Bought this to record over KQED HD programs I've been getting using antenna. Thought I could use it as a HD Tivo, but the picture quality is a bit disappointing.

I hook up my Panasonic TH-42PX60U and the DVDR3575H to the same antenna. The difference in picture quality is very noticable. My DVDR3575H is connected through HDMI.

Compared to that of TH-42PX60U, picture in DVDR3575H is dim, coarse, looks like images seen on SDTV. I start to question if the DVDR3575H downscale the single to DVD quality so the video can be directly burn into a DVD without conversion. After all, on the box, it does say "SDTV turner for digital reception". The HDD is 160G and in High Quality mode it can record 33hr of program. Can someone do the math to see if that is HD or DVD quality?

It could be the tuner. TH-42PX60U is an amazing plasma TV, probably the cheap tuner in the DVDR3575H can't match it. But, what good is a ATSC tuner if the quality looks DVD quality?

Know of any other good ATSC HDD DVD Recorder out there?

First, you seem to be confusing the DVDR3455H and the DVDR3575H. Which one do you actually have?

Second, you do realize that these recorders are not allowed to pass through an HD signal from the tuner without downconverting it? That's why they are careful to call it "SDTV tuner" on the box. There's no way it's ever going to look as good as the OTH ATSC signal received by your TV. Blame the lawyers for that one.

Also, you should check your black level setting. The HDMI black level is adjustable on the DVDR3575H, but it may not be the same as your TV input, or any previous video source you had on your HDMI input. You can set the black level for each input on your Panasonic TV to Light or Dark (the equivalent of 0 IRE or +7.5 IRE).

Third, it is not an HD recorder. If you want one of them they are out there but not for $300. A nice rundown on HD recorders and current DVRs is here:

http://hometheater.about.com/od/dvdrecorderfaqs/f/dvdrecgfaq14.htm

First, you seem to be confusing the DVDR3455H and the DVDR3575H. Which one do you actually have?

Second, you do realize that these recorders are not allowed to pass through an HD signal from the tuner without downconverting it? That's why they are careful to call it "SDTV tuner" on the box. There's no way it's ever going to look as good as the OTH ATSC signal received by your TV. Blame the lawyers for that one.

Also, you should check your black level setting. The HDMI black level is adjustable on the DVDR3575H, but it may not be the same as your TV input, or any previous video source you had on your HDMI input. You can set the black level for each input on your Panasonic TV to Light or Dark (the equivalent of 0 IRE or +7.5 IRE).

It is a DVDR3575H, I just updated my post, sorry for the confusion. The black level on my Panasonic is set to Light, for TH-42PX60U this is a global setting. The FL Dimmer of my DVDR3575H is set to Bright.

You guys are right, can't get HD DVR for $300 yet (well, unless I get a digital cable plan, but the HD channels I get from antenna are pretty much all I need). Maybe another year or two.

Are there any recorder that doesn't do downconvert?

There are currently no DVD recorders like this. They all down-convert the original to SD, both for recording and for display. Even though some of them up-convert to HD for display, this doesn't restore the detail that was lost in the down-conversion, of course.

Next year there will be at least one DVD recorder (a Panasonic, I think) that passes the received signal straight through for live HDTV viewing. It will still down-convert for recording, because standard DVDs are SD only.

There are some HDD-only recorders that both display and record HD without downconversion: the current TiVo Series 3, the discontinued Sony DHG-HDD250 and 500, the LG LST-3410A, and maybe a few others. There's also D-VHS. See the HDTV Recorders forum here for details.

Would the Comcast HD DVR also work without downconvert? I may just get a used HD DVR to record OTA HD programs from my antenna.

BTW, I paid $50 for my HDMI cable (1yr ago), the brand has a decent website.

Since your plasma is Progressive scan, try all the progressive outputs (480p, 720p and 1080p) and see if there's any diff. The best one should be the one that matches the native res. of your plasma. (I'm on the side of the experts who say it's better to upconvert at the source, i.e., with the resident upconversion system where the digital data resides (DVDR), rather than at the input device (TV) with a "different" upcconversion system... less chance for error.)

You can also try another/better HDMI cable, which can make a diff. Maybe Component connection would be better for your setup...worth a try?

Also check your "Video" setting for "Progressive Scan" in the Setup menus. Make sure Progressive Scan is ON...the default is OFF.

(The "FL Dimmer" setting only applies to the front panel display...there aren't any other brightness settings.)

It is a DVDR3575H, I just updated my post, sorry for the confusion. The black level on my Panasonic is set to Light, for TH-42PX60U this is a global setting.

Wrong, it's an individual setting per input on your TV (although you wouldn't know that from the Panasonic manual). And it should probably be on Dark if you are using the default setting of the Philips, but let your eyes be your guide.

The FL Dimmer of my DVDR3575H is set to Bright.

That's for the front panel backlight.

Second, you do realize that these recorders are not allowed to pass through an HD signal from the tuner without downconverting it? That's why they are careful to call it "SDTV tuner" on the box. Blame the lawyers for that one.

.
..and you got this bogus info from where? :rolleyes:

There's no restriction on passing HD on from the tuner - it's just that these first gen digital tuner units happen not to do it. It would be nice to blame it lawyers but that's just not the case.

All if the info one ever wanted to know is in the thread dedicated to this unit. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=830253

Would the Comcast HD DVR also work without downconvert?

Sure, if you're a Comcast subscriber, and pay for their HD service.

I may just get a used HD DVR to record OTA HD programs from my antenna.

I don't think Comcast's DVR (or any cable company's DVR for that matter) records OTA. I think DirecTV's DVRs do record OTA, but you have to subscribe to DirecTV service in order to use them at all.

If you're OTA only (like me), right now your options for recording in HD are pretty much limited to the units I listed. Or you can set up a computer as a HD receiver/recorder. (I have two of the Sony HD DVRs myself.)

Thanks, that is good info, I was going to bid on a DirectTV or Comcast HD DVR :)

Use computer to record HD is an interesting thought, do I need a special video capture card? I would think the card needs to support HDMI out to get HD quality display on my plasma.

Also, not sure what the minimal PC sys config needs to be, will do some research on that.

After using the DVDR3575H for couple days, one thing I don't like is that I can only burn single layers disc. With single layer, I can burn (realistically) only 1 hour long program to a disc (high quality), since the programs are all aired at 1/2 hr slot. I thought a 4.7GB DVD-R can fit more than 90mins of uncompressed content... Maybe the DVR use more space for menu and title?

What I do like is the ability to edit and trim out ads before burning it to the disc.

Looking at the spec of my DVD-R, a 4.7GB disc should fit 120min of data (dvd quality), but at high quality mode, DVDR3575H's 160G can only fit only 33 hrs of movie. I don't know what resolution is philip's "high qulaity" mode. At DVD quality, it should fit ~66, which maps to "Standard Quality" in the manual.

Anyone knows?

It's a question of bit rates. 2 hours on a commercial dual-layer DVD is about equivalent to the HQ bit rate on most recorders, including the Philips. However, the only way you are going to get a recordable source that can benefit from HQ resolution is the DV input from a camcorder. Standard Def recording from tuner or external input might as well use SP at half the data rate, because you would seldom see any perceptable benefit from using HQ.

The MPEG-2 compression scheme allows a wide range of bit rates, where the trade-off is more motion blur and macroblocking at lower bit rates. The DVD standard also allows a trade-off in resolution versus bit rate, where full resolution is 720 x 480, half resolution 352 x 480, and quarter resolution 352 x 240.