Forum Archive Home -> DVD Recorders -> Any reason(s) NOT to buy the Philips 3595?
Any reason(s) NOT to buy the Philips 3595? | ||||
| Trollheart posted 2008 Mar 11 08:41 | ||||
| Just in the final phase, waiting for the money to hit the account, then I'm off out the door on Saturday to purchase one of these fine machines.
Before I do, does ANYONE thee have ANY valid reason I shouldn't? Everything I've heard about this recorder so far has been generally positive, often glowing, which leads me to wonder am I ignoring some basic flaw? My wishlist: Record from external (hooked via SCART) SKY box Play/record DVD-RAM (I know it doesn't do this, and am slowly coming to terms with it...) Edit out commercial breaks, bits before and after prog so can be dumped onto DVD Divide progs Combine(?) progs Play MP3s and DVDs with MP3s on them Play "mixed" MP3 tracks, ie very long files made up of many tracks mixed together Pause and resume these mixes at the proper point Chase play Play CDR/CDRW Timer functions Automatic shutoff of recording prog after set time High-speed dubbing with no/little loss of quality Hook up to home stereo amp/speakers USB port Play DIVX files Make playlists on HDD/DVD Shuffle play for music files/discs A lot, I know, and I also know through research that the player does a lot of this anyway. I just want to see if anyone knows if it does ALL of these, or if indeed there is something it doesn't do. Any reasons at all why I shouldn't hand over my cash? Obviously, replies from people with this recorder most welcome. Please note also I live in Ireland, and am a pain in the *** as I have asked about this machine in various other threads, but I just want to be sure that the recorder which will hopefully be serving my needs for the next few years is the right one! Thx all! TH | ||||
| samijubal posted 2008 Mar 11 12:30 | ||||
| Philips itself would be the reason not to but. I don't know about European equipment, but everything they sell in the U.S. ends up refurb at Philips outlet shortly after it's release. I just saw the 3575 refurb on Ben's Bargains a couple of days ago. Philips is one of the most unreliable companies out there. | ||||
| wabjxo posted 2008 Mar 11 12:38 | ||||
ROFL... now THAT's funny! :D | ||||
| dun4cheap posted 2008 Mar 11 12:45 | ||||
| I see refurbs from just about all brands. You can go to the Sony factory and get refurbs all the time. I guess if your selling a million units you would expect some failure rates. It would be pretty unrealistic if you didn't. I guess on the other hand for $40 or $60 you don't really expect it to last 10 years, not to mention the fact that the technology will be completely outdated. I am not familiar with the 3595 unit, but my dp642 is now over two years old and has taken a beating and is still going.
So if it does what you want, then kudos. From what I have seen with the newer models is they play more stuff than the 642, a lot of them now offer usb2 support, so they are even better than my 642. | ||||
| samijubal posted 2008 Mar 11 13:49 | ||||
| We're talking recorders here, not players. They aren't $40 or $60. All companies have some refurbs, they don't have everything they sell refurb shortly after being released. Philips is terrible for reliability. | ||||
| wabjxo posted 2008 Mar 11 13:50 | ||||
ROFLagain... Stop! My sides are splitting! :D | ||||
| LCSHG posted 2008 Mar 11 13:51 | ||||
| Refurbished
A lot of these units have been returned because the operator didn’t understand the good or bad points, or operation of a unit, and rather than do so, just returned it I refer to much of this as Operator Error and a failure to understand.. As an example liton tossed in the towel in the US market and I’m sure their experience with the ilo brand and Wal-Mart with its liberal return policy, had a hand Refurbished can be a good bargan if through the factory with warranty PS I have a Sanyo 27” CRT flat screen TV that was some 1/3 the cost of a Sony and I feel as good or better than the Sony Its now some 6 years old, still works grreat – And the 27” flat screen CRT is a Philips. I picked up a Philips 3960 upconvert unit and it works fine with any DVD disk. | ||||
| dun4cheap posted 2008 Mar 11 13:56 | ||||
Once again this is not true, they all have defects, some companies choose not refurb them, or they go to auction houses. I have see recorders down to $40-$60 ass well. I have also seen them re-badged. | ||||
| samijubal posted 2008 Mar 11 14:26 | ||||
| What other company has an outlet store that sells nothing but their refurb junk? I've been in electronics repair for many years. Philips is cheap crap. | ||||
| jman98 posted 2008 Mar 11 14:52 | ||||
| Philips has its share of haters. Some of it is deserved. Some of it is not. The only advice I have for the original poster is that he should realize that today's DVD players are built thin because that's what the marketplace wants. This means that they have no cooling fans (no room for one), so they have to air cool. You need a lot of open space around any DVD player you use to make sure it air cools properly. This can prevent your player from dieing an early death from heat problems. Some people don't properly air cool their players and then blame the player manufacturer. Sometimes people just get junk.
