Customer Reviews

Philips DVP3340V DVD VCR Combo

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I bought the Philips DPV3340V today. It's true, there's no tuner, but in a couple of years analog tuners will be obsolete anyway. If you have cable or Dish/Direct TV you can record incoming signals. There are instructions on the box, but you cannot watch one channel and record another unless put the cable box line to the VCR and have another connection to the TV tuner (RF or composite).

This unit is a VHS recorder. You can copy directly from DVD to VHS but it will not go from VHS to DVD. (VHS to DVD is a more expensive unit.)

I bought this unit primarily to play my old VHS tapes and to record TV programs. While there is no tuner or cable connection (RF coaxial) on the back, there are the RCA (composite) type connectors. (All newer TVs have this type of connection; the red, white and yellow connectors.) If you do not have the composite connections on your TV, only the old RF coax connection, you can't connect a DVD player to your TV anyway.

My cable box has both the old style RF coax and the newer RCA composite connections. I used a splitter and connected the composite red, white, yellow cables from my cable box to both my TV and to the VCR. I can play DVDs, VHS tapes and I can record TV shows on tape. The cable box is the input.

You do not have to have the TV on to record programs unless you are using the output from the TV to the VCR. This is a backwards connection and I'm not sure why anyone would do this unless they didn't have cable or dish. If that's the case then you need the TV to be on, using it's tuner and the *TV-OUT* composite jacks to the VCR input jacks. (Not all TVs have an "out" connection.) You cannot record digital to VHS unless you create a DVD first, then you can use this player to make the copy. Output from your cable box will work as input to this VCR.

The VCR was easy to set up, I haven't even read the manual. It comes with a quick start guide. The VCR delivers a good picture and sound. The DVD player has progressive scan if your TV is capable. If not, it still gives a good picture. It also has component video connections for TVs with that capability. You can copy from DVD to a VHS tape in one operation, if there is no copy protection. Sound is HI-FI stereo. It will play WMAs, MP3s and displays .JPG pictures from a DVD. There is an S-Video connection, one front input, one rear input. There is one set of cables (Red, white for sound and a separate yellow for video.) If you want input for recording you will need to purchase another set.

It has a small remote with small lettering. (The remote comes with 2 AAA batteries.) If you have vision problems it may be hard to read. There is a child lock. It does not glow in the dark, a feature on my TV's remote. There are buttons to switch between DVD and VCR but several buttons work in either position. (I briefly had a Memorex and the controls were very confusing, locking the DVD door and refusing to open unless you pressed the DVD button.)

I've had it for only a few hours but so far I'm satisified. My old VCR died and I opted to replace it and the DVD player with one unit. The zoom on my old DVD player displayed on the screen unless you weren't zooming. This unit zooms and the display goes away. I don't have widescreen yet so I like to zoom to fill the screen.

I can't speak to the longevity but this is my fifth VCR. Quality seems to be an issue with VCRs. I've had Pioneer, Sony, Zenith, JVC and a Memorex. All have gone belly up. It's cheaper to buy a new one than pay for repairs.

I hope they keep making them. I'd hate to buy these movies all over again. I have a lot of DVDs now but I've been around for a while and have a lot of VHS movies that I still enjoy. Watched two today on my new Philips DVP3340V :-)

I bought this and to my dismay, I come to find that the VCR has no TV tuner in it. This means, it will only record that which it sees on the TV. It has a "timer" function but since you can't program a channel with it, because it has no tuner for channels, you're basically programming it to start recording - WHILE at the same time having to set a timer (if you have one) on your TV to turn on at the exact same time, in order for a timer recording to work. You would then have to be watching whatever it was taping while it was taping. It also says the TV must be on in order to record. What good is any VCR if it doesn't have it's own internal tuner? They could and should have made it more clear that this very important feature is missing, which is why I give it 1 star.

I purchased this machine to replace my previous DVD/VCR combo. From reading the product description, I thought it would work with my current analog cable system. However, when I opened the box, there are no cable connections and as such, it has no tuner to receive any channels (strictly Line 1 and Line 2). If you only want to be able to watch DVDs or VHS, and the only recording you wish to do is from DVD or another external source to the VCR, this would be a great machine for you.

I ordered this product through Amazon.com (my absolutely favorite on-line store, 'cause they always get everything right!). When I received shipping information, I was given a delivery date of 4-5 days down the line. HOWEVER, it arrived on my front porch THAT very same day that I received the shipping notice. Talk about fantastic service.

The machine was packaged tightly and is absolutely beautiful (in addition to its functionality). I use it every day. My old VHS tapes now get used and I'm starting to buy DVDs. As a young friend said to me, "We've got to get you out of the 70s!"

Thanks for the great service!

A. G. Bogardo
New Jersey

I had to return this item because it does not have an analog tuner built in. Granted analog tuners (Standard TV channels)will be obsolete in a year or two but this was purchased as a gift for an 80 year old who wants it that way! The description includes a warning about February 2009 when analog signals go dark. So I assumed that the product would have channel selection buttons and Coax connectors. It does not, so dont buy it if you want to connect it with out a cable box or other line source.

We bought this specifically for S-Video out. The box and specs on the outside mention S-Video out but fails to mention that the VHS will not output through S-Video. On top of that, it says you should not have the component video and S-Video out connected at the same time because the picture may be "unstably" (sic).

The other features may work fine, but the product packaging is misleading.

I purchased this machine to replace another that went haywire on me. It's a bit different, and in some ways a little more complicated than than the other one I had. Nonetheless it plays DVDs flawlessly, and the video output is remarkably good. It doesn't have a tuner which may be a bit of a drawback for those who want to record programs.

If you have an old tv without the red/white/yellow inputs, you will need an external rf modulator to use this combo unit. But nothing in the Phillips literature or website mentions this. Amazon sells rf modulators, and they should cost about $20. Also, if you have a Verizon FIOS cable box, you have to place the rf modulator between the cable box and the tv. I don't know about other cable boxes. I had gotten the impression from the FIOS install guy that the cable box had to be the last element before the tv. But I couldn't see the combo unit signal until I moved the modulator "upstream". It's something particular about this combo unit. I used to have a horribly messy setup with DVD player/RF modulator/VCR/cablebox/ancient TV, and it worked fine. Now I have cablebox/RF modulator(with new combo unit input)/ancient TV. All is finally good. (I keep the ancient tv instead of buying an expensive, delicate, easily scratched/stained, tippy new model because of a young child with heavy toys, sticky fingers, and magic markers.)

Electronics sometimes confound me and I just wanted something easy to work and of good quality so I could play my new DVDs and fav old VCRs; so I read lots of reviews on Amazon before picking this little refurbished sweetie and couldn't be more pleased. The price was good, free shipping was a bonus and the seller shipped really quickly. I hate driving around town for a bargain but I love the convenience, ease, and customer reviews on Amazon.com., so I made the choice of this Philips combo and glad I did.

The player would be acceptable were it not for an annoying defect of the DVD player, which re-plays every 5 secs or so. It is, of course, under guarantee, but the logistics involved in taking advantage of this from here make it impracticable.