DVD HDD recorder with good DivX playback

[KBeee]

My 14 month old LiteOn A760 DVD/HDD recorder died on me over the weekend, so I'm looking for a replacement.
My needs are -
1. Good DivX/XviD playback
2. HDD (size isn't too important 160Gb or 250GB)
3. USB2 connection
4. Digital (Freeview) tuner
5. Region free, or easily hackable to be region free
6. Not Sony

The DivX requirement rules out Panasonic, and I refuse to buy any more Sony stuff.
I was interested in the Samsung SH855, but after reading many posts from owners about the problems it has, I canceled my order.

Any suggestions?

[jjeff]

I would say the Philips 3575 would do everything you are asking. I personally have not played Divx, but the manual says it can, and there is also various setup options for divx playback.
Not sure about the region free hack though. Maby someone else might know. Seems to be a decent machine, all in all.

[KBeee]

Thanks jjeff, the Philips sounds good - I'll look into it.
The biggest failing on my old LiteOn 760 was it's AVI playback, there was no options at all for AVI display. It'd just display what it was given, and no adjustment was available to compensate for square pixels being displayed on a non-square pixel screen, and it only seemed happy displaying 640*480 images.

[guns1inger]

I would also consider Pioneer. My current one does not have USB or a digital reciever, however the new models do. The Divx/Xvid playback however is very good, with built-in hardware filtering for macroblocks and mosquito noise.

[dphirschler]

The Philips has a horrible remote and user interface. But it does indeed play DivX. And it records well and with great quality to both DVD and the HDD.

A big problem I have with it is if you record something too long for one disc, it will simply tell you the file is too big. I'd rather it just record until it's full. You can go in and split the file, but you have to guess where you want to split it. Also, if you split it again (splitting a file that has already been split once) it simply deletes it.

Another problem is if you are watching a show or a DVD and you have a timer recording come up, it gets interrupted by a warning message telling you a timer recording is about to happen. And so you have to look at that message for three minutes until it startes actually recording the show. Then you can switch back to the DVD and finish watching your movie. But you have to find where you were in the film first.

Don't get me wrong. I am glad I have this, but I'd rather not have to deal with the above issues.


Darryl

[KBeee]

I've been searching around, and I can't find an easy way to make Philips recorders region free - that'd make about 3/4 of my DVD's unplayable.

To Guns1inger - I've had a look at Pioneer, and it seems the reasonably priced (though still expensive at £283 for a 160GB HDD) DVR550HXS doesn't have USB, and the next model up, the DVRLX60D, has just about all I need, but the price is an astonishing £429!

I'm tempted to get the Samsung after all, and put up with the crappy EPG and timer recordings. At £206 I could buy 2 of these for the price of a Pioneer DVRLX60D.

<edited for typos>

[wabjxo]

The Philips has a horrible remote and user interface. But it does indeed play DivX. And it records well and with great quality to both DVD and the HDD.

A big problem I have with it is if you record something too long for one disc, it will simply tell you the file is too big. I'd rather it just record until it's full. You can go in and split the file, but you have to guess where you want to split it. Also, if you split it again (splitting a file that has already been split once) it simply deletes it.

Another problem is if you are watching a show or a DVD and you have a timer recording come up, it gets interrupted by a warning message telling you a timer recording is about to happen. And so you have to look at that message for three minutes until it startes actually recording the show. Then you can switch back to the DVD and finish watching your movie. But you have to find where you were in the film first.

Don't get me wrong. I am glad I have this, but I'd rather not have to deal with the above issues.


Darryl

If you're referring to the Philips DVDR 3575, your unit must be defective?

Once used to the remote, it's actually better than my Pio 640 remote, 47 buttons compared to 41, and more are "direct-entry."

The Philips 3575 has "Alternate Recording" which shifts recording automatically to the HDD if rec. toa disc and it fills up.

It also doesn't put any message on the screen for the start of a HDD timer rec., and it starts recording seamlessly to the HDD:
1. While playing a DVD.
2. While playing a HDD title.

I'd take your 3575 back!

[handyguy]

Does that 3575 have an onscreen tv guide of sorts for recording programs?

[wabjxo]

No, just date, time etc. that you set yourself, and no titles on recordings... only thing I really miss compared to my Pio 640.

[jjeff]

I agree with Waxjbo about the remote, but I do wish that the next and scan buttons were not so close to each other, or at least a different color. I find myself accidently hitting Next, instead of search, when a commercial comes on, only to have it jump 5 min ahead!
I also don't really have a problem with the 3575 user interface. I've never had anything but Panny DVDR's in the past, and I really havent had a problem with the Philips menu's.
As far as the warning that a recording is going to come up, if say I'm watching a DVD and the HDD starts a scheduled record, I will get the little icon of the HDD, along with a red dot on the screen, indicating the HDD is recording. It's not very objectionable, in fact I kinda like it, it lets me know it has started the recording. It only is on the screen for 10? seconds, and doesnt stop my playing DVD, on my machine anyway.

[dphirschler]

Sorry. I just double-checked and I have the 3455H model. Looks like they improved some things with the 3575.


Darryl

[KBeee]

Just thought I'd report back on my hunt for a DVD recorder.
I ended up getting the Samsung 855.
Good points -
1. Region free out of the box from my supplier
2. USB2 port on the front
3. Looks ok - shiny black piano finish

Bad points -
1. Clunky and slow EPG
2. Won't play mpeg data files
3. Won't play VCD's
4. Same crappy AVI playback as the LiteOn 760 i.e. seems to show only the centre 640 of a 704 pixel AVI, and expand it to 720! No user adjustments available for AVI playback to compensate for AR differences etc.
All in all, a pretty underwhelming DVD recorder, lacking features found even on £25 DVD/DivX players