Hullo BS I have a Gizmo aerial which is a combined UHF/VHF - when we went to digital it worked so we kept it. Lead comes from aerial to the XW380 then from the XW380 to TV. I have HDMI from XW380 to TV. As I said previously, ours works great.
BS: Well after more hassles and more missed recordings, all I can assume is the DMR-XW390 is incompatible with the new Samsung LED TVs,
I have fitted a UHF filter also an aerial splitter in case the signal was to strong it still registers 10 10 quality and signal strength, but nothing improves it, the service agents in Nelson just pass you onto Auckland who then don't bother getting back to you, it is the most frustrating product I have ever bought, I think I shall be steering very clear of Panasonic in future.
It must have cost an extra $200 just trying to fix the problem, new aerial, UPS, filter and splitter. plus the $699 it cost, I am buggered if I know what else to do.
kandjc: Hullo BS I have a Gizmo aerial which is a combined UHF/VHF - when we went to digital it worked so we kept it. Lead comes from aerial to the XW380 then from the XW380 to TV. I have HDMI from XW380 to TV. As I said previously, ours works great.
Hi kandic, what part of the country are you in and what type of TV is it attached to.
I didn't get my current aerial professionally installed as the old one I replaced was giving the same problem, I just reran new cable and fitted the new Yagi UHF aerial and seeing it gives me 10/10 on signal strength and quality, and the TV has a perfect picture with no pixalation or problems it just seemed like throwing good money after bad.
I have wondered about fitting a phased array but seeing I can see the transmitter from my roof it would seem unnecessary.
BS: Well after more hassles and more missed recordings, all I can assume is the DMR-XW390 is incompatible with the new Samsung LED TVs,
I have fitted a UHF filter also an aerial splitter in case the signal was to strong it still registers 10 10 quality and signal strength, but nothing improves it, the service agents in Nelson just pass you onto Auckland who then don't bother getting back to you, it is the most frustrating product I have ever bought, I think I shall be steering very clear of Panasonic in future.
It must have cost an extra $200 just trying to fix the problem, new aerial, UPS, filter and splitter. plus the $699 it cost, I am buggered if I know what else to do.
Has a professional checked out your system?
Hi I have just had a thought from what you said, when I installed the new aerial I was getting rid of the VHF aerials so didn't use the UHF/VHF diplexer, maybe it's picking up VHF, I thought the balum on the UHF aerial would be all I needed. just thought if I fitted a diplexer and was only using the UHF input maybe that would fix the problem, at lest would filter out any VHF, hopefully.
If you are losing the timer record symbol when the set goes into stdby then I doubt that it is an aerial problem. It has to be a fault in the unit. I had a play with my BW880 and have no problems at all. Timer record symbol is always there and always records OK. Can't replicate your problem and I have massive 10 10 signal (only about 7km line of sight from Waiatarua). I can't get it into power saving (no clock dispaly) mode at the moment though because DLNA is selected on and it won't let me unless DLNA is set off. I would ask for another replacement or refund as it clearly is not fit for the purpose. Or maybe upgrade to the latest 3d BluRay model (BWT720)? Does it record OK if it is not shut down to stdby? That would be a good indication of whether it's aerial related or not.
B1GGLZ: If you are losing the timer record symbol when the set goes into stdby then I doubt that it is an aerial problem. It has to be a fault in the unit. I had a play with my BW880 and have no problems at all. Timer record symbol is always there and always records OK. Can't replicate your problem and I have massive 10 10 signal (only about 7km line of sight from Waiatarua). I can't get it into power saving (no clock dispaly) mode at the moment though because DLNA is selected on and it won't let me unless DLNA is set off. I would ask for another replacement or refund as it clearly is not fit for the purpose. Or maybe upgrade to the latest 3d BluRay model (BWT720)? Does it record OK if it is not shut down to stdby? That would be a good indication of whether it's aerial related or not.
If it's not in standby it records OK. It has just failed again on 2 programs on TV1 and both times from standby, only 1 hour between the programs, we were watching to see what would happen and although the timer light was on, as soon as it came to the recording time it flashed the timer and display light as if it was about to start then switched off the timer light and failed to record no HDD or record light or timer light, only the time displayed. it has me beat, it seems to be only when the TV is on that it is a problem so maybe it's something to do with the HDMI. I have a phone no now for the technician in Auckland and will see what he can suggest.
I'd agree with B1GGLZ that it's highly unlikely to be a reception or aerial related problem.
My best guess (and it's only that) is that when the DVR comes out of standby an HDMI handshake negotiation is initiated and that this process which can be a bit dodgy between some devices triggers a bug in the Panasonic.
The fact that a number of people report the same fault using different brand TVs suggests that this is fairly likely. I'm picking on the Panasonic as this is the device which faults, though the trigger may be the other device.
