Philips DVDR3575H/37 160G HDD DVD Recorder w/ ATSC tuner - Page 122  

Perhaps the 3576 has the fixes for the 3575's problems.

That would be nice.

Maybe he got lucky.

And maybe there aren't any new models on the known horizon.

And maybe he would have got up and asked other people had I prodded him like the guy who would have only looked at the brochures to determine the 3575 and 3576 are otherwise the same.

So maybe.

If the TR-50 actually comes out and sells well, I would think Philips and others may keep their HDD based DVDrs going and even offer HD capabilities.

Just wanted to update what I got from Philips:

After waiting for a month (1 week shipping to Philips, over 3 weeks from Philips), I got a new unit yesterday, same January 2008 manufacturing date. This one is even worse. The first scan it didn't pick up any lower-numbered channel. The 2nd scan, it picked non (ZERO!) DTV channels. Then I did a reset, and 3rd scan. This time it's better. It picked up some lower-numbered channels (11.x) and also higher-numbered channels. BTW, when it didn't pick up lower-numbered channels, manually switching to the channels didn't work.

Called Philips. Again they said the unit is defected and need a replacement. I complained about the lengthy wait time and was given rapid replacement department's phone number.

I remember reading someone here had to do 4 replacement to get a good one. Man, how come they don't fix the issues, or they simply don't know how to fix issues, or how to build a solid product?

I wish there are more options (DVR with a QAM tuner) out there so people don't have to go through the pain...

BigGuy, It's really unfortunate you've got a TV without a tuner or you could confirm that, w/o a box, your TV gets digital channels but the 3575 doesn't (by plugging the incoming cable dirctly into the TV).

I went to the San Francisco Bay Area HDTV thread and found lots of discussion of Comcast doing lots of work "upgrading" their system. Also Comcast is deploying Switched Digital Video (SDV) and expects to have 15% of their subscribers on SDV by the end of the year. SDV will deliver channels only to subscribers with their box who actually tune a certain channel.

You might be able to ask in that thread some specific questions that would let you know what's going on in your area? Maybe you can determine if getting another 3575 is even worth the effort... it just might be SDV or something else in the Comcast system in your area?

I read many posts of people who had cable internet talking about "traps" that affected the channels they could receive, etc.

Could be many things, including the 3575, but very hard to figure out w/o a TV tuner to compare to.

Same problem. I had to pay $20.00 shipping to send my refurb purchased from Philips back to them today. (After having two new ones from Circuit City.) They told me a new one would be handled the same as refurb. I asked about rapid replacement but they knew nothing about it. Of the three, each one has gotten worse than the one before.

It's not Comcast or SDV, at least in my area. The QAM tuners in my Sony TV and LG DR787T DVD recorder work perfectly all of the time on the same cable connection.

wajo, thanks for the info. Really appreciate your help here! I will read more on SF Bay Area HDTV thread...

I got my friend, who lives in the same town and has a TV with tuner to test for me. He has no problem getting all the local DTV/HDTV channels. So it looks like the problem is still with my 3575 unit, unless Comcast would deploy SDV to only part of the twon (I live in Fremont, CA, which is kind of a big town). I guess the last thing I could test is to bring my 3575 to my friend's house to compare with his TV tuner side by side...

Well, I bought this box because I wanted a DVR and a tuner. Since I learned about SDV here, I know sooner or later Comcast would probably make QAM tuner useless. I recently got a Philips PHDTV1 Digital Indoor TV Antenna. To my surprise, it gets me very decent DVT/HDTV channels, through 3575 tuner. (It doesn't work very well with analog channels, but I don't really care as long as digital channels work). I haven't done a careful comparison, but I don't think I can tell the difference between the pictures from the Antenna and from the cable.

I'm thinking to completely dump Comcast cable and use just Antenna as I only have basic cable anyway. If I do that, Comcast cable Internet will charge me more for not being a cable TV customer, which may force to switch to AT & T DSL. But again, I use VoIP not AT & T (SBC) local service, which makes things more complicated... Anyways, this is a whole different story. I wish we have more choices for our TV and Internet services.

What is the manufacture date of your 3575?

Last time Philips asked me to ship it for replacement at my own shipping cost. After they created RMA for me, I read from some post here and asked Philips if they could ship one to me first and I return mine after I get the new one. The customer rep tried (sounded to me it's possible) and then told me he couldn't because the RMA was all set up for my account and he couldn't change it.

