Philips DVDR3575H/37 160G HDD DVD Recorder w/ ATSC tuner

[nfsmith]

@Rammitinski

Thanks! You're right. They're a lot cheaper.

-nfsmith

[wajo]

Originally Posted by nfsmith

Hi,

Thanks for responding.

1) Of course. They wouldn't play at all otherwise on the DVB318.
2) TDK 16x (MID CMCMAG01)
3) +R

I haven't tried any other brands, but I will.

Have you observed that brands make any difference? Since the discs work perfectly when I burn them Real Time, I wasn't thinking brand might have anything to do with it.

Man, I hate asking those "obvious" and elementary questions, but somebody has to.

Anyway, CMCMAG01 doesn't seem to be one listed in these media guides (letter missing after MAG?):

digitalfaq.com... but ALL CMCMAG are either 3rd or 4th Class (landfill material).
or
videohelp.com... checked only first 3 pages of these 50 pages.

Not sure if poor media quality could produce the results you're seeing, but worth it to try a better brand/media.

TDK stopped making their own consumer DVDs about 2 years ago, and Imation is now "handling" TDK sales and service... prob. mfg too. Imation also bought out Memorex.

If interested in a better brand/media, look for Verbatim in B&M stores, or order Taiyo Yuden Premium brand on the internet from supermediastore.com. or rima.com. If you can find 8X, that might be best for the 3575.

[wajo]

Originally Posted by jimhadar

Well I did some more testing on the September/Date code 38 3575 tonight. Tuner still seems to be better than the July unit however a new bug has surfaced. Analog channels 51-57 contain noise. It appears intermittently.

Originally Posted by Metra

I'm having a problem with a Philips 3575 (which aside from this problem, I love!) -- I'm getting horizontal static lines on some channels when watching or recording TV through the DVR. I notice it mostly on channel 55, and my 3575 has a pack date of August 2007.

There's some discussion on videohelp.com re: analog interference that might just apply to your problems with specific channels... channels they talk about are sort of in the range of your problem channels.

Here's one of the posts that adresses it and the following post suggests it's a cable/station problem.

Not sure it helps, but better than standin' round with your finger in your ear!?

[Metra]

Originally Posted by wabjxo

There's some discussion on videohelp.com re: analog interference that might just apply to your problems with specific channels... channels they talk about are sort of in the range of your problem channels.

Not sure it helps, but better than standin' round with your finger in your ear!?

Thanks for the heads up! "Analog modulation harmonic distortion" is a little over my head, but it's interesting that they mention the SciFi Channel, because that's my worst channel. The channel looks fine when the DVR is turned off, but maybe when the DVR is on it's boosting the distortion as well as the rest of the signal so the underlying distortion actually shows. Argh. If it's something Time Warner has to fix, I'm doomed!

[nfsmith]

Hi,

Yep, I goofed on the ID and left out an 'M', so it's CMCMAGM01. I nearly didn't order it, but after looking around, I found some positive reports on it:

http://club.cdfreaks.com/f58/memorex...ot-u-s-135205/

I found others, and my sense was that CMC under TDK's name seems to be pretty good quality... as long as you burn it at 8x or less. I got the impression that CMC has raised its quality level considerably in recent years, particularly due to the big brands putting their names on the product.

I tried the TDK on my computer and got a 95 quality score with CDSpeed, so I think the "landfill" status is a bit harsh. My only qualms about it regard its longevity.

I really can't believe that the disc has anything to do with it, since the image is reproduced perfectly on the Zenith. It seems more likely to be a conflict between the way the sound is encoded on the Philips and decoded on the Zenith. Still, I'll try a more highly rated Sony disc just to rule this notion out altogether.

Let me ask an obvious question now: Have you personally burned DVDs on High and played them back successfully on another machine? (I can play them back fine on the Philips.) When I get a chance, I'll see if a High speed dub works on my Toshiba machine.

I have tried copying an OTA HD show (instead of the VHS source), and the results are the same. The audio has drop outs and it's out of sync.

-nfsmith

Originally Posted by wabjxo

Man, I hate asking those "obvious" and elementary questions, but somebody has to.

