Recommendation for PVR/STB for my Dad

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JimmyH

2820 posts

Uber Geek

#730731 11-Dec-2012 18:38

I also recommend the Panasonic. I am on my second Panny now, and am contemplating upgrading to the XW390 shortly to get the twin tuners. Most of what I record comes off the Sky STB, and it handles external sources superbly. Installed an XW380 for a relative about a year ago, and it's good kit - the xw390 is just a slight model refresh. You get:
- Easy to use
- Twin tuners
- Decent sized hard drive
- Ability to burn programmes to disk to watch elsewhere
- Ability to play DVDs as well, so less inputs, wires and selecting options for an older person to worry about, compared to needing a separate DVD player as well.

The only thing I will miss is that, to comply with the silly Freeview requirements, the 60 second skip function is now gone.

Don't worry about analog channels. Even if there is any channel relevant to your question, there soon won't be - they all switch off in under a year.

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PimpMyMagic

267 posts

Ultimate Geek

#730798 11-Dec-2012 20:41

People have talked all around the point but nobody has answered John's straightforward question.

I don't know if he mentioned what area he is in, but the only likelihood of any analogue only channels would be minor regional ones.
Auckland had Stratos and Triangle (same source organization). Stratos moved to Freeview which was great, but unfortunately the service charges from Freeview proved prohibitive and they had to close down, leaving only Triangle running on the analogue platform.
When these channels are turned off Triangle will have to switch to digital or go.
Last I heard is that Sky are going to offer them a channel. I assume this will then only be available to subscribers, so Freeviewers only will dip out.

Gilco2

1556 posts

Uber Geek

#730813 11-Dec-2012 21:13

I have the Panasonic Blu ray recorder cant remember exact model but 880 something. Anyway always pixelation to point unwatchable for freeview then the fan clicks so bad and no one wanted to know so now its gathering dust. I have a Dishtv S7090pvr and been very good. When it developed a fault Dishtv were extremely helpful then repaired and back in days. So I have now bought a refurbished Dishtv T1050pvr for UHF freeview and so far very pleased. Cant comment long term yet. Much better picture than the Panasonic had when was watchable and even easier to setup. So I recommend Dishtv

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

Dunnersfella

4063 posts

Uber Geek

#730868 11-Dec-2012 22:01

If your Panasonic unit was pixellating, it was either down to poor reception (most likely, a faulty lead from the wall to the recorder, dodgy aerial, or, of course - a faulty recorder).
Did Panasonic or a service agent look at it?
If so, what did they find?
If the fan noise wasn't sorted under warranty, it certainly should have been.

I know of many Panasonic units that have suffered from serious pixellation issues, only to discover that the owner was still running a 15 year old, corroded, hanging by a thread coax cable from the wall... and some of them had been splitting it into the back of the TV / VCR through a $15 DSE splitter too!
There's no way a DishTV unit would out perform the Pana unit (not pixellate )unless it was running on a different aerial / cable.

Any more specifics?
Who installed the aerial / age of the aerial / cable etc.

B1GGLZ

1961 posts

Uber Geek

#730898 11-Dec-2012 22:14

Dunnersfella: If your Panasonic unit was pixellating, it was either down to poor reception (most likely, a faulty lead from the wall to the recorder, dodgy aerial, or, of course - a faulty recorder).
Did Panasonic or a service agent look at it?
If so, what did they find?
If the fan noise wasn't sorted under warranty, it certainly should have been.

I know of many Panasonic units that have suffered from serious pixellation issues, only to discover that the owner was still running a 15 year old, corroded, hanging by a thread coax cable from the wall... and some of them had been splitting it into the back of the TV / VCR through a $15 DSE splitter too!
There's no way a DishTV unit would out perform the Pana unit (not pixellate )unless it was running on a different aerial / cable.

Any more specifics?
Who installed the aerial / age of the aerial / cable etc.

+1
Never had any problem with my BW880. Didn't even know the fan was running. Dead quiet.

Gilco2

1556 posts

Uber Geek

#730899 11-Dec-2012 22:14

none wanted to know. The aerial is a year old cable 3 years old. Only the panasonic had the problem, Tv has no problem and uhf decoder has no problem. All good now just dont use Panasonic and probably wont buy another one. Signal strength 85% quality 95%

edit to say I think it was on here somewhere. someone said with the panasonic units you had to fit a filter to stop vhf interference. Anyway with units I have now all good

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

Dunnersfella

4063 posts

Uber Geek

#730966 11-Dec-2012 23:21

So when your aerial was installed a diplexer wasn't fitted? Or is it a UHF only aerial (no VHF element)?
When you add a twin tuner unit like a Panasonic you're effectively asking the aerial to supply signal to twice the number of tuners as your TV... meaning a slightly dodgy signal will cause all sorts of issues. Especially when you're recording a show while watching another / have other devices plugged into the aerial system around the house.

When you said 'no one wanted to know', who did you take the unit to?
Surely it would have been under warranty / covered by the CGA?

muchacho

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#731307 12-Dec-2012 12:32

I just wanted to thanks to those who offered their advice. I purchased the Panny yesterday from DSE (JB wouldn't budge on their already discounted price - & DSE had a slightly better price anyway).

