Brain,
Thanks again for the info. When I took the DRA-01601A back to a Walmart store today, it took four different people coming back to customer service to figure out how to send something back to Walmart.com. I did hear one of them say the unit would have to go to "claims" because it was damaged. I do buy on credit, but I'm a little concerned about buying multiple units and taking more than one back to the same store, since this is a semi-small town and it might freak them out. But I plan to order another one and see how it goes and see if "Do I feel lucky?".
I had considered just going ahead and getting the Philips 3575 from Circuit City, but I had a bad experience with an early Philips unit a few years ago (before I got the Lite-On at Sams) that I got from JR Music online. The thing froze up all the time (having to constantly unplug and ruining DVDs) and I had a hard time getting them to let me send it back. JR made me deal with the customer "nonservice" at Philips endlessly before I could get Philips to tell JR that the system was defective so they would let me return it. And this thing cost me $600+ with no hard drive. This was before DVD recorders with HDDs became common. Philips customer service is asinine.
Jacobian
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The Philips of yesterday were trash. I hated pretty much anything with Philips. I bought mine from Walmart with the idea it would be returned after a review, but it ended up being great, and is a permanent addition to my new HDTV.
So don't let the past be a hang-up for you.Want my help? Ask here! (not via PM!)
FAQs: Best Blank Discs • Best TBCs • Best VCRs for capture • Restore VHS -
Lordsmurf,
Is the unit you got from Walmart a Philips 3575H with 160 GB HDD? Walmart no longer carries it, either online or in the store. Earlier, this was my first choice before the Polaroid, but I wanted a store close by to take it back to if I did not like it. Plus the reviews on easy editing with YesDVD on the Polaroid were attractive. Only place I could find the 3575H was Circuit City or some online places, and the closest Circuit City is an hour from where I live, but if it is that good, distance would not matter. Or I'd just have it shipped to home. After my bad experience trying to return the early Philips to an online distributor, I did not want to go throught that again.
How do you like the unit? Will it copy an inserted DVD (non-copyrighted, like home-movie DVDs) to the HDD, let you edit it, and then copy the edited version back to a blank DVD? An earlier Philips version of this one would not allow that, and that is why I did not buy it at the time. I've heard editiing and ease of use is not that great with the 3575H, but maybe those responses came from tech simpletons. I don't have a problem with stuff like that. I can usually figure it out just by turning a unit on and going through the menus. I just ordered another Polaroid from Wamart.com, but may go ahead and order a 3575H and do the side by side comparison that Brain does. Any info you can provide would be appreciated. Thanks.
Jacobian -
Yeah, I'll tell you what, anything coming from China nowadays is dick. I don't care what brand it is. Its just hit and miss. Polaroid is down there near the bottom when it comes to customer service and support. They're like a lot of companies now, they just import the crap from China, throw it up against the wall and whatever sticks, sticks. I gaurantee you these blokes never even plug one in to see if or how it works. I emailed them with a simple tech question regarding a function of the 2001G and only got a canned response that they received the question and that someone would probably contact me within 24 hours. That was 5 days ago. They're problably waiting for a response from the manufacturer 'cuz they don't know dick.
I just happen to score on both of these Polaroids. Sweet christmas, this $86 2001G I got early this week is working like I can't believe. The 480i HD signal from my Dish Satellite fed into the 2001G component inputs gives mind boggling picture quality on its hdd as well as a DVD. I swear I'm getting 480i HD on a regular DVD. I screwed myself. At 86 bones I should have got 2 of these. One as a backup or to canabalize when need be.
