Philips DVDR3400 DVD Recorder

[negrabarba]

Hola a todos,

Acabé comprando un Phillips DVDR3455 http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer...3HKFSESI5P y por ahora estoy muy contento con él. Tiene algunos defectos de diseño que no me molestan demasiado pero que lo hacen algo incómodo, por ejemplo, la entrada primaria es con el sintonizador de TV a través de cable coaxial de televisión, lo cual estaría muy bien si Cablevisión no fuera digital pero ahora con su mugroso decodificador de quinta me entrega esa salida o la de video y audio separados (amarillo, blanco y rojo). El problema que tiene eso es que, para dejar grabando algo, necesito dejar prendido el decodificador en el canal que quiero grabar y luego programar el DVDR a la hora que quiero grabar. Una incomodidad menor pues. La otra es que la entrada que viene en video y audio separados se llama Ext1 en el aparato, lo dejo así, pero cada vez que lo apago y lo vuelvo a prender, se regresa al sintonizador de televisión, lo cual es muy incómodo (y no hay forma de que se quede donde lo dejé).

Una cosa que si me gustó mucho es que es multiregión verdadero y puedo ver películas zona 1, 2 (en PAL) y 4 sin ninguna queja.

En cuanto al quemado de los discos todavía no hago suficientes pruebas para ver los resultados.

El diseño es lindo



Y el manual está en línea también http://www.p4c.philips.com/na4/d/dvdr345...fu_aen.pdf. Hay además un FAQ, guías de conexión y la lista de centros de servicio en México. Digamos que es una parte que si me parece importante en un equipo de estos.

El precio en Cost Co fue de 4600 pesos (más menos un peso). Está algo caro pero, considerando que tiene un disco duro de 160 Gb no lo veo tan indecente el precio. Por ahora estoy grabando los episodios de Big Love y caben como dos por DVD-R.

En general la opinión de la raza es que es pésimo este equipo, por ejemplo aquí hay una reseña negativa http://www.epinions.com/content_268031004292, aunque hay en AVS Forum un comentario que creo más centrado http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthrea...ge=3&pp=30

This is my take on the Philips DVDR 3455H. I have played with it enough to have a better feel for it by now, so here goes.

It is overall a nice unit with a number of pluses, but also a few very glaring minuses! As some of you here know I got an amazing deal on this unit. The fact that I only have $115.00 incl. tax in this unit has heavily influenced my decision to keep it. At $298 I would not have purchased the Philips to start with, much less decided to keep it. At that price I would likely have opted for a Panasonic or possibly a Pioneer.


By far the largest reason for that is the apparent inability to ”Chase Play”, the ability to watch a pre-set “Timer Recording” from the beginning while the unit is still recording that “Timed Recording”. I can do that using DVD-RAM on my Panasonic DMR-ES10K, and it is one of my favorite features. I mistakenly took Philips’ description of “Watch, pause, and rewind live TV” to mean the unit had the “Chase Play” feature, which it does not. That refers instead to a “Live TV buffer” that automatically begins to record whatever channel you are currently viewing through the Philips Tuner. Why this cannot be utilized to buffer and view a preset “Timer Recording” I am sure I have no clue, and it is by far the biggest downer to this unit.

Inability to record or playback DVD-RAM is the other major fault of this device. No “Time Slip” function enabling you to jump ahead a “user selected” number of minutes or hours while viewing a Hard Drive Recording is another omission that is hard to understand. That feature is available only while viewing a DVD. Why?!? Some more minor negatives are no “Slow-Mo” on Playback without accessing it thru the “Setup Menu” which seems clunky to me, and no Reverse “Slow-Mo” at all. OK, you can sort of “Slow-Mo” by pausing and then repeatedly pressing the ( >| ) button, but do this a little too quickly and a FF Mode begins. “Commercial Skip” is not marked, but is accessible thru the ( > ) Navigation button in 30 second increments. The ( < ) button skips backwards in 10 second hops. Forward and backward “Fast Search” are limited to a paltry 32x maximum speed. Another negative is that Philips only permits you to use the included YESDVD Software on three DVDs, after that you have to pay for it ($39.95 - Yeah Right!!!) to keep using it. I despise it when companies bundle “Pay Software” with a unit that is pricey enough so that it should include the software for free. Archive and DVD “Titling” is limited to a stingy 12 Characters.