Anyway, CMCMAG01 doesn't seem to be one listed in these media guides (letter missing after MAG?):

digitalfaq.com... but ALL CMCMAG are either 3rd or 4th Class (landfill material).
or
videohelp.com... checked only first 3 pages of these 50 pages.

Not sure if poor media quality could produce the results you're seeing, but worth it to try a better brand/media.

TDK stopped making their own consumer DVDs about 2 years ago, and Imation is now "handling" TDK sales and service... prob. mfg too. Imation also bought out Memorex.

If interested in a better brand/media, look for Verbatim in B&M stores, or order Taiyo Yuden Premium brand on the internet from supermediastore.com. or rima.com. If you can find 8X, that might be best for the 3575.

[wajo]

Originally Posted by Metra

Thanks for the heads up! "Analog modulation harmonic distortion" is a little over my head, but it's interesting that they mention the SciFi Channel, because that's my worst channel. The channel looks fine when the DVR is turned off, but maybe when the DVR is on it's boosting the distortion as well as the rest of the signal so the underlying distortion actually shows. Argh. If it's something Time Warner has to fix, I'm doomed!

How are you connected from the cable coax to the TV with your 3575?

[wajo]

Originally Posted by nfsmith

Let me ask an obvious question now: Have you personally burned DVDs on High and played them back successfully on another machine? (I can play them back fine on the Philips.) When I get a chance, I'll see if a High speed dub works on my Toshiba machine.

Yes, I always play my 3575 DVDs in my Pio 640 and Panasonic combo unit to make sure they're playable elsewhere.

[Metra]

Originally Posted by wabjxo

How are you connected from the cable coax to the TV with your 3575?

I've got just a coax cable going from the wall to the 3575 (no cable converter box), then a coax cable from the 3575 to the television. Then I also have composite cables from the 3575 to the television. (I also tried S-video + stereo audio cables in place of the composite cables with the same result). Boy would I love to be able to fix this by buying new cables!

[wajo]

Originally Posted by Metra

I've got just a coax cable going from the wall to the 3575 (no cable converter box), then a coax cable from the 3575 to the television. Then I also have composite cables from the 3575 to the television. (I also tried S-video + stereo audio cables in place of the composite cables with the same result). Boy would I love to be able to fix this by buying new cables!

Should have asked: what type of TV and what conections does it have?

Your problem could be coming from the stations, so there may be nothing you can do. But, if you want to make sure it's not something in your system, you'll have to switch cables out to "better" ones that'll eliminate some harmonics or feedback from those.

If you go to Wal-Mart, look for DIGITAL AV cables that look like better RCA cables. They're $18 or so and might have a name like Digital Stereo Audio and Video cables. I got some made by RCA but I noticed my Wal-Mart had only Philips now, same price. Those are what I use and get excellent results from. They're built for digital video, which requires better insulation, bandwidth and tighter tolerances on all things important to a good video signal.

If your TV has a HDMI connection, you can try that too. Wal-Mart again, ~$38. HDMI will give you a pure digital signal to your TV and may just make a diff. depending on what the problem is.

[Metra]

Originally Posted by wabjxo

Should have asked: what type of TV and conections does it have?

It's a Sony Wega KV-27FV17, which is about a six-year-old tube tv. It's got composite, s-video and component connections. It also has three coax connections labeled "VHF/UHF" (this is the input I'm using), "To Converter" and "Aux".

I've also tried connecting to a 13" Sharp LCD TV (LC-13E1U). It also has composite, s-video and component connections, although I've only tried the composite on it. And it has one coax input labeled "Ant".

By the way, thank you so much for all your posts and all the guides you put up for the 3575!

[wajo]

Originally Posted by Metra

It's a Sony Wega KV-27FV17, which is about a six-year-old tube tv. It's got composite, s-video and component connections. It also has three coax connections labeled "VHF/UHF" (this is the input I'm using), "To Converter" and "Aux".

I've also tried connecting to a 13" Sharp LCD TV (LC-13E1U). It also has composite, s-video and component connections, although I've only tried the composite on it. And it has one coax input labeled "Ant".

