Review on Philips DVDR3576H Recorder 160GB Built by Bruno Gilbert

Bought 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 hate paying a monthly fee for anything, so I always set the VCR to timer record from the aerial. But it won't work after February. What no one tells you is that the transducer block doesn't allow this because the channel selection is done in the transducer, not the VCR. So this DVR is the solution and it's the only one if you don't pay a monthly fee for cable and something like TiVo. It's even more convenient than a VCR for timer recordings. You can easily set and remove events as you see fit and don't have to worry about what fits on the tape. By default, the date, time, and channel are displayed for each event. I keep a separate diary on a piece of paper and this saves time marking every event on disk. I usually delete an event after I've viewed it anyway. I use it with a Sony 52 inch HD TV so I can appreciate the picture quality. At EP speed it records 132 hours onto a hard drive and the quality is similar to that of a VCR. with EP speed. But it has the advantage of widescreen picture and surround sound. But it has one clear disadvantage, which is that it doesn't record subtitles. This is a problem for us with television programs produced in the last 5 years or so because the dialogue is distorted and drowned out by unnecessary music. It would not be a problem if the TV industry corrected its approach. What is really remarkable is the picture quality, which is influenced by the tuner and the TV connection. The image that is set by this DVR and then sent to the TV via an HDMI cable or a component video cable is not as clear as the same image that is sent directly from the TV. More interestingly, the HDMI Cable produces a worse picture than component video, although HDMI is said to be the ultimate. One day we may have Blu-ray recorders, but until then I think this is a great device.