Hard Drive TV Recorders

I've been quite forthcoming with my plan to acquire a Philips 3575, and I've had experience with last year's Polaroid 2001G. I'll have a review up, but in the meantime, one of our reader's Barry "Bear" got in touch with me, and I've collected our correspondence into the following thread. --Jonas

The New HDD TV Recorders Take a Step, But Is It In the Right Direction?

Why can't the manufactures of current HDD/DVD recorders ever design consumer video equipment that meets the needs of the consumer! Consumers today have an HDTV with an HD cable or satellite DVR. This is great; you can view in real time your show in HD, pause live TV, jump backwards and forwards and record and save the show to the HDD to play the recording again viewing it in HD! The problem everyone still faces is the ability to record an HD broadcast, edit, and then archive the edited recording to a standard DVD in SD resolution to appease the copyright gods. And they never seem include a user friendly interface where you can select from a guide the show you want to record like you're already able to do with satellite and cable DVR's manufactured currently.

For example, you see an HD show on an OTA or QAM channel that you want to record on these new HDD/DVD recorders with digital tuners. You have to manually setup a timer after you look it up on the internet, or TV Guide when it will air. Now it gets recorded. YEAH! Not really, this is where the problem starts. What you have is a recording on your HDD that is in SD resolution. If your replay the recorded show it is in SD resolution! The change in resolution from HD to SD needs to take place when you record it onto the DVD. Otherwise I still need to record the same show on my cable or satellite DVR so I can view it in HD AND I also need to record it on my new HDD recorder so I can archive it onto a DVD.

There must be a way to down-convert a HD recording off a cable or satellite DVR HDD and record it to a DVD in SD resolution. This is what we want. A HD DVR capable of receiving HD OTA and QAM broadcasts, that records to the HDD in HD resolution (which exists!) WITH a built in DVD recorder so you can archive the HD recording to a DVD in SD resolution.

I originally looked into just getting a DVD player that would play my Divx collection off my WD 250 GB portable HD thru a USB port. Well....that is just NOT an option as I tried the RCA DRC285, Philips DVP5982/37 and Pioneer DV-400V-K and none of the have enough power to run this drive from the USB ports. (Editor's note: That's a common issue as the ports in these devices generally work best with USB flash drives).

So......I decided to evaluate the Philips DVDR3575H/37. I have a Liteon 5045 which I like that but no USB port, no upconvert, no ATSC or QAM tuner.

Last month there were several Philips 3575's at Wal-Mart, but with college starting they disappeared quickly! I finally saw Amazon had them and with the mostly positive reviews I decided to get one. Then yesterday I saw the Polaroid DRA-01601A at Wal-Mart so I decided that since I have looked at 4 pieces of DVD gear why not another!

Out of the DVD players I saw.....The Pioneer wins hands down with QUALITY video and workmanship. Unfortunately, they're not currently making one with a digital tuner.

You want to see CHEAP check out the RCA. Totally plastic enclosure, but it did function as advertised.

Now for what I have observed with the HDD devices.....

Let me start by saying that I wish that everyone would get their act together. It seems like the options missing on one recorder are available on the other and vice versa!!!!!

I have had a HDD recorder for a few years now (Liteon 5045- Editor's Note: This aging LiteOn, no longer for sale, is practically legendary for its hackability) so let me see what I like about the equipment I already have. Every user has their own needs and want, I have a HD DVR from Time Warner and I can watch HD until the cows come home. But I can only archive it to SD. Having an HDD DVD recorder that accepts OTA digital HD and QAM channels will allow me to record programs I really know are keepers. Then I can edit and burn the content to a DVD.

What we need is an HD DVR that can high speed dub from the HDD down to a built in DVD (even if it is SD).

I like the ability of
- copying non copyrighted DVD videos to the HDD. Like a video juke box!
- copying MP3 audio file to the HDD. Like an audio jukebox!
- copying JPEG photos to the HDD. Like a slideshow! You can have your family and friends over and sit in fron of your 65" TV and play all your travel photos with MP3's playing simultaneously.

So the Liteon is actually a media center!

I also like.....
- the ability of editing video content recorded off the HDD. The Liteon does this, but not as well as the Philips.
- connecting a DV camera via firewire to transfer videos.
- playing VCD's
- playing PAL DVD's
- a good user interface

OK, so it's been 2-1/2 years since I purchased the Liteon. Let's compare these new DVD HDD recorders see what they offer......

New tuner to receive the new OTA Digital broadcast!
New tuner to accept QAM digital channels from your cable TV
USB ports!
Upconversion to 1080P

So from what I have seen, these are the capabilities of these 2 machines.

