I have long been in the habit of buying Panasonic video recorders etc.
I've always found them easy to use and reliable. When I bought a
Freeview PVR, then, it was natural to buy a Panny.

I regret that decision.

The operating system is a nightmare - I find that I'm forever pressing
buttons that I shouldn't have to (and they usually seem to be the
coloured ones:
Red (not 'OK') to start writing a program, red again (not 'OK') to
save it.
Green to unlock a recorded programme before I can delete it.
The EPG only shows one channel at a time - green to move from the
channel selector to the programmes, blue *and* 'OK'  to tell it to
record one, green to go back to the channel selector.

And so on.

This is so different from the nice simple setup of my Panny DVD
recorder (and old VHS recorder etc) that I'm quite convinced that
Panny just bought in someone else's o/s and rebadged it. (By contrast,
my DVD recorder has a nice easy grid EPG, and it's just 'OK' to record
it. That takes you to another screen where you can add a minute or two
at either end if you want, or 'OK' again to save it and go back to the
EPG. Nice and logical.)

To cap it all, it's dreadfully unreliable. It'll record BBC programmes
all right most of the time, but I can't expect to be able to find
programmes that it claims to be recording from Channel 5, ITV etc.

I give up. I'm going to buy a new one. But which?

It looks as if the Humax has the better o/s out of the box, and it's
cheaper, but how reliable is it?

The Toppy looks a pig from the box, but I don't mind downloading and
installing TAPs if that'll give me what I want. Will it? And, again,
can I rely on it recording what it should when it should?

Anyone got any useful thoughts, please?

Thanks.

Peter.

In article ,
   Peter  wrote:
> I give up. I'm going to buy a new one. But which?

> It looks as if the Humax has the better o/s out of the box, and it's
> cheaper, but how reliable is it?

> The Toppy looks a pig from the box, but I don't mind downloading and
> installing TAPs if that'll give me what I want. Will it? And, again,
> can I rely on it recording what it should when it should?

> Anyone got any useful thoughts, please?

The Toppy is simple to use out of the box for simple recording. Just call
up the EPG, highlight the prog and double press OK. Much easier than VCRs
used to be for unattended recording. Replay is easy too - call up the
recorded menu, highlight, and click OK. So other than the 'arrow' keys,
'OK' and those two menu keys you don't need anything else to replace a
VCR. Of course like all these things it can do plenty tricks - but you
don't have to learn them.

I'm very pleased with mine. But must admit to not having experience of
others.

It has one annoying feature, though. When it wakes up to record something
it switches on the TV.

-- 
*Not all men are annoying. Some are dead.

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:00:39 +0100, Peter
 wrote:

>
>I have long been in the habit of buying Panasonic video recorders etc.
>I've always found them easy to use and reliable. When I bought a
>Freeview PVR, then, it was natural to buy a Panny.
>
>I regret that decision.
>
>The operating system is a nightmare - I find that I'm forever pressing
>buttons that I shouldn't have to (and they usually seem to be the
>coloured ones:
>Red (not 'OK') to start writing a program, red again (not 'OK') to
>save it.
>Green to unlock a recorded programme before I can delete it.
>The EPG only shows one channel at a time - green to move from the
>channel selector to the programmes, blue *and* 'OK'  to tell it to
>record one, green to go back to the channel selector.
>
>And so on.
>
>This is so different from the nice simple setup of my Panny DVD
>recorder (and old VHS recorder etc) that I'm quite convinced that
>Panny just bought in someone else's o/s and rebadged it. (By contrast,
>my DVD recorder has a nice easy grid EPG, and it's just 'OK' to record
>it. That takes you to another screen where you can add a minute or two
>at either end if you want, or 'OK' again to save it and go back to the
>EPG. Nice and logical.)
>
>To cap it all, it's dreadfully unreliable. It'll record BBC programmes
>all right most of the time, but I can't expect to be able to find
>programmes that it claims to be recording from Channel 5, ITV etc.
>
>I give up. I'm going to buy a new one. But which?
>
>It looks as if the Humax has the better o/s out of the box, and it's
>cheaper, but how reliable is it?
>
>The Toppy looks a pig from the box, but I don't mind downloading and
>installing TAPs if that'll give me what I want. Will it? And, again,
>can I rely on it recording what it should when it should?
>
>Anyone got any useful thoughts, please?
>
>Thanks.
>
>Peter.




The Toppy is excellent, and completely reliable. The only TAP that
I've installed is mystuff.

Try the uk.tech.tv.video.pvr newsgroup for loads of help / opinions.

On Fri, 12 Oct 2007 19:15:35 +0100, tg  wrote:

>Try the uk.tech.tv.video.pvr newsgroup for loads of help / opinions.

OK, thanks.

Peter.

"Peter"  wrote in message 
news:8n5vg3h201f95ed2mbq05je4rg3luk3v61@4ax.com...
>
> I have long been in the habit of buying Panasonic video recorders etc.
> I've always found them easy to use and reliable. When I bought a
> Freeview PVR, then, it was natural to buy a Panny.
>
> I regret that decision.
> This is so different from the nice simple setup of my Panny DVD
> recorder (and old VHS recorder etc) that I'm quite convinced that
> Panny just bought in someone else's o/s and rebadged it.

Sounds likely

> I give up. I'm going to buy a new one. But which?
>
> It looks as if the Humax has the better o/s out of the box, and it's
> cheaper, but how reliable is it?

Very.
I know nearly a dozen people that have bought one based on my 
recommendations and they have almost all been faultless.
My hard drive failed but Humax arranged a replacement under the 2 year 
warranty.
As for reliability of recording what you want and ease of use - both 
excellent.

-- 
Alex

New laptop - Sig missing

On Sat, 13 Oct 2007 08:44:15 +0100, "Dr Zoidberg"
<AlexNOOOO!!!!!!@drzoidberg.co.uk> wrote:


>As for reliability of recording what you want and ease of use - both 
>excellent.

Thank you.

I was heading towards the Toppy (based on comments made elsewhere),
but now I'm getting all indecisive again!

Peter.

In article ,
   Peter  wrote:
> On Sat, 13 Oct 2007 08:44:15 +0100, "Dr Zoidberg"
> <AlexNOOOO!!!!!!@drzoidberg.co.uk> wrote:


> >As for reliability of recording what you want and ease of use - both 
> >excellent.

> Thank you.

> I was heading towards the Toppy (based on comments made elsewhere),
> but now I'm getting all indecisive again!

Buy the one you like the look of. Both will do the job perfectly well.

-- 
*A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.*

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Peter"  wrote in message 
news:u3u0h31v23otg2tu9opufkiskgeihnl3oq@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 13 Oct 2007 08:44:15 +0100, "Dr Zoidberg"
> <AlexNOOOO!!!!!!@drzoidberg.co.uk> wrote:
>
>
>>As for reliability of recording what you want and ease of use - both
>>excellent.
>
> Thank you.
>
> I was heading towards the Toppy (based on comments made elsewhere),
> but now I'm getting all indecisive again!
>
Either would be a good choice I think.

-- 
Alex

New laptop - Sig missing

On Fri, 12 Oct 2007 19:03:27 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)" 
wrote:

>It has one annoying feature, though. When it wakes up to record something
>it switches on the TