and ATSC into the mix and you'd be asking for the near impossible I suspect, unless you actually had discreet tuners for each signal input source, which would jack up the price significantly.

As for the flag, that's correct, but, unlike some units, it at least records the 16:9 signal without automatically letterboxing it whether you like it or not (as I believe the Polaroid does).

First and third points quoted above are just plain incorrect. I'm not sure where you got the idea that it had to re-scan. Unless you're talking about switching between OTA and cable. You can select Antenna, which scans and stores analog and digital stations, Analog Cable, which, of course, only scans analog cable, or analog/digital cable, which scans and stores analog cable and QAM. (though, I admit I don't think I saw the acronym "QAM" used no the box anywhere)


indeed i didnt see QAM anywhere not even in the specifications page but it's true digital cable is mentioned now that i looked again. however page 32 is a bit confusing about the NTSC/ATSC switching - i thought it's rescanning all channels. :confused:

Question for an owner: Will this recorder automatically pick up the name of the program it is recording?
I have been wondering about this one too, jim55. I noticed that the Polaroid pissed you off with not being able to do this, and I have to say, it would be a pain to have to manually add titles to every HDD recording. Our only hopes short term are Tim, Chuck and Dartman. Tim has one already: maybe if he reads this any time soon he could tell us how it named the recordings of live TV programs he has made so far, or if it names them at all ...

The unit seems light. Not the sturdiest component I've seen, but I think it will stand up to living in my entertainment center. It does seem nice and quiet. There is a fan on the back, but I haven't noticed any noise from it at all (yet).

Can you comment about how hot the unit gets. I only bring it up because I seem to recall a comment by someone who bought one of the first LG ATSC DVD recorders suggesting that they could use their unit for a hot plate.

I used mine tonight, making a few test recordings of Nova and CSI Miami. The 16:9 seems ok, tried it both ways. Not sure but I think it's better at 16:9 but at any rate it works hand in glove with the TV. The menu is better on 16:9 because on the 4:3 setting it goes off screen if you have the pic blown up on the TV settings. I was anxious as to the quality since I had never seen a standard def DVR before. It is ok, meets my needs I think, while all this gets sorted out. Am not sure it's as good as any studio-release DVD, those involve some spectacular equipment to make them really shine and this is just a digital downconversion.

We have a local station here, LA City Schools, and they do not broadcast anything in HD, only standard def digital in addition to analog. But as a result of the extra bandwidth they have, their standard def is really great, best I've seen, no artifacting to speak of. Saw "Bleak House" using that system and it was really sharp, very enjoyable. The only thing that ruins it is their real ugly logo bug, one of the worst. Well the Philips DVR image of HD programming received on its SD ATSC tuner seemed a lot like KLCS-TV in standard def: pretty darn good, but not absolutely perfect. Better than the average TV station's standard def digital I think. I don't know much about the other features yet. One other thing: I tried the HDD in most of the different resolutions; there was not a vast difference between them, surprisingly similar. The best one (HQ) was a little better than the rest, but the differences might be difficult to see between some of the other choices.

The setup for me was difficult, the manual is thick and impressive looking but it didn't lead me where I needed to go and I had to fend for myself. Performing initial setup is crucial, without that you don't even have a working tuner. The manual doesn't make this real clear at first glance.

I used mine tonight....We have a local station here, LA City Schools....KLCS-TV....

Crap! I didn't even bother checking the local SoCal Wal-Marts today, figuring it would have taken just as long as the Polaroid did to arrive here! I guess they shipped these a lot faster...

I guess I know what I'm looking for tomorrow.. :)

mrow2, I strongly suspect you would see considerable difference in the various resolutions if you were recording basketball, football, soccer, or other programs that include fast moving objects combined with a wide(er) field of view. Sitcoms and dramas with more closeups and less fast movement show much less effect from lower recording resolutions. That has been my experience anyway.

Hi
I do not have one of these yet since my locat Wal-Mart does not have them in yet. I am looking for one to replace my RCA 8030N. When i get one I have a setup question that is probably obvious, but Im not sure. I have a digital cable box that the coax runs to my dvd recorder, and then to the TV to provide my main cable. I want to use a indoor antenna for the OTA channels when i pick the Philips DVD recoder up. How will I hook that up. I do have an outdoor antenna that I use for OTA on my HD TV, but the TV has the separate coax input for the digital stations. As far as I can tell looking through the manual the Philips only has 1 that takes care of both. My TV that the Philips will be going on is not a HD TV yet, hopefully soon, but I wanted to take advantage of the nicer SD picture and gain the sound advantage of the digital channels. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Regarding program names: Unfortunately, it does not pick up the program name from the data embedded in the broadcast. That would be nice, but it just names them with date/time/channel. On the plus side, when browsing programs on the hard drive, as you navigate to each one, it begins playing from the beginning in the preview window, so you can see if it's actually what you want to watch at the moment.

One more thing, though I haven't tested it yet. If you stop in the middle of a program, it saves the location you were at so you can resume from there. That part I've done. What I haven't verified yet, is that the manual says it will save a resume location for each recording on the HDD. That's nice. I bounce from one thing to another sometimes and that will make life easier.

lionz: I'm not sure what you mean in how your system is set up currently. Do you use the cable box as a tuner all the time and just let it pass through your current DVD recorder so you can record from there.

There doesn't appear to be any support for an IR blaster on this unit. Not a problem for me as I don't have cable, and even when I did, I didn't bother with anything above a basic tier that didn't require a box.

The fly in the ointment for you may be that this box won't allow you to mix cable and OTA channels. I don't know of any box that will. You can only feed the unit with one type of signal (analog cable, digital/analog cable or digital analog OTA). Of course, there are auxiliary inputs, and you can feed those with whatever you want. So, if you want to record something from a premium cable station going through your cable box, you can feed that into the rear aux input (and I believe you can program the unit to record from that on a schedule) all you have to do, then, is make sure your cable box is tuned to the right channel at the right time.

The fly in the ointment for you may be that this box won't allow you to mix cable and OTA channels. I don't know of any box that will. You can only feed the unit with one type of signal (analog cable, digital/analog cable or digital analog OTA). Of course, there are auxiliary inputs, and you can feed those with whatever you want. So, if you want to record something from a premium cable station going through your cable box, you can feed that into the rear aux input (and I believe you can program the unit to record from that on a schedule) all you have to do, then, is make sure your cable box is tuned to the right channel at the right time.


