Commentary On The Philips 3575H HDD DVD Recorder - Page 2

If I understand your question on "easier," I can select any frame in the video to start and stop a cut using the FF/REW buttons to get close, then the PREV/NEXT buttons to advance or go back a frame at a time. It's all "visual" however, and this is what you might have meant...there are no counters or display to show a specific frame number while looking for an edit point.

I decided to test my edited test title for "pauses" at edit points and found that RT dub leaves ~1-3/4-sec pause, consisting of 27 "odd" frames... 4 frames of still, 5 frames of black, then 18 frames of still again. A HS dub leaves a clean 0-frame cut but the pauses are 1.5 sec before finalizing and 3 sec after finalizing.

Thank you wabjxo.

I agree with Gerry on the philips not holding a candle to the panasonic e-80h. I presently bought the philips as I need a recorder with atsc tuner. Unfortunately the Philips is as good as it gets on the market as of present. It is sad Panasonic is not making a recorder with hard drive and atsc tuner for OTA Broadcasts. I am still holding out hope as I will need one more recorder in the future. Here are a couple things you can do with the Philips to make your recording experience much better.

Number 1:
As Gerry stated, the remote is unbelievably cheap and terrible. All the buttons are extremely small on a very small remote and the print is almost impossible to read, especially if your site isn't the best like mine.
The first thing I did is went down to Wal-Mart and found a very attractive Sony Universal Learning remote for only $25! The learning one is what you want over one of those cheaper pre-programmed ones. You can take all the commands off your TV Remote and junk Philips remote and place them on the easiest buttons for you to remember so you can control both. I put all the TV functions on the black buttons and DVR Functions on the White buttons. As far as price and quality, I give that remote a 10 for price and quality. So if you need a good remote, you now know where to get one and what brand.

Number 2:
Use the component, more expensive video-audio cables. You will get unbelievable picture quality and color off this cheap unit if you hook it up with a component setup. I like the picture better on this one than my Panasonic DMR E80-h. But in all fairness, recording OTA Broadcast in Digital over Analog definitely has something to do with that.

Let's hold out hope and complain to Panasonic about manufacturing another DVR Recorder with digital tuner and hard drive. I would be willing to pay $200 more for a Panasonic one like I am talking about over the Philips. Unfortunately Philips is as good as it gets right now if you want OTA Recording with a digital tuner and hard drive.

A number of us who are OTA-only are awaiting (nay, pinning our hopes on) the arrival of the Echostar TR-50. This was announced as a full function hi-def DVR for us OTA users, employing the Dish program guide -- IOW, a TiVo without the monthly fee. Big carrot, besides recording in HD, is the pair of USB ports for plugging in external HDD's for expansion. Given I can get a 500GB external on-line for under $100, I'm finding that a real attractive feature. The unit does not have a burner, but if you have an old Panasonic/Pioneer/Toshiba HDD model like most of us do, you just hook it up to the VCR-out (I really hope they name it something a bit more modern) of the TR-50 and record off the line inputs for those things you really want to keep. There is a thread on it in the HDTV Recorders forum for more info.

P.S. you took a real chance recalling this old thread and posting something negative about the 3575. That opened up a real can of nasty last time.

Actually, I'm proud to say 3575 owners have been pretty respectful... VERY respectful... of other brands and haven't regularly "dropped in" to their threads to badmouth those units.

It's primarily the Panasonic owners who seem to relish badmouthing other brands, even dropping in just to say "Panasonic doesn't have problems like yours" but then offering nothing "constructive." Or the most famous of all in the midst of a discussion of problems with a different machine: "You don't hear about Panasonics having a lot of problems" when there were 13 threads on the first page at that time with woeful tales of Panasonic problems!

The OP's post was attacked primarily cuz it was a specious post on the text-entry method used in the 3575... a method similar to that used by BILLLIONS of cell-phone users at the time... I can't get my daughter or her friends to switch to phones with a keyboard "cuz that's for old people"! Also, based on the OP's subsequent universal "statements," his post was obviously intended to trash the new and well-received 3575.

One statement alone was so out-of-line that the backlash could have been much worse, maybe even from a Moderator: "Philips has some stinking nerve talking about respect when it can release this recorder on the U.S. market, knowing full well it is an intentionally defectively designed unit."

One of the OP's later posts ended with this famous line, also Moderator-worthy:

"In a few months, the 2008 CES will have the latest technology on display. Hopefully, Panasonic and Toshiba will introduce new HDD DVD recorders for the US market at the CES. If that is the case, the Philips 3575 will end up in that trashbin of discontinued products, eBay."

Enter the 3576!

