Philips DVDR3575H HD review

After connecting a Philips HD set-top antenna to the Philips DVDR3575H, I was able to pick up 7 digital channels. I was disappointed that most of those channels were not broadcasting in HD. Apparently, only some shows, like news and sports, get the HD treatment. I discovered that the 3575 would only remember the channels from one source. If you switch from antenna to cable, all of the digital channels disappear from memory. Same thing with the cable channels after you switch back to the antenna.

The antenna I used had a switch that lets you change from cable to antenna, but this didn't work well with the 3575 because the channel memory would get wiped out every time you moved the switch from one source to the other. Another issue is that the HD picture quality is not really as good as they claim. I found the 1080i images to be fuzzy and not the clear image you would expect at HD resolution. CNET did a detailed review of this unit and suggested that the tuner was actually down converting digital HD and then upconverting back to 1080i. This would explain the less than crisp image.

As a result of this, I have returned the antenna, as it would be impossible to use with the 3575. If you have digital cable, the channel memory issue should not be a problem. All of the pros and cons of the 3575 are well documented on the AVS Forum. Overall, I'm still happy with the hard drive recording and editing features. I'm just going to have to wait a little longer for true HD.