Polaroid DRA-01601A:
Quality workmanship: average
Quality video: above average
QAM: It really sucks, just like all the other reports! Don't go there
OTA: Seems to work A-OK
copying non copyrighted DVD videos to the HDD: Nope
copying MP3 audio file to the HDD: Nope, this thing only plays WMA files! However you can copy them to the HDD!
copying JPEG photos to the HDD: Yup
playing photos and music at same time: Manual states it will
editing video content recorded off the HDD: Yes, however I did not want to go through the pain
connecting a DV camera via firewire to transfer videos: Yes, has a firewire port. Did not try it.
playing VCD's: Manual says yes
playing PAL DVD's: YUP
good user interface: The only way I can explain the feeling I get when I use this interface is that I would rather get a mouthful of root canals without novocaine! If you go into a prison you will see convicts that killed someone because of the effects this interface had on their minds!
Remote: SUCKS!
USB: Powers my portable HDD
Upconversion: Nope
DIVX: No way

-If it loses power, you lose your timers. However time is AOK

-It can display DTV channels listing (Show name and time) like a guide for 12 hrs. However the times are all wrong.

-It has an HDMI problem. Every time I turn the unit on, I have to press the I/P button 2 times on the remote to get a picture. Must default to Interlaced 480

-It always defaults to the DVD mode. That sorta sucks!

-It has a favorites list

- Many of the buttons have different functions on the remote depending on what mode you are in. Like I am watching TV and press zoom and it shows me a list of available DTV channels and I can arrow down and select one to change the channel.

- I made a YES DVD; it took awhile. It makes a DVD with a title screen with all the different scenes like you would see in a DVD that has chapters. Sorta cool.

Philips DVDR3575H/37 (You get what you pay for)

Quality workmanship: above average
Quality video: above average
QAM: no problems so far. Not losing channels.....
OTA: AOK
copying non copyrighted DVD videos to the HDD: Nope
copying MP3 audio file to the HDD: Nope
copying JPEG photos to the HDD: Nope
playing photos and music at same time: Nope
editing video content recorded off the HDD: Yes, and quite well, wish you could merge files
connecting a DV camera via firewire to transfer videos: Yes, has a firewire port. Did not try it.
playing VCD's: Yes
playing PAL DVD's: NOPE
good user interface:Very nice interface, impressed daily
Remote: OK, however I wish it was a good as the Pioneer. You did not even need to point that at the equipment!
USB: Powers my portable HDD
Upconversion: YUP
DIVX: Yes, however you can't copy them to the HDD

They went through the effort of having this thing auto clock set the time from the PBS station, but it loses all the program settings in a long power outage! I have to test this, but I read that it does.

Noise: Philips is much quieter.

The rapid play on the Philips is really cool. You should be able to save a timeshift event.

You have to rename the timed recordings. Why can't they incorporate the OTA digital data into a guide so that you could just select what you want to watch and it would populate the title field with this data.

It has chase play and it works well.

I also read that it will not play MP3's off a DVD. Why? (Editor's Note: I don't know of any DVD player that will do this feat.)

On the Polaroid for timeshift you use 2 different buttons pause and play. On the Philips it is the same button. On the Polaroid you can save timeshift events. On the Philips no can do. They need to fix that one!

I am noticing that on the Philips, unless you have recorded a show in HQ you cannot do any High Speed Dubbing. So for example, I have 3 1 hr recordings I want to transfer to a disc. I have done my editing, and it is going to take 3 hrs to burn the disc. And I don't think I can watch TV until it is done.

I am trying to think how my Liteon does this. I think it copies the files like a computer would. No way does it take 3 freaking hours. Is the Philips doing a bit to bit copy or is it doing an analog copy! That would be real bad, as you would have quality loss.

In Closing...

The Polaroid is going back. However it had some capabilities that the Philips didn't offer: PAL playback, copying JPEG and music to HDD (and MPEG videos). The QAM tuner is hurting for sure. The manual is a waste of paper! Not to mention the lack of ability to upconvert!

So now I will continue to play with the Philips and make a decision if I should keep it or send it back. It really is the only one out there right now. Has a lot of capabilities, but it could be so much better.

What the Philips does, it does very well.

The answer for me may be to continue using my Cable HD DVR (that records to the HDD in HD resolution) coupled with my Lite-on HDD DVD recorder. At least then I could watch my programs in HD! The only regret with this setup is the quality loss I would experience by recording to the HDD DVD recorder via the S-Video input.

Frustrating for sure!

--Bear

Feel free to discuss the Philips and Polaroid DVD recorders below.