Philips is cheap for sure and you do get what you pay for, but they make players that are sometimes better than others in their same class. Philips players can usually be changed to region free mode without too much hassle. Philips players support such "exotic" (ha ha) formats as VCD and SVCD, which some of the big boys won't touch. samijubal - Want to help? Then why don't you suggest a non-Philips player that you think will meet his needs instead of your constant "Philips sux" type comments. We get that you don't like Philips. Fine. But unless you are willing to tell him something you think is better, you're just making noise and being part of the problem. | ||||
| Trollheart posted 2008 Mar 11 15:05 | ||||
| Thanx guys for your help, and I tend to agree about Samijubal's comments. I got in the first reply that he/she hated Philips. I too disliked them, mainly though over their oppostion (as I remember it) to DVD-RAM and trying ot make their VR discs the norm, but I'm now prepared, having read the reviews and spoken to people on this forum, to give them another go.
For the record, the unit sells in one outlet for EUR 299 (about USD 550?) but in another for EUR 450! That's not cheap, at least, not to me. When I originally bought my Panasonic HS2 it was over 700 Sterling, although that was about 5 years ago. What I like about the 3595 is the big hard disc (ooer!) --- 250 gig --- the hi-speed dubbing (which mollifies me to the fact that it doesn't support DVD-RAM) and its apparent ability to play MP3 files, discs and playlists. Now, if someone else has something negative to say (in a constructive way) about this recorder, I'm happy to listen. The last thing I want to do is buy one and then find out that there was something bad about it that, had I known at the time, I would not have purchased it. I really haven't seen any evidence of that so far though. If anyone has alternatives for around the same money (EUR 300) that has basically the same specs, please do let me know. I can see nothing but praise for this machine, so so far so good. TH | ||||
| jjeff posted 2008 Mar 11 15:15 | ||||
| I agree that the current state of DVD recorders is rather pathetic. I also agree that Philips has made some products of questionable build quality, and maybe still does, but IMO the 3575 is not one of the questionable ones.
Having owned a 3575 I say this from first hand experience, can Samijubal say the same, have you personally used a 3575? From what I've seen the 3595 is similar to the 3575, if not I can't say for sure. Just as Sony or Panasonic has made some "clunkers" I believe Philips has got it right with the 3575. | ||||
| dun4cheap posted 2008 Mar 11 15:15 | ||||
| I have actually,
Sears Sony Epson Also, if you live near a Fry's, they are a great source for refurb. stuff, from just about every brand I can think of. Another place is geeks.com | ||||
| wabjxo posted 2008 Mar 11 15:39 | ||||
| Trollheart, are my eyes deceiving me... did you post a reply agreeing that Philips is no good, then delete it? If so, how were you able to delete, I've not been able to? | ||||
| wabjxo posted 2008 Mar 11 15:42 | ||||
| Deleted. | ||||
| Trollheart posted 2008 Mar 11 19:35 | ||||
| No, your eyes are deceiving you.