The Polaroid will let you mix cable and over the air, I believe. It has two inputs and I think you could tune ATSC on digital input and analog cable on the analog input. I can't verify, I returned the Polaroid and purchased the Phillips yesterday.

What's the purpose of the USB if you can't copy files from the hdd to the external drive or play music or watch videos from the external drive? Also has anyone been able to play divx/xvid HD (720p) video files with the DVDR3575H?

Regarding program names: Unfortunately, it does not pick up the program name from the data embedded in the broadcast. ... it just names them with date/time/channel ...
That is a pity. The RCA DRC8030N could pick up the program name on recordings, which is really nice. It just makes browsing the library a lot easier (even with mini previews, which the RCA also did).
... If you stop in the middle of a program, it saves the location you were at so you can resume from there ...
Yeah, we have an old RCA DVD player that does this with each DVD previously played (even if the machine has been turned off and other DVDs played on it since). It is a really nice feature to avoid having to FF or RWND to where you were at when you resume watching something.
... There doesn't appear to be any support for an IR blaster on this unit ...
I have not seen this feature on any of the units for $300 or less, so no surprise there.

Thanx Tim, for all the good work. Still sounds like a great unit overall: better than the Polaroids and better than the RCA (costs more too, of course), if it ever comes back to the website :mad: ! I live too far from any of the L.A. Wal-Marts to drive there in our local traffic nightmares just to check if they have any.

What's the purpose of the USB if you can't copy files from the hdd to the external drive or play music or watch videos from the external drive? Also has anyone been able to play divx/xvid HD (720p) video files with the DVDR3575H?

I was under the impression that it was there so you could plug in something like a card reader or digital camera to display / record a slide show of your photos. I haven't played with it yet. Maybe I'll do that this evening if I get the chance.

The unit does not get very hot. It has a fan, all of the ATSC units and maybe a lot of the other units too, have a small fan in the rear, from what I could observe (ie the Polaroid I think and also Panasonics. Seems quiet, slow rpms for sure, gets the excess heat out. I have fans all over my systems and I did a lot of experimenting to get the rpms down so I would not hear them. When it's off it stays cool; I've had VCRs that got warm even when they were off. Hope that helps. HDDs generate a fair bit of heat, but the electronics must do that too since the non-HDD units have fans too.

Sorry if I this has already been posted.

Can you start to view a scheduled recording and 'chase' it while is is still recording?

Sorry if I this has already been posted.

Can you start to view a scheduled recording and 'chase' it while is is still recording?
Yes, you can. This was a big deal for me as that's how I do my time shifting for the most part.

Providing you're recording to the hard drive, that is. I don't think it supports it when recording directly to DVD.

I returned a Panasonic ATSC DVD recorder because of a recording problem and was wondering if someone could test the Philips to see how it handles the situation.

Here was the problem. I record OTA and sometimes the signal is lost due to multipath, most noticeably when it's raining or very windy. When this happened during a Panasonic recording, the Panasonic would stop the recording and turn itself off. When the signal came back, the unit would turn itself on and resume recording. Since my signal losses are typically for just a few seconds, the on/off process caused a much larger recording gap than if the system had just kept recording right through the signal loss.

Perhaps someone w/ an ota connection could make a test recording and pull the antenna off during the recording to see how it handles the signal disruption. Hopefully, it will just keep on recording.

Thanks.

QUOTE:
lionz: I'm not sure what you mean in how your system is set up currently. Do you use the cable box as a tuner all the time and just let it pass through your current DVD recorder so you can record from there.

There doesn't appear to be any support for an IR blaster on this unit. Not a problem for me as I don't have cable, and even when I did, I didn't bother with anything above a basic tier that didn't require a box.

The fly in the ointment for you may be that this box won't allow you to mix cable and OTA channels. I don't know of any box that will. You can only feed the unit with one type of signal (analog cable, digital/analog cable or digital analog OTA). Of course, there are auxiliary inputs, and you can feed those with whatever you want. So, if you want to record something from a premium cable station going through your cable box, you can feed that into the rear aux input (and I believe you can program the unit to record from that on a schedule) all you have to do, then, is make sure your cable box is tuned to the right channel at the right time.

Hi,
Yes the cable box is what i use for a signal. The coax goes from the box, and runs up through the ceiling and into the back of the RCA DVD Recorder. Then the signal is passed to the TV with S-Video. This doesnt necessarily kill this purchase for me. The tuner by the sounds of it will still be better than the RCA is, and if i really wanted to get picky since I am just using an indoor antenna I could switch it back and forth. Im sure that i would need to do some programming in that process that may get a little tedious, but if it something I really want to see than so be it. Eventually I will be getting a HDTV in this room as well, and I know alot of times the built-in tuner models have a separate digital input for coax that I could use then. Do they make a splitter with 2 in's an 1 out? Thanks again for the help

I was under the impression that it was there so you could plug in something like a card reader or digital camera to display / record a slide show of your photos. I haven't played with it yet. Maybe I'll do that this evening if I get the chance.

Probably for USB Flash Memory like the older Philips DVDR.

The fly in the ointment for you may be that this box won't allow you to mix cable and OTA channels. I don't know of any box that will. You can only feed the unit with one type of signal (analog cable, digital/analog cable or digital analog OTA). Of course, there are auxiliary inputs, and you can feed those with whatever you want. So, if you want to record something from a premium cable station going through your cable box, you can feed that into the rear aux input (and I believe you can program the unit to record from that on a schedule) all you have to do, then, is make sure your cable box is tuned to the right channel at the right time.

TimSH,

I was wondering if could possibly elaborate on this a little bit(and DON'T HOLD my NAME against me just because you are from Cleveland ;))

On my LG LST-4200A HDTV STB it allows you to SWITCH between OTA(ATSC/NTSC) and Cable(analog/digital) without having to RESCAN. The unit asks you when you switch, "Would you like to RE-SCAN for channels?" and you simply highlight NO.

Therefore your previous channel map of OTA channels is still there, and you don't have too rescan and remap.