Jacobian, btw, if I remember correctly, the Philips doesn't have the copy DVD to HDD feature like the Polaroid. But you can always use one of those $30 Cyberhome or whatever plugged in the back to do that if you go with the Philips, if the Philips allows to copy to the HDD from the back input. -
Brain,
Thanks for the heads up on the non-copying crap from inserted DVD to HDD on the Philips. I will not order it. Yes, I could get a DVD player and hook it up externally, but why should anyone have to do this? The common VCR/DVD recorders on the market today allow recording from an inserted VHS tape to the DVD recorder. Why not from an inserted DVD to the HDD. They are so worried somone might be able to copy a copywrigted DVD. Why in the hell would anyone design a unit like this (the Philips) without that capability? That's half the reason to have a DVD recorder with a HDD for my purposes. Crap! What idiots! If it were not for the audio-video sync problems with the Lite-On with HDD that has All-Write technology (records to CDs as well as DVDs), I would have already bought that unit. Don't these people know that there are people out there that want this stuff and would pay dearly for it?
Jacobian -
I copied some AVI files to an external USB hard drive then pluged it to USB port of the DRA-01601a. The Polaroid only show the directories and ignore all the video files (I already set the display to video). Did that happen to you or my unit is defected.
Could anybody please help.
Thanks.No One -
Originally Posted by paulvu2
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Originally Posted by jacobian
I think this bug may be caused by the ability of the 3575 to Auto-Chapter-Mark the HDD (my Pio 640 doesn't allow that), down to 5-min. intervals. When you make cuts, you add more chapter marks and those new marks may "collide" or interfere with the auto-set ones. The DVD and MPEG2 stds require chapter marks to be spaced a certain distance apart and only at I-frames, and it might be that editing violates those stds, specifically where two marks are placed closelyand then moved to the same I-frame???...all conjecture of course???
The Philips 3575 copies in both directions, HDD>DVD and DVD>HDD.
Editing on the 3575 is extremely easy...simple menus w/o multiple layers, etc.
Here's a post with lots of true info on the Philips 3575. One of the subjects listed is Cutting Front/End Sections and Commercials. -
Originally Posted by jacobian
They have more at the store where I bought mine. I drove a good bit across the state, it was not at any local stores. PM me if you want to know where that store was.Want my help? Ask here! (not via PM!)
FAQs: Best Blank Discs • Best TBCs • Best VCRs for capture • Restore VHS -
Brain/Lord Smurf,
I got the new Polaroid in from Walmart today (site-to-store), and as I suspected, you cannot insert a home movie DVD into it and record that DVD onto the the HDD for editing, etc. This was the burning question I was so concerned about in earlier messages and the whole reason I would even consider buying it. (I could go ahead and get a Pioneer 645H or 745H (altered) that can do anything for 700-900 bucks, but thought I could find something made here that would do this.) The earlier Philips would not allow that either, and that's why I did not get it. Panasonic had one that also had a VCR in it, and it would do all this, but only had an 80 gig HD. But they don't make them anymore, and now you can't even get them for anything less than astronomical prices ($1,000+ from what I've seen). I don't know about the Philips 3575 and whether it can record from inserted DVD to the HDD. If any of you know, please let me know.
If any of you know if the Polaroid can do this in some way (record from inserted DVD to HDD), please let me know. The menus are easy to understand, but when you want to record to the HDD, you have to select the "source" for recording, and there is no "source" to choose from for the inserted DVD. Yes, I can attach an external DVD and do this, but that is the whole reason I bought the damn thing, was to be able to put my home movie DVDs into it, record them to the hard drive, and then edit.
Thanks,
jacobian -
waxjbo said you can copy from disc to Philips 3575 hard drive.
Want my help? Ask here! (not via PM!)
FAQs: Best Blank Discs • Best TBCs • Best VCRs for capture • Restore VHS -
Yes, the 3575 can dub from DVD to HDD...see my "invisible" post of Nov 15, above.
However, from the DRA-01601A manual, it appears it also can copy from DVD to HDD.
Page 25, "Editing" Step 2.j (bottom of page):
"EDIT FROM DVD:
1. Press DVD. Preview screens will appear.
2. Using the up and down arrows, select the recorded segment you would like to edit and press
right arrow key. Use the up and down arrow key to select the edit you would to make:
j. Copy: Use the arrow button and press ENTER. This will copy the current video clip to the
HDD." -
jacobian
Why would you want to use a DVD - HDD recorder to (RECORD) a non- CP disk to the HDD, edit it and than record it back to a disk.
