Philips DVDR3575H/37 160G HDD DVD Recorder w/ ATSC tuner - Page 94  

Thanks to all - I have a unit sitting under the tree for the kids (and me)

We have so many VHS movies to move over.

Whenever I'm setting up any new equipment
I replace any non alkaline batteries as a matter
of course. Too much chance of leakage with the
cheap ones...

My local Walmart just got two 3575H units. They both are October 2007 date code 42. I ran over an exchanged my September unit for the October unit. So I am now on unit #3.

I have been testing this October unit for a couple of hours now and this is what I have found so far:

1.) Digital tuner seems stronger than the September unit. I madly flipped back and forth through the digital channels and I could not knock them loose. They tune every time. I also could not make the unit loose the digital channels either.

2.)The analog tuner shares the same bug that the September unit has on channels 51-57 (Comcast Cable) in that there is interference on those channels, however it is significantly less than the interference found on the September unit. The July unit did not have this interference however it would loose digital channels and the ability to tune them when flipping through them.

3.) An odd finding was that on some channels where it gave up the first time the unit actually scanned a second time! I noticed that it did this if it said the channel was scrambled.

All in all this unit seems to be the best one I have gotten. I will see how it goes over the next few days. If all stays well I might just keep this one. I will keep you informed if there are any new developments. Does anyone else in the group have and October unit? If so do you notice what I do on mine?

It's also very possible it's a Comcast problem.

You and Metra were having inteference problems about the same time, and I don't think you saw this post that seems to speak about your interference problem... at least as one distinct possibility>

Thanks wabjxo. I read the post about the interference however my Philips 3505, and the July 3575 unit which were on the same line do not have a problem with interference on those channels. Neither does my any of my 3 HDTV's. My hunch is that whatever they are doing to "correct" the tuner issues in the September and October units might have introduced this new issue. So far the October unit seems to be better than the September as the interference is less and on some of the 50's channels is almost non existent. I will not say too much at this point because I have only had the October unit for a few hours and I don't want to wear a pie on my face if it turns out to be another dud. But I am hoping for the best at this point.

Question about active outputs.

Are all outputs active at the same time regardless of input.

Example1 - Satellite Box connected to E1 via Yellow/Red/White AV composite connection. When this source is selected does it convert the Yellow video signal to Svideo, component and HDMI out. Does the L/R sound signal get converted to the optical or coax digital output?

Example2 - same as above except source is a VCR connected to coax antenna in channel 3 (I live in the sticks - no cable, no OTA) Do all outputs work when this input source is selected.


Thanks

Yes, the manual says this on pg 17 for a Y/W/R input connected to E1:
"Instead of using video out jack of this unit, you can also use S-VIDEO OUT jack, COMPONENT VIDEO OUT jack, or HDMI OUT jack (no audio out jack connection required) for connecting to your TV."

I think it's safe to assume the audio outs are all active, like the video, but I've not tried it.


I'm assuming this means you have no source for normal TV signal, so you'll be playing a VCR tape thru the 3575's coax input? I do know all outputs are active when a normal TV signal is connected to coax, but not sure of what's happening on this one?

I am posting this, to guide members' searches to the right place.

Dad will have a 3575, a cable box and a hi-def tv. The TV also has a tuner. It has all the latest connections on it. He is in the NYC area and uses Optimum digital cable service owned by Cablevision. There is a little card that sticks out of his cable box.

From what I gather....
The coax goes from the wall to the Philips.
A coax goes from the Philps to the cable box.
A good cable like a HDMI, compoent or svideo goes from the Philips to the TV.

How do I record one channel while watching another channel?

I am on c-band sattillite in Tennessee and I intend to test drive the Philips, write a new instruction manual for him, deliver it and set it up.

This may be a basic question that I cannot find a complete answer to.

Thanks everyone!!!

Airspeed, you've got the right connection path as long as the cable box has its own connection to the TV (coax or line).

With all components feeding the TV having their separate connections, you select which component you want to watch on the TV by selecting that input.

