Photo gallery: Philips DVDR3365The early days of home DVD recording were far from pleasant. Prior to hitting the recording button, users were required to acquire a specific media compatible with their recorder amid a confusing assortment of +/-R varieties. Once that was dealt with, there were the cumbersome initialisation and finalisation procedures to execute for a complete workflow. Now if these sound like a chore that puts you off the idea of embracing digital recording, it's high time you check out the easy-to-use Philips DVDR3365.
Design
At first glance, it's hard to distinguish the new DVDR3365 from its predecessor, the DVDR615. Some of the similarities include an all-silver finishing, an identical 435 x 285 x 65mm form factor and the familiar red recording button. After toying with the recorder, we did manage to spot a cosmetic facelift on the front panel with reoriented playback, recording and power buttons. Speaking of which, the elusive bullet-shaped power button did strain our eyes momentarily with its near-flushed integration with the panel.
 Roomy interior for hassle-free connectivity. (Click to enlarge) |
Finding our way to the front A/V terminals was less of a challenge although it was equally well-concealed on the right of the front panel. A well-built and sturdy flip cover opens to reveal a set of A/V inputs, complete with S-Video, FireWire terminal for camcorder and a USB socket which we will touch on later. These inputs are generously spaced apart making the usage of thick cables and wide USB thumbdrives less of a hassle.
We found the DVDR3365's ergonomic, non-backlit remote controller comfortable to hold and functional. For example, the buttons are logically grouped with the frequently used navigation, playback and recording controls prominently labeled and within easy reach of the thumb. Beyond that, the monotonous design and styling of the remote leave much to be desired! Hey, how about a cool five-way navigation button for the next incarnation of the recorder, Philips?
Prowling through Philips' user menu reminded us of the budget status of the recorder. Our usual hunt for the important video-tweaking settings was futile, yielding only options for configuring aspect ratio, progressive-scan and video output formats. Since the DVDR3365 does not come with any pseudo surround sound feature, audio setting is restricted to the basic stereo and surround-encoded output option.
The set fared better with its disc navigator and timer recording menu. The former displays a preview window for each recorded clip together with useful information while the latter provides a bird's eye view of the timer schedule with a table-styled presentation of up to six recordings. We were, nevertheless, puzzled with Philip's mandatory timer recording's G-Code entry, which would irk users as it is hardly popular in the Asia Pacific.
Features
Dubbed 'Dual Media' by Philips, the recorder readily accepts both +R and -R write-once and rewritable media with the exception of DVD-RAM and Dual-Layer. Disc initialisation and recording mode selection are also a bygone necessity as its SmartAlgo technology kicks into action leaving users only with the simple task of finalisation if they choose to record on DVD+R media.
Expect nothing short of a trouble-free disc playback experience with Philips' "King of Playability" feature. During our week-long review period, the recorder lived up to its reputation, spinning all sorts of media we threw at it without breaking into sweat. This ranged from freshly burnt MP3/JPEG/DivX recordables to fairly worn CDs and DVDs extensively used for testing.
 Think twice if you plan to mate the recorder with non-Philips HTIB with that coaxial digital audio output. (Click to enlarge) |
While USB is not a novelty for DVRs, most entry-level models hardly come with one. In this respect, the DVDR3365 is exceptional though it is rated USB 1.1-compatible only. We had no problems hooking up thumbdrive and memory card-loaded card readers to the terminal and were enjoying music slideshows with our mixed JPEG and MP3 compilations in no time.
The recorder's connections are respectable among its peers. In the back, you get component-video outputs and a set of composite A/V inputs and outputs with S-Video, along with the standard aerial input and output jacks and a coaxial digital audio output -- which may be a cause for concern with most Japanese and Korean manufacturers favouring digital optical audio output over the former.
Performance
The Philip's recording quality modes are segmented into four different levels and categorised in terms of its rated recording duration. Namely, 1-, 2-, 4- and 6-hour modes on 4.7GB DVD media. The following recording quality testing was performed using our reference Pioneer DV-S969AVi universal player as A/V source interfaced with quality Monster Cable interconnects.
Using the 1-hour mode, recorded images were close to the original with accurately captured colours and artifact-free picture quality. There were, however, a number of instances where jaggies were observed. Switching over to the 2-hour mode yielded similar results but with the advantage of double recording stamina -- perhaps the first sign of a bottleneck created by the limited bandwidth offered by the composite and S-Video interface.
Downgrading to the 4-hour mode resulted in a visible drop in resolution with glaringly blocky outlines in fast moving clips. For most users, this picture quality is not intolerable considering the low-resolution images delivered by standard definition TV broadcast. Watching a 6-hour mode recording was an eyesore with the heavily pixilated images similar to a poorly recorded VCD.
CD and DVD playback, on the other hand, were excellent. Music reproduced through the Philips HTS5310S HTIB was balanced and clean-sounding while DVDs' images rendered onscreen were sharp accompanied with the usual heart-pumping surround sound effects.
We also tested the multimedia playback of the DVDR3365 and it registered consistent performance throughout the evaluation. MP3 sounded crystal clear with no sign of harshness while DivXs were noise-free and vibrant in colour. JPEG, however, was less than ideal with our 4-megapixel samples turning out jagged with moderate amounts of pixilation.
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