Why not dub (copy) the disk to the HDD, edit it, than dub (copy) to a disk.
I know the Polaroid will do so, Unless the material is CP protected or it thinks it is
Having a unit that will PLAY from one to another would seem redundant
I believe you did say the material is not protected.
I have used a number if different units and none would RECORD from the DVD to HDD or reverse. What would be the reason? They will dub (copy). If the material were protected you would have to use another DVD in real time. And I know of no present units that will do that either.
Your posts seem somewhat conflicting as to what is expected. In the reference to a VCR, It is analog and could very well record a CP - DVD disk. but to VCR standards
Bottom line
Are you trying to record a CP disk? If not what’s the problem? -
Jacobian,
I think maybe your question about two-way dubbing ability (HDD>DVD and DVD>HDD) may be throwing some of us off who are trying to help you, because in a way the answer is so obvious to those with a lot of recorder experience that it goes right over our heads and we talk in circles, confusing you further .
Assuming your 90 or so personal DVDs were finalized when you created them in your old Lite-On, what you want to do is pretty much impossible with any HDD-DVD recorder I've tried. Once you finalize a disc for compatible playback on standard DVD players, you essentially kill any chance of editing it without a computer. If my understanding of the various threads on this site is correct, finalizing a DVD-R changes the recording into a continuous signal that cannot be "reverse-engineered" for editing by the simplified operating system in a DVD recorder. You need a PC with a good software package to digitally strip the basic video/audio recording out of the finalized DVD with no quality loss. You can then re-edit, add new menus, etc and burn to a new DVD as you have requested.
A lot of HDD-equipped recorders don't allow copying finalized discs to their HDD at all, and those that do (every Pioneer I've used, anyway) strictly limit that function to "backup" only: all it will let you do is make a clone of the DVD you inserted. It won't even let you *watch* the disc image you just stored on the HDD- its for duplication purposes only.
Going forward, you should try to keep 2 copies of all new DVDs you create that you think might need a touchup later on. Finalize one for compatability with other players, but keep the backup DVD unfinalized. Because what you *can* do with a lot of these HDD units is copy UNFINALIZED DVDs back to their HDD for editing and re-burning. As long as the disc is not finalized, your recordings remain discrete chunks of info that the recorder can still understand and work with. Just pick the title thumbnail you want to alter in the recorders DVD navigation screen and copy it back to the HDD. To enable this copy-back-and-re-edit function, some machines require the disc to be recorded in a certain mode (VR) or that you use an RW or RAM disc instead of an R. And the unfinalized disc in all cases has to have been recorded by that brand of recorder. I'm sure wabjxo must have documented whether the Philips can do these tricks in his extensive coverage of the 3575, click the link he posted earlier to go directly to that info.
I have also had limited success moving DVD-RAM recordings between my JVC DRMV5 recorder and my Pioneer 640. When it works, its tremendous for me because my JVC does not have a HDD. Moving the recording to the Pioneer allows me to use its easy HDD editing features and then copy the new project to a standard DVD-R. Unfortunately my Pioneer fails to recognize my JVC RAM recordings about half the time, possibly because the JVC is quite a bit older. (I still use the JVC for longer recordings because its encoding algorithm for 200 mins is much superior to any recorder available new today.) -
Originally Posted by orsetto
If you use a VR-mode -R disc with the Pioneers, whether finalized or not, the copy back to HDD can be made in the normal manner in high-speed. This is a great way to save a series of shows off the HDD for later high-speed, lossless copy back to the HDD for final editing and compilation. (No high-speed if rec. mode is LP or MN9-15, tho. No widescreen SEP thru LP/MN1-15 too. See Note, bottom of pg 83 of 640 manual.) -
wabjxo wrote:
Besides the "Backup" function, the 53x/63x and 640 series Pioneers allow copying a finalized DVD to the HDD via the "One-Touch Record" (OTR) button/function. Start the finalized DVD playing, press the OTR button, and it makes a copy on the HDD that can be edited, etc.
Don't get me wrong, it works OK, and it can be a lifesaver, but it does alter the original recording significantly: when forced into that corner I usually opt to have a computer geek friend strip the finalized dvd for me or I do an analog-by-wire copy. If the OP *doesn't* mind some degradation, I sure agree its the easiest solution! -
Jacobian,
I think I fingered out the problem. I've copied several finalized DVDs to the HDD of my 01601A. How? Simple. They were DVDs that I had recorded using the 01601A either straight from TV, the HDD or a VCR plugged into the unit. The Polaroid recognizes a DVD that it itself recorded and allows you the option in the menu to copy to its HDD. I tried a store bought DVD and no option in the menu system to copy to HDD. I have a few DVDs I recorded a few years ago with a Lite-On that I will try tomorrow but I suspect it will not have the option in the menu to copy them. I don't know about non-finalized DVDs from a different recorder but I suspect it will only copy DVDs to its HDD that were recorded by itself. The bloody bastages don't have the brains to explain important details like that in their manual!
Sorry. Totally my fault. I should have fingered that out when you first inquired about it.
Take your packing slip or print out your email confirmation of your order and get your money back at any Wal-Mart. I would also recommend printing out the Wal-Mart.com return policy that says you can take it back to any Wal-Mart. There are plenty of Wal-Mart associates that are not aware of this convenient policy. I just got another 01601A shipped to me pretty quick. I wanted to see if this would work as well but without any Pause/Record freezing. My first one will freeze after the 2nd or 3rd Pause/Record. This new one seems to work just as well, although it still freezes, it will freeze after 15-25 Pause/Records. Better than my first one, anyway. Plus I broke the Warranty Sticker on my first one so I'll return it as the one I just ordered online and get my money back and keep the new one and have my 1 year Polaroid Warranty back. hehehe. Hey, If Polaroid can't provide a decent quality product then they have to deal. -
Originally Posted by BrainWhen in Las Vegas, don't miss the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ -- with over 150 tables from 6+ decades of this quintessentially American art form.
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Dude, the best way to examine quality of a picture signal, or to compare the recording of same signal in different formats is to tune in and record Bikini Destinations on HDNET. Aside from the brilliant High Definition nature scenery its almost second nature for the average bloke to take notice of every square pixel of the Models on said program. Through the S-Video of my new Poloaroid 01601A the picture is pleasantly sharp and clean and the recording to HDD as well as DVD is also quite good, although, obviously, not near as good as the 1080i or 480i HD signal from my Satellite straight to TV. Through the component inputs of my Polaroid 2001G the 480i HD picture blows away the S-Video picture like night and day. Not quite the night and day as 1080i HD over SD but bloody close. On both the HDD and DVD, besides recording full widescreen without letterbox, the recorded 480i HD picture retains most, if not all, of its HD realizism (as opposed to S-Video which has none) which is a real treat. I've compared a DVD I recorded through S-Video of HDNET's Bikini Destinations and a DVD I recorded of same program through the 2001Gs component inputs and the 480i HD DVD makes the other one look like dick. The difference is real and its big enough that I'll never go back to recording through anything but component inputs. That's why I bought another 2001G through uBid.com. Now I got 2 in case one goes blue.
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Brain, wabjxo, lordsmurf, LCSHG, orsetto:
Thanks for all of your support. Please forgive my ignorance and for the length of this post. I’m new at this.
Wabjxo,
Sorry I missed your post about the 3575’s DVD to HDD recording capability.
With regard to the DRA-01601A manual instructions Page 25, "Editing" Step 2.j (bottom of page) that you cite, I had already tried this before reading your post, and it does not work on my DRA-01601A because the “preview screens” it refers to do not come up. Nor do some of the other menu items that are supposed to. So I cannot select option “j” to copy. The unit does not allow selection of the items listed in the manual. They are “grayed” out and cannot be selected for some reason. There are other menu items as well that I cannot access.