I asked for opinions on a machine I've 99% made up my mind to buy: why then would I agree they were no good? What you may have seen was a quote where I said I originally didn't like Philips, but am now prepared to give them a second chance. If someone else posted somehow under my name, they're an imposter. Look for the Bender avatar -- accept no substitutes! :lol: | ||||
| samijubal posted 2008 Mar 11 19:54 | ||||
| Philips being poor quality products isn't exactly classified information. Call a local repair shop and ask them what they think of Philips. The factory authorized repair center near me for pretty much all brands dropped Philips and RCA about a year ago. Their reason, they breakdown too often and neither company stands by their warranty when they do. | ||||
| Shopcat posted 2008 Mar 11 20:57 | ||||
| I have been using two Philips 3575's for over 8 months.
They are used daily, one for security cam and one for TV. Both are working Great. I highly recommend the Philips 3575H/37 Mike :) | ||||
| Billf2099 posted 2008 Mar 11 21:07 | ||||
| I've owned a bunch of different dvd players. Toshiba, Sony, but the one's I've LOVED have been the philips. I never saw such a bunch of haters in my life. I owned a 642 from the time it came out until it died last week. Probably from overwork, but I suspect its that capacitor problem I see discussed in this forum. I also have a 5982 that in heavy service and a Philips recorder. Please. I bought them for $50 and they did a great service, probably paid 1 cent per movie to use them, I paid more for the electricity. No one I know has ever had a problem with their philips.
My recorder is a 3355, it has its 'moments' its a slow booter, a common theme in all of my philips machines. But it does a decent job of recording. Good luck with your recorder, I'm thinking of going that way myself, with a philips HD recorder with a digital tuner. While they still are available. No one is making a MKV playing machine yet. Hey maybe those sold out Oppo's will play MKV's? Why do I doubt that? | ||||
| Trollheart posted 2008 Mar 12 08:43 | ||||
| I think there's just one "hater" here, that's Samijubal. To him/her: as I already said, I GET IT! You HATE Philips! I DONT CARE!!! I did NOT ask for people to tell me why they hate Philips, or to offer a totally biased argument. I wanted balanced, considered, proper advice whether good or bad. All you do is bleat on about how Philips are the Devil. Fine. If you want to do that, go right ahead, but your anti-Philips agenda is clear, and has been from your first post. Please stop posting essentially the same opinion half a dozen times, it is NOT HELPING!!! You won't sway me that way, and so far, other than your opinion, I've seen nothing from anyone here to dissuade me from buying this machine.
On a less enraged note, thanks to all who've offered their opinions. You've helped to convince me that this is in fact the right move, and I do believe I'm going to go with it. I'll let you all know how I get on. Shopcat, that is one cool cat! Is he/she yours, and what's his/her name? :) Thanx again! | ||||
| Seeker47 posted 2008 Mar 12 14:01 | ||||
Which -- as time goes on -- leads one to appreciate more and more what Pioneer was able to do for awhile. | ||||
| oldandinthe way posted 2008 Mar 12 17:13 | ||||
| The limited choices of DVD recorders exist because those of us who want one are a miniscule market.
Over a year ago the Wall Street Journal reported on the fact that most manufacturers were ceasing to make DVD recorders. The masses are using their cable provider or satelite provider's DVRs or using TIVO. The latest TIVOs with the cable card are close to ideal in operation. Since the OP is in Ireland he may be faced with different limitations from those of the American consumer. As an aside, I too, do not associate Phillips with quality. To me they'll always be crappy Magnavox equipment. I've owned several of their products over the years. The existance of their factory outlet furthers my skepticism. Most makers do not refurb their equipment. Failure levels are low enough that they have the retailers scrap most returns. It may not be true, but I assume that they refurb because they have too many failures to scrap. As for their LCD screens, they come from a joint venture with LG - in Korea. LG makes equipment which is reliable. These LG-Phillips screens are LG Quality. For the record - SONY is another manufacturer who refurbs. SONY LCD panels come from a joint venture with Samsung. They too are of high quality. | ||||
| Trollheart posted 2008 Mar 13 08:07 | ||||
| Hi Old. Thanks for that.
