Modifications to Philips DVDR3440h

Well, after sucessfully making my ehr2080 (same as polaroid 2001g) a very expensive door stop after a bad firmware flash i needed to replace my equipment.


I picked up a Philips 3440h in my local currys (blah - it was cheap though £159 as it was ex-display). I thought it would be a unit for me never to open up or fiddle with (killed 3 other units in this way!) but, alas, i cannot resist poking about with these things.


Upon opening it i can confirm:

It has a full sized enclosed Philips loader with standard IDE

Standard IDE drive (more on this later)

excellent build quality overall except for one glaring oversight------- No heatsink on the LSI chip!!!!!!! (easily fixed)


Now on the web this unit no longer seems to be receiving much attention from philips in respect of firmware updates. The last one posted is R19.15 released on 20/oct/06. I found this firmware to be a little buggy. For example, it did not remember the last selected source when you turned it on, no dvd resume and chapter edits were a little iffy. not even the "firmware information" screen worked correctly.


Closer examination of the circuit boards inside revelaed them to be stamped with "PHILIPS DVDR-34xx/ xH BOARD". interesting eh? So i figured what the heck, the guys in currys are chumps and will never know if i broke it with the wrong firmware so ill have a bit of a play.


I noted that on the philips site they still support the 3450h (almost the same unit but with bgger HD and slimmer chassis) with a brand new firmware, R19.20 released on the 7th of May this year. Checking out the fixes listed one of them was "Unit will remember last selected source on wake-up". bonus!


I downloaded it, burnt to cd, stuck it unit and blah- didnt except it. When i looked at the files burnt on CD the were name PS3450___.cub. On the last firmware release for the 3440h the files were named PS3440h___.cub I compared the two with a hex editor and they seemed very similar in structure so decided to go ahead and see if i could get my 3440h to accept it.


I renamed the files included in the firmware ZIP to be called PS3440h___.cub and burnt them to another disk.


When i put this new cd in the unit it accepted the files and the upgrade went ahead.!!!!!!!!!!!!! yay!!!!!!!


On restart the firmware works flawlessly, timer events more reliable, no lockups (probably thanks to me putting a heatsink on the LSI chip), unit remembers last selected source, likes all the media it put into it now. Even in "Firmware information" it now thinks its a 3450H!!!!!



only problem - because the 3440 and 3550 have different remtes, therewere obviousely some remote code differences. All the buttons work as they should but FF/REW no longer work if you hold down next/prev. I can live with that.


I will try to get hold of an original remote for a 3450 and see if it works with my hybrid unit.


Now for the Hard disk-------


Easy to replace, but make sure you have firmware disk to hand as the unit stores its firmware on the HD so when you replace disk it will just say "LOAD" on the front panel and eject they tray. Simply put in the disk, wait a while and eventually it will restart and the new drive will work as normal. If you have performed my firmware mod (as above) you will need to use the original PS3450h___.cub files as it will now think its a 3450 so it wont except a 3440 firmware disk (tested myself)


I have changed mine to a 400gb seagate and all is well.



hope some of you find this interesting and helpful. remember i am NOT responsible for any damages should you try any of these things and kill your unit.



thoughts would be appreciated!