I will call their Rapid Replacement Dept tomorrow (closed at 6pm EST) to see if I can make them do that this time. The number I got for Rapid Replacement Dept is 866-836-9385. Hope this helps.

Your antenna plan is exactly what I'd do if I lived in or near a major metro area like you do. I attached an amplified rabbit ears on one of my 3575's and got some really nice channels from stations 40-50 miles away in opposite directions. I'm intrigued still by reading of some people putting "real" antennas in their attic and getting great reception... if I only had one direction to point an antenna, I'd seriously consider it.

You might just have the winning combination and didn't realize it... a 3575 that loves OTA antenna signal and a cableco you'd like to dump???

P.S. Due to recent bad reports on the "Factory Refreshed" units, I deleted that link from the Sticky's first page.

About 5 years ago to clear out some space, I threw out a brand new, still boxed "tenna-rotor" after having stored it in a closet for a decade.
My thought was "What will I EVER use THAT for? EVERYTHING is cable now!"

Oh, how I could kick myself now. How was I to know that today I would be stuck with the cable company from HELL, aka Comcast. (Most of my ATSC stations are square into center city New York, but a good smattering are a full 360 degrees around.)

I'm going to resist any upgrades involving QAM because as much as I LOVE my QAM HD-LCD it breaks my heart to see Comcast encrypting one channel after another...even the Weather Channel, for god's sake!

Unless and until Congress orders cable companies to stop ramming their boxes down our throats, QAM will be a dead isssue...and until we get a new administration the FCC will demand NOTHING of cable companies.

ZIP - If your other stations are 360° from the rest of them, you shouldn't need a rotor . . .

When I bought my Plasma a few years ago I make dang sure it had a cable card slot. That way in the future, I wouldn't be bound to a box. But now it doesn't look like I'll ever put a card in there. The local cable co. Mediacom technically provides cards, but I've never heard a good thing about them. Also, that doesn't do squat for my 3575.

Luckily since I'm in a small market (Iowa) Mediacom hasn't encrypted any regular channels, or any of the Local HD channels. Knock on wood

Oh Oh! Better take their name out and your location before they read your post!

The unit I bought from the outlet had a July 2007 date. The new ones from Circuit City were Jan 2008 and Dec 2007 disproving the theory that the newer ones had the tuner problem fixed. It also seems that "factory renewed" means that they take it out of the styrofoam packaging, plug in in to see if it lights, then wrap it in bubblewrap and ship it out again.

Good luck with the rapid replacement. Keep us posted.

I called the Rapid Replacement Dept. The customer rep agreed to send me a new one first, along with a shipping label for me to send back mine. Of course, he asked for a credit card to guarantee that I will send it back. It took him 10 minutes to set up this, but pending approval -- if it gets rejected, they will call me tomorrow to do an exchange, that I send back mine first. If I don't get called, still it takes about 10 days for me to get a new one.

TheBigGuy,

Just to let you know, I (sort of) canceled my Comcast cable once I got my 3575, just as you're thinking. I just wanted to let you know that Comcast may offer a "locals only" basic cable package which will still qualify you for the internet discount. In MN, this basic-basic-cable package costs $10/mo, which will still get me the $15/mo internet discount. So, you still get a net savings of $5/mo. As it turns out, I don't get very good antenna reception in my basement, so I'm using the cable as the signal source for my 3575... so it's all good!

As a comparison: In TN Comcast Performance non-cable customer internet sevice is $59.95.

As a Comcast customer with Limited Basic cable @ $14.75 + Performance internet service @ $42.95 = $57.70

Thus We only save $2.25/month for having Limited basic cable not including taxes and other fees. For me It's better to have the cable then not.

For those who has been helping to identify my issue: I brought my 3575 (2nd one) to my friend's house, where his TV with tuner has no problem getting lower-numbered channels. My 3575 couldn't get any lower-numbered channels. So this 3575 is still defective.

I didn't get call from Philips Rapid Replacement Dept. yesterday. Looks like my request got through: I can wait for them to send a new unit before sending in mine.

wajo, I've played more with my antenna. As I'm 20+ miles from San Jose and 30+ miles from San Francisco, the antenna I got is not good enough. I can get some very clear channels as well as some shaky ones, and I can't get a couple local channels. I'll be looking to get a better antenna. A relative of mine told me that he puts an outdoor antenna in his attic and gets very good result. This is something I will try next.