Since my LG only has 1 RF input, I use an A/B selector switch to change between my CLEAR QAM from my cable, and OTA from my indoor amplified antenna, and it works GREAT(It is a remote A/B switch found at Radio Shack for like $35).

Now, I know you don't have cable, so someone else MAY have to find this out and share here, but:

1. Does the unit do a RESCAN everytime you switch from ANTENNA to CABLE(or vice vera), from within the menu?

2. On the OTA side(or the CLEAR QAM side if that is even applicable at this point), does the unit allow you to EDIT out the analog channels while leaving in the digital channels only?(My LG does this and it is a NICE feature)?

3. On the digital channels, can you edit out some of the subchannels while leaving others? An example of that would be like, for arguments sake let's say that channel 4-1 is NBC, but channel 4-2 is some channel you dont want. Can you EDIT OUT 4-2, while leaving 4-1 in the channel lineup? Again, my LG does this and it is a NICE Feature.

Just curious.

And if anyone else get's this who has cable, please check and see on these points as well, and check on the CLEAR QAM too please.

Thank you

Oh, one other thing about recording 16:9 material.

TimSH,

What type of media(DVD recordable) were you using to record the 16:9 image correctly?

The reason why I ask is, in my manual(page 8-9 for those who have it to be specific) for my Sony HX-900 160GB HDD/DVD RECORDER it SPECIFICALLY states that DVD+R/+RW media WILL NOT record a 16:9 image correctly when burned.

Only DVD-R/-RW in modes of HQ(1 hour), HSP(1 1/2 hours), and SP(2 hours) will it record a 16:9 image correctly.

Now, this unit IS 3 years old. It was made in 2004, and maybe the media is able to do it now with the newer units that became available.

I just know on my machine it can't do it on DVD+R/+RW media. On the HDD, no problem.

But burn that to a DVD+R/+RW, and it WON't do it. Only DVD-R/-RW media.

Hi,
Yes the cable box is what i use for a signal. The coax goes from the box, and runs up through the ceiling and into the back of the RCA DVD Recorder. Then the signal is passed to the TV with S-Video. This doesnt necessarily kill this purchase for me. The tuner by the sounds of it will still be better than the RCA is, and if i really wanted to get picky since I am just using an indoor antenna I could switch it back and forth. Im sure that i would need to do some programming in that process that may get a little tedious, but if it something I really want to see than so be it. Eventually I will be getting a HDTV in this room as well, and I know alot of times the built-in tuner models have a separate digital input for coax that I could use then. Do they make a splitter with 2 in's an 1 out? Thanks again for the help

I have the same issue, and I've thought about that. It's called a switcher. The only one I've seen recently is made by RCA, available at Walmart, for about 5 bucks or so. I haven't found any modulator boxes that have two RF inputs.

I'd also like to know what Steelers asked. Thanks.

According to the User Guide, Page 46, "If there is a power failure or this unit has been unplugged for more than 30 seconds, the clock setting and all timer programming will be lost."
This comes as a surprise to me. I would have expected the timer programing to be stored in FLASH, or to get backed up on the hard drive. This isn't a deal breaker for me, but I am still surprised that they don't protect the timer programming, since they certainly seem to have the hardware resources available.
Am I missing something?

I'm going to hook mine to my UPS the av stuff is on. it should stay powered for hours when all the gear is off or in standby. If you have one do that, also will help it get clean power if you get a better quality unit.
Cheap ones are on sale at the various office stores for 50 or less pretty regularly, and even the better ones can be had cheap when they offer big rebates.

According to the User Guide, Page 46, "If there is a power failure or this unit has been unplugged for more than 30 seconds, the clock setting and all timer programming will be lost."
This comes as a surprise to me. I would have expected the timer programing to be stored in FLASH, or to get backed up on the hard drive. This isn't a deal breaker for me, but I am still surprised that they don't protect the timer programming, since they certainly seem to have the hardware resources available.
Am I missing something?


I can verify, if you unplug it for even a short time, it looses it's clock setting and did not seem to automatically reset the time even though it was programed to do so. Funny, the poloroid that I returned did not seem to have that problem.

I hope this does not turn into an issue, I'm afraid I'm going to be banned from walmart if I return a third machine in a month!

I was very worried about buying another phillips hdd dvd recorder, the one I bought a few years ago had a bad habbit of loosing it's EPG data and doing nothing until I found out and reset the zip code over and over and over.

What's the purpose of the USB if you can't copy files from the hdd to the external drive or play music or watch videos from the external drive? Also has anyone been able to play divx/xvid HD (720p) video files with the DVDR3575H?


The manual states if you try to play a divx file with a resolution out of it's range, it will stop and give an error message.

It does not state if it's range in limitted to NTSC or PAL standard.

I can verify, if you unplug it for even a short time, it looses it's clock setting and did not seem to automatically reset the time even though it was programed to do so. Funny, the poloroid that I returned did not seem to have that problem.

I hope this does not turn into an issue, I'm afraid I'm going to be banned from walmart if I return a third machine in a month!

I have returned 3 of the Polaroid 0160's. they didn't ban me, they just tried to be helpfull. Of course I told them what was happening each time so they knew I wasn't bringing it back because I didn't like the color ;)
I even showed one of the employee's a cap of the bad reception on analog channels and he agreed it was unacceptable. I later found a shorted cable that was making a problem but the QAM still sucked on last one.

Anyone found things yet this unit can't record? Does it recognize things like macrovision, broadcast flags, CPCM...?

Anyone found things yet this unit can't record? Does it recognize things like macrovision, broadcast flags, CPCM...?
The manual says it can't record copy protected material.

I was at Wally world in East Pittsburgh and came across two 3575 units, now there is one so if anyone local is interested in the other one N Versailles is the place to go.

I had, until it died, an LVW-5045 and purchased the RCA DRC8030n two weeks ago as a replacement. Compared to the 5045 the 8030n is a dream, the user interface and machine operation is superior in every way. Also, the ability to drop in a larger HD without hassle is a big plus. I found this site while looking for more information on the 8030 and of course learned about the new Philips unit in the process so when I saw it I felt I had no choice but to purchase it. :D

Unfortunately I won't have the opportunity to take the 3575 out of the box until Sat at the earliest so I can't directly compare the 8030 to the 3575. Does anyone here have experience with both? If so, how do they compare and which unit do you prefer and why?

