Philips or Sony...?

advido

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...I've tried a Panasonic DMR EX75 at home - it worked and recorded well BUT the noise of the internal fan cutting in and out drove me crazy....far too noisy - sent it back for a refund...

Now I'm thinking of either a Philips DVDR 5520 - OR - a Sony HXD 970..

..very similar specs but the Philips has a front USB that will allow DiVx movie (DivX ,AVI) to be played - the Panasonic only does JPeg and Mp3 (no video)...

The remote control of the Philips looks better/bigger buttons than the smaller buttoned/fiddlier Sony (comments - is the Sony useable??)

The Sony gets a lot of good reports on here - not a lot about the Philips ?

Is Philips a good maker these day ??
 
I've got no issues with the Sony remote - perfectly useable. Seems to be laid out quite well, there are a lot of buttons, but not to small, and the key buttons are larger and well placed. Also lets you control the main functions of your TV.

Sony also has front USB, but not sure about whether it supports DivX as I don't use this. Machine (and USB) do support jpg's and MP3s, but not in a very nice way - the machine has certainly not been designed as a music jukebox, or picture library - more of throwing together rudimentary basic support for these items so that it can be listed as a function on the marketing material. It is however very good at what it is designed to do - ie recording and playback of video.
 
I personally will never buy a Philips (anything) again after poor quality experiences in the past.

So, Sony recommendation from me :thumbsup:

ditto

and I have two sony 970b and wouldnt part with either of them

no the usb wont allow you to play or transfer divx on the sony , but you can write 6 onto a dvd rw disk and watch them that way instead
 
>>>>I personally will never buy a Philips (anything) again after poor quality experiences in the past.


..when you say 'poor quality' - what exactly do you refer to ?


unreliability ? - cheap look/feel ? - quirky ? - bad after sales ?
 
I personally will never buy a Philips (anything) again after poor quality experiences in the past.

So, Sony recommendation from me :thumbsup:

Agree about Philips (got a dead one in the loft) but I have reservations recommending the Sony as Advid is obviously sensitive to fan noise.

I have a Panasonic DMR-E95H that was great until it developed the dreaded self check loop problem, I can't hear the fan until I'm about 2 feet from it. I also have a Sony HXD870 and I can plainly hear the fan running from my sitting position 14 feet away until the TV volume is turned up loud enough to drown it out ... I tried a second machine and it was the same.
 
but I have reservations recommending the Sony as Advid is obviously sensitive to fan noise.

I agree this is relevant. Especially as the EX77 which advid found unsatisfactory appeared to be generally regarded as quieter than the Sony series.

I have heard favourable reports about how quiet the new Pansonic range is.

[EX78 / 88 / 768 ]


Here are a couple of mentions:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6902826&postcount=214

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6888021&postcount=202
 
Agree about Philips (got a dead one in the loft) but I have reservations recommending the Sony as Advid is obviously sensitive to fan noise.

I also have a Sony HXD870 and I can plainly hear the fan running from my sitting position 14 feet away until the TV volume is turned up loud enough to drown it out ... I tried a second machine and it was the same.

...with this knowledge about noise from the Sony I've made up my mind and despite all the 'reliability' problems quoted from a few replies on here I'm going to opt for the Philips 5570..... I certainly couldn't stand listening to something if it can be heard from 14 feet away...

I've got a SKY HD box that is very quiet but I can even hear that from my 'favourite armchair' viewing position... When you are watching a film or documentary and the sound diminishes to silence - there is nothing worse than instead of 'getting the atmosphere' of the silence... you hear a whining fan ! - it ruins it for me.....

I've never had Philips before so lets hope their reliability has be 'updated' and is better than those of you who have mentioned it on here....

Wish me luck...... I will report back here when it's arrived and up and running - my comments, feelings, quality, quirks for any other 'would be' Philips purchasers to peruse....
 
I hesitate to say it, but all the signs are that Philips previous manufacturing quality problems have not followed onto their more recent recorders.

It looks a nice machine: have fun! :)
 
I hesitate to say it, but all the signs are that Philips previous manufacturing quality problems have not followed onto their more recent recorders.

It looks a nice machine: have fun! :)

...I ordered and received the Philips DVDR 5570 (250g HD) DVD recorder from Empire Direct and have been 'sussing it out' for the last couple of days.

