Philips DVP3345V/17 DVD/VCR Combo

Beware if you buy this item and have to return it (read the returns policy carefully).

They charge you a 15% restocking fee and don't refund your shipping charge either way, to ship it or ship it back.

I bought this and spent close to $100 in total (incl shipping to and back to them) and I got a refund of $57.00.

So all in all, I was out about $40 and I have NOTHING to show for it.

I did email them prior to buying this,asking about more product detail, and they sent me a rather curt email saying they could not give me any more information.

I went ahead and bought on good faith, but was very disappointed, espically when I was out $40.

Just beware of this seller.

CHughes

I ran across this unit in my local Target Store the price is creaper here on Amazon. I still an ancient who use VHS to records all his TV shows. I do alot of recording with alot of VHS tapes. I have five machines. I hate ads and want to skip through them. My Sony VHS finally gave out after 15 years, So I was looking for a machien with a RF connection with the set up I have that need one. Most DVD/VHS has three wires input and I had to go to Radio Stack to get a device to connect the three wires and RF feed. This one had RF conenction which is what I want. I had a Phillips before and it for fine, but gave out after a couple of years. The warnng was clearly on the box, I did not see it till I was talking it out of the car. No turner, it did not hit me till I realized what was missing. Now I know why it was cheap. This is great for a connect through between a cable box and TV. You have to set the cable box channel leave it on and set the VCR to record. You can't set any channels with this machine. One channel that it. So this a cheap way around VDR if you only tape a few shows. Otherwise it a waste of money.

I wanted a DVD/VCR combo with a silver finish to match my silver SA Explorer 8300HDC DVR. This was the only silver unit I could find (new and from reputable stores/websites) other than the JVC HRXVC12S (JVC HRXVC12S Progressive Scan DVD Player and VCR Combo)...not counting a couple Walmart/Kmart brands I wasn't too keen on like Sylvania. I was less than thrilled with this Philips combo upon unboxing it, however, as the entire thing seemed to be made of plastic, and it was not as deep (front to back) as my DVR, under which I wanted it to be placed. I played a couple of DVDs and noticed the tray seemed very flimsy--definitely not kid friendly. Whilst the picture looked fine, there was a noticeable pause when the layer changed. I was also disappointed that the remote was filled with nearly 50 tiny, similarly-sized & shaped buttons that didn't glow or illuminate. It's also not Energy Star certified and does not have a dts decoder.

By comparison, the JVC does have a dts decoder, is Energy Star certified, has a more user-friendly remote, its DVD tray feels solid and it's built with a metal case. It's also about an inch deeper so it fits underneath my DVR much better. Unfortunately its silver finish is darker than the DVR's, but I believe it's better than the Philips in every other way.

Note that neither of these units has an optical digital output (just coaxial), and neither routes the VHS picture through the component outputs. Neither has HDMI or a TV tuner either but that should be obvious.

The title says it all. It cost me $30.00 more at Radio Shack to get the converter box. It works fine, but what good is a player that can't hook up to cable or your TV?

This unit was advertised as new; as in brand new. Here are a few things I found once it arrived and was set up:

1. no user manual
2. remote control was scratched
3. playback of timer-recoded VCR tapes not clear and sharp; even at SP.

I truly have to question if this unit is, in point of fact, "brand new".