... purchased the RCA DRC8030n two weeks ago as a replacement ... found this site ... and of course learned about the new Philips ... I felt I had no choice but to purchase it. :D
I had the RCA for a short while and really liked most of it (except that I had some issues with time shifting for long periods that others did not encounter). It does seem less advanced and polished than the Philips on the whole, but it did also do things that the Philips does not, such as pick up the name of recordings automatically (I think jim55 noticed this too) or record a buffer automatically from start up, nor does the Philips allow you to record the buffer to the HDD in the same way according to the first user trials posted here.

I still think the Philips sounds like a better choice for me overall. The RCA is still available online, however, with $0.97 shipping for more than $100 less than the Philips so I would be very interested in hearing about your direct comparison of the two.

I hope to have the chance to compare this weekend. Maybe I'll have to stay up late tonight and play.

Maybe it's the fault of my Comcast Digital box but for me the RCA does not record the show title and I can't for the life of me force it to do so. I do hear the hum of the unit when volume is low but I don't find it to be too distracting but it is distracting none the less. I am assuming the 3570 will play divx movies from an external drive through usb like my DVP5960 does, at least I hope it will.

I really like the menu's in the 8030, especially the way titles of recorded movies are displayed, text to left with relatively large preview to right. My Lite-On had a bunch of small boxes and I could barely read the description let alone see an image showing what the recording was. Also, I can't figure out how to record the buffer to the HD on the RCA but then again I didn't really know it was possible until yesterday, that too sounds like a plus. I also really like the fact that the RCA is always in timeshift mode, one less thing for me to have to think about when I'm watching a show and something comes up.

What I find appealing about the Philips is...

- Possible ability to play divx movies from external HD, like the DVP5960 does.

- Ability to play divx.

- 1080 P / HDMI for when I get rid of my 17 y/o television and get an LCD.

- SDTV tuner.

- i.Link, I found it to be much easier and got better quality when transferring home video to dvd using my Lite-On than I got from my computer, I assume the Philips will be the same way.

What I like about the RCA...

- Menus are really nice compared to my old Lite-On.

- The unit is always in timeshift mode, my interpretation from this thread is that the Philips doesn't do this.

- The ability to save timeshifted material to HD.

- The ability to drop a really big HD into the unit without having to perform any tricks to make it work.

- The fact that the clock is always right, my Lite-On lost about 4 minutes / month.


Can anyone else expand on this?

According to the User Guide, Page 46, "If there is a power failure or this unit has been unplugged for more than 30 seconds, the clock setting and all timer programming will be lost."
This comes as a surprise to me. I would have expected the timer programing to be stored in FLASH, or to get backed up on the hard drive. This isn't a deal breaker for me, but I am still surprised that they don't protect the timer programming, since they certainly seem to have the hardware resources available.
Am I missing something?

It may be that the clock setting are lost so what you have scheduled will not play on time until you re-set the clock. So you do not lose the scheduled program settings, just they will not record correctly. That is what I have found on my older Polaroid and Panny and my guess it is the same here.

Hi
I did finally get this unit. My walmart got 2 in and they put one on display and luckily i called in to hold the other for me. I have just begun playing with it, but so far i am happy with it. I have it hooked up right now to my HDTV, but I will be moving it upstairs to my non-hdtv in the next couple of days. One thing i noticed that it does that the RCA doesnt is it allows you to watch TV while recording to DVD from the HDD. I also noticed the lowest (SLP i believe) recording level is pretty crappy. For those of you that i asked before i did pick up a 2-way switch to go between cable and antenna for when i do hook it up to my other TV. I will let you know how that works when i set it up. The pause live TV function works good, my wife is a little disappointed that it doesnt have the rewind live tv function like the RCA did. I have it hooked up with HDMI right now through my TV and it allows me to cycle through 480P, 720P and 1080I - not sure how that works with a non-HD signal, but the picture does seem a little better with each upgrade. My HDTV is not a 1080P, and the recorder recognizes that and does not allow for me to switch to it.
Any questions anyone has I can try to help
thanks for all of those that have helped me already

I purchased a DVDR3575H from the Broomfield CO Walmart yesterday. It was the only unopened box. They did have one on display.

I have played with it a little, and I haven't seen anything yet that upsets me, and my experience seems to agree with the reports so far. At this point, I expect to keep the unit.

I am OTA only. I did have to play around a little with my antenna connections. My TV, a Philips 42PF7320A, is on the razor's edge with picking up KCNC-DT (4.1) and when I fed the antenna into the DVD antenna in and fed the TV from the DVD antenna out, I lost that station. I was able to get it back, by running the antenna feed into a 2 channel splitter, and feeding the DVD and TV from the splitter outputs. KCNC-DT sometimes shows some noise on the TV, but it sometimes did that before the splitter. This arrangement has the advantage that the DVD and TV are seeing virtually identical signals for comparison purposes. For now, I am just using S-Video to connect the 2, because that's what I had, but I will order order an HDMI cable. I am not about to pay the price in a retail store. I tried a few minutes of recording at default resolution, and the results look fine to me. Both units are set for 16x9 and that works fine.

The DVD gets all the digital stations that the TV sees, and they look solid. The DVD detected the KBDI-DT 12.1,12.2, and 12.3 signals but they are unwatchable. The TV doesn't detect them at all.

I wouldn't hold these reception issues against either unit. I have an attic mounted antenna and long cable runs.
KCNC-DT is operating under their STA permit which allows 11KW as opposed to the 1000KW on the Construction Permit for the permanent transmitter. The permanent transmitter will also be about 500 meters higher.
KBDI is operating under their STA permit which allows 43KW as opposed to the 1000KW on the Construction Permit for the permanent transmitter. It is also 30 degrees off from my antenna orientation, which is aligned as a compromise for the bulk of the Denver stations.
I expect to have solid signals when the Denver stations go to their final configurations.

I remember seeing a question about the ability to save the "Pause Live TV" buffer. I haven't played around with that yet, but I don't see a necessity for me to use the "Pause Live TV" feature much. It is almost as easy to just turn on recording of whatever you are watching. Once you do that, you can watch the program from the disc, as it's being recorded, and it will be there for future use.