It's almost silent in operation (quiter than my SKY HD box) - that's a good point and essential for me...
It's rather 'sluggish' in most of its operations - but it does the job effectively.
The remote is really plasticky and cheap - certainly not a quality device...buttons too small and badly place in my opinion.

Here's a wierd thing about it - the 250HD constantly records with a 6 hour buffer so no matter what you're viewing it is being recorded in the buffer. Even if you switch TV channels... The rotary dial enable you to quickly go back to view something you've watched earlier. (similar to SKY+ - but Sky clears its buffer when you switch channels). You can press record at any time to save what you are viewing 'permanently' to the hard disk folder - 'BUT' you can't pause your recording (to cut out ads. ect.) because the pause is simply going into the buffer so when you start again it replays from where it was paused. (again like the SKY+ system).
Also - you can't record directly to a DVD - you have to save all programs to HD and then edit/cut if required and only then can you COPY to HD. There is no function at all to RECORD to DVD apart from the COPY function (wierd !)

An annoying thing is because the program is constantly being buffered to the HD (you can't switch it off) the recording quality you have pre-set has an effect of the 'live' picture you're viewing - so to get maximum detail and quality just watching a program you really have to have the best HQ setting all the time - anything less than this has an effect on the quality /detail of your 'live' TV picture - the lower quality settings are really awful.
Another thing with this buffer type recording is that there is a very slight delay between picture and sound - sound is first then picture - only a very slight bit - but very annoying when you've noticed it.... watching people speaking and there lips moving slightly out of sync. is 'frustrating' !

Viewing an SD recording from SKY with its inbuilt upscaling via the HDMI (supports up to 1080p) in its best HQ recording setting is good but not as good as the orginal - a slight loss in quality overall - fine detail missing and a wee bit softer.... not bad tho'... Anything lessthat HQ and you're onto a loser - a big drop in quality even at SP (the next setting below HQ)...so the 250g HD is needed to keep up the quality to max...

The front USB port works OK - playing DivX/AVI/JPeg/MP3 directly from memory keystick OR copying any of these over to pre-set folder areas on the HD.

Overall - I'm NOT highly impressed (but it does take a lot to impress me !) and am really going to have to make up my mind as whether to keep it or return for yet another refund....

The Sony HXD 970 is the only other machine that 'might' give me most of what i'm after..... I'm frustrated really - are there any other recorders in the pipeline or something (another model/make) that i've missed ???
 
.
The Sony HXD 970 is the only other machine that 'might' give me most of what i'm after..... I'm frustrated really - are there any other recorders in the pipeline or something (another model/make) that i've missed ???

It seems to me that it is PVR's you should perhaps be looking at because all DVDR's will suffer the 'encoding loss' which is what you are objecting to.

PVR's don't suffer this problem as they record the incoming digital stream 'as is' - So playback of a recording is effectively the same quality as broadcast - The unit is transparent to the process.
 
It seems to me that it is PVR's you should perhaps be looking at because all DVDR's will suffer the 'encoding loss' which is what you are objecting to.

PVR's don't suffer this problem as they record the incoming digital stream 'as is' - So playback of a recording is effectively the same quality as broadcast - The unit is transparent to the process.

...I think that once you've got used to SKY HD you seem to get a bit 'picky' and notice these small things that probably wouldn't have been a problem in the good old CRT/VHS days.... I really wanted and 'all round' verstaile machine with USB playback and firewire BUT if the quality is not there it puts the 'moccers' onto all the bells and whistles of any machine...

Don't really know what to do for the best ... is it a Sony or what do you suggest (make/model) ?
 
...I think that once you've got used to SKY HD you seem to get a bit 'picky' and notice these small things that probably wouldn't have been a problem in the good old CRT/VHS days.... I really wanted and 'all round' verstaile machine with USB playback and firewire BUT if the quality is not there it puts the 'moccers' onto all the bells and whistles of any machine...

Don't really know what to do for the best ... is it a Sony or what do you suggest (make/model) ?

Ah - I've been back and refreshed on this thread... as you already have Sky HD then presumably you already have PVR facilities - so ignore my earlier answer.
Presumably you are looking for something with archiving facilities... so that defines a DVDR.