Next year, the 3577? DéjÃ* vu all over again

I use the output from my Philips to my E80 with great results.
Set both timers and keep the one you like the best.It is interesting the Philips recording is often to dark to my liking but the output to the E80 is always great. So in that sense my E80 SDTV recorder cost me 600$ .
Joe

I love my 3575.

And considering I got it as an Open Box at Circuit City for $115, I have ZERO COMPLAINTS.

Especially at that price.

Could have gotten another one at that price(two were available), but opted on one since I have read about the problems people have had with them.

But after following the instructions on what you whould do with recordings(especially with editing and title divide in order to avoid lockups) I have been nothing but SUPER PLEASED and regret not grabbing the other one.

P.S.

Kelson,

Is this NEW Dish TR-50 supposed to be available to use for people who DO NOT sign up to Dish network?

Or is that a requirement?

Also does it have a QAM tuner as well as ATSC for those who MAY use that?

That's a very interesting observation. You are obviously recording the tuner output of the 3575 into both the 3575 and the E-80, yet the 3575 recording is too dark and the E-80 recording is good. Actually I should say playing back not recording. A number of people have complained the picture on the 3575 is too dark when played back through HDMI and some are happier when the conection is S-video or composite. How is your 3575 hooked up.

Also, is your TV a 720p with the Specs showing "720p (768p)?

Click the link I cited above in post #34. The first post of the thread has comprehensive info that is currently known. No need to sign up for Dish, it's strictly a consumer DVR box for OTA only. Will be released under Slingbox brand. Future Internet connectivity planned for downloading pay-for-play content in the future -- their hook into Dish, I suppose. No QAM for cable, they don't want to step on Comcast's toes.

I use S-video to E80 and the tv is 720 p 26 inch VISIO but the Philips always flashes 1080 i when it starts . It is also dark on my 1080 i 32 inch SEPTRE, played on a TOSHIBA HD player and both are connected with HDMI.
Joe

If your 26" Vizio is a VW26L or similar, it's a 768p TV (advertised as the more familiar 720p), which is good to know since those seem to be the TVs that exhibit darkness with the 3575's HDMI. This adds another data point to our search for the source of the "darkness."

Here's the Vizio description for the VW26L:

"VIZIO's newest VW26L 26" Liquid Crystal Display TV is the perfect addition to any home or as a secondary TV for a sewing room, game room or a spare bedroom. The VIZIO VW26L has an integrated HDTV and standard definition TV tuner, high 1366x768 resolution and best of all, supports TV format at 1080i!! At less than 8-inches thick with its stand, the VIZIO VW26L will certainly impress with its breathtaking brightness and sleek bezel design. The VIZIO VW26L. Where Vision Meets Value."

Thats the one
Joe

I like to be precise. Can you please clarify, is this correct?

You have the 3575 attached to a 720p Visio via HDMI.
You have a Toshiba HD-DVD attached to a 1080 Septre via HDMI.
When you record a disk on the 3575 and play it on the 3575 to the 720p it is dark.
When you play the same 3575 recorded disk on the Toshiba to the 1080 it is also dark.

Is the above correct? If so can you answer the following:

If you record a disk on the E80 and play it on the 3575 into the 720p, is it also dark or OK (OK = looks the same as if played on the E-80).
If you play the same E80 recorded disk on the Toshiba into the 1080, is it dark or OK.
Is a commercially recorded DVD played on the 3575 into the 720p dark or OK.

thanks

I only had the 3575 for a week. Other than the remote which I solved by getting a much better universal, I thought it was ok. That is until last night. When set to record a show onto the Hard-drive, it did not record. It went to the channel it was supposed to record on and just said "scanning". I couldn't do nothing to get it off with the menu, or by trying to turn power off. It's as if it was totally locked up while attempting to go to record. Finally I pulled the main plug out. Then it went back to normal and recorded the rest of the shows I set last night to record for mostly testing purposes. Did anyone ever here of this problem or have it with their unit? I would appreciate your input as I will either exchange it or return it. It might only do that 1 out of 10 recordings, but that is unacceptable, especially if you recorded something you were really looking forward to watching and it did not record.
Thank You

Since you're OTA, it's odd... the 3575 loves OTA and I can't remember anyone else losing tuning with OTA.

Unless it was a freak antenna/signal thing, I'd think you should return it and get a Panny to complement your E80.

You have not mentioned in your posts: did you buy the unit new from a retailer or did you buy it "used" (i.e. an open-box return or a refurbished unit from Philips).