LCSHG,
No, I have no desire to copy any copy-protected DVD. I have all the Dish Premium channels that are offered, and I get 3 or 4 Blockbuster DVDs in the mail every week from Blockbuster online. After I watch a movie, I don’t want to see it again for a year or two, and I’ll just get it again through blockbuster online, which only cost about a buck per DVD. I only want to do my own recordings, like home movies. The copy-protected DVD issue is not an issue.
With regard to the issue on recording or copying (dubbing?) and why I would want to do that, I think we are talking about the same thing. Here is what I want to do. I have many home movies that I recorded (copied? dubbed? whatever you call it) from a digital-8 Sony camcorder to DVDs using a Lite-On non-HDD recorder with the firewire (IEEE 1394) connection to preserve the digital quality. Some of these were recorded (copied/dubbed) onto +RW discs and some onto +R discs. Most of the +R discs have been finalized. Most of the +RW discs were “protected” using the Lite-On DVD recorder. I have a lot of these home movie DVDs that have much more footage on them than I want for certain family members. So I was hoping I could put the home movie DVDs into the DRA-01601A and copy/dub/record the entire DVDs onto the Polaroid HDD as digital files as opposed to doing it by wire from an external source. I don’t want to loose quality from the current DVDs. I just wanted to copy the digital files from the DVDs to the Polaroid HDD and then edit on the HDD – like you would do on a computer, except I don’t want to do it on my computer, but maybe I’ll have to. I wanted to copy/dub/record (it means the same thing to me) the DVDs as digital files onto the Polaroid HDD, then edit and cut out parts, and put the parts that I wanted to keep onto different DVDs for different family members, depending on who I would be sending them to. But from what I understand from orsetto, this may not be possible with any HDD-DVD recorder if the DVDs have been finalized/protected, etc. on another DVD recorder (Lite-On) that no longer works for recording purposes.
I’ve made duplicates of my DVDs using my computer, but I wanted to be able to put several DVDs onto the Polaroid hard drive, pick out parts that I want for certain family members, and then record/copy/dub, etc. those parts onto separate DVDs for different family members. But from what I have been reading in the recent posts, this may not be possible with finalized or protected DVDs done on a different machine. If so, so be it. I’ll look into doing it on my computer.
Orsetto,
Thanks for all of the extensive info. I guess most of my issues are covered above. If what I’m trying to do above is impossible even with the 3575, please advise.
Brain,
You are correct concerning the non-ability to copy DVDs not recorded on the DRA-01601A to the HDD. I suspected this was the problem. On my already recorded DVDs, the options for copying to the HDD just do not show up. I will try copying/dubbing/recording/whatever a Digital-8 home movie by firewire to the DRA-01601A HDD, then copy it to a DVD, and then try copying it back to the HDD to see what happens. If that works, then I can know I can do edit on the HDD and put what I want on to different DVDs.
Thanks everyone.
Jacobian -
Originally Posted by jacobian
You insert a FINALIZED NON-CP DVD in the tray, PLAY the DVD, then press the DIRECT DUBBING button. That makes a copy on the HDD in real-time, where you can edit it and make additional copies in High-speed (so no further quality loss), as needed.
To my eyes, the DIRECT DUB copy on the HDD looks like the original DVD, so you should have a good HDD copy to work with. My DIRECT DUBS in the 3575 look at least as good as, but maybe a little better than, copying from an external machine thru line inputs. -
Originally Posted by Seeker47
Cable TV's compressed composite signal is transmitted over a single center wire, so some people (like me with my Philips 3575) can get an equal or better pic on TV using digital Composite cables. My Pio 640 gets an equally good pic thru Composite or Component connections. -
jacobian
It seems by reading the posts that its being said that a (or some) recorders will not copy a disk that was burned and finalized in another unit .
I burned a disk in a liteon 5045, than installed it in a Cyberhome 1600 and finalized it in the 1600 I also burned a disk in the 1600 and finalized it
I did this with +R and –R disks.and +RW
I did this with a number of units including a Poloriod 80gb, a RCA 80gb a Accurian 80gb,etc
NO disk burned and finalized in any unit, failed, to be recognized in any of the units and they all COPIED from the DVD disk to the HDD. Some would not accept a + or –disk as that was the unit itself
Not all units are the same in their operation and features.
