Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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172 of 178 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Avoid monthly TIVO charges! A versatile machine, July 13, 2008
This excellent unit is truly powerful and capable. It's a real bargain if its price does not climb (see paragraph 3). It combines 3 different functions in one slim package, any one of which alone would have cost more than its sub-$300 price not so long ago: a 160 GB hard disk recorder, an ATSC digital tuner (and an analog NTSC tuner too), and a DVD recorder. Additionally, it breaks the DVD +/- format war by its ability to record on both.
This unit is one of the surprisingly few hard disk-plus-DVD recorder devices available today that has a digital tuner. It eliminates the high cost of monthly charges for a TIVO. No monthly charges at all! It can do two things at once, allowing playback from either DVD or HDD while recording to HDD. It has a fan but it's quiet, and turns off about a minute after turning the unit off. And, of course, you can watch live TV via your TV's tuner as well.
NOTE ON PRICES: In 2009 the Philip's price has increased, sometimes substantially above what it was last year, although you may still find it at a good price. It may be in limited quantities and/or about to be deleted: I do not know. If you can only find it at an elevated price you should also consider other units. Gary S. reports recently that the newly-available Magnavox H2160MW9, now at Amazon too, is essentially identical to the Philips and is at a sub-$300 price, so investigate that. At higher prices, there are other units that, unlike this otherwise excellent Philips, can record in high definition instead of standard def (albeit on hard drive only): the Moxi MR 1500 (for cable only, cannot be used with an antenna; 500 GB hard drive); or the TiVo TCD658000 HD XL DVR (for both cable and antenna; 1000 GB hard drive). TiVo imposes service charges, unlike Moxi or Philips, so the HD XL effectively costs about $900 for the unit + "lifetime" service fee. However, unlike the Philips, both Moxi and TiVo need an adjunct DVD recorder in order to download keeper programs to a DVD (in SD not HD, at least until Blu-Ray recorders are available). Otherwise you lose your recordings if/when the hard disk crashes.
Recording TV programs
I use a roof antenna, and receive both analog and digital TV signals. Programming to record TV shows is very similar to programming a VCR manually. There is no automatic programming system, but it's really not that hard to do manually. It records HD signals as SD (standard definition).
The listing of programs ("Titles") that you have recorded are clearly shown and easy to navigate to. But it is best to put at least a rudimentary title on the TV programs right after you record them. Otherwise all you have is the date, time, and channel of the recording. You have to add titles by a clunky texting method, requiring multiple presses of numbers 1-9.
Playback
I use an HDMI cable between this unit and my TV. Playback from the hard disk is a joy. Access is immediate. The unit remembers where you left off watching last time on each program individually. You can manoever around the recordings with an (adjustable) 30-second skip forward/backward button, or with an adjustable-speed fast forward/rewind, or with a chapter-jump ("next") which uses the (optional) 10-minute auto-chapters that are inserted.
Playback from DVD is fine, but loading a DVD is slow (perhaps because it can handle so many different DVD formats).
Aspect Ratio (edited 12/08--thanks to Arnold E.)
This will require fiddling with from time to time to display the picture properly.
When recording DIGITAL programs you get 16:9 playback with very good SD definition on a widescreen TV with the following settings: Setup/General/Video/TV Aspect/16:9. AND set the "HDMI" toggle button to 1080p (or 1080i if your 16:9 set doesn't have p). The TV should then choose the correct aspect ratio setting automatically.
If you play back a 4:3 ANALOG program (until June 2009) with these settings, it will play back stretched sideways: reset "HDMI" to 480p to fix this.
AND if you are recording some digital programs which are not broadcast full-screen (e.g. BBC News) you may wish to press ZOOM on your TV to fill the screen.
User-friendliness
Most functions are well thought out and the software is good. But you will have to read the manual.
The remote control has the buttons needed, but several important ones are badly laid out. The STOP button is tiny.
Since it's a multifunctional device, you have to tell it what component you want to use. If you have been watching a TV show recorded on HDD, and then insert a DVD, if you just press "play", it will resume playback of the HDD unless you press "DVD" first. It's not smart enough to realize you want the DVD now.
The 122-page instruction book is detailed. It is fairly well written. Mine is very well-thumbed and dogeared. To get the most out of this complex unit, you will need to read it carefully.
Editing
For copying from old VHS tapes or home DVD's, I find it best to record first onto the HDD. Then use "deleting a scene" to remove unwanted sections. The software for this is pretty user-friendly. Then transfer the cleaned-up version to DVD. You can in theory record directly to DVD from VHS, and delete unwanted sections on the DVD directly, using "Hiding Chapters" but this is clunky (first you have to define the section as a chapter). Worse, these deletions, and added chapter headings, were ignored when played back on another unit.
Upsides
An excellent, low-cost, way to record digital and analog programs over the air or on cable.
No monthly fee.
Good quality SD 16:9 recordings.
Versatile: able to transfer recordings either way between DVD and HDD.
Downsides
It can't record HD programs in HD--it downgrades them to SD.
It's slow to load a DVD.