I bought it at Shopko last week on sale for $260. The box was sealed, but I thought it was kind of odd the batteries were in the remote. I have a feeling it may have been a unit that was returned for the same problem and they done a quick repackaging job. I guess all I can do is see how often it happens and return it for hopefully a brand new unit. I was just wondering if this was a problem, but I guess not.
Thank You

That's a sure sign of an open-box return. No manufacturer would ever ship live batteries installed in a remote. I would return it immediately on principal; they sold you something used as new.

The E80 recording,live output from Philips is fine played on everything .The same Philips recording is dark on HDMI but lighter when played on Composite but still not as light as the E80.
Joe

"2. Its remote control is so badly designed that I think it was intentional, like the typewriter QWERTY keyboard. "

I've given up trying to learn/use al the various remotes for the many devices I own, I just map everything out on my MX-500 so things are fairly consistent and learn/program as necessary and then I have one remote to rule them all. I know others do similar with other learning remotes. I post this only because I have seen numerous comments about the Phillips remote, but not much about using an alternate (better designed) remote. FWIW.

Thanks Wajo,
So far so good with it. It hasn't locked up (not recorded because stuck scanning) since I unplugged the main power cord last time. I've been doing timer recordings like nuts because if it were to do it once more I would take it back. Perhaps by unplugging it when it was stuck it did something? I'll probably spend 30 more dollars before the 90 day warranty is up and get the 1 year store warranty to be on the safe side. Then I'll return it before the one year store warranty is up for a brand new one even if it is working great because I'm Po'd Shopko sold me a returned one repackaged with batteries still in remote.

It does not even come close to comparing to my Panny E-80h for editing, etc. but all I want is it to do a quality job recording digital OTA Broadcast. With that massive 160GB HD you can set it on highest quality setting and still have all the room you need. So far so good after my last problem. Get yourself a good universal remote for it like I mentioned in one of my previous posts. The Sony universal "learning" remote I got at Wal-Mart works like a dream controlling TV and recorder main functions.

I've been pretty happy with my 3575. I had a lot of niggling complaints about the UI at first - as with all complex devices, I don't think they do nearly enough testing and refinement before releasing products. But since the recording /playback quality is flawless (for me), it always records reliably, and I can easily transfer recordings to and from my PC via DVD+RW, it leaves a very positive impression in the long run. I'm recording from HD satellite receiver via S-Video, playing back via HDMI to a Panasonic plasma HDTV. I would probably have preferred to buy a Panasonic recorder, since I like the quality of their products, but it was MUCH more expensive, and they aren't without some UI flaws too.

BTW one minor glitch I've noticed a few times lately is that the recorder seems to stay on after a series of timed recordings. The first few times it happened I figured I must somehow have failed to turn it off, but now I'm sure that it does sometimes stay on.

I've had that happen a couple of times also, but since I set my Clock manually and turned auto-clock and DST off, hasn't happened again... knock on wood.

I have always set my clock manually (no OTH connection), so I don't think that's the cause.

I got this in 2007,its been a joy,the high speed dubbing,and making movies etc..but lately.. its so weird..
whenever i get done with a 50pk of disks.,its temperamental,it gives me error msgs from the very first disk of a new pack..two different brands,two different stores,and whenever i buy a 100 pk or 50 that works,it does em all..until............ that last disk..then........time to start over...since it doesent do it during the pack.. it cant be lasers..or i need the burner replaced..right? im so tired of buying new packs just to be told from the very 1st disk that none of them will work..if the first one wont work...NONE of the package will.........so PLZ... someone tell me... WTF IS THE problem with this machine?
also...im disabled..low income and rely on this alot for my tv and movie entertainment...so anyone with a good suggestion...plz...help...thanks.

I copied your post and am putting it in the latest thread for this machine... this thread is very old.

Click here to go to your post there and see responses from current users.

Click #1 in my sig. for a list of other help files for future ref.

It may be just coincidence. There's no reason why the first few discs in a stack would be different from the rest, and I don't think the DVD writer has any kind of memory about the last disc type you burned. It's possible that there's some sort of physical damage to the first couple of discs, or that the supplier shipped a mixed batch, but it seems unlikely that would be consistent.

With any DVD writer I tend to stick with disc brands that have worked successfully in the past, although that's no guarantee that the disc supplier won't change manufacturers. All DVD writers have a table in the firmware of specific manufacturer media IDs and recommended write strategies, but obviously it can only cover a limited number of specific manufacturers, and it tends to get out of date over time. Philips updated the 3575 DVD writer firmware for the first year, but they've long since stopped updating. But it should still continue to work just fine with most discs.

With DVD RWs I tend to write and erase them once completely (or format them fully on the PC without quick format) before I rely on them for recording on the 3575. For some reason there's often a glitch or two the first time through, but it clears up after the first write and erase cycle and the disc is fine after that.