By the way, thank you so much for all your posts and all the guides you put up for the 3575!

Your welcome! I hope they helped you and maybe others as well.

Your coax connection must be OK since you see a good pic all the time w/o the 3575, BUT unless you have RG6 cable, it might be worthwhile to get new coax to see if it help get a better signal to the 3575. RG6 coax is thicker and better than the old RG59.

Hopefully, you can also get the Digital AV cables I mentioned above to see if they help deliver the pic from the 3575 to the TV.

I don't think it can be the station's signal since it doesn't occur just watching Tv thru the coax.

I think doing these things should eliminate anything in your system as the source of the problem, esp. since you've tried diff. TVs also (so it's unlikely to be a bad connector on BOTH TVs).

[Metra]

Originally Posted by wabjxo

Your welcome! I hope they helped you and maybe others as well.

Your coax connection must be OK since you see a good pic all the time w/o the 3575, BUT unless you have RG6 cable, it might be worthwhile to get new coax to see if it help get a better signal to the 3575. RG6 coax is thicker and better than the old RG59.

Hopefully, you can also get the Digital AV cables I mentioned above to see if they help deliver the pic from the 3575 to the TV.

I don't think it can be the station's signal since it doesn't occur just watching Tv thru the coax.

I think doing these things should eliminate anything in your system as the source of the problem, esp. since you've tried diff. TVs also (so it's unlikely to be a bad connector on BOTH TVs).

I do currently have RG59 coax cables - I'll try upgrading those to the R6, as well as the digital AV cables. Definitely worth a try - thanks!

[wajo]

Originally Posted by Metra

I do currently have RG59 coax cables - I'll try upgrading those to the R6, as well as the digital AV cables. Definitely worth a try - thanks!

If you get the Digital AV (RCA) cables, the $18 I mentioned were for 9-foot cable. I think they also have 6-foot cables for less.

[jmsla]

Hi, all,
I have some what of a technical question.
On this Philips unit (or any hard drive), in what format(?) is an analog signal, as from a VCR, recorded to the hard drive as opposed to a digital signal from say another DVD or digital camcorder?
The reason I ask is that I noticed that my digital video camera has a 'pass through' setting that 'converts' an analog signal to a digital signal. In other words I can have a VCR signal going into the camera's AV (yellow) input and the camera will 'convert' and pass that signal out trhough it's firewire (DV I) output. Would there be a quality advantage to doing this with a VCR signal for dubbing onto the Philips hard drive as opposed to sending the VCR signal directly into the Philips for dubbing onto its hard drive? Does this Philips do some sort of similar conversion when it receives any analog signal? I just don't know how this sort of thing works.

Also, I deleted an 'Empty Title' on a DVD I recorded by filling it up with content then choosing 'Delete Title' . Well, the 'Empty Title' is no longer on the disc menu, but, is there a way I can still access that available space to record or dub some content? (The disc is not finalized.)

Thanks for any information, Jim

[nfsmith]

Hm. Perhaps, you're just fortunate. Turns out that there is some kind of incompatibility between my Zenith DVB318 and discs that are made with High speed dubbing on the DVDR3575H.

It might be related to the connection between my Zenith and the TV, too.

I tested by playing a HS dubbed disc on my Toshiba, and it played fine. Aside from it being a different player, the connection to the analog TV is RCA composite while the connection to my HD TV is DVI. It's true that in both cases the audio is analog stereo (RCA), but in one case you have analog video and in the other, digital video. So, the systems have to do different things to display the image and audio. I'm just speculating, but that might affect what happens in terms of their timing and thus synchronization during playback.

When I get time, I'll try a high speed dubbed disc with the Zenith connected by component instead of DVI and see if it makes any difference. That way, both Video and Audio will be analog, like in the system with the Toshiba.

I'm going to try the 3575 with an HDMI/DVI converter, and if it's any better, I'll be reflashing the firmware in the Zenith so that it can upconvert via component. I know that connection works very well with the Zenith, and it's just possible that it could cure the incompatibility as well.

