Magnavox 537, 535, 533, 515, 513, 2160A, 2160, 2080 & Philips 3576, 3575 - Page 52

Just installed my new Philips DVDR3576H (Hard Disk DVD Recorder). It has HDMI output with selectable Rez 480p, 720p, 1080i & 1080p. I replaced the Philips HDRW720P which I've had for 4-5 years. It served me well but the timer stopped working, a perfect excuse to get a new one. The DVDR3576H has an ATSC tuner but its only standard, wont do HD. I put my Directv via S-vid to the recorder then run it to the TV, looks great, this is only for recording, I actually watch my directv on another HDMI input straight from the direct receiver to the Sony TV. Still, the Philips has a super nice picture when fed good sources. I also took my Toshiba HD-DVD A20 out of the loop. Playing DVD's looks just as good on the new philips recorder. Besides, HD-DVD is now dead, I only watch standard DVD's on it and both the toshiba and philips upscale to 1080p. Killed two birds with one stone. I really dont understand the ATSC tuner being only standard. I know the recorder cant play back HD at its max rez, but still, HD broadcast fed to it look WAY better than standard feeds, so why they didnt allow it to do HD and just down rez it for playback I do not know. Anyway, all in all I am happy with it so far. Its much easier to navigate and operate than my previous philipsHDRW720p.

Ok, now I'm getting upset with my 3576. The time shift buffer sucks on this one compared to the 720p. Actually from what I've seen so far, it dont have a true time shift buffer like the HDRW720p/17. You have to push stop twice to start recording, then you cant return to live without canceling whats in the buffer already. From what I've seen so far and been able to figure out, its not truly a time shift buffer that allows you to move forward and backward freely. On my old 720p, as soon as I tuned to EXt 2 where I have my Directv hooked, it began recording automatically and would hold 6 hours. That means if you started it up at 4pm, went to town then came home and started watching at 9pm, you could back all the way up to 4pm and skip around a forward and backward as you please with a simple touch of a button. Also, while you were surfing, it continued to record the actual program. Man if I can beat this I may send mine back and hook up my HDRW720p again. How disappointing

Darn, wish I would have known about the H2160 before I bought the 3576H. Oh well, I cant stand not having the auto buffer like my 720 had, I may buy the new H2160 and send the 3576H back

BTW, I usually dont do duplicate post, but I wanted to find out for sure what was going on with this new recorder. Obviously I misunderstood the way it works. I was under the impression it was exactly like the 720p but more advanced with HDMI and more features.

Wow, a huge thread. Can someone please confirm... these units can pass OTA HD w/o downrezzing to an HDTV right? ... Just can't record in HD right?

Thanks, but let me also ask another way... can these units be used in place of set-top OTA boxes or an HDTV's own ATSC tuner to receive and watch OTA hi-def signals in hi-def?

Thanks. Says SDTV tuner on the box, so that explains it. Too bad.

Hello, I found this forum after purchase of a 3575H that got shipped back three weeks later when it started to lock up during playback and then ultimately would not power up at all.

Philips sent me, not a new 3575H as they specified, but a refurbished 3676H. Should I be happy with this?

My real issue though is that some, and just some, OTA-sourced 4:3 and 16:9 format material sent from the 76H (both real time and HDD recorded) fails to fill the screen on my 16:9 format television. The same material viewed thru the television tuner does fill the screen. The "Aspect Ratio" setting on the 76H is set to 16:9. What gives?

The product performs most functions well, if a bit slow at times - I think it's great. Thank you.

First test: with the source material that does not fill the screen, can you use the aspect ratio control on the display to H-Fill (or justify) the image -- i.e. not zoom but stretch it horizontally.

well i must say, the knowledge here of this unit is certainly top notch. from browsing these threads (don't have time to read every page) i have a few questions/concerns before i buy this unit. i currently have the panasonic dmr-eh50 with the 100gb HD (though it may be only an 80gb, panasonic is a little sketchy on that, listing both). it has just the NTSC tuner and a IR blaster to change cable box channels. i've been very happy with this recorder, the only problem i have had with it is it doesn't like cheap disks (store or name brands) so i buy only taiyo yudin disks now and have a 100% burn rate.

