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 ???