Now, you need to scan for channels with the 3575 and see which ones it can pick off the cable feed. If you get any channels in the 3575, you can rec one of those while the box tunes its own channel (plus the TV if it can pick up any channels w/o the box?).

If all channels are scrambled, keep the 3575 1st on the coax anyway... see this post on someone who did that and "got a new TV!"

To record a channel only the box can receive (unscramble), run a line connection from the box to E1 on the back of the 3575 and select "E1" input on the tuner with the Source button on the remote (top left).

Here's a separate description of basic passthru connections...

and one on cabling, etc.

Your humble servant, the Philips DVDR3575H, is a CES Innovations 2008 Awards Honoree in the Video Components category.

See CES Awards page here, 7th item down.

I guess I thought all channels coming from the box were scrambled. Did you mean scrambled in the above quote??

This is kinda like the old VCR days. You left your TV on channel 3 and changed channels with the vcr remote. If you wanted to watch something else and record. You would put the vcr on aux or channel to record, and change channels with the TV remote.

Sooooooo....
The coax goes from the wall to the Philips.
A coax goes from the Philps to the cable box.
A good cable goes from the cable box to the Philips
A good cable like a HDMI, compoent or svideo goes from the Philips to the TV.
AND a good cable goes from the cable box to the TV...

Why aren't you making millions of dollars from Philips???

I hope I don't run into any problems when I get up there. Because I am only familiar with satellite.

Like the VCR days except no channel 3, just different inputs to the TV and select the one you want to view.

Looks like you've got the basic connections. If he's got multiple inputs on his TV, don't hesitate to try Y/W/R composite cables (digital if you can find them) since his signal is composite. I get my best TV watching pic that way. HDMI is only better for me when watching DVDs (digital component source thru a digital HDMI cable... awesome!).

His cable service may include a mix of scrambled and unscrambled channels. Usually, only the premium pay-per-view channels are scrambled, but some cablecos scramble them all to force you to use their box. One person here had that situation but, per the link I gave, he still hooked up with 3575 1st on coax and "got a new TV."

If he has ANY UNscrambled channels ("in-the-clear"), the 3575 will be able to tune those and record them while he watches something from his cable box.

Wabby Man,
What do you mean "his signal is composite"?? I thought his signal was digital??

Also can I hook up an hdmi from the 3575 to the tv for dvd viewing AND composite cables from 3575 to tv for cable viewing, and just switch beween the cable inputs??

I thought the idea was to use the best digital cables, ie hdmi and component??

"If he has ANY UNscrambled channels ("in-the-clear"), the 3575 will be able to tune those and record them while he watches something from his cable box."

And visa versa He could record his scrambled channels from the cable box and watch unscrambled from his 3575 or TV tuner. But he can't record a scrambled channel from the cable box and watch a different scrambled channel with the 3575 or cable box.

thank you so much speedgirl

Finalize is disabled if you have a timer recording scheduled within about an hour (they should have included this info in the manual). Simply change the recording time so that the start time is more than an hour away and the Finalize option should be re-enabled. After finalizing, you can change the recording time back to what you want. Hope this works for you.

I'm lovin' it every day, and I think it deserves some kind of award for being a reasonably-priced yet full-featured and fairly well-designed workhorse, but is it really innovative?

It's both a digital and most likely a composite signal as well.* Composite means the luma, chroma and sync are compressed together into one combined signal and usually used for sending an analog signal.*

*A truly digital signal will contain better pic info than analog composite, but he's *likely* to be getting analog composite anyway. Here's what WIkipedia says about digital cable:

"Hype vs reality of picture quality
Making the switch from analog to digital will provide television viewers with the potential for a movie-quality picture, and better HD for those who own an HDTV, but initially most broadcasters simply transmit a low-quality non-widescreen 480i digital version of their old existing analog services."

You can find more info here, in the article entitled "Are You Being Cheated by Digital Cable?"
Yes, I have composite and HDMI connected and switch: composite for watching TV from my composite analog cable and my composite-video recorded shows, and HDMI for DVDs, which are produced with digital Component video.