If you have the option to put it outside, then you really should do so. You'll lose up to 50% of your signal in the attic. If you don't have a choice, then the attic is better than a set top model.

Hi guys.

I feel like a jerk for making my first post a request for help, but I really can't think of any options.

I bought a DVDR3575H/37 around Christmas. Everything was fine, but lately I've been having a very strange problem. Here is some info about my setup, and my problem.
Location: Toronto, Canada
Cable Co: Rogers
Setup: I have a digital package from Rogers (not HD) but since they encrypt everything, I am only using the DVDR to record from the analog channels. My normal viewing is through the Rogers box, but when I want to record something, I use the DVDR. The DVDR is not in series with the Rogers box. I have two co-ax plugs and I use one for each component.
Problem: Sometimes the timer recordings will record the wrong channel. This has happened more then once. It happened tonight. During the recording, I checked the INFO and it listed the channel that it was recording (the wrong channel). However during the Timer Programming List, it listed the correct channel. The recording seemed to have about 1 second of the correct channel at the start, but this may be due to me just leaving the DVDR on that channel earlier in the day.
I have tried unplugging for several minutes, doing the RESET through the menu, and doing the SKIP-1-2-3 reset, but none of these have solved my problem.

If anyone has any ideas I'd greatly appreciate hearing them.

Thanks

Putting the antenna in the attic loses up to 50% of my signal? Hmm... I didn't really plan to put the antenna on my roof (2-story house). How does putting it in the attic compare to putting it outside the house, say against the wall or fence, and having about 180 - 270 degree visibility? I live between San Jose and San Francisco. According to antennaweb.org, available stations are either to my North-West or South-East (spanning within 180 degree).

People at the forum has been very helpful. I'm not sure if off-topic is allowed here. Anyone has any recommendation for antenna? I saw some very good looking outdoor antennas on ebay. But I don't know if they work as good as they look.

BigGuy, You really need to go to this SF Bay Area HDTV forum and ask there about what recommended antenna for your location. You've prob. got lots of neighbors who've already tested and installed just the antenna you need for your area. Just ask for a recommendation for "Location X".

Go to the bottom of the first page that the link takes you to and click the Post Reply button on bottom left. That's place your post at the end of the thread, where everyone will be looking right now. You should also ask about on the roof or in the attic for your specific location... prob. lots of people who've done both in that highly populated area.

First time I've heard this and can think of only two possibilkities:

1. Rogers is implementing Switched Digital Video (SDV), where channels are only delivered thru the cableco box and when a one of a local group's ("Node") tunes that channel. Only Rogers can tell you if they might be implementing SDV. If they are, you could be "picking off" channels as they're delivered through your Node to others, then detuned by them so you lose that channel??? This is just a SWAG, of course.

2. This is more likely and can be easily tested. I think your description of "two coax plugs" is a likely cause. To test this, set up the recommended way (described here in detail), which is to put the 3575 1st on the coax, then coax out to the Rogers box, then coax out of the box to your TV. This allows you to watch a channel on the box while recording something else (analog channel) on your 3575. (Separate line connection from 3575 to TV, of course.)

There is NO reason for you to have separate coax inputs ("plugs") since the coax into the 3575 is a straight passthru of your Rogers digital signal... AND the 3575 passthru amplifies the signal slightly and you might get a 20% better TV pic, as some people have reported.

The 3575's amplified coax passthru is unique among current DVDRs so take full advantage of it!

With this in-line coax connection, your 3575 and cable box will be receiving THE SAME EXACT SIGNAL with no reflection or interference from your current separate "plugs." With the exact same AMPLIFIED signal, there should be no reason, other than SDV or a defective 3575 tuner, that could be causing a mysterious change in channel.

Wajo, thanks for the ideas.

1) I'm fairly certain that it's not a SDV problem as I am currently only using analog cable into the 3575.

2) I did not want to use the recommended setup because in the past I had a lot of problems with macro-blocking and digital channel loss with my Rogers box, so I didn't want components between the wall and the Rogers box, especially when the useless service tech showed up.

I will try the recommended setup with a few timer programs tonight and report back tomorrow.

3) A defective tuner seems unlikely since this only happens with timer recordings.