I would describe the fan as quiet and the exhaust air as slightly warm (probably about 80 degrees). The chassis seems to be room temperature. At this point, I am not concerned about heat.

I just did a little recording test, which went fine. I dubbed a single, very short, title from the Hard Drive to a Verbatim DVD+RW. I was able to play the DVD in my very cheap DVD players: An Insignia NS-DVD1 and a Magnavox MSD124.

I did a power outage test. I pulled the plug for about 3 minutes. When I plugged it back in, it sat there with --!-- for a clock setting. I powered it up and set the clock manually. I checked the timer programming, and it was blank. The recording list I had created was gone. This was all just as the manual says on page 46. So, unless they come out with a firmware update which changes this, if you have a significant recording list, and/or you often lose power for more than 30 seconds, you might want to look into a UPS. Since that is not my current situation, I plan to keep a handwritten backup which meets my current needs.

Hi
...The pause live TV function works good, my wife is a little disappointed that it doesnt have the rewind live tv function like the RCA did...

Actually, you can. But you have to pause it first. Once paused, you can rewind, fast forward, skip & repeat to your heart's content.

I played with both last night and am leaning toward the RCA at this point. The 3575 does not play video through the usb direct connection like the DVP5960. For me the commands are not very intuitive, I had to look at the manual to figure out how to access files on the HD. I feel the recording quality from the Philips is slightly better than the RCA but it's hard to tell on my ancient TV. I tried unsuccessfully to copy the "pause live tv" buffer to HD but that doesn't mean it can't be done. I did not do a power failure test but the clock does set itself in about a minute when watching a PBS station. For me the ideal machine would be the RCA with the features of the Philips.

...I did not do a power failure test but the clock does set itself in about a minute when watching a PBS station...
The manual says the unit needs to be turned off (Standby)
for the auto time set to work. (?)

The manual says the unit needs to be turned off (Standby)
for the auto time set to work. (?)

My quick start instructions said to tune to a PBS station to set the clock. :confused:

(From page 30)
Note
• The clock may set itself automatically after you
connect the antenna/cable signal and plug in the
power cord.
• Only the analog PBS channel signal is effective for
auto clock setting.
• The unit receives the clock data at 12:00 a.m. / p.m.
from the PBS channel when the power is off.

I did not have to adjust my clock when I set the unit up. At first I had the --:-- display, I tuned to PBS, went and got a snack, came back and the date and time on the unit were correct. Maybe someone else here can confirm or refute.

Actually, you can. But you have to pause it first. Once paused, you can rewind, fast forward, skip & repeat to your heart's content.
This was a great feature on the RCA for me too: since it started recorded a buffer the moment it was turned on: you could rewind at any time without having to pause it first. I have a question though: is there any reason anyone can see not to just:
press "pause" once the unit is turned on,
then press "play" and watch with a 10 second delay from then on?
Would this mean that after watching for 60 minutes and 10 seconds, programming could be rewound for the entire 60 minutes?

I played with both last night and am leaning toward the RCA at this point ...
The big advantage, if I am understanding everyone's observations at this point, in favour of the Philips is that it is upgradeable to some extent with HDTV, right? Whereas the RCA is strictly 480p (using component) max?

Our current television is over 10 years old (about $800 then, so quite expensive at the time in "today's dollars"), and has only composite or S-video, so the RCA would obviously be fine right now, but I am wondering about the limitations of the RCA with any future purchase of a new 720 (grin ...) or 1080 (dreamy sigh ...) unit. Should this be a valid consideration or are neither really up to scratch on this score?

The big advantage, if I am understanding everyone's observations at this point, in favour of the Philips is that it is upgradeable to some extent with HDTV, right? Whereas the RCA is strictly 480p (using component) max?

I'm not entirely clear on what you mean... the Philips will output 480p (or i) on component. HDMI will output up to 1080p. However, the tuner is strictly SD. 480p at best. Upconverting it may help a bit, but there's only so much you can do. I have a smallish (27" 16:9) HD set, and it looks good. YMMV.

Thanks in advance for anyone who cares to answer these.

1. How long does it take to scan a new channel? MY DVDR3505 takes maybe 5-7 seconds.

2. Has anyone tried the QAM tuner, and how well does it perform?

3. My Philips DVDR3505 had memory problems with forgetting channels and timer programming. This problem was fixed by disabling the automatic clock setting function. Has anyone had similar problems with the DVDR3575H?

Thanks in advance for anyone who cares to answer these.

3. My Philips DVDR3505 had memory problems with forgetting channels and timer programming. This problem was fixed by disabling the automatic clock setting function. Has anyone had similar problems with the DVDR3575H?
For others who might want to try this fix, it's the DST setting that messes things up...DST should be OFF and the clock set manually.

(If that helps your unit, you may be able to auto-set the clock, if you must, but leave DST off...until a FW update is available to fix the "DST bug"?)

See this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=846731) for more info on the "DST bug."

Hello to all,

I'm happy to have found this forum during my search for my first dvr. Long story short on my purchase - about a month ago, I thought I bought the 3575 model at Walmart - found out it was the 3455 model (premature shelf tag).

The 3455 performed well and features were fairly straight-forward. However, for the same money, I felt getting the newest model with ATSC tuner was money better spent. I returned the 3455 and purchased the 3575 yesterday.

I am not a technophile, so forgive my ignorance as I describe my experience and ask a few questions for those who are in the "know".

I followed the directions on page 17 (connect to cablebox) - then followed directions on page 27 for channel setup selecting Cable (analog/digital). The analog channels seemed to populate with ease - the digital channels did not. The unit stopped responding on channel 134 - I let the unit continue for two hours thinking there were just tons of channels needing to be stored. Gave up and went back to channel setup and chose Cable (analog). Seemed to work as it only took about two minutes to complete.

Question #1 - Should I have waited longer for the channel setup to complete? If not, will the functionality be limited in any way?

Next, it seems the 3455 model began recording live TV immediately as soon as it was turned on. This ability had no affect on changing channels or viewing the online TV Guide. The 3575 unit takes about 5 seconds to change channels or using the page up/down on the tv guide when the unit is recording. And, if I read correctly, I should be able to change the channel with the DVR remote - however, it will only scroll through the DVR's inputs - not change channels.