No, once you set the 3575's tuner to an external input for recording from the box, that ties up both tuners for that one task. Although the 3575 tuner is tied up, he CAN watch a DVD or a recorded show from the HDD while the 3575 is recording from the box since the 3575 will have its own line connection to the TV.

How about Philips "innovative" ability to produce a full-featured 1st-generation HDD recorder with a digital tuner for sale at a ridiculous price considering the U.S.$ is falling like a rock and is worth much less than their Yen and Yuan when they designed and manufactured the product!

It's interesting that Philips was able to take the same minimal cost/minimal quality Funai design and manufacturing that all the other cheap brands use, add a bit of extra product testing and user interface debugging, and a better manual - and presto, a product that passes the user satisfaction test for most people. Other suppliers could learn a lesson from the 3575.

I think it is more a classic case of "the king's new clothes".

I have the Magnavox H2080 that I now use as a DVR. It is cheap and has a very good digital tuner. But I would rate it lower end as a DVD recorder. From a U/I and capabilities perspective it is essentially identical to the Philips.

The new 2007 Toshibas are also produced by Funai. Again lower end in my opinion when compared to previous years models.

I guess it's a personal thing. With my last DVR I found that I was often frustrated with it because it failed to do what I wanted too many times, or it put one too many annoyances in my way for typical operations (it was also made by Funai). By comparison the Philips 3575 does what I want most of the time, with relatively few annoyances or failures.

Wabjxo...you and many other AVS forum members have done a spectacular job in researching and keeping us all updated in the latest news and tips with this Philips DVDR3575H recorder.

I live in Canada and purchased mine in Canada ....about 2 months ago and so far, really love it !! It is a April 2007 build and I have updated it to the most current Philips firmware support available.

I can pick up through OTA about 16 HD channels from Detroit, and another 14 digital channels from Cleveland if I turn my antenna accordingly ....when recording from a DTV broadcast, the clarity of recording to either the HD or a DVD is really nice....I think it's the best you can get without having to wait for HD-DVD or Blu-Ray recorder technology to release and of course, who knows what the media costs will be for the new formats !!

One of my biggest beefs with this recorder is that fact that it will not pick up DTV show info and transfer this to the recording title. I dont know why Philips would have overlooked this.....that information is carried through the digital signal and this recorder has a digital tuner and is capable of showing various information about a show such as Name of Show, and what the show is about, but it will not transfer this information to a recording on either the HD or a DVD.

I have a 4 year old Pioneer DV310 DVD recorder and it picks up broadcast information of show title from Analog signal and transfers this to the DVD title when recording ....and this is 4 year old analog technology !! ...so I dont know if Philips leaving this ability out on the Philips DVDR3575H was deliberate or intentional in order to accommodate copyright protection from the large motion picture/entertainment industry ??

I am having one slight problem in dubbing and I dont know if it has been covered in this forum....I have read a lot of the pages and many great contributions from members on this forum, and Im sure it has been mentioned and I have just missed it. My apologies if I have missed it.....this forum is getting huge !!

Page 54 of the Owners Manual talks about dubbing from either HD to DVD or vica versa...it's really weird....the only way I can get the "Dubbing" option to not be greyed out on the General Setup menu is to put a blank DVD in the tray, let it format it , then voila I get the "Dubbing" ungreyed, and then of course, because I have a blank DVD in the tray, it assumes I want to transfer from HDD to DVD, but then the DVD to HDD option is greyed out on that sub menu ...so far, I dont know how I dub from a DVD to HDD ...I have tried both home movie DVDs that I have made with no copy protection and commercial DVDs (either original or "backup copies") and neither seem to let me "Dub" using DVD to HDD option .....do I have a defective unit or am I missing something here ?

Any advice would be much appreciated.....keep up the great work all ....this has been a really informative forum about this player/recorder !!