You mentioned some time back Bryan, that you disconnected the HDMI cable but you never reported any result from this action.
I used to have a Zinwell PVR connected to a Samsung TV via HDMI. From time to time when starting the TV from standby it would fail to report any device present and I would have to power cycle the TV to get a working connection - or in a worst case unplug and replug my HDMI cable. (Which meant getting out of bed! - ouch)
PimpMyMagic: I'd agree with B1GGLZ that it's highly unlikely to be a reception or aerial related problem.
My best guess (and it's only that) is that when the DVR comes out of standby an HDMI handshake negotiation is initiated and that this process which can be a bit dodgy between some devices triggers a bug in the Panasonic.
The fact that a number of people report the same fault using different brand TVs suggests that this is fairly likely. I'm picking on the Panasonic as this is the device which faults, though the trigger may be the other device.
You mentioned some time back Bryan, that you disconnected the HDMI cable but you never reported any result from this action.
I used to have a Zinwell PVR connected to a Samsung TV via HDMI. From time to time when starting the TV from standby it would fail to report any device present and I would have to power cycle the TV to get a working connection - or in a worst case unplug and replug my HDMI cable. (Which meant getting out of bed! - ouch)
While I tried it with the hdmi out it never faulted but I only tried it for a day as I was worried about pulling the hdmi in and out, I couldn't find the composite connector that came with the Samsung, it's one of those combined in a single pin with 3 leads from it, will have another look for it as I think you are right.
Just checked the wattage to see if it was worth leaving on all the time, 23 watts "on" but not recording, 8 watts on standby, 3 watts "power save" on standby, so might just switch it on in the morning and see how it behaves, theirs not much I can do until Monday anyway, and if I can find the composite lead I will go back to that for the time being.
While I tried it with the hdmi out it never faulted but I only tried it for a day as I was worried about pulling the hdmi in and out, Bryan
That pretty much confirms it is an HDMI induced problem. There must be a setting in the TV menu somewhere that can be changed and may cure it. What is the TV model so we can look at the user guide and perhaps offer suggestions?
While I tried it with the hdmi out it never faulted but I only tried it for a day as I was worried about pulling the hdmi in and out, Bryan
That pretty much confirms it is an HDMI induced problem. There must be a setting in the TV menu somewhere that can be changed and may cure it. What is the TV model so we can look at the user guide and perhaps offer suggestions?
I have unplugged the HDMI and have it hooked up to composite so will give it a go for a few days, but the plot thickens, one of my friends has a friend in Motueka who has a Samsung Smart TV so must be very similar to ours and they have had no problems with their XW380 but they are very close to the transmitter, so I am going over to talk to the aerial installers who put their system in, it will be worth getting them to come over and fit me a new aerial if it would work, were we are on the Waimea plains we get a very strong TV1 analog signal so is it stuffing up the digital UHF, will keep you all posted on the results.
I have had the technician out to have a look at it, and he disabled all the auto functions that might be conflicting through the hdmi lead, but still no luck, which is upsetting as I like the Panasonic recorder, when it works it does a brilliant job, just still not coming out of standby sometimes if the TV is running, I wondered if I got a self powered hdmi switcher, would that isolate the tv and recorder and allow it to come out of stand by, mind you that's even more expense and might not work so were do you draw the line.
Hi I have tracked down when it goes wrong, if I'm playing a video on the Pioneer DVD player using one of the other HDMI ports the Panasonic fails to come out of standby every time, it probably did it when I had the WD media player connected up and was testing one of my video edits, and why it sometimes fails to record at odd times if my satellite hdd recorder is recording, it's just 100% of the time with DVD player. it doesn't matter if it is copy protected or just home made DVD's playing.
My aerial, wiring and setup has been checked by experts and no faults were found so the Panasonic has been returned to the shop, and is going to be replace with a freeview HDD recorder without a dvd player, so with a bit of luck I wont have the conflicts between the hdmi leads, I think the Panasonic is a good machine if it is on it's own but isn't compatible with the Samsung TV having 4 hdmi inputs and me using 3 of them is were the problem occurred, but it is a recorder and I expected it to record irrespective of what was going on with the other hdmi connections.
I have my fingers crossed that the new recorder will be OK, this has component as well as hdmi so at least you get 2 bites of the cherry if hdmi doesn't work.
It the Magic 3700 and it says it's HD but even if not it's still better than the composite on the Panasonic and hasn't got a built in DVD player to confuse it, so I hope it won't conflict with my pioneer DVD player hdmi.
I still think the Panasonic is a good recorder, just not compatible with my TV, I was talking to someone from Sony and he said they will only guarantee hdmi compatibility between Sony products, it seems hdmi can be a bit of a mine field. so it's not put me of Panasonic, they are in the same mine field with the rest of us.
Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly
to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.