Incidentally, when I was testing different media to rule out the cause, I used a highly rated (http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm) Sony (SONYD11 MID), which didn't make any difference. However, the first disc I tried failed. That was the first disc failure I've had. That's a 50% failure rate so far for the Sony, and I've done a lot more TDK discs (12) with the CMC MID, and not one of them has failed to write. Both types of discs are in the Philip's manual's list of approved discs.

I'm not saying the Sony's are bad discs. A sample size of 2 doesn't mean much. I think they will probably have better longevity than the TDKs, though I have no firm evidence of that. They burn very well on my PC at 8X anyway... I guess only time will tell which disc lasts longer.

-nfsmith


PS: I've had a chance to change my cabling for the 3575 to HDMI/DVI, and that does improve the picture slightly. It's a little sharper and more saturated. It looks best upconverted to 1080i on my Samsung TV. So, I've dropped back to the old LG firmware for my DVB318 that allows upconverting over component connections. This allows me to upconvert to 1080i in both the DVD player (Zenith/LG DVB318) and in the Philips. Unfortunately, going to the digital connection does not eliminate the incompatibility between discs dubbed at High Speed on the Philips and the way my DVB318 plays them back. So, I am going to need to do all my dubbing at RT speed. Oh, well.

This incompatibility seems pretty odd, since the Zenith/LG has played every other kind of disc I've put in it, so far. Since the discs will play back on my Toshiba DVD player, it's hard to point both fingers at the Philips, though. Part of the blame appears to be with the Zenith...

Originally Posted by wabjxo

Yes, I always play my 3575 DVDs in my Pio 640 and Panasonic combo unit to make sure they're playable elsewhere.

[nfsmith]

Since the Philips uses a hard drive, anything recorded on it will be in digital format on the disc. The machine uses MPEG 2 as the specific type of digital format. Hard drives do not record anything in a truly analog format.

Since the 3575 has to convert an analog input to record it anyway, I see no reason to run it through another device first.

I don't know how you would restore the empty title... so just wait till you're sure you're not going to put anything else on the disc. Thanks for mentioning the procedure, though. I didn't think it could be removed, and it's kind of annoying to have an empty title on a disc you're done recording.

-nfsmith

Originally Posted by jmsla

Hi, all,
I have some what of a technical question.
On this Philips unit (or any hard drive), in what format(?) is an analog signal, as from a VCR, recorded to the hard drive as opposed to a digital signal from say another DVD or digital camcorder?
The reason I ask is that I noticed that my digital video camera has a 'pass through' setting that 'converts' an analog signal to a digital signal. In other words I can have a VCR signal going into the camera's AV (yellow) input and the camera will 'convert' and pass that signal out trhough it's firewire (DV I) output. Would there be a quality advantage to doing this with a VCR signal for dubbing onto the Philips hard drive as opposed to sending the VCR signal directly into the Philips for dubbing onto its hard drive? Does this Philips do some sort of similar conversion when it receives any analog signal? I just don't know how this sort of thing works.

Also, I deleted an 'Empty Title' on a DVD I recorded by filling it up with content then choosing 'Delete Title' . Well, the 'Empty Title' is no longer on the disc menu, but, is there a way I can still access that available space to record or dub some content? (The disc is not finalized.)

Thanks for any information, Jim

[jmsla]

Originally Posted by nfsmith

Since the Philips uses a hard drive, anything recorded on it will be in digital format on the disc. The machine uses MPEG 2 as the specific type of digital format. Hard drives do not record anything in a truly analog format.

Since the 3575 has to convert an analog input to record it anyway, I see no reason to run it through another device first.

I don't know how you would restore the empty title... so just wait till you're sure you're not going to put anything else on the disc. Thanks for mentioning the procedure, though. I didn't think it could be removed, and it's kind of annoying to have an empty title on a disc you're done recording.

-nfsmith

nfsmith,
Thank you for the quick lesson on the hard drive format. So the video I have on the HD is a nice digital version of a grainy, edgy looking VHS tape perserved for all time. Did we know how bad even the best VHS looked before DVD? True what wabjxo has said several times: it all starts with the source material.