I love this little machine......I think its just the perfect recorder to bridge us until the next technology is out and becomes mainstream and will be available at a good consumer pricepoint. ....whether it be HD-DVD or Blu-Ray .....hopefully manufacturers will come out with dual capable HD-DVD/Blu-Ray player/recorders...I think that would solve a lot of the consumer confusion problem .....except it will shatter the motion picture industry egos ...especially of those who spent more on which technology !! No one wants to admit defeat !!

Regards,

Montward

Montward, check out this page, towards the bottom are two ways to dub from DVD to HDD, depending on whether the DVD is Finalized or not.

The title thing is also my only real disappointment with the 3575.

Wabjxo...that did the trick for my dubbing issue......I was so fixated on accessing and using the "dubbing" feature from the General Setup menu as shown in the owners manual, that I completely overlooked the remote control buttons !!

So, to summarize, for a finalized DVD disc, use the remote control "Direct Dubbing" button, upon playing title start point and for unfinalized DVD, the "Dubbing" option does become available in the General Setup menu ........... ahhhhhhhhh

Thanks for going easy on an AVS forum "Newbie" Wabjxo

I think we are gonna have to "dub" you (pun intended) and a few other contributors of this great thread as the "Kings of Knowledge" when it comes to using the Philips DVDR3575H Player/Recorder !! LOL

Hey, if it weren't for Newbies, this forum would be a very dull place... everyone would know everything!

Plus, we were all newbees once upon a time.

Yes, we all have to start somewhere...thanks Chuck44, you and other forum members have also given so much to this thread ........thanks for all your great contributions also !!

I am not sure how reliable that information is. I believe that the receiver must use the time stamp from the TV station to determine the program that is being broadcast. Here in Denver, the time is often wrong. KRMA-DT, the PBS station has been slow by about 15 minutes for months. At the start of a program, TVs report the previous program, until they get 15 minutes into the program. Another station is often off by an hour or more in different directions. The program reported by a TV on that station is basically useless. Both stations seem to try to keep it a secret how to reach the people that can fix it.

I have never had a problem determining the program that I have recorded and don't find it a big deal to change the Title, so I consider it a low priority issue, as I use the unit. I would rather have an accurate station and date stamp than a program title that I cannot rely on. I find that the DVDR3575H meets my needs quite nicely. I realize that there are a number of people who have tried this unit and its Magnavox cousin who find the title situation to be totally unacceptable.

I was actually thinking of this very thing this morning. I was thinking of how much I liked my EZ series Panasonic because of this very feature. But....as noted, it only works 80%? of the time. Why, well I think because I believe it gets its info the instant it starts recording, which is also where it gets it's thumbnail for that title. The problems with this is if the station is running a little late updating its title, it says the previous show. Or pray tell you set up the recording to start 1 min early, like many of us do, well both the thumbnail and description is from the previous show. And while this feature would be really nice with the HDD, and it's large capacity for many shows, there are many times when it would/does not work. But all in all, I still would rather have it, unless if it added much to to the cost of this unit. Remember this is a VERY competitively priced unit, and I'm sure they had to make many cost savings decisions along the way, to keep it that way.

P.S. and this is way OT, but I cant help it, so please don't comment on it. I just downloaded Firefox today, on the suggestion of AVS Administrator David, and not only is it a LOT faster to load pages(for this dial up guy) but also must have a built in Spell Checker, VERY cool, for this bad speller! I'd suggest it to anyone.

I'm using Opera and find it to be faster. More secure, too.

Question for you master dubbers out there. I have recorded lots of stuff, but I don't use the dub feature much.

This past weekend I recorded the Pinks marathon on Speed channel. Since it was running most of the night, I just turned the unit on, hit record, and went to bed. Simple. I have since gone through and edited out the commercials and cut off the infomercials that came on early in the morning. Now I want to dub to DVD. How do I know how large the file is and how large it can be to dub to DVD? I have gone so far as to put it on the dub list and it tells me "disk is full" or something like that. I figured it was too large for one DVD, but how do I know where to cut it off, how much it's over, etc? I think it does show me the total record time, but the size of the file is dependant on the record quality, correct?

Oh one more thing. By just turning the unit on and hitting record, does it default to a specified record quality level or is this selectable?