The auto-setup was convenient & all channels were quickly available, all with a 10 signal rating. My first impression is that the device is reasonably intuitive, however not for a parent who has never been exposed to technology much beyond a VCR. However in saying that, there is no avoiding this "learning curve", given the more advanced features available. I think that, given time, he will come to get used to it, & my Brother is there to help him. Overall I'm satisfied.

Gilco2

1556 posts

Uber Geek

#731542 12-Dec-2012 18:30

muchacho: I just wanted to thanks to those who offered their advice. I purchased the Panny yesterday from DSE (JB wouldn't budge on their already discounted price - & DSE had a slightly better price anyway).

The auto-setup was convenient & all channels were quickly available, all with a 10 signal rating. My first impression is that the device is reasonably intuitive, however not for a parent who has never been exposed to technology much beyond a VCR. However in saying that, there is no avoiding this "learning curve", given the more advanced features available. I think that, given time, he will come to get used to it, & my Brother is there to help him. Overall I'm satisfied.

well I take back what I said about Dishtv. Bought a T1050pvr and now when use remote to turn off, it wont start again. I have to unplug the power then it powers up okay. Once running it works fine. Dishtv said to send it back but I wont be able to until next week which means it wont be back until the new year. Wish there were some reliable machines. I may just cut my losses on this one, take the hard drive out and make an external hard drive and dump the rest of it. My nickname the jinx is till alive and well

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

Zipdisk

200 posts

Master Geek

#737443 26-Dec-2012 18:29

Option 1. Panasonic DMR-XW390GZK DVD Recorder with 500GB HDD is a bit complecated to use
I am a retired Electronic/TV tech , its good and have come down to some $549 from LV Martin.

I find my DishTV T1050 very easy to use, I picked up mine for $298, but you do need to update the fimware now and again they only ever did a on line up date once, Dick Smith is listing then for $299

Both devices Must be turned off or in Full cold standby mode if you are trying to move them or plug in a USB stick to the Panasonic, or the hard drives can be damaged, and never unplus or turned off when the hard drive is running.

Zipdisk

200 posts

Master Geek

#737447 26-Dec-2012 18:35

muchacho:
B1GGLZ:
muchacho:
One thing that still concerns me is whether the Panny, with its digital tuners, would be able to record everything the old VHS VCR could record.

Why wouldn't it? It has 2 Digital tuners so can record 2 channels at once in HD. Won't record analogue TV though as it only has digital tuners. Who wants to record analogue these days? It also has A/V input so can record from external sources such as Sky as well but only in SD. Show me a VCR that can do all that. Bear in mind that after Dec 2013 his VCR will be useless anyhow (unless he has a digital STB) as it only has an analogue tuner.

Well not recording analogue TV is one reason why it wouldn't be able to record everything the old VHS VCR could.

I don't know which channels are available in Freeview/digital & which ones are still analogue only. Therefore I just wanted to understand whether there will be things which my Dad *may* want to record, but find himself in a situation where he cannot because the device I bought him doesn't support it. Thanks for mentioning the A/V inputs, as it looks like the TV has a digital plus analogue tuner, so can record via that as the source, if required.

Freeview has more Channels than Analogue that the VCR could record so nothing at all is missing you just get more, Plus if he has VCR recodings that he want to keep you have 2 options play theem on the TV or use the Panasonic to convert them to DVD

Zipdisk

200 posts

Master Geek

#737449 26-Dec-2012 18:43

NonprayingMantis: you could save him a heap of cash and buy a tiVo from trademe for around $200-250. quite a few people selling them for around

320Gb hard drive, but that is till quite a lot.

interface is great too.

main catch is that he needs a broadband connection to get the EPG to work, although it uses almost no data.

They are Tottly Crap and no longer supported and also need the Internet to work.

TIVO an BIG NO..

Plus the draw 23W in stanbuy as they are allway on and clap out the hardrives and how is one to get support of Service for then

The reatailers dump them and crap dealers on Trade Me are ripping people off. selling them with no support.

Gilco2

1556 posts

Uber Geek

#737453 26-Dec-2012 19:01

Zipdisk:
NonprayingMantis: you could save him a heap of cash and buy a tiVo from trademe for around $200-250. quite a few people selling them for around

320Gb hard drive, but that is till quite a lot.

interface is great too.

main catch is that he needs a broadband connection to get the EPG to work, although it uses almost no data.

They are Tottly Crap and no longer supported and also need the Internet to work.

TIVO an BIG NO..

Plus the draw 23W in stanbuy as they are allway on and clap out the hardrives and how is one to get support of Service for then

The reatailers dump them and crap dealers on Trade Me are ripping people off. selling them with no support.

well I would now recommend MagicTv MTV3700TD. Have had 2 Tivos which packed up after 4 months use. Had Dishtv T1050 3 of them before finally getting a working unit. Disillusioned I then bought a MagicTV. VEry easy to use. Excellent picture, very quiet and looks quality item. So far very good

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

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