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  1. Member VideoJockey2002's Avatar
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    http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer/catalog/tree/en/us/consumer/home_entertainmen...CSHQVHKFSESI5P

    Looks good. I want one, I think. One thing in the owner's manual lists one potential problem: Page 42 of the English manual says this in the grey box of that page: This unit cannot record images as aspect ratio of 16:9. The 16:9 images will be recorded as 4:3.

    It is referring to DVD+/-R/RW recording. Does anyone know if that means that it simply doesn't set the 16:9 flag? Can 16:9 material recorded in 4:3 be then played back with the proper aspect ratio on a TV if the TV and the DVD playback machine allow manual setting of the aspect ratio?

    Seems like a fatal flaw in the design.

    The product review page at VideoHelp.com has a review by "Terry near Baltimore" and it is stated that 16:9 material records well but I presume that's referring to 16:9 material recorded to the hard drive.

    Anyone have one of these new HardDrive/DVD Recorders from Philips?
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  2. Member Krispy Kritter's Avatar
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    All of the DVR's that I have used, treat all video as 4:3, likely because all SD TV content is 4:3. The only 16:9 content on TV is in HD. It will get recorded as 4:3 with black bars top & bottom.
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  3. Member
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    I have this unit and I like it pretty well. As VideoJockey2002 guessed, the Philips unit does not set the 16:9 flag on the resulting dvd or the HDD. This is a little disappointing, as this recorder has a digital tuner and properly reads a 16:9 flag for the incoming signal, but does not embed a 16:9 flag on the internally recorded program.

    If you are looking for additional information on this recorder, there is a rather lengthy thread over at www.avsforum.com:

    http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=830253

    - Smells_Like_Feet
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    Where do you see anything about a digital tuner? That Terry from Baltimore review sounds a little fishy to me.
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  5. Member VideoJockey2002's Avatar
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    To: Smells_Like_Feet and Krispy Kritter

    Thanks very much for the information. I still want it but it's nice being able to avoid post purchase disappointment knowing these things upfront. It sounds like I'll be happy if I'm only using it simply to record shows to watch later and using it to chase play a non-scheduled recording.

    So, basically, it will replace my VHS VCR and no tape to mess with. However, I always wonder about the hard drive. I'd like to know that when it finally dies, I can replace it.

    With optical DVD players and recorders, I've learned that the drives don't last very long and are usually impossible to replace. Even if the interface (IDE, SATA, etc.) can be matched, there's usually propietary instruction sets (firmware) of the original drive that can't be fully matched with a replacement generic DVD drive. What's worse, the manufacturers don't sell parts so we can't order a replacement optical drive. (Now I have seen parts for Panasonic DVD recorders listed at their site but the replacement optical drive for the recorder is usually about 2/3 the cost of the entire recorder. I also don't know that they could fulfill an order for a drive even if you were willling to pay that price. It might just be a "ghost" listing of a repair part that would never be shipped.)

    So, I'd really be excited about this Philips DVDR3575 if I knew that we could replace the hard drive with some generic Western Digital or something--especially now that Smells_Like_Feet has linked that AVS Forum thread which says this Philips uses a 6 hour buffer for chase play. Those AVSF posters say that any time you turn on this Philips DVDR3575, it automatically records to that 6 hour buffer on the hard drive. That means that, basically, anytime the thing is powered on for viewing of any sort, the hard drive is working--it never sleeps. Well, that's a lot of hard drive use and it's quite similar to the torture that my computer hard drives endure. Usually, I get 3-4 good years from a hard drive but sometimes they die early. The 3 year warranty saves me. This Philips DVDR3575? It has only a 1 year warranty.

    Has anyone been bold enough to remove the hard drive and see what types of files show on a computer? I wonder if it lays down MPEG to the hard drive?

    Does anyone know if the hard drive will be user replaceable or upgradeable using a generic hard drive? Does anyone know what interface the hard drive uses (SATA, PATA-IDE, USB, etc.)?