If you were me then, what would you go for? I'm likely still going for the Philips, but do you know of another recorder that has most/all of the features I listed above, and is reliable (and in the same rough price bracket!)? As an aside too, the idea of PVRs/TIVO doesn't appeal to me, as I believe it's dificult/impossible to move recordings from their hdd to a permanent location, ie DVD, or am I wrong here? I have to say, before I bought my HS2 a lot of people were talking about how bad Panasonic were, but I had very little trouble with mine over 5 years of its life. It's only now it's beginnng to get senile -- it forgets to record programs, sputters and refuses to open its tray, deletes progs without warning or reason... | ||||
| oldandinthe way posted 2008 Mar 13 10:35 | ||||
| I don't have a recommendation for you.
I just replaced my Lite-On 5005 which was showing its age. I bought a SONY RDR-VX525 DVR/VCR without a tuner which I am feeding from my cable companies set-top box. It has an IR blaster as well. I don't normally buy SONY, but I paid $91 for a Costco return from a liquidator. There have been heavy returns of this model because it lacks a tuner. There are now big signs at Costco and Walmart advising buyers of this to help stem the return flow. So far it seems to be an excellent unit for my use. It is made in Korea so I can guess who really makes it. It is not a piece of equipment for the user who has to read a manual to use it - the manual is awful. | ||||
| CrazyCanuck posted 2008 Mar 13 12:20 | ||||
| I have both a HDD recorder and a cable PVR. Not difficult to record content from my PVR, I just send the S-Video and audio feeds, in your case SCART, to the recorder and record real time.
It ties up the playback of the PVR so I usually set up a timer recording on the HDD recorder before going to bed and babysit the start of the timer and start the PVR playback. The picture quality of the transfer is way better than the recorder's built-in analog tuner. Later I edit the recording and burn my disc. | ||||
| LCSHG posted 2008 Mar 13 14:40 | ||||
| oldandinthe way
Quote I just replaced my Lite-On 5005 Do you still have it and want tosell it | ||||
| oldandinthe way posted 2008 Mar 13 15:37 | ||||
| I'm strongly considering testing the Costco satisfaction guarantee and getting a refund of what I paid for it. If I don't I'll PM you. | ||||
| Trollheart posted 2008 Mar 13 16:14 | ||||
| Here's the problem I see with PVRs (the PC kind):- if you're timer-recording something while you're away, say at work, you need to ensure the machine is left on. With a DVD recorder the unit can be in standby mode. if you recording on the PVR I'm assuming that it takes resources, so you probably can't do much else on the Pc? Plus PCs (mine anyway) have a tendency to hang for no reason, so you run the risk of losing your all-important once-in-a-lifetime they'll-never-show-that-again recording.
Also, I wonder how easy/difficult it is to then burn the programmes to a disc that can be read by a normal DVD player? Advantages are of course that it's a lot cheaper, you don't need a lot of space and if it breaks down it's just a case of foxing or replacing it, with no large cartage fee for sending it back. I just think the disadvantages, as I see them, outweigh the good points. Am I wrong here? Anyone swear by a PC PVR as opposed to a standalone DVD recorder? | ||||
| SmokieStover posted 2008 Mar 13 20:05 | ||||
| Don't know about Ireland, but in the U.S. every major retailer has a consumer friendly return policy....buy with credit card...if it you are not happy pretty quick, return it for full refund credited directly to the card.