I was wondering if somehow my Rogers box was sending an IR signal (VCR sync info or something) to the 3575 that caused it to become confused. Yes, now is the time when you mock and laugh at me...

Not in this forum.

I think you'll like the in-line coax setup, it really is THE way to go. The only thing I didn't ask is if you have any premium services that you order thru the coax. If so, that might be a problem since the 3575 might block the return signal. Try it tho and I think it'll be good to go!

Your idea on the Rogers box messing with things is very possible since the whole DST effect on DVDRs started when people on cable/sat boxes started receiving their FW uploads with the new DST rules, which conflicted with the "hard-coded" rules in their older DVDR FW.

You should also try setting your clock manually (1st Clock option) AND turning Auto Clock and DST Off (2nd and 3rd Clock options).

Last week my "renewed" Philips 3575 (purchased from Philips) arrived. I set it up for the first time yesterday.

After setting the 3575 up, tuning the channels, etc., I programmed three timer recordings to the hard drive. Today when I powered the 3575 on a box appeared announcing "System Error 2 (SE-2), Power Off." I followed those instructions. After powering up again all seems OK.

While I have not studied every word in the User Manual I have looked for the System Error 2, finding nothing. Any thoughts?

It appears that two of the timer hard drive recordings are OK, with the third yet to record. I just initiated a manual hard drive recording.

SE2 appeared to only one other user, as I can remember, and his error was apparently a chapter mark error after he had editied his titles and was dubbing them. His report is here.

Apparently, your SE2 was just some time after timer recording w/o editing?

There can be a problem with auto-chapter marking on the HDD. Pioneer doesn't allow it, maybe Panny too, but I've had "colliding chapter marks" when one of my units was set for 5-min. auto chapter marks. Could be why others don't allow it on the HDD?

Every Scene Delete you make on the 3575 in editing adds another chapter mark and since many are commercials, you can be setting marks rather close together at times. MPEG2 rules specify marks at specific locations and intervals.

After my 5-min problem, I ran w/o auto-chapter marking for awhile, but have settled now on 10-min. marks cuz they're handy for editing, and I don't really edit often anymore.

If you want to now or in future delete chapter marks, I found it easiest to use the edit menu and start from the last chapter mark, delete that, then each mark ratchets back to you, so you don't have to chase them down. You can only delete chapter marks one at a time on the HDD, but for DVDs there's an "All" command.

Not sure if any of this applies to your specific situation, but then ... ?

Following the Philips setup I did choose the five minute setting for chapters. I browsed around on the channels for a time.

I did note two peculiarities:

1-Soon after scanning the channels (through a Comcast coaxial feed without a STB) I started to browse the channels. In my initial browsing of the digital channels I found several subchannels that I watched for a few minutes and then I moved on. Fifteen minutes later some of these same subchannels couldn't be tuned in and seemed to be gone.

2-Perhaps an hour or two later I set up a Panasonic DMR-EZ17 (using the Philips RF output as the signal source for the Panasonic's RF input). Then I scanned the Panasonic's channels. I found that some of the Panasonic's digital subchannels were, in several instances, a different selection than those found on the Philips.

After a while I programmed the Philips with three hard drive timer recordings, all to the same analog channel.

Somewhat after the first timer hard drive recording concluded I auditioned the recording to check quality. It was entirely satisfactory. There was no editing of any kind. Then I powered the machine off. That was yesterday evening.

Then, late this afternoon I powered the Philips on, finding the System Error 2 message, just as the earlier poster reported. The rest is just as I reported in my earlier post.

Hi! New member here.

I don't know how to start a post, so this is a reply, but not really.

I've read hundreds of posts here in the last few days, and they have been a big help. I have two questions.

1) Is it possible to replace the harddrive myself if it breaks or if I can buy a bigger one someday? Is it easy? Do you have to buy it from Philips or any computer hardware outlet? Is it IDE, ATA, PATA, SATA or a secret format? :-)

2) I think I should buy the DVDR3575H if I can find one, because of all the stories I read about not finding one. But otoh, I read here, maybe 400 posts before today's, that a new model is coming out in April. Any idea what new features or fixes or improvements will be in it? I haven't read the last 300 posts yet, and I'm going to be near Walmart tomorrow, and their webpage says they have one of the current model.

Thanks for any help you can give. MMikeM MikeM was taken.