I have to give credit to this Philips unit that it does not noticably degrade the image but, is giving me about an exact copy in quality at HQ and darn near the same at SP. And the video I've dubbed through firewire from my digital camcorder onto hard drive and then onto diisc is fantastic looking.

As for the lost disc space after removing an 'empty title'; perhaps sone tech wiz will figure out a way to access it. It's still physically on the disc isn't it?

One follow-up: when I put a disc in for viewing, it first spends several (10 or more) seconds 'loading'. Do you experience the same? On other players it seems the disc is ready to play almost right away.

Thanks again for the reply,
-Jim

[nfsmith]

Glad you found my comments useful. I've been using mine to translate a few tapes to DVD. Glad I didn't have more than 3 I cared about though. I've found I have to record in Real Time to get full compatibility with my regular player, a Zenith DVB318.

With regard to the space on the disc, I am not sure whether the space is actually there anymore or not. When you overwrite the Empty Title, you are actually using up space that cannot be recovered. Still, if you overwrite with a file that occupies less than the available space, there should be some physical disc space left. However, when you delete that file, I think you are removing any way for the unit to access the directory structure of the disc's file system in order to write to the disc again. Unless you have access to some sort of disc authoring software that will allow you to recreate whatever is needed, then you can practically consider the disc full. This is getting into areas that I am merely speculating about. I am not intimately familiar with DVD disc structure, but I believe that what I am saying is correct. Bottom line, I think you'll need some other software to manipulate the disc structure in order to get any space back, IF that's even possible.

I would simply NOT bother to eliminate the empty title until you are sure that you don't want to put anything more on the disc.

I have not used another DVD recorder, so I cannot comment about the speed of other similar devices. I will note that it's not really fair to compare the speed a _recorder_ loads a disc with the speed a _player_ loads a disc. After all, the recorder needs to know more about the disc, in case you are going to write on it, for instance.

-nfsmith

Originally Posted by jmsla

nfsmith,

As for the lost disc space after removing an 'empty title'; perhaps sone tech wiz will figure out a way to access it. It's still physically on the disc isn't it?

One follow-up: when I put a disc in for viewing, it first spends several (10 or more) seconds 'loading'. Do you experience the same? On other players it seems the disc is ready to play almost right away.

Thanks again for the reply,
-Jim

[jmsla]

Originally Posted by nfsmith

Glad you found my comments useful. I've been using mine to translate a few tapes to DVD. Glad I didn't have more than 3 I cared about though. I've found I have to record in Real Time to get full compatibility with my regular player, a Zenith DVB318.

With regard to the space on the disc, I am not sure whether the space is actually there anymore or not. When you overwrite the Empty Title, you are actually using up space that cannot be recovered. Still, if you overwrite with a file that occupies less than the available space, there should be some physical disc space left. However, when you delete that file, I think you are removing any way for the unit to access the directory structure of the disc's file system in order to write to the disc again. Unless you have access to some sort of disc authoring software that will allow you to recreate whatever is needed, then you can practically consider the disc full. This is getting into areas that I am merely speculating about. I am not intimately familiar with DVD disc structure, but I believe that what I am saying is correct. Bottom line, I think you'll need some other software to manipulate the disc structure in order to get any space back, IF that's even possible.

I would simply NOT bother to eliminate the empty title until you are sure that you don't want to put anything more on the disc.

I have not used another DVD recorder, so I cannot comment about the speed of other similar devices. I will note that it's not really fair to compare the speed a _recorder_ loads a disc with the speed a _player_ loads a disc. After all, the recorder needs to know more about the disc, in case you are going to write on it, for instance.

-nfsmith

Got it. I'm learning.
I do love the way the Philips User Manual advises about deleting titles. It warns only "Please be advised that the title once deleted cannot be brought back." and "Note...For DVD+RW/-RW, available disc space will increase only when the last recorded titlle in the title list is deleted. For DVD+R/-R, the disc space will not be affected"(emphasas added).
Yea, 'cause the space is gone forever! If you look at the illustration on page 84, Step 5 (examples of what you will see on the title screens after deleting titles) it should really show a blank box for the DVD title list screen. Instead, it shows 'empty titles' presumably where you have deleted content. Or am I missing something? Well, thankfully it's only a 40 cent lesson. (I guess you can tell I kind of new to the whole DVD burning experience.)
This is a great forum, you guys provide a lot of very helpfull information.
-Jm

[nfsmith]

Yeah, this is a good forum.