IMHO opinion, dvd recorders (non HDD) have not been popular in the U.S. because in many ways they are inferior to a VCR: 1) The unattended recording time is far, far, to short. Anything over 3 hours on a DVD recorder is worse quality than VHS EP, which is 6 hours on a T-120, 8 Hrs on a T-160. 2) Using a DVD recorder is a bit too complicated for the average user and they can be prone to far, far more problems than the VCR: Timers that lose time, disk that will not finalize, recorded disk that just don't play, lock-ups that require an unplug/replug, and unbelievable and unexpected "copy protected" messages. 3) And they have pretty short life spans, which is made worse by the constant change in DVD media. If you are sitting there recording while you watch, either live (with commercial breaks which allow for changing Disk) or from a DVR, a DVD recorder can be a great tool. Same is true if you want to record and keep short programs that do not fall between a long recording. Up till now, HDD DVD recorders have been too darn expensive for most folks. Looks like Phillips may have lowered that bar. For me, a cable TV DVR would cost $28/month.....the cost of "Digital TV" plus the cost of an "HD DVR". Wouldn't take long to pay for the Philips at that rate, but as long as analog cable stays around, I will continue to time and place shift TV with the trusty old VCR, and record the stuff I know I want to watch more than once on the PC....and none of that is current TV programming, except an ocassional documentary, news event, or Masterpiece Classic. You know what you want, so give it a go. :) | ||||
| lordsmurf posted 2008 Mar 13 23:32 | ||||
Sony tops the list, if you have to ask. They're the most common electronics outlet to find. I've never seen an outlet mall that lacks one -- and it's always full of used, refurbs, and discontinued displays. Refurb does not mean broken. It means "now fixed". I bet you're too good for used cars, too? | ||||
| KeepItSimple posted 2008 Mar 14 03:13 | ||||
Yeah but someone else's cooties are on it already so forget it :lol: | ||||
| lordsmurf posted 2008 Mar 14 03:36 | ||||
| A lot of refurbs are pre-consumer. | ||||
| KeepItSimple posted 2008 Mar 14 04:24 | ||||
| I know I was J/K, besides I have some Windex to get the perceived cooties off :D . I love refurbs and have bought many without a dud yet. And yes they often look brand new and not used at all. The most recent was an Epson all-in-one photo printer/copier/scanner for $69 at Fry's. The replacement inks for that unit are $73 at Amazon so it would be cheaper to buy another unit with ink instead of the ink! :lol:
Yep love them refurbs. | ||||
| Trollheart posted 2008 Mar 14 08:13 | ||||
No, unf in Ireland it is mega-hard to get your money back or get an exchange due to the machine not being what you want. Here, you need to prove it's not working, or is defective in some way, and most times they'll just replace it with another of the same, so really, unless it breaks, once you buy it you're more or less stuck with it. | ||||
| Trollheart posted 2008 Mar 14 08:16 | ||||
| Well, the clock is ticking. Buying the Philips tomororw morning, unless someone can really demonstrate why I shouldn't.
Look for a thread some time later then with my views and review of same (won't be too technical though...) Thanx again for all your help guys, and may all the machines you buy be perfect for your needs! :) | ||||
| LCSHG posted 2008 Mar 14 08:49 | ||||
| Refurbs can be a very good deal, considering that most returns are because the user doesn’t understand the operation not because its defective. Than because the manufacture has to insure that the unit is working and will most likely pay greater attention to this than in a new unit.
What does the price of the ink have to do with a new or refurb printer. The price of the ink is going to be the same Epson has gone to greater lengths than HP in the cost of ink or to block any attempt to refill a cartridge One needs to understand that these companies will practically give the printer. They are selling INK not printers. I fill my own cartridges. | ||||
| jjeff posted 2008 Mar 14 09:26 | ||||
| I think what KeepItSimple was trying to say was that it would be cheaper to but the printer with the installed ink, than the ink alone. Buy the printer just for the ink and throw away the printer.
