Found this post and was wondering about the sentence highlighted in bold. According to the on-line User's Manual for this unit on page 17 "Connection to a Cable/Satellite Box": Under what conditions can a channel be recorded while watching another? Thanks, Robert
The condition would be when you are connecting the recorder and television via OTA/Cable coax directly.
I am currently using a set-top box from my cable company to record programs. Can the Philips 3576 be used in place of the STB (DVR) as well as in series with it for added hard drive storage? What is the best way to hook up the 3576 when using a DVR from a cable company? Thanks, Robert
The exact answer to your question really depends on your cable company and the type of service you subscribe to. If you're subscribing to digital cable, you must use the cable companie's STB, as it's providing descrambling/decryption of the signal. Even with analog cable, many cable companies scramble the signal so again you are tied to their equipment. If you want to experiment, connect the RF coax cable from the wall to the RF in of the 3576, and have the thing do a full scan for channels. You may lose other features from the STB, like a program guide and on-demand, if your cable company offers this. As for additional storage, you can try a splitter of the RF from the wall or maybe the STB has an RF out you can then connect to the RF in to the 3576. This may or may not work. Again, it all depends on your cable system and your subscription service.
Thankks for the reply. I'm planning on buying the Philips 3576 model tomorrow so I'll experiment over the weekend and let you know how I make out - just in case other people are interested. Robert
I just finished hooking up the 3576 unit and am having an aspect ratio problem. I used the following connections shown in a previous post. My TV is a 34" Sony HD, I'm using a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD DVR. From the DVR I'm using an S-video (w/audio) connection back to the DVDR(3576) and from the DVDR I'm using an HDMI connection to my TV. The HD channels are being seen as 4:3 pillarboxed (PB) and the non-HD channels are being seen full screen. No matter what I try to change; either on the DVR remote or the 3576 remote I am unable to change the aspect ratio of the HD channels - I don't care about the non-HD channels right now. The TV remote does allow me to "zoom" but the picture overfills the screen. I would like to be able to see my HD channels the way I see them when I'm not using the 3576 which is in 16:9 full screen aspect ratio. It appears as if the S-video output from the DVR is a possible problem but I could be wrong. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Robert
S-video can only output 480i resolution. If you have a manual for the STB, it may explain the behavior of video on the s-video output. Even though the 3576 can upconvert to 1080i on the HDMI output, since the source is s-video, you'll never see true HD. You need to wire things up so that the STB and 3576 are on separate inputs of your TV. Use a component (YPbPr) or HDMI input for each box.
The 3576 unit has video in (using RCA connectors), S-video in, AV IN jacks (for RCA audio cable) but no Component Video In or HDMI inputs. It does have Component Video out and HDMI out (which I'm currently using.) I figured the best quality in would be the S-video in and the best quality out would be the HDMI out. I'm sure you're right about the S-video output being 480i. The STB does have an HDMI output that I'm not currently using (I'm using the component video out to my TV) but that output doesn't help if the 3576 unit doesn't have an HDMI input. I wonder how other people connected a STB with the 3576 unit to an HD TV and managed to get full screen output? Thanks for the reply. Robert
Help---I'm the newest of newbies!! So, if I hook up the 3576 just to the TV and the cable (using an HDMI cable) and NOT using a set-top box, I will be able to record one channel and watch another at the same time? Also, I have old VCR tapes and would like to record them to DVD's. How would I do that using the 3576? Thanks for your help