Now for the good. For starters, a 160GB Hard Drive is pretty darn nice! This model can record 85 hrs. of video using the SPP Mode, which is pretty high quality video. The “Live TV Buffer is indeed a handy feature (tho I would trade it for true “Chase Play” in a heartbeat!!!!). Compatibility with DVD +/-R and +/-RW Discs is a plus as well. The Philips Tuner is stereo, which remedies a weakness of the Polaroid/Philips 80 GB hard drive model that’s also available at Wal-Mart (reportedly with a mono tuner). There are a wide variety of recording speeds available both for Hard Drive and DVD recording. HQ=1hr. per 4.7gb DVD, SP=2hr., SPP=2.5hr., LP=3hr., EP=4hr., SLP=6hr., and SEP=8hr. Using the SPP/2.5hr. Recording Mode I cannot distinguish a Hard Drive Recording from the original source material, but my eyes may not be as discerning as some here. Same goes for a DVD burned from the HD at the SPP mode. To my eyes the recording quality is very good. The Black Level is exceptional, and the colors are vibrant, the picture very clear. The Remote includes a 2 stage “Picture ZOOM” feature (with pan and scan ability), but again this is available only during DVD Playback, and not functional during Hard Drive Playback. : ( (I have since discovered that the Picture Zoom feature will work with HDD Recordings. Sometimes you have to Pause the picture, then Zoom, and then resume Playback to get it to work)

The DVDR 3455H records video in the VR mode, which means you can still edit a recorded DVD-/+R Disc (before you finalize it) which is nice. The “Disc Edit” feature allows you to select a new "Title Frame Picture", and hide unwanted Chapters before you finalize the disc. You can also add or remove Chapter Markers. At least one person here has reported Playback difficulty on other DVD Players when using DVD-RW Discs recorded with this unit. I have found no way to “finalize” a DVD-RW Disc on the Philips unit, neither was my Panasonic DMR-ES10k able to finalize a -RW Disc recorded on the Philips 3455H. The Philips recorded -RW disc plays back fine on my Panny, but not on my old Toshiba. No surprise there, as the Toshi never played any +/-RW discs, nor will it play +Rs. I have experienced perfect compatibility on all DVD Players tested to date when using DVD-R discs recorded and finalized on the Philips. I have found DVDs burned on the Philips to be more difficult to work with on my computer. I am discovering workarounds, but DVDs recorded on my Panny are very easy to transfer and then edit on my computer, so the VRMode recording cuts both ways - it is a negative in this instance.


Editing with the Philips Hard Drive by Remote is a little twitchy, but the edit points seem pretty easy to hit, and I suspect all the editing will become much easier with practice. At times it seems to want to reset if I make too many mistakes/retakes during editing, but it may just be my unfamiliarity with the process at this point. My big ‘ol fingers may be hitting the wrong buttons a time or two. A key is to sit pretty close to the unit when using “Edit” functions, and point the Remote right at the DVDR unit. This unit also plays DIVX, which is pretty neat, but it seems to pick and choose exactly which files it will and won’t play. I couldn’t begin to tell you why. I don’t know a lot about different DVD/Video formats in general. The DIVX playback quality is in accordance with the quality of the original source recording.

As to appearance, I find it a very attractive unit. I much prefer AV Equipment in Black, and that is distressingly hard to find with the "Silver Craze" of the last 5 years or so. The Top and Bottom of the Philips is silver, but the faceplate is a very nice black, so this unit could blend into both a Black or Silver equipment stack. The Blue "HD Light" and the BRIGHT red "Record Light" both look very sharp and improve the overall look of this DVDR. The unit is amazingly quiet as well, particularly when recording from the Hard Drive.

In summation, had I not gotten such an incredible deal on this recorder I would have looked elsewhere, most likely to a Panny EH75 at the now reduced prices, or possibly to the Panny EH55. I listed the negatives of the Philips 3455H first, because at $298 they would have combined to keep me from purchasing/keeping this unit. But at $115, I think I’ll keep her!

En fin, ya lo compré, así que tendré que aprender a "domarlo".[/quote]