I would not want a unit that would not COPY (Dub) a disk burned and finalized in another unit
I mention the below, to show that different units can have their own quirks.
I have a Go Video combo unit that I use to play VHS and DVD (it is not for viewing or recording}
This unit will play any VHS, any commercial DVD and is excellent ---BUT --- It will NOT play a disk burned from any of the above units, finalized or not. This is not a problem as I only use it for a specific purpose but
I don’t blame you about the PC use. I have not used one for 3 years
If I were you I would make sure the unit selected would fit my needs, (do as I wanted)
I’m sure that there is one out there that will fill those needs even if not all.
Take some disks that were burned and finalized in your liteon and try them out on other units
There are something’s the liteon’s don’t have or do but I would not part with any -
Originally Posted by Seeker47
holy s
i have NEVER seen component inputs on any recording device(vcr/dvd).
i work too much.
i hate to ask but do you remember any other dvdd/dvr units that have them ?
thanks alot -
If anyone's interested http://www.woot.com is selling the Polaroid DRA-01601A for $99.99 + $5 shipping New. Woot does one day sales, so this price will expire midnight on 11/30/2007
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Woot.com has the polaroid TODAY for $99 +$5 shipping (up to three @ $99 each w/$5 shipping TOTAL for up to three units.)
Does this change your mind about the polaroid?
WG. -
Its the Woot that has me writing. lol
My question doesn't seem to have been answered above, so here goes. I have DirecTV and subscribe to premium channels like HBO. All I want in a recorder is to be able to record a show/movie from HBO to the Hard Drive and watch it later. I really don't see any time that I'll try to copy it to a DVD.
Will the Polaroid DRA-01601A allow me to do this?
Thanks in advance. -
My question is basically the same. I want to know if I can setup recording times for shows on Direct TV. I need it simple and almost fool proof. I bought this for my in-laws and they are not that technically inclined.
I too bought the Woot deal of the day... -
My video and audio are getting dropped every few seconds using ATSC (digital) from channels 7.1 (KIRO DTV) to 16.1 (KONG DTV) in the Seattle, WA area with ComCast Basic Cable. It's really not watchable since the video and audio would get block artifacts or cut-in-and-out. The NCAA basketball game on 7.1 currently broadcast is unwatchable.
BUT digital channels above 16.1 play perfectly fine and very clear with little or no audio drop.
The initial digital scan also misses 4.1 (KOMO HD) and 5.1 (KING HD) considering that they have EXCELLENT signals from my Philips HDTV. In fact, my Philips plays all these channels flawlessly.
Do I need a "digital" coxial cable for the Polaroid? I am using a pretty old cable connected to the Polaroid. The connection is connected as below. The EDA-2400 is a 4-port amp which provides a net 7dB gain on the outputs.
House cable jack (digital cable) --> Electroline EDA-2400 amp (digital cable) --> Polaroid (old cable, non-digital) --> Philips HDTV (component input)
What can I do to get the lower DTV/HD channels? btw, got the Polaroid from woot for $105 shipped like some people here a few days ago.
Unwatchable channels (more, but these are the one that I do care):
4.1 (ABC HD) --> could NOT detect during scan
5.1 (NBC HD) --> could NOT detect during scan
7.1 (CBS HD) --> completely not watchable
11.1 (KSTW HD)--> artifacts, video, and audio drop
13.1 (FOX HD) --> more dropping
16.1 (KONG HD)--> more dropping
22.1 (KMYQ HD) --> could NOT detect during scan -
Hey Brain,
I'm new to the hard disk DVD recorders. What I want to use it for is to move some of the things from my Directv TiVo on to DVD. I currently do it through my computer using Pinnacle, but it is a labor intensive process, so I'm hoping this Polaroid can help me out. Is there a way to transfer/record shows from my current TiVo, or does the program have to be originally recorded on the Polaroid?
Thanks!
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