The remote buttons are poorly laid out.
Titling tracks is tedious.
DVD edits may be ignored in other DVD players.
Summary
This is a really fine and extremely versatile unit, at a good price. It is a leapfrog into the digital age. Finally here is a device with the versatility to fully supplant S-VHS VCR's.
The next step will be when this kind of device is upgraded to record HDTV on its hard disk AND to record Blu-Ray DVD's. Don't hold your breath.
(This review is based on the predecessor model, DVDR3575H, similar except for the tuner).
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96 of 100 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Impressed so far!, May 22, 2008
I'm going to give some quick points as I've only had it a few days and am still learning/playing with it. For more detailed looks at this unit, just read the reviews of it's predecessor, the Philips DVDR3575H/37 1080p Upscaling DVDR with Built-In Tuner
Despite some misinformation, it does not have an HD tuner (from research, it appears no hard drive/DVDR machines do). It has a standard definition tuner, but due to a bit of trickery it downconverts HD signals to record etc in SD, but when it plays them back it upconverts the signal to something approaching HD (Not true HD, but getting close!). Pre-recorded DVDs that are upconverted look pretty darn good!
Got this unit hooked to a Sharp Aquos LC20D42U 20-inch LCD HDTV. I have DVRs in the house for comparison, but in my kitchen I have only a simple cable feed (Comcast). It's worth noting that on my Sharp HDTV I get 22 digital (video) channels, but through this Philips DVDR tuner I get 41-darn near twice the channels I get on my Sharp TV! (not counting the 30 or so digital music channels that both receive).
Go over to avsforum.com and search for DVDR3576H/37-the first two links will tell you all you need to know about this unit! I did a lot of research there, and sat on this purchase for a few days trying to decide whether or not to open the box or return it after I found it didn't have an HD tuner-finally decided to take the plunge and so far it's a pretty darn impressive little piece!
I'd probably give it 4 stars if it had some kind of channel guide (like Comcast DVR), but I understand units with TV Guide feature are "iffy".
PROS
Size-smaller than the VCR it's replacing
Picture quality (not HD but pretty darn impressive)
Nothing like TV Guide/Comcast cable guide to show what's on/tell you what you've recorded (although all your recordings appear as multiple windows/snapshots so you can probably tell what the recording is-if not, just scroll up/down/sideways to the multiple snapshots and the program starts playing immediately in it's small window-6 windows per page, multiple pages depending on how many recordings you have)
Passes HD signal through to TV with no apparent degradation (got the incoming cable going to the DVDR-VCR-HDTV)
160GB Hard Drive with many recording speed options!
Doesn't record in HD-could be viewed as a PRO, since recording in SD takes up much less hard drive space than if it recorded in HD (recordings upconverted on playback)
CONS
No TV sound button on the DVDR remote (a pain to reach for the TV control just to adjust the sound level)-a universal remote (lighted?) with at least rudimentary TV controls (or just a volume button!) would be nice.
Button labels pretty darn small! The old eyes ain't what they used to be-could have made the remote bigger with bigger print/buttons? Color-coded buttons might be nice (different color for hard drive functions etc).
No channel labeling! My Sharp TV doesn't have it either, but my Toshiba Regza TV does! With all the channels available now, it would be nice if you could label the channels (as on my Toshiba TV) instead of remembering channel 105.1 is ????
A dual tuner would be nice (would allow you to watch one channel while another is recording)
BTW...got it at Sam's Club for $[...]-apparently the regular price?!
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding for timer recording, October 3, 2008
I bought one 2 months ago and liked it so much I bought a second one, so I can record programs from 2 channels at the same time.
I don't like to pay a monthly fee for anything, so I have always just set VCR's to record off the antenna by timer. But that won't work after February. What nobody tells you is that the converter box will not let you do that, because the channel selection is in the converter, not in the VCR. So this DVR is the solution, and it's the only one out there, unless you pay a monthy fee for cable and something like TiVo.
For timer recording, it is even more convenient than a VCR. You can just set and delete events at will, and don't have to worry about what fits on a tape. By default it shows the date, time, and channel for each event. I keep a separate log on a piece of paper, and that saves the time to label each event on the disc. I usually delete an event after I watch it anyway.
I use it with a 52" Sony HDTV, so I can evaluate the picture quality. At EP speed it will record 132 hours on the hard drive, and the quality is similar to the VCR at EP speed. But it has the advantage of wide screen picture and surround sound. But it has the distinct disadvantage that it won't record closed captioning. That is a problem for us with TV programs made in the last 5 years or so, because the dialog is garbled and drowned out by unnecessary music. It wouldn't be a problem if the TV industry would clean up their act.
What is really notable is the picture quality as affected by the tuner and the connection to the TV. A picture that is tuned by this DVR and then sent to the TV by way of either the HDMI cable or component video cables is not as clear as the same picture tuned directly by the TV. What's even more interesting is that the HDMI cable makes a poorer picture than component video cables, even though HDMI is claimed to be the ultimate.
Some day we may have blu-ray recorders, but until that time comes, I think this is an excellent unit.
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