Question #2 - Could the delay on changing channels be due to the fact that the 3455 model used an analog tuner and this is digital? Or, is it possible that the initial channel setup is causing yet another problem?

Question #3 - If I press "record" the screen displays "HDD" with red indicator - then press "Stop" the screen displays progress bar as it writes to the HDD. However, as soon as it completes and I click on the HDD input - nothing happens. For some reason I cannot switch to HDD mode and see a list of recordings.

I thank everyone in advance for taking the time to read this and respond.

maxx

I'm not entirely clear on what you mean... the Philips will output 480p (or i) on component. HDMI will output up to 1080p. However, the tuner is strictly SD. 480p at best. Upconverting it may help a bit, but there's only so much you can do ...
You hit the nail on the head, Tim, actually! That is exactly my question: how much of an upgrade is the Philips since only the (expensive) HDMI cable is really HD?

In any case, I am not about to give the sat/cable companies any extra money for HD programming, so in the short term, only watching commercial DVDs would be an issue (they're 480p, right?). I might eventually consider getting a HD antenna for OTA though, if switching back and forth from satellite is not too much of a pain.

It's probably on a par with any other "upconverting" DVD player out there as far as quality goes. I, unfortunately, don't have much basis for comparison, though. I will say that the quality appears better using HDMI input at 1080i or 720p than it does using component at 480p, though it falls somewhere between that and "true" HD as it's broadcast here. You can see the difference, but it's not enough of a difference for me to go back to watching live TV instead of recording it and watching on my schedule.

Question

Can you use this unit like a VCR, Schedule programs and still use the TV to watch other channels?.. I only have cable coming in with no cable box hook up... So it would go right to this unit.

Thanks,

Joe

Question

Can you use this unit like a VCR, Schedule programs and still use the TV to watch other channels?.. I only have cable coming in with no cable box hook up... So it would go right to this unit.

Thanks,

Joe

Well you wouldn't be able to get your true HD signal. No DVD recorder passes through HD signal. It will be down-converted. I personally would just use a splitter in your case. Someone may correct me, but I don't think the signal loss from a splitter would nearly be that of the unit down-converting.

--Nick

Nick

Maybe I didn't ask the question the right way...Right now I have a VCR hooked up and record daily programs, I can also watch other channels while the VCR is recording. Can the Phillips do the same with the DVD disc??& the HDD???

For others who might want to try this fix, it's the DST setting that messes things up...DST should be OFF and the clock set manually.

(If that helps your unit, you may be able to auto-set the clock, if you must, but leave DST off...until a FW update is available to fix the "DST bug"?)

See this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=846731) for more info on the "DST bug."

The DVDDR3575H seems to already be aware of the 2007 Daylight Savings time changes. Your Daylight Saving Time setup choices include: "ON(MAR-NOV)", "ON(APR-OCT)" and "OFF".

Question #1 - Should I have waited longer for the channel setup to complete? If not, will the functionality be limited in any way?


No. The scan would stop at channel 134 or 135, i'm not sure which. After the scan, you should go through the channels one by one. This way you will discover what stations the tuner picked up. ATSC/QAM stations will have a two numbers separated by a "." (dot) or a "-" (dash). CBS-DT might be 2.1, for example. So, scroll through your channels after the scan (including sub-channels) and note which stations your tuner picked up.

No. The scan would stop at channel 134 or 135, i'm not sure which. After the scan, you should go through the channels one by one. This way you will discover what stations the tuner picked up. ATSC/QAM stations will have a two numbers separated by a "." (dot) or a "-" (dash). CBS-DT might be 2.1, for example. So, scroll through your channels after the scan (including sub-channels) and note which stations your tuner picked up.
This website (http://www.titantv.com/index.aspx) should help people with new digital tuners determine what channels they should have, by zip code, and what's on those channels at any time

A dropdown box allows you to select Digital or Analog Broadcast, Local Cable, DirecTV, Dish, etc.

Maybe I didn't ask the question the right way...Right now I have a VCR hooked up and record daily programs, I can also watch other channels while the VCR is recording. Can the Phillips do the same with the DVD disc & the HDD???
I am not quite sure how this unit works, but with the RCA it was not possible to watch live TV on one channel and record live TV on another channel (which would require two tuners). It is possible to:

- Watch a previous recording on the HDD while the unit records another program broadcasting live on the HDD.
- Watch a previous recording on the DVD while the unit records another program broadcasting live on the HDD.
- Chase play a program currently being recorded on the HDD (watch from the beginning before the recording has ended).

Nick

Maybe I didn't ask the question the right way...Right now I have a VCR hooked up and record daily programs, I can also watch other channels while the VCR is recording. Can the Phillips do the same with the DVD disc??& the HDD???
Yes, as long as you have an RF cord going from the pass through
(Out) on the recorder to the RF In on the TV, it should work the
same as your VCR in that respect.

This website (http://www.titantv.com/index.aspx) should help people with new digital tuners determine what channels they should have, by zip code, and what's on those channels at any time

A dropdown box allows you to select Digital, Analog, DirecTV, Dish, etc.


Good call for OTA channels.

QAM channels are a different story.

I have a Samsung SIR-T451 stb which lists NBC-DT as 104.1 (if I recall). I think this is a 4th generation (64-qam) tuner. My hdtv with a built in 256-qam tuner lists the same station as 1.4. I believe the tv's tuner is 5th generation.

Question

Can you use this unit like a VCR, Schedule programs and still use the TV to watch other channels?.. I only have cable coming in with no cable box hook up... So it would go right to this unit.

Thanks,

Joe
It's been so long since I had basic cable that someone may need to correct me on this.
Your cable would go to the DVD Recorder on the Antenna In. You would then hook up a cable from the Antenna out of the DVD Recorder to your TV. You will be able to watch on your TV whatever channel you want while the DVD Recorder is recording whatever channel you set it to record.
The major difference between the VCR and DVD recorder in this regard is the playback output from the DVD recorder. You can't turn your TV to channel 3 or 4 and expect to see an outut from your DVD Recorder (like the VCR would work). Instead the output from the DVD Recorder would go to the TV using composite, S- Video, component or HDMI.