    Even if the interface matches, there could be low-level formatting that we users can't reproduce--even with drive imaging software.
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  6. Member
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    The Philips 3575 does NOT buffer 6 hours on the HDD. It has a Pause Live TV mode/button that is the same as pressing REC button and Chase Playing...allows you to leave, come back and play from where you pushed the button. Nothing gets stored on the HDD when using Pause Live TV.
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  7. Member
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    It does record 16:9 correctly, it just doesn't set the flag for it. If you have the DVD recorder set to 16:9 it will record everything like a 720x480 anamorphic DVD. The only time you'd have a problem with this is if you record something that is 16:9 and play it back on a 4:3 TV the video will be stretched vertically to fill the screen.
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  8. So far, a quiet, smooth operating machine. I am using this unit to tune in unscrambled cable QAM channels such as my local HDTV channels. I also tried a TivoHD (series 3) for a month, but had to return it when I learned my local MSO will be moving channels to switched digital video (SDV) soon which the TivoHD cannot operate with or without cable card.

    Impressions:

    The 3575 does not have TV Guide+. All timmer settings are manual, but the UI is super-smooth.

    Has only one tuner + encoder, while TivoHD has two tuners. Like TivoHD, the 3575 can play a program from hard disk (or DVD), including the recording in progress, while recording from the tuner in the background.

    The tuner is quite good. It receives the same marginal channels with the same quality as the TivoHD (channels that my PC ATSC/QAM tuner card can barely lock-in).

    The channel scan automatically found all the unscrambled channels that TivoHD or any PC tuner card I've tried.

    Has both SPDIF Coax and Tosslink (optical) output.

    Does record 16:9 content to disc and play back widescreen to a widescreen TV. (no horizontal black bars).

    HDMI 720p upconversion of SD-DVD content is good.

    Video quality is in all "speeds" (HQ, SP, LP, EP) is comparable to my JVC DVD recorders. HQ mode does a great job of capturing downconverted HD, though is still no substitute for true 720p or 1080i broadcast content.

    Summary:
    A TiVoHD with built in DVD recorder would be better (especially if would also cost $300), but the 3575 is a good gap-filler until Blu-Ray or HD-DVD recorders with hard disks and ATSC/QAM arrive in the US (akin to the 4 models Sony announced last week for Japan). Unfortunately, it does not make sense why this unit cannot simply record and playback the original high-def MPEG-2 stream to hard disk, and then only revert to SDTV when dubbing to DVD.

    There are also rumors of ATSC/QAM DVD recorders from Taiwan and China that will convert MPEG-2 HD to H.264 HD for 2+ hours of 720p/1080i burned onto red-laser 3x DVD. In other words: HD-DVD bitstreams on DVD-9, like some users do in a series of manual steps on their PC's today.
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  9. Member
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    I have a Philips 3575 and it only records HD shows in 16:9 format with the black bars on top and bottom.

    Here's my setup. My Motorola-DVR feeds into the Philips 3575 with RCA jacks (there's no HDMI input on the 3575 only an output).

    I've changed the display setting to 16:9, but it doesn't get rid of the black bars. Any suggestions?
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  10. MY read on that question is that it is due to using RCA jacks. Most likely your cable box is outputting letterboxed via Composite. Nothing to do with the recorder. If you can tune a HD local and record it I'd bet it is 16:9.
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  11. Member
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    Is there anyway to get it from the DVR to the DVD recorder in widescreen? The DVR has a firewire output, but I haven't found a DVD recorder w/ firewire input yet. I have component and HDMI outputs from the DVR, but there's no component or HDMI inputs into the DVD recorder.
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  12. Member
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    Here's a post in another forum on using a Moto HD STB.

    As others have said, it's all in the STB and whether it will output a 16:9 pic over an analog output.
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  13. Video Restorer lordsmurf's Avatar
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    I record 16:9. It's a good unit. I don't know if flags are set, I've not made a disc yet. I've used it mostly as a PVR. It does 16:9 recordings of HD feeds.

    I like the unit BJ_M.
    Want my help? Ask here! (not via PM!)
    FAQs: Best Blank DiscsBest TBCsBest VCRs for captureRestore VHS
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