Have you not considered the new Panasonic EX78 or 88? They are reportedly very quiet and have the facility of playing back DivX from USB... and have DV in.


Details here:http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/287749/module/general/compare/products/displayResult.html?p=DMR-EX78&p=DMR-EX88
 
I can't reccomend my Sony 870 (160gb HDD as opposed to the 970's 250) enough. It has none of the niggles that you reported on the Phillips, personally I have never heard the fan, and it's recording quality is literally brilliant even on SP, HQ is excellent, and HQ+ is as good as the original broadcast (only downside, HQ+ cannot be burnt onto a DVD), plus there are many selectable manually increments of quality inbetween. Best HDD DVD recorder I've ever owned. Believe the hype!
 
from ADVID (originator of this thread).....

....well I've made a decision - the Philips DVDR 5570 is going back on Monday and I'm getting a refund.

I just couldn't take any more of the out of sync sound and picture that this machine produces with its constant recording to the HDrive giving a slight delay of the picture over the sound ! - (Sky+ and SKY HD boxes seem to work OK using this principal - why can't Philips get it right) ?

So I'm still looking for the 'perfect' machine - all that seem to be left are the Sony HXD 870 and 'perhaps' the new'ish Panasonic DMR EX78....

Any suggestions (and why) as to which is the better of these... ??
 
I can't reccomend my Sony 870 (160gb HDD as opposed to the 970's 250) enough. It has none of the niggles that you reported on the Phillips, personally I have never heard the fan, and it's recording quality is literally brilliant even on SP, HQ is excellent, and HQ+ is as good as the original broadcast (only downside, HQ+ cannot be burnt onto a DVD), plus there are many selectable manually increments of quality inbetween. Best HDD DVD recorder I've ever owned. Believe the hype!

I have this machine and am very pleased with it, however I don't think I have an HQ+ setting. Where is it.
 
I have this machine and am very pleased with it, however I don't think I have an HQ+ setting. Where is it.

See page 52 and 141 of your manual.
 
I can't recommend the 870 highly enough! I've not heard any fan noise and it does exactly what it says on the tin!
 
I have the Sony HXD770 which is the 120gb version of the HXD870(160gb) HXD970 (250gb) family.

As others have said it performs brilliantly and gives excellent recordings and despite a rather poorly laid out manual is very easy to use once you get the hang of it. I can only hear mine if I get close up to it and it is less noisy than my VM+HD box. Opinion elsewhere on this forum says this is actually a Sony badged Pioneer product.

Look out for the best price and get one - you will not be disappointed.
 
Did you buy the Sony ?

If not have you checked out the Pioneers

Apparently some Sony machines are re-badged Pioneers, so there may not be much difference

I have the Pioneer DVR - 550-HX-S

A clever machine with no problems so far (six weeks) it had excellent reviews here in Australian forums

It's the same as the English one apart from the digital tuner (to suit our weird Aussie system)

Multi region out of the box

Quiet and very reliable, I been using it mostly as a PVR ie record watch and delete

Played a few programs I've downloaded and burned to DVD, without problems

Highly recommended ! :thumbsup:
 
I can't recommend the 870 highly enough! I've not heard any fan noise and it does exactly what it says on the tin!
SECONDED!

My RDR-HXD970 has been a dream to use and quiet too - no obtrusive fan noise - I can't fault it.

Editing (getting rid of those pesky ad breaks) is a cinch, as is burning to DVD. I especially like that high speed dubbing which takes about 10 mins to copy a full-length movie fron the HDD to DVD. Bliss!

Got a fantastic deal on it (£229 from Amazon, but 8 weeks to arrive :eek:). Can't aford another 970 at current prices (about £275 inc delivery) but have my eye on an 870 (from Martin Dawes - see this link) at £189). If I can persuade my local Richer Sounds to do a price beat (see this link) it will bring the price down to £179 :D.

Then all I need to do is install a 1TB drive and whoo!

Hope this helps you to arrive at a decision.

Zaph

EDIT: Sat 24th 19:00

Well I went ahead and bought an RDR-HXD870 to partner the '970 that I've already got. Got a stonking deal - £170 including delivery. Well chuffed :)
 

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