Good call for OTA channels.

QAM channels are a different story.
Besides the Boradcast channels, the digital listings in the dropdown box for the local cable system(s) should include digital QAM channels, no?

Like, in my area, there's a listing for "Timer Warner - [city] Digital Cable". Wouldn't those be the "QAM" channels?

Sorry Joe, I got stuck workin'

I guess I kinda misread your question. But I agree with those above, that you should be able to watch TV while recording. But like Kex says, you may not be able to watch live TV through the unit while recording.

That seems confusing. If you were trying to use the Philips as your cable box, you may not be able to watch TV and record. But in your case, it sounds like you aren't using/needing a box. The signal will just pass through to your TV like your VCR does. But like I mentioned above, you lose your HD signal.

--Nick

Typically, "QAM channels" are uniquely assigned by the cable provider and can vary from head end to head end. They were not originally intended to be seen or known by viewers because the cable company STBs map them to cable-standard channel numbers. In our area, Comcast lists the HDTV channels as 104 (for OTA 4.1), 105 (for 5.1), etc. on their cable boxes.

When a viewer like me tunes in HDTV channels without their cable box one of two things happens:

1. If only the native QAM channels are supported (by the cable company and/or my HD tuner) then I have to learn the actual QAM channel numbers for the channels I want to watch. For example, OTA 4.1 might be found on QAM 82.1. This is a very UNFRIENDLY scenario and most of us have to create cross reference tables to find our way. To make this even worse, Comcast here is constantly shuffling QAM channel assignments around so we get lost, lose channels, have to rescan channels on our HDTVs, update/replace our cross reference lists, etc. NOT GOOD!

2. If the cable company is passing through (or regenerating) channel-mapping PSIP data generated by the local TV stations, the pain is lessened. Tuning the digital/HD channels becomes the same as OTA. 4.1 is 4.1, 5.1 is 5.1, etc. This is far more user friendly for selecting and viewing HDTV channels. But, the shuffling of QAM channel assignments (now in the background from the viewer perspective) typically still forces the viewer to rescan channels on their TV (or other HD tuning device, like an ATSC/QAM-capable DVD recorder) to find where the channels are today so they can be tuned in (in the background) and mapped to the correct OTA-equivalent channel numbers.

In our area, Comcast has only recently cleaned up their act and delivered the channel-mapping PSIP data.

It is unlikely that the cable companies would bother to publish or share specific QAM channel assignments. Here in the Seattle area those assignments vary all over the metro area, and changes occur regularly, but not necessarily in sync between geographic areas within the local metro area.

Is this what the FCC intended when they directed cable companies and TV manufacturers to make it possible for us to tune in and watch digital channels without using an external cable box?

Budget, thanks for that nice explanation! :)

Besides the Boradcast channels, the digital listings in the dropdown box for the local cable system(s) should include digital QAM channels, no?

Like, in my area, there's a listing for "Timer Warner - [city] Digital Cable". Wouldn't those be the "QAM" channels?


4.1 or 28 are not the qam designations (as per Budget_HTs post). I don't remember the technical explanation, but 4.1 is the channel assignment and 28 is the frequency assignment for the digital station NBC-DT. The frequency and channel assignment for analog NBC is "4".

Mine arrived an hour ago. It was easy to setup even without
using the manual. I won't have time to really check it out until
this evening, but so far I like it a lot. :D
It's now sitting on top of my Lite-On HD-A760GX, which is hooked
to the inputs on the new machine so I can still watch (or edit) the
stuff on the Lite-On's hard drive. Also, if I don't like the editing
features in the new machine I can always transfer via DVD to
the old one for editing, but I doubt that will be necessary.
Too soon to know for sure, but the 3575 seems to get better reception
of OTA DTV than my STB did or my (Toshiba) DTV does...

Question #2 - Could the delay on changing channels be due to the fact that the 3455 model used an analog tuner and this is digital?Exactly. Even though some digital tuners are slower than others, most are like three-toed sloths in comparison to analog ones.

One exception I've found is the most recent Samsung DTB-H260F ATSC/QAM tuner. I just got one, and I was utterly shocked to see how fast it changed channels.

As for your other questions, maybe studying the manual a little closer will provide some of the answers.

They just sent me a e-mail saying my order is delayed, probably meaning they oversold and it was out of stock when I ordered it :mad:
Now I have to play the hope they get more or keep badgering my local stores in the hope one slips in.

AND I got one. The store I was to have mine sent to got 3 in today so one is sitting here as I type, now they have 2.
Wood Village Oregon store 2927 if anyone local wants to get one. I canceled my online order, pretty weird I ordered and they ship 3 out and it was to the store I wanted it site to store at and none for me a paying customer, but I guess it works out OK anyways.
Going to take some pics of the packing then rip into it and hope it better then the Polaroid, will let ya all know.

Glad to have you on the case Dartman! :D

Does anyone else find the Disk Activity LED to be annoyingly bright?
Obviously, it's not the end of the world. If it really starts to bug me, I can always put some translucent tape over it.
By the way, so far I am really pleased with my unit, or I wouldn't be bringing up something as trivial as this.

One more thing.
I just finished watching a program as it's scheduled recording was going on. It was about 15 minutes in to the program when I started. I was able to go the beginning, watch the start, and skip through commercials. I set my forward jump to a minute and my rewind to 15 seconds.
The encoded surround sound worked fine.
I found the whole experience to be pretty cool.

I am thinking of buying this unit and have some questions. If I pass my HD satellite through this, what picture will I get? 16:9? 480p? I read this upconverts to 1080i. Will it downrez and then upconvert? My HD set actually has a digital tuner - NOT HD. Will the picture look like it does when I view OTA digital?

Thanks,

Aaron

1. Does the unit do a RESCAN everytime you switch from ANTENNA to CABLE(or vice vera), from within the menu?

2. On the OTA side(or the CLEAR QAM side if that is even applicable at this point), does the unit allow you to EDIT out the analog channels while leaving in the digital channels only?(My LG does this and it is a NICE feature)?

