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Thread ID: 75525 2007-01-01 19:17:00 How not to buy a DVD Hard Drive Recorder Strommer (42) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
511722 2007-01-01 19:17:00 2007: Its time to dump your tapes and get a DVD recorder, but read this first or you might wind up with a :eek: lemon of a recorder. While this is a user review for the Philips DVDR3455H recorder, it will also give you tips of what to look for when buying your DVD HD recorder.

First of all, two important points:

1. Buy from a shop where you can return the DVD recorder for a full refund if it is not suitable. Believe me, there are many features to consider and unless you want to sit in the shop reading the instruction manual for half an hour, you will have to take the unit home and see what it does.

2. Forget about getting a cheaper DVD disk recorder (not one with a hard drive). OK, disks may be better than tapes but once you experience a hard drive recorder you will never ever want to fiddle around with disks.


Now to my experience and things you should be aware of:

Recently I purchased a Philips DVDR3455H from Dick Smith's for $500. You can also find these at Farmers and Bond & Bond for the same price. With a 160 Gb HD the price is about $300 less than others, and with a brand like Philips its better than the Transonics and Sanyos at the Warehouse, some of which only have 80 Gb hard drives.

So far, so good.

But wait, there's more. The Philips DVDR3455H is a dog, to be avoided like Windows 95. Here is a list of things the Philips DVDR3455H cannot do:


It does not start up quickly. Look for a recorder where you can start recording or watching a TV program in about a second. While the Philips does not take as long as WinXP to load, it is nevertheless too slow.

There is no 3 minute step so you can avoid TV adverts, like on my friend's Sony. The 'Next' steps begin at 5 minutes. Evidently there are DVD recorders that will automatically detect the end of an advert but with the Philips you have to carefully FFWD.

When pressing PAUSE, and selecting other functions, a 'splash screen' pops up indicating HD status. This takes up 1/3 of the screen and everytime you have to press another button twice to get rid of it. Highly annoying, and no way to deselect this pop up box.

There is no SLOW FORWARD or REVERSE. No slow motion - only the usual FFWD and REV, up to 32x. Unbelievable - how can a company like Philips leave this feature out??!!

You can increase the picture size up to 200% but the ZOOM will not reduce the picture at all. My 3 year old Philips DVD player will reduce the picture down to 1/4.

Lets say you are watching a DVD movie or something on the HD, and you have a program scheduled to be recorded. Guess what? Another pop up splash screen pops up telling you that the scheduled recording is about to take place - this pop up reminder cannot be removed but worse yet, unbelievably, when the program starts to record, the movie you were watching stops and you have to press buttons to get it going again!

Naming a recording - it is a painfully slow process when scheduling a program to be recorded (although once it is on the HD, there is an option of using an onscreen keyboard).

The MUTE and VOLUME controls on the remote do not work. Maybe a Philips TV is required?

Evidently you cannot copy from DVD disk to the HD. I have never tried this but a user review indicated this. If there is no copyright protection I can see no reason to leave this feature out!

While there are :thumbs: USB and RCA inputs on the front panel (very useful!), there are no camera memory card inputs. While there may be no room for this but I've seen it on DVD players.

The Philips will :thumbs: play mpeg film clips. I believe Philips is the only brand that will do this (DVD players and recorders). How long will it be before DVD players and recorders can play AVI clips? This is important for those of us who use our digcams for filming. I convert AVIs to MPEGs and it sure is nice not to have to make a DVD disk with VOB files in order to view my films on the TV. I have tried 4 other brands but none will play MPEGs (and surely not AVI or MOV files).

When viewing JPEG photos, the slideshow timing is slow. I wish someone would make a DVD player that has adjustable timing, such as durations of 1 or 2 or 3 seconds.

My friend's Sony has a 1.5x FFWD with sound - this is a useful feature but you have to actually use it to see how good it is. No such thing on the Philips.

There is no 'current time' or 'clock' option. Many remote controls have this feature and it is handy when a clock or watch is not available.

