Philips DVDR330H: An HD DVD Review
(Reviewed 10/3/06) An HD DVD review on one of Philips’ latest generation of DVD recorders has been long overdue. Next to make the cut—the Philips DVDR3300H.
With all the multi-format machines scattered throughout the market, does the Philips DVDR3300H have what it takes to be a cut above the rest? This HD DVD review tries to figure that out. When it comes to major changes, the Philips DVDR3300H certainly has two. One is the capability to record on a DVD-R, -RW and a +R/RW disc format. While it may be a recent modification on the Philips DVD3300H, a quick HD DVD review finds nothing there to really comment especially when the new breed of multi-format machines out there can do the same thing. But perhaps the most important change in this recent Philips DVD recorder is the price cut. We have to admit that Philips DVDR3300H is far more affordable when compared to the majority of HD/DVD recorders that came out before it. Price cut alone doesn’t mean you should sacrifice features just to cut corners.. A more careful review of the product finds the Philips DVDR3300H’s measly 80gig hard drive lacking. This Philips DVD recorder allows up to 130 hours of footage. The Philips DVDR3300H had to sacrifice image quality just to get you that amount of footage. Believe it or not the Philips DVDR300H’s deck lacks component outputs. That means no progressive scan abilities at all. That’s alarming! The Philips DVDR3300H does come with RGB Scart inputs and outputs which are necessary in matching the machine with a digital TV set-top box if one wants to record Freeview, but “feature-wise,” this recent Philips DVD recorder comes loosely-filled. Even Philips’ own proprietary GuidePlus System is missing; recording compatibility with double-or-dual layer DVD formats is absent too. Editing features are just basic. This HD DVD review panel does suggest that when it comes to dubbing, it’s advisable to cut as much as possible because the Philips DVDR3300H can’t revise the bitrate of the recording from the one that’s originally in the set. There is one feature that this HD DVD review panel does nod its head to. This recent Philips DVD recorder it is still capable of pausing live TV or watching a program from the beginning.
Conclusion Performance-wise our HD DVD review give the Philips DVDR3300H a shrug. Picture quality is good if you’re not that keen over progressive scan, recordings made in the best bitrate are similar to the original in both picture and sound. The Philips DVDR3300H does play back bought DVDs but the lack of progressive scan resulted in a loss of fine detail. Not really a great DVD recorder for the home cinema enthusiast but my HD DVD review of Philips DVDR3300H surmises that it might just work well on the “my first HDD/DVD recorder” category.
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