3. On the digital channels, can you edit out some of the subchannels while leaving others? An example of that would be like, for arguments sake let's say that channel 4-1 is NBC, but channel 4-2 is some channel you dont want. Can you EDIT OUT 4-2, while leaving 4-1 in the channel lineup? Again, my LG does this and it is a NICE Feature.

Just curious.

And if anyone else get's this who has cable, please check and see on these points as well, and check on the CLEAR QAM too please.

Thank you

Caved in and got one from the Houston Westpark store #772 on Highway 6. There were three, all hidden under a 3505.

1) Yes, unfortunately, you have to rescan. I wonder whether this could be worked around with a firmware update, or whether it’s a hardware issue.

2) Yes. It keeps the analog and digital channels separate. You have to switch between DTV and TV to view and delete digital and analog channels, respectively. You can add analog channels.

So the switcher is a bit useless unless your issue is that you have basic analog cable and just want digital OTA. In this case, you would
-Autoscan with the OTA antenna hooked up
-Edit out the analog OTA channels
-Hook up the cable feed
-Manually add the analog cable channels
You still have to manually switch between antenna and cable with the LG don’t you? This seems to be an advantage with the Polaroid 0160A, as it has separate RF inputs for antenna and cable.

3) No, unfortunately. Deleting the major channel deletes all of the subchannels.

4) I’m a little confused on the QAM issue. I supposedly have digital cable (from a small vendor), but the cable company doesn’t offer any digital channels per se (their “digital” channel lineup doesn’t even list local digital channels). My TV doesn’t have a digital tuner, so I can’t compare. However, in the past, I split the cable signal between a VCR and the cable box. I now have this setup with the 3575. It is receiving all of the analog cable channels that the VCR did with the direct cable feed. It is also receiving local digital channels through this feed. It does detect a few other digital channels, but they’re unwatchable.

One more thing.
I just finished watching a program as it's scheduled recording was going on. It was about 15 minutes in to the program when I started. I was able to go the beginning, watch the start, and skip through commercials. I set my forward jump to a minute and my rewind to 15 seconds.
The encoded surround sound worked fine.
I found the whole experience to be pretty cool.

That's what I don't understand about the Pause Live TV deal. It seems redundant to just doing a scheduled or one-touch recording, as it doesn't have any additional functionality that I can tell, and you can't save the buffer.

As for Saving the contents of the Live TV Buffer to HDD - Try these 2 things.

1- At the end of the buffer (after your program is done) press the Record Button twice in quick sequence. On the 3455/37 this will dump the entire Buffer contents to the HDD.

OR

2- During a Live TV Buffering Session, use the REW or Skip Back Buttons to go back to the start of the program/section you would like to save. At the very beginning press the Record Button. On the 3455/37 the Progress Bar will glow RED showing that you are now in Record Mode. Then FF or Forward Skip to the end of the show you want to save. Now press the STOP Button. On the Philips 3455/37 this will save the Selected Section of the Buffer to the HDD.


I tried both and neither seem to work.

OK, when I do get a QAM channel its a rock solid lock so far. It was doing good then lost it's mind on the QAM channels, analog seemed unaffected. I turned off auto clock and DST just in case thats the problem.
There is no way this is a Polaroid unit, menus are completely different, it has Stereo/SAP display on all analog channels and can be set to the audio format you want as default. If I get it dialed in the way I want and it doesn't loose programing every time it sneezes I think it will be a keeper.
Another oddity is it stopped auto adding channels on qam at 86 or so even though it picked up channels fine when I manually typed them in with the remote, also only seems to do 2 digit subs even though my LG reports a channel at 104.303, but that may be a oddity between Comcast and the LG. I'll have to continue playing and see what else it does or doesn't do.
It does have a full 1 year warranty with a HUGE sticker on the back that says the usual break and no warranty on it so might wait to make sure units OK before diving into it. Remote seems to respond pretty well so far too, and unit seems very quiet fan wise :)

Question #1 - Should I have waited longer for the channel setup to complete? If not, will the functionality be limited in any way?

Next, it seems the 3455 model began recording live TV immediately as soon as it was turned on. This ability had no affect on changing channels or viewing the online TV Guide. The 3575 unit takes about 5 seconds to change channels or using the page up/down on the tv guide when the unit is recording. And, if I read correctly, I should be able to change the channel with the DVR remote - however, it will only scroll through the DVR's inputs - not change channels.

Question #2 - Could the delay on changing channels be due to the fact that the 3455 model used an analog tuner and this is digital? Or, is it possible that the initial channel setup is causing yet another problem?

Question #3 - If I press "record" the screen displays "HDD" with red indicator - then press "Stop" the screen displays progress bar as it writes to the HDD. However, as soon as it completes and I click on the HDD input - nothing happens. For some reason I cannot switch to HDD mode and see a list of recordings.
:confused:
I thank everyone in advance for taking the time to read this and respond.

maxx

1) I'm confused. According to the manual you can only change channels on the unit while in record pause mode (after pressing the pause button during recording), as I would expect with only one tuner. Are you saying you can change channels on the 3575 while recording?

2) I think the length of the delay also depends on the signal strength. I'm only getting a 2 second delay when switching between digital channels.

3) The HDD and DVD buttons only tell the unit which one you want to use. You have to press the TITLE button to view titles. Got stuck on that until I read the manual, too.

I have only been doing test recordings since I got mine, only on the HDD. I don't see a way to add to recorded programs on the HDD, i.e. when I stop recording and restart again, it wipes out the material previously recorded. How can I record a show then record another show after that one and not destroy the first recording? Stupid question I know, but I paged thru the manual, played with the remote, and didn't see anything that addressed this. Am recording Studio 60 tonite for playback on Sunday and I'd like to be able to add some other shows. Actually, while the manual is big, I have not thought that it's very well done, I had some difficulty initially setting up. The machine is neat, enjoying the image I am getting. Most of the recording "speeds" are good.

Other question, do you think there is much difference between HDMI connection and component video which is what I'm using now? I am hoping HDMI adds a visible level of sharpness.

Have noticed the NTSC tuner is not very powerful, i.e. my other devices can do a better job tuning in Old TV; lots of noise and wiggles using this tuner with analog. My Sony TV by comparison is rock steady.

I have just transitioned from a lifetime of using VCRs, and this feels weird by comparison, it's frustrating getting used to the features (understatement).