Philips DVDR 3595H/31 DVD Recorder Repaired
My Philips DVDR 3595H/31 DVD recorder gave up on me a couple of weeks ago. It started and a few moments later powered down without known cause. And after that, the erratic behaviors went so bad that I had nothing better to do then to open the thing and have a look inside.
Complete Inside view of the DVDR3595h/31 recorder. DVDburner left, HDD on the right.
View on the Power Supply Board with regulated Fan.
But not before I searched the Internet first! I knew that I had to look for a Firmware update from Philips, but only with the exact right model number! And I found the right update with the name “dvdr3595h_31_fus_nl”.(or with ”.._eng” for the English speaking countries).
Frontpanel View of the Philips 3595h/31.
But the trouble with my DVD Recorder was that it started up and while displaying ”STARTING” continuously, nothing else happened ! So I could not update the Firmware by using the USB version of the previous mentioned file because that sure would not work! This Firmware version v3.06 is therefore also obtainable as CD-ROM version.
See http://www.care.philips.com/support or on Forums. (But type your search text DVDR3595 only in the right upper search window, or else it will only show 4 headsets !!) But before I did this, I first checked if the Diagnostic Selftest of this Recorder detected any specific errors
Self Test Press and hold the REC and Play (>|) keys*on the front panel of the set*while powering on the mains. Release buttons when Philips logo screen displays*on TV- *”NUCxxx” will be displayed on local LED display Then “NUCxxx ” for a few minutes, followed by several NUC numbers in quick succession and finally “PASS”.
(These instructions you can find in the Service manual from Philips. Part: Firmware Upgrading, Alignment and Test Procedures v1.1, download these free from elektrotanya.com). Strangely enough there weren’t any errors, but still my DVD Recorder didn’t work! The extra handicap here was that the dvd plateau did not eject. (A lot of Philips Recorders have this problem!! Probably caused by a too strong magnetic top wheel in the player why it
can’t force the plateau open. Something that also happens with a lot of XBOX360 dvd players , and pc dvd players). But therefore I had to open it by using the plastic slider in the bottom of the recorder. And I burned the CD Firmware version on a CD-R because a CD-RW didn’t work ! And put it in the dvd player/burner.
Top view on the original DVDR Burner.
To Update/upgrade the Firmware (see above mentioned Service manual) we just have to do following:
Firmware Update (v3.06) After Unzipping and burning content of the zipped file to the root i.e. x:\ of a CD-R/CD-RW disc (Note: There should not be any folders on the disc).
1.) Unplug the set from the mains. 2.) Press and hold the REC and NEXT (>>|) keys*on the front panel of the set*while powering on the mains.*- *”Download” will be displayed on local display. 3.) After sometime, the tray will be ejected.*- Insert disk and close tray time. But I already inserted it but doesn’t matter, it goes in again. The downloading process will begin. It should take around 7mins. 4.) After the download is completed, tray will be automatically ejected. Remove the disc and push in the tray, wait till you see “DONE” on the local display (LD). Set may restart several times during this process. 5.) The set will be able to wake up and proceed to the first installation screen.
Top View of the Digital Board (IDE Controller).
And many people have asked me why replacing the Harddisk by another new HDD doesn’t work. And here it is why !!! :
1.)The replacement harddisk (IDE) has to be jumpered the same way as the original harddisk was. But it also depends on the type of harddisk. Mine had to be set to Cable Select!
2.)The new harddisk doesn’t need to be formatted with NTSF. I don’t know if any pre-format is needed (I used FAT32 and that worked fine!). I used Free Ease US Partition Master 10.0 to do that.
3.Only after the replacement HDD was pre-INIT by the Firmware update (!) it now also needs to be Formatted by the Digital IDE Board. And how you do that comes now:
Photo of the original Philips Seagate 250GB HDD.
Photo of the Replacement WD 160 GB IDE harddrive. (Isolated with plastic bag as precausion not to short circuit the controller panel while testing)
To Format HDD 1) Unplug the set from the mains. 2) Press and hold the BACK (|<<)and STOP keys*simultaneously on the front panel of the set*while powering on the mains.*- Release keys when machine starts* 3) “FMT KEY” will be displayed on local display, followed by FMT HDD and FMT DONE
After this is done everything as new with the original or with a replacement Harddisk !
One thing that I should mention here is that this Philips DVD Recorder is a nice piece of technology, although they all suffer from the same illnesses, because it’s in fact an IDE (pc identical !) controlled tv recorder !! The Digital Board (as it is called in the manual) inside this Recorder really has 2 IDE ports !!
The Digital Board with the 2 IDE ports.
Another view of the Digital Board with both IDE cables removed.
A view on the top panel (HDMi Board).
Which means that you can remove the original dvd burner/player just as you can the Harddisk !! I also have tried another DVD-Burner from LG and it worked fine! You only have to know how to do it! Above info helped me to repair my DVDR3595h (H for Hdmi!). Hope you enjoyed this article!
Albert van Bemmelen, Weert, The Netherlands.
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Robert Calk
April 18, 2015 at 11:49 am
Good job Albert. It would have been nice to see a picture of it working though.
Albert
May 2, 2015 at 8:49 pm
Hi Robert,
Ya, but I can still send you a picture of it working. But that photo still wouldn't prove that my Philips DVD recorder is fixed. Or you could doubt that it was never broken in the first place?, If you know what I mean. Besides, A photo is no video and all you need to know to repair these kind of DVD recorders is all there in the article! (And I guess that you own a DVD-recorder or at least know what it looks like when it's working).
And I already was thinking that I took too many photo's for the article.
PS: I read that on E-Bay and other sites (auctions) there are people who pay 1000 dollar or more just to get a new or even an second hand dvd recorder since they are not manufactured anymore ?
Have a good Repair day!
Albert.
Jhvanlutterveld
March 4, 2023 at 1:54 am
Hallo Albertus met Jan
Ik heb een DVDR3595H.VAN 2008
Jaren niet gebruikt.nu wilik hem gebruiken.probleem tip toets werkt hoor hem klikken
Maar komt geen stroom opdvd zelfs ring niet rood.
Wil hem eventueelverkopen.
=========================
Hello Albertus with Jan
I have a 2008 DVDR3595H
Not used for years. Now I want to use it. Problem tip key works hear it click
But no power comes on DVD not even ring red.
Would like to sell it.
Henry
April 18, 2015 at 1:15 pm
Thank you for your service
Renato P. Estopace
April 18, 2015 at 11:22 pm
Thanks, the post is very informative, i learned from it. I am troubleshooting also an IDE PC, more power Sir.
Humberto
April 20, 2015 at 9:10 pm
Hi Albert, here's a tip: you should use an UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) when you are updating the firmware, because if a black out occurs you loose your equipment.
Albert
May 2, 2015 at 8:58 pm
Hi Humberto,
I know what you mean, and if that happens I know how to repair it componentlevel-wise. I have flashed and resoldered many laptop Bios Flashable serial Bios chips. And I also repaired several UPS Backup Units. But it's always the (2 x 6 Volts or 1 x 12 Volts) battery that makes the UPS worthless.
Therefore there's a better and even cheaper option: just use a laptop and when the power gets interrupted, you still have a working laptop for an hour or two!
Cheers,
Albert.
Albert Hoekman
April 20, 2015 at 10:57 pm
Nice job Albert
Mark Tembo
April 23, 2015 at 11:13 pm
Thanks very much. I did not know that such a DVD recorder could have hard drives
Godfrey
February 26, 2017 at 4:36 am
Hi! I need remote control of this dvd recorder.Does anyone know where I can get it?