I think you're missing the HDD icon at the top left of page 84. That indicates it's only talking about the HDD at that point.

The material on pages 82 and 83 covers both HDD and DVD editing, but that's not so for page 84.

-nfsmith

Originally Posted by jmsla

If you look at the illustration on page 84, Step 5 (examples of what you will see on the title screens after deleting titles) it should really show a blank box for the DVD title list screen. Instead, it shows 'empty titles' presumably where you have deleted content. Or am I missing something?
-Jm

[jimhadar]

I guess the 3575H was a real hit at Walmart. They are now in stock online. Now Walmart has raised the price from $298 to $329. I guess they did not check to see that Circuit City has them for $279. Still none in stock in my city. The link for the addy can be found here: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=5663214.

I am going to hold off until the first of the year to decide if I want to RMA this thing or not. My concern is that I might get a refurb if I wait too long to RMA it. Trying to wait for Walmart to get some more in stock.

[Chuck44]

Originally Posted by jimhadar

...The link for the addy can be found here: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=5663214. ...

On this page, it says Media Format - PAL.

[jmsla]

Originally Posted by nfsmith

Yeah, this is a good forum.

I think you're missing the HDD icon at the top left of page 84. That indicates it's only talking about the HDD at that point.

The material on pages 82 and 83 covers both HDD and DVD editing, but that's not so for page 84.

-nfsmith

Our user manuals appear to be one page different in numbering. My page '85' has the HDD icon in the upper left and covers 'Editing Selected Titles' on the hard drive. Pages '83' and '84' cover 'Deleting A Title' and apply to both HDD and DVD. The 5th and last step on p. 84, which is selecting 'yes' and pressing 'OK' to complete the task, shows an illustration of both the HDD and DVD title list screens after titles are deleted. I wonder if they have changed the manual. My manual is not dated but the pack date on my unit is September 2007.

On another aspect, I have some feedback for wabjxo regarding his post from 11-23-07; *Using the RF/Coax Passthru as a Built-in No-Loss Splitter*. I'm one of the cable users with all scrambled channels who isn't using the tuner in the Philips unit. (Actually, my broadcast channels and some select others are not scrambled but look terrible unless they pass through the cable box first--thank you Time Warner.)

I followed your suggestion at the bottom of your post:
"On 2nd thought, even w/all scrambled channels, why not keep the 3575 1st in line for the incoming coax just for the "boost" in signal strength its active passthru will give to the box and other downstream components? Those downstream components won't even know the 3575 is there, but they might benefit from the active passthru!?"

I started out with a very good 'no complaints' TV picture on my 4 year old 27" analog Sony Trinatron Vega, KV-27FV310. As suggested, I moved the incoming coax for the cable to the 3575 first, then a short piece of coax out and into the cable box, (I use s-video from the cable box to the 3575 and then component cables to the TV). The improvement in the TV image was immediately apparent and significent. I'd say at least a 20% improvement in color saturation and sharpness of image and the picture is brighter. Your hunch about the coax active passthru boost was correct. People buy new televisions to get this much imropvement. Every one with 'all scrambled cable' should try this. Thanks for the new TV!
-Jim

[wajo]

Originally Posted by jmsla

On another aspect, I have some feedback for wabjxo regarding his post from 11-23-07; *Using the RF/Coax Passthru as a Built-in No-Loss Splitter*. I'm one of the cable users with all scrambled channels who isn't using the tuner in the Philips unit. (Actually, my broadcast channels and some select others are not scrambled but look terrible unless they pass through the cable box first--thank you Time Warner.)

I followed your suggestion at the bottom of your post:
"On 2nd thought, even w/all scrambled channels, why not keep the 3575 1st in line for the incoming coax just for the "boost" in signal strength its active passthru will give to the box and other downstream components? Those downstream components won't even know the 3575 is there, but they might benefit from the active passthru!?"