i do most of my recordings in SP mode then highspeed dub the ones i want on dvd. this panasonic unit will high speed dub a 2hr in SP mode disc in about 14 minutes (1x-16x disc recording at 8x the units max record speed), and another 2 minutes to finalize which i can do within 5- 10 minutes or so of a scheduled recording. i saw earlier in one of the threads that this unit takes about 30 minutes to high speed dub and you can't finalize within 1 hour of a scheduled recording? if thats true that would drive me nuts waiting that long.

i have comcast digital cable (the whole works, movie channels, on demand etc) with standard digital boxes and 1 HD dual tuner dvr box hooked to my hitachi plasma. i have my panasonic dmr-eh50 hooked to 1 of the standard digital boxes with the IR blaster hooked up to change the cable box for scheduled recordings. i'm assuming this phillips and the magnavox model h2160 does not have an IR blaster for cable boxes? this could be a hassle if i connect it to a digital cable box and need to manually change the station on it before every scheduled recording.

right now i could hook it up without a cable box and get the current NTSC channels on my cable and use its tuner and therefore not needing the IR blaster. currently there are no OTA digital chanels in my area and none on my cable below the chennel 100 which requires the digital cable box to get. i'm assuming that come febuary though that the NTSC tuner in this unit is going to be 100% useless and since its comcast they will make it so the digital tuner is useless for the lower basic channels requiring me to hook it up to a digital cable box thus extorting even more money out of me. is this correct? or will the lower channels still be viewable without a cable box on any digital tuner, comcast is being very vague about this which is never a good sign.

i tend to Finalize my discs right away, so the compatability issue shouldn't be much of a problem

The government mandated analog cutoff only applies to over-the-air.

As far as your cable company, it depends on what their plans are, but they are probably intentionally being vague so that you will upgrade to digital. Many areas are eventually going all digital (except for the lifeline basic locals) in order to reclaim the bandwith for new HD channels.

Some areas have said that they have no plans on ditching extended basic analog anytime soon, but it seems to me that this is mostly in the more rural areas. So even if they do eventually change, it should be much later than the average larger city/metro area.

If your cable company is definitely not being clear that they are going all-digital soon and being "vague" about it, I would just take that to mean that they really aren't planning on switching over anytime soon, because if they were, they'd certainly be sending out a bunch of warnings about it. They'd have to.

my tv digital tuner detects 8 chanels, but 7 of them have nothing on them

So, should I get the maggy or the philips? Is the h2160 less quality compared to the phillips?

wajo, Kelson,

Regarding the lack of H-fill on television screen for some 76H material...

My system is simply OTA signal coax to 76H and pass thru to Sony LCD TV. I found *some* 76H-sourced material will not fill the screen no matter what controls are diddled on either unit - ONLY when using Component output. The HDMI output and television tuner provide the full picture without zoom. This issue seems to be specific to two Denver stations, must be a function of their broadcast specs combined with some peculiarities of the Component path related to the recorder or TV set.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

I have a similar experience with a 4:3 screen only with network HD. I live in NYC, and it seems that the networks broadcast in 4:3, and although my TV is set to 16:9 (stretch), the network HDs come in 4:3 with black bars. I don't know why they broadcast a 4:3 image, but I assumed that you can't "stretch" an HD signal and still retain an HD picture. All the SDs "obey the TV" and come in stretched 16:9.

You're not getting an HD picture off the Philips 75 and 76 anyway.

Anyone know where I can find replacement parts for my DVDR3576H/37? I have a broken DVD door hinge. I think the entire front panel will need replacing.

New member so please be gentle :-)

I bought a 3576 at Sam's a couple of months ago to replace an ILO DVR that crapped out. I like it a lot and happened to be at a Walmart that was clearing these out so I picked up another one ($90!!!). I set up both in the same area as we often record 2 shows at the same time. The only problem I have is that the two recorders both respond to either of the two remotes.

Is there a way to set one up so that I can program these seperately without covering up the IR port on one?

I apologise if this has been covered in this thread before, but after reading a few pages my tired old eyes started to get fuzzy :-)

Thanks!