Philips DVDR3355/37 DVD Recorder with 6 Hour Digital Video Recording

by Philips

Product Details

Product Manual [750kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 20 x 15 x 6 inches ; 12 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 12 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B0009OAP34
• Item model number: DVDR335537
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #126,771 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Enjoy all your favorite DVD movies in flicker-free presentation and record your favorite TV programs to disc--via the built-in NTSC TV tuner--with the Philips DVDR3355/37 DVD Recorder. Philips makes it easy to create recordings and helps eliminate any confusion over disc format with dual-media support, enabling you to use DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW discs to record up to six hours of MPEG2 compressed video on a single-sided disc. For playback, it's compatible with VCD, SVCD, CD-R/RW, MP3-CD, and MP3-DVD disc formats and the EG2, MPEG1, Divx (3.11/4/5/6.x), and MPEG4 compression formats. It also supports simultaneous playback of JPEG pictures and MP3 music, enabling you to run a photo slideshow with music playing in the background.

For setting up timed recordings, the DVDR3355/37 uses the VCR Plus+ system. All you need to do to program your video recorder is to enter the "Pluscode"--a single code of up to nine digits (but usually less)--that is printed next to each TV program in most TV guides. This unit also includes a Firewire port (also known as i.LINK and IEEE 1394) on the front, enabling you to easily connect your digital video camcorder and download video and audio directly to disc in their original digital quality.

Recording and disc editing features include chapter marker, insertion, divide, erase, manual chapter marking, one-touch record, and selectable index pictures. Other features include a 20-event, 1-month programmable recording, daily/weekly repeat recording, Dolby Digital encoding, and tri-lingual menu display (English, French, Spanish). It offers the following video and audio connections:

• Composite AV (RCA) In: 2 (1 front)
• Composite AV (RCA) Out: 1
• S-Video In: 2 (1 front)
• S-Video Out: 1
• Component Video Out (Y PB PR): 1
• RF In: 1
• Coaxial digital audio Out: 1
• Firewire: 1

What's in the Box
DVD player/recorder, remote control (with batteries), AV cable, RF cable, printed operating instructions

Product Description

DVD Recorder, up to 8 hour record, DVD+RW, Divx, Dual layer recording

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Turns on randomly when timer is programmed!, February 2, 2006

By 

A. Van Taylor (Apopka, Florida United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Philips DVDR3355/37 DVD Recorder with 6 Hour Digital Video Recording (Electronics)

First DVD recorder I have owned. Bought it for Christmas. Easy to install and set up. But, when I programmed it to record a future show and put it in stand-by mode (per Philips' instructions)the damn thing would come on at random times and stay on. I had it all of two weeks and called Philips. They said "it's not supposed to do that." I had to pay to ship it back to Arkansas for repair, where they kept it for two weeks and did NOT notify me when they were shipping it back. Got it back and guess what? They didn't do a damn thing to it! Still the same problem. Called Philips and asked why they didn't fix it. (Even the gal I talked to in their Phillipines call center knew why I sent it in for repair.) Even included a letter re-stating the malfunction. No matter. They didn't do a damn thing.
Went up the chain of command with Philips but they wouldn't budge. They want me to send it BACK AGAIN so they can have another chance to fix it! I told the gal in Canada that I couldn't possibly be the only one with this problem and now that has been confirmed. It's going back to my home theater guy tomorrow and he can use it as a boat anchor. I'm getting a SONY and will NEVER buy a Philips product again!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Rated 3 stars because there's always hope with firmware upgrades, July 10, 2006

By 

Felipe Rocha Machado "Loudenvier" (NITEROI, RIO DE JANEIRO Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philips DVDR3355/37 DVD Recorder with 6 Hour Digital Video Recording (Electronics)

The following are my issues with the DVDR3355:

Sometimes a recording on DVD-R media did not allow Fast Foward or Rewind. There was a similar issue that a firmware upgrade was meant to resolve: Before the upgrade all finalized DVD-R could not be FF on the device but would be perfect on another player. Now it became erratic: sometimes it's possible to FF sometimes it's not (even on other DVD players), which is frustrating.

When the EDIT menu is poped-up I cannot FF or FRW because the remote buttons to do that are the same to navigate the menu system. It's a pain trying to find the index picture if you've missed it because you can't go back without exiting the Edit menu, which brings another issue:

Exiting the EDIT menu always makes the device to UPDATE the disk, regardless if you did any actual edit or not. This is such a simple software issue to resolve that I can't believe philips did not make it into a firmware upgrade yet.

I can't change the video aspect unless there is no disc on tray or tray is open. I can't accept that an expensive device like this one does not let me change the display aspect "on the fly" like any (unexpensive) other DVD player around (including DVD players from philips)

My brother owns another DVDR3355. He lost unique, very important recordings (the 2006 world cup final for instance) that took 2 hours recording because the UPDATE of the disk failed after the STOP was pressed. His device also did not seems to be able to record successfully on DVR-RW media from philips (and perhaps any other brand). My own device do not have this problems tough.

There seems to be impossible to RECORD in 16:9 aspect (widescreen). I own a Widescreen digital camera (Panasonic PV-GS59) but I've found no way to record on my DVDR3355 in widescreen using the front CVBS inputs (I did not tried the other inputs nor the MiniDV input - firewire - because I did not own a DV cable yet - and yes, I made sure the camera was outputing int 16:9 before you ask :-) ).

Many operations are DAMN TOO SLOW. Ejecting a DVD can take up to 30 seconds. Boot up can take this or much longer (up to 1 min). If I tried to Eject just after powering on, the device seems to freeze. If I operate too fast the remote, the device sometimes seems to freeze for up to 1 min (one time even requiring me to click the power button on the device because the remote wasn't responding).

I think the firmware of this unit and it's menu system to be pretty much in beta stage and still too much stupid. Overall I liked the unit because I really wasn't expecting too much from it, but I was TOO MUCH disapointed by the firmware and Menu/Operation. I was very satisfied with my previous philips players and found them simple to use, but this DVDR3355 usage is cumbersome. I also thought that this device would be full of new features because it was such a modern concept, but instead it was a rather primitive DVD player compared to more "ancient" pure DVD players. This device is really a recording one and do not replace your (old) top-notch DVD player / Home Theater system.

If it was not for the menu and firmware I would rate it 4 out of 5, which means that a future firmware upgrade could make me this happy. Today, with the menu and firmware issues I will rate it 2.5 out of 10. Since I did never own any other DVD recorder to date (not counting PC based ones) I can't be sure if there is a DVD recorder that is better than this unit today.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars NEVER BUY PHILIPS!!!, August 31, 2006

By 

Julie F "Julie" (Detroit, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philips DVDR3355/37 DVD Recorder with 6 Hour Digital Video Recording (Electronics)

If you're thinking about buying a Philips, THINK AGAIN!! Their products are absolutely TERRIBLE, and their customer service and policies are even WORSE. I can relate to the other customers and their reviews. I am currently on my THIRD DVD-recorder because they just keep breaking down without warning. The last one I had broke after just SIX WEEKS. And God help you if you try to call their customer service center! All they tell you to do is spend YOUR money to ship back THEIR faulty products. They refuse to do anything the least bit helpful, claiming it's "Not their policy". Not their policy to satisfy their customers?! Apparently not, because I am FAR from satisfied.

PLEASE reconsider buying anything by Philips! Or if you DO make that fatal mistake, do yourself a favor and return the product to the store, get your cash back, and buy something reliable like a Sony or Panasonic. Trust me---you'll be glad you did!!