Not sure about Epson, but the only fly in that ointment I see is if Epson uses "starter" ink cartridges. HP and Brother for sure are big into that. The cartridge that comes with a new printer only has a little ink in it. A super rip-off if you ask me. I bought a new HP printer only to have the new "starter" ink last for 2 pages. I returned the printer and got a new one. The new one also only lasted a few pages. I got tired of the game and bought a new cartridge which has been working ever since. CHEAP bas*erds! | ||||
| LCSHG posted 2008 Mar 14 10:10 | ||||
| I know what is being said but again there are many issues with all the printer units out there And many of the blocks that are placed are in then selves a problem --- But Again
All these company’s are in the INK selling business You, KeepItSimple and others have returned the printers to beat them at there own game. But gave it up. The Printers you returned were not defective and will become Refurb units The same with many DVD units | ||||
| LCSHG posted 2008 Mar 14 21:07 | ||||
| I had to leave for the day and thought about my post above
I don’t’ believe I worded it well. I meant no offence But was only trying to emphasize the Refurb issue. I had done the same thing when I Tried out a DVD unit and than returned it. | ||||
| Billf2099 posted 2008 Mar 14 21:40 | ||||
| I didn't mean to imply the non-haters in this thread were haters. I read a lot of philips threads, I have three machines so... go figure. There's a bunch of haters here. It tends to drown out the majority opinion which is rational and states plus' and minus' of particular machines. Lots of consumer electronics are sold as refurb. My paranoia on that stuff is almost as bad as it is for open box stuff at the store. But I bought an open box item once and it worked out OK (not a philips) this particular unit would ONLY work with burned Minus disks so I shunted it off to my parents who needed a combo DVD VCR. Samsung for those keeping score. I prefered my philips dvd for color reproduction. I just wanted one less box in that room. So I replaced it with a dvd recorder and a tivo. | ||||
| KTH posted 2008 Mar 14 22:20 | ||||
| What about the option of repairing the HS2? I don't know what Panasonic's repair policy is for Ireland, but the last I heard in the U.S. Panasonic was repairing HDD DVD Recorders for a flat rate charge. I think it was a hundred plus dollars. At least with this option you would know what you were getting. I don't know if Panasonic still has this policy in place or whether it applies in your particular country or not, but it's at least worth calling Panasonic to find out. | ||||
| Trollheart posted 2008 Mar 15 13:06 | ||||
| Thx KTH. I've actually been to Power City and picked up the Philips now, so that's a moot question.
However, to answer it, I do know that when the machine was within guarantee, and the hdd died, I had to ship it off (at my expense, though luckily I have contacts as I work in the freight game!) and they replaced the drive, sent it back no charge. HOWEVER, the slip did note the cost of the hdd (whch I assume I would have been billed for had the Panny been out of its guarantee), and it was STG 300. That was four or so years ago, so I guess it would have dropped a lot by now, but still, for the expense involved I don't believe it's worth it. TBH the unit works fine 90% of the time, it's just every so often it has a hdd crash, and once it happens all you can do is reformat, so you lose everything. I've lost count of the times I watched progs I wanted to watch/keep disappear before my eyes before I had had a chance to transfer them to DVD! It became a case of holding my breath when recording anything, waiting for the hdd to fail, making sure everything important got transferred off the hdd as fast as, and even things I wanted to watch but not keep got hi-speed-dubbed to DVD RAM so that at least it another meltdown occurred, I'd have the progs to watch once I'd reformatted. It's no way to live... Then when the dvd tray started refusing to open, I knew things were coming to an end. Until I could replace the unit, I used the "divide" function to chop off the beginning and end bits of the progs I had recorded (I had to do a full record all through the day if I wanted something recorded while at work or out, as the timer failed a long time ago), and then transfer the chunk of prog I wanted to DVD. In fairness, doing it this way I haven't since had a crash, so I think it's down to the "partial erase" feature of the unit, but quite frankly it just wasn't an acceptable situation. So now I have the Philips, and I'll put the Panny down in the living room, where my sister can use it to record stuff she wants to see. I'll set mine to record the same progs if theyre important, so she'll have a backup if the disk crashes again. Not a bad result, all round! Plus I get a built-in MP3 player and DIVX, which I hadn't on the other machine... | ||||
| jjeff posted 2008 Mar 15 15:36 | ||||
| Trollheart, The very best of luck with your Philips(not that I think you'll need luck, but it can't hurt!).
And Happy St. Patty's day to ya! :x |
Login/Register to our forum to be able to post here.