I finally picked up my new DVDR3576H on Friday (manuf. date April 2008!) and spent an afternoon experimenting with setting it up. Please note I'm in Canada so some of these differences to what's been posted in the States may be due to different cable company tactics and even different Federal regulations than in the U.S.
I have a Sony Trinitron CRT TV (with S-Video input), a STB with basic cable plus a "Package" that includes things like CNN, A&E etc. I don't subscribe to any digital or movie channels. However all of the Package channels are scrambled so they can only be accessed with the STB.
As per the wajo instructions I first connected the Philips directly to my cable and did a channel scan. Only basic cable channels came up - no surprise extras as reported by some people. I also didn't see any difference in pic quality between the STB and the Philips - definitely better sound from the Philips but not pic. Also, no auto-clock setup. After at least half an hour I set the clock manually.
I connected the Philips first in line - then the STB as per wajo's instructions but something weird happened. After about 20 minutes the STB stopped displaying any picture or sound - only the menu options worked. I experimented with the STB outputs (switching S-Video with Composite) and finally "recycled" it (unplug for a minute and plug in again) and it worked.
Then I put in a commercial DVD and watched an hour of a movie. After I stopped the DVD - I saw the same thing - no picture, no sound. When I read the STB manual's troubleshooting it said that one of the causes of no pic/sound is a "splitter" placed before the STB. So, I figured that the STB might think the Philips is acting like a splitter, and since there was no noticeable difference in pic quality and only basic cable on the Philips I switched them and put the STB back to first in line.
Then I tried to do a test record on the HDD. Problem was that when I pressed REC-MODE nothing happened on screen. No visible menu came up. I didn't notice till today that I have to select HDD or DVD first. So I tried to set the timer. It allowed me to select HDD. When I came back later I saw that the clock had jumped ahead by about 4 hours at some point - so the timer record never reached the start time.
I am going to be transferring old VHS tapes to the Philips but the problem with the video inputs on the Philips and my TV is that there is only ONE line-in on the back, line-in 2 is on the front which is fine for a camera but if you're going to leave these units permanently connected in your living room you might not want Composite cables hanging all over the place permanently. So I devised a splitter system using two separate 4-way video switcher boxes that goes like this:
Box 1 controls TV input with STB, Philips, stand-alone DVD player, old Pio Laser Disc player.
Box 2 controls Philips input from STB and 3 VCRs.
A fairly complicated wiring setup, especially the audio splitting (to stereo amp as well) but it all works. I can post a diagram if anyone is interested.
Charles
I have a Sony Trinitron CRT TV (with S-Video input), a STB with basic cable plus a "Package" that includes things like CNN, A&E etc. I don't subscribe to any digital or movie channels. However all of the Package channels are scrambled so they can only be accessed with the STB.
As per the wajo instructions I first connected the Philips directly to my cable and did a channel scan. Only basic cable channels came up - no surprise extras as reported by some people. I also didn't see any difference in pic quality between the STB and the Philips - definitely better sound from the Philips but not pic. Also, no auto-clock setup. After at least half an hour I set the clock manually.
I connected the Philips first in line - then the STB as per wajo's instructions but something weird happened. After about 20 minutes the STB stopped displaying any picture or sound - only the menu options worked. I experimented with the STB outputs (switching S-Video with Composite) and finally "recycled" it (unplug for a minute and plug in again) and it worked.
Then I put in a commercial DVD and watched an hour of a movie. After I stopped the DVD - I saw the same thing - no picture, no sound. When I read the STB manual's troubleshooting it said that one of the causes of no pic/sound is a "splitter" placed before the STB. So, I figured that the STB might think the Philips is acting like a splitter, and since there was no noticeable difference in pic quality and only basic cable on the Philips I switched them and put the STB back to first in line.
Then I tried to do a test record on the HDD. Problem was that when I pressed REC-MODE nothing happened on screen. No visible menu came up. I didn't notice till today that I have to select HDD or DVD first. So I tried to set the timer. It allowed me to select HDD. When I came back later I saw that the clock had jumped ahead by about 4 hours at some point - so the timer record never reached the start time.
I am going to be transferring old VHS tapes to the Philips but the problem with the video inputs on the Philips and my TV is that there is only ONE line-in on the back, line-in 2 is on the front which is fine for a camera but if you're going to leave these units permanently connected in your living room you might not want Composite cables hanging all over the place permanently. So I devised a splitter system using two separate 4-way video switcher boxes that goes like this:
Box 1 controls TV input with STB, Philips, stand-alone DVD player, old Pio Laser Disc player.
Box 2 controls Philips input from STB and 3 VCRs.
A fairly complicated wiring setup, especially the audio splitting (to stereo amp as well) but it all works. I can post a diagram if anyone is interested.
Charles