While the Philips DVDR3455H does have :thumbs: TIME SHIFT BUFFER it has that annoying 1/3 screen pop up box indicating hard drive status. In case you don't know what Time Shift is: everything you watch on TV, including changing channels, is automatically recorded onto the HD. So it the phone rings you can press Pause and then resume watching later. The Philips auto records up to 6 hours.

Audio - there are no graphic-style choices (such as Speech, Concert Hall, Rock, etc.)


So I am returning the Phillips DVDR3455H for a refund. It will be a pain to return to tapes, but prices are dropping and when I do get another DVD recorder it will be one with decent features.


For the net bots indexing this page:
DVDR 3455H DVD R 3455 H Phillips DVDR3455H/75 firmware upgrade software DVDR3455H/75B Philips DVDR3455 		Strommer (42)
511723 2007-01-01 19:24:00 Forgot to mention that I checked the Philips website for firmware / software upgrades, but none is needed. Strommer (42)
511724 2007-01-01 19:46:00 when I do get another DVD recorder it will be one with decent features.Make sure you wait until you can get a model with digital tuner here in New Zealand or you won't be able to record Freeview when they start broadcasting in digital later this year (or alternatively you could buy a digital terrestrial or satellite PVR). :) maccrazy (6741)
511725 2007-01-01 20:32:00 Steve why did you buy the Philips in the first place ? Price ? or other factors ? wmoore (6009)
511726 2007-01-01 20:36:00 Make sure you wait until you can get a model with digital tuner here in New Zealand or you won't be able to record Freeview when they start broadcasting in digital later this year (or alternatively you could buy a digital terrestrial or satellite PVR). :)

Good point, Mac. I just looked in the Philips DVDR3455H User Manual and there is no digital indication under specifications.

Most of us will have to buy a digital decoder set top box (supposedly around $200) to get our TVs to receive digital broadcasts. Would this work for non-digital DVD recorders? 		Strommer (42)
511727 2007-01-01 20:39:00 Steve why did you buy the Philips in the first place ? Price ? or other factors ?

Mainly price, but I have a 3 yr old Philips DVD player and it works great, especially the fact that it can play mpeg film clips. Generally I think all Philips products have a decent track record. 		Strommer (42)
511728 2007-01-01 20:42:00 I have just purchased the Panasonic 160GB DVD Hard drive recorder and am very pleased with it although it is still early days. Its my first, so I still learning what it can and can't do. I read a number of reviews before buying and also my friend is pretty happy with his 80GB version of the Panasonic.

I think I did consider the Philips as Noel Lemming was including some goodies with the purchase. 		dolby digital (5073)
511729 2007-01-01 21:06:00 I have just purchased the Panasonic 160GB DVD Hard drive recorder

What did you pay for the Panasonic? 		Strommer (42)
511730 2007-01-01 21:32:00 My wife bought me a Sony RDR-HX-910 250GB machine for Xmas to replace our 13 yr old VCR. Hopefully, it will end the balls-ups in recording important stuff like rugby. The DVD is so much simpler than the VCR was. Mainly, you don't have to screw around turning the machine off for it to record on the timer. :yuck:
So far, after a week we're very impressed - though it is top-of-the-line, so you'd expect it to be good. And it's ****** proof, as far as I can tell, which is a necessary attribute. :) 		TideMan (4279)
511731 2007-01-01 21:52:00 I've had two Sony HDD recorders.....and they are nothing short of brilliant.

$500 seems pretty cheap......maybe you get the features you pay for?

I've paid $800 for each Sony, and apart from a coffee or a lap-dance there's nothing these babies won't do. Both are 160GB machines.....saw no point in a 250GB given anything worth keeping can be burned to a DVD.

For a parent with young kids.....and the obligatory 33 video tapes lying around, un-named and always forwarded about halfway through.....these things will save ya life!

AND given that programmes can be copied to a DVD, there's no more 'Canes matches being copied over by Dora the Explorer!!!

T 		allblack (6574)
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