I started out with a very good 'no complaints' TV picture on my 4 year old 27" analog Sony Trinatron Vega, KV-27FV310. As suggested, I moved the incoming coax for the cable to the 3575 first, then a short piece of coax out and into the cable box, (I use s-video from the cable box to the 3575 and then component cables to the TV). The improvement in the TV image was immediately apparent and significent. I'd say at least a 20% improvement in color saturation and sharpness of image and the picture is brighter. Your hunch about the coax active passthru boost was correct. People buy new televisions to get this much imropvement. Every one with 'all scrambled cable' should try this. Thanks for the new TV!
-Jim

It's pretty difficult to get positive feedback in forums like this, so I'm very grateful to YOU!

Now, you must know I plan to make use of your post to let others know about your actual results!?

[jmsla]

Originally Posted by wabjxo

It's pretty difficult to get positive feedback in forums like this, so I'm very grateful to YOU!

Now, you must know I plan to make use of your post to let others know about your actual results!?

Absolutely, go right ahead. The alteration in hook-up was simple and took less than five minutes.

[libertin56]

wabjxo,

I've been reading forum for while and very impressed with your knowledge and willingness to help others. You da man!

You mentioned a couple times about the ext warranty from Wallmart for 18 bucks. How long is the warranty? and can I buy it any time before the 90 days expiration?

[beekeeper]

If you have finalize grayed out after dubbing, turn off the unit and wait a while. It will come back.

What happened to cause it- I split the titles and renamed them. If I did nothing else, there was no problem finalizing them. If I deleted scenes, changed the icon picture, or renamed the disc or title, occasionally I would have finalized grayed out. I had no problem dubbing the titles. I decided to wait a bit and look at the problem in the morning and the next day, finalize was back and successfully completed.

I ran into the problem again and learned that it takes a while (not sure how long at this point) to clear the problem. It will not come back after a shutdown and quick re-start. It may come back if you swap disks and then put the offender back in. I have not tried all the possible fixes since it has only happened twice.

The key is, if it happens, it is not a dead end but fixable. You have to be patient.

[wajo]

Originally Posted by libertin56

wabjxo,

I've been reading forum for while and very impressed with your knowledge and willingness to help others. You da man!

You mentioned a couple times about the ext warranty from Wallmart for 18 bucks. How long is the warranty? and can I buy it any time before the 90 days expiration?

Thanks!

The WM ext. warranty is $17.88 if you pay up to $299 (could be $300?). It goes up to $25.xx if $300 or over, and is for 2 addtl yrs. Even covers lightning strike.

We bought our first unit and got the warranty a week later by taking our receipt to the Service Desk.

My WM suddenly had 4 units on the shelf but price was $318 I think... 3 with October 2007 pack date, 1 with April 2007.

[GSfromCT]

Originally Posted by jimhadar

I guess the 3575H was a real hit at Walmart. They are now in stock online. Now Walmart has raised the price from $298 to $329. I guess they did not check to see that Circuit City has them for $279. Still none in stock in my city. The link for the addy can be found here: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=5663214.

I am going to hold off until the first of the year to decide if I want to RMA this thing or not. My concern is that I might get a refurb if I wait too long to RMA it. Trying to wait for Walmart to get some more in stock.

I have been watching stock on the 3575 since October at my local WM. I was there at least once a week. It's 5 minutes away from my work and I would stop in on lunch breaks. My local store got one in the second week of October and it was gone two days later but I wasn't ready to buy my Christmas present then.
The online store stock finder was telling me that the unit was in stock in NY over 60 miles away.
When I was ready to buy, I went to my local store. I got the usual "if its not on the shelf, we don't have it." When I explained that the unit really wasn't in stock for months, they got the scanner out. My local store had them on order but another new store about 20 minutes away had 5.
So the store stock finder on their site is not accurate and if you really want one, try to get your hands on one of those scanners as it saved me some serious driving time.

[zzyzzx]

Just as a heads up, the batteries in the remote aren't alkaline. They won't last long. Mine are already dead and I've only had the unit for a couple of months.