Hi,
We got a Panasonic DMR-XW380. It has a built in HDD with a twin tuner. When it work, it works brilliantly, when the weather slightly goes to custard so does the Panasonic.
We have a new (4 months old) UHF aerial installed on our roof, the cable comes into our living room (approx 10 metres from the roof) and goes directly into our Panasonic. From the Panasonic I connect our Samsung LED TV (with built in tuner), effectively giving us 3 tuners. We typically use the Panasonic to watch and record FreeView TV - very rarely would we use the built in tuner on the Samsung TV.
If we get drizzle, or heavy showers or slight wind we have an issue. The Panasonic goes to custard and the freeview gets pixelated and eventually the signal is lost. One would assume it was the aerial or the cable ... so we called out the aerial guys and they ran some tests. They concluded that the signal strength coming from the aerial was near on perfect - even with trying a brand new cable and luckily for us when it was raining too. No difference. He said before he left he was convinced it was the Panasonic 99% sure he says! He said the ultimate test would be to ...
... When it all goes to custard again, unplug the aerial from the Panasonic and plug it directly into the Samsung (completely bypassing the Panasonic altogether). So I did this yesterday and the reception worked absolutely fine through the TV. I quickly plugged it back into the Panasonic to check, and it was still knackered.
Does anyone have any suggestions about the Panasonic, as the shop I brought it from are unlikely to refund it (it will be a year old in April) as if they test it and it works, what exactly can they do about it. I explained to the guy at the shop that it will probably work when I bring it to you etc... but I dont think he seemed to fussed to be honest.
I have checked Panasonic's website, and the latest firmware version is already installed on the Panasonic recorder. The only thing left to do would be to restore to default settings and do a factory reset which I haven't done yet ...
Any suggestions ....? Cheers