I think that the HDD Recorders have the smoothest FF playback, but which ones?
Thanks a lot.

In my experience, FF playback on all players and recorders looks pretty much the same - very short bursts of action which flip ahead by 5, 15, 30 seconds or so between each burst. This is true whether you're FF'ing through material on the DVD drive or the HDD.

I have heard that some machines have restrictions on how fast they can scan through titles on DVD+R, but I believe the visual experience still looks similar.

On some machines you can play at "1.5X" speed or so and still hear the sound, pitch-adjusted so that the voices and music are heard at their normal pitch, but faster. I find that my Pioneer 633 can do this slightly better than the 640, not because of any difference in the video but because the sound is smoother on the 633.

Many DVD players do have a fairly smooth FF at the first level, i.e., something like 2x FF (without sound). I think all my DVD players have had that ability. My new Philips 3575 is a bit odd that it does smooth 2x FF for DVD and DivX, but not for HDD recordings.

Many DVD players do have a fairly smooth FF at the first level, i.e., something like 2x FF (without sound). I think all my DVD players have had that ability. My new Philips 3575 is a bit odd that it does smooth 2x FF for DVD and DivX, but not for HDD recordings.
Try switching your Playback Still setting to Field, rather than the default Auto, and see if any diff in your setup. The 3575 apparently fast-plays still frames at 20/40X rather than some motion (like the 640), so that 3575 Still setting may have to be tweaked for each user's setup (interlace/progressive, etc.)???

The still frames in FF on the Philips are fine. It's just that it seems to be lacking smooth fast-motion playback from HDD in that first step, which is supposed to be 2x for HDD, just as it is for DVD and DivX. Perhaps there's a mistake in the manual, and it's actually using 5x as the first FF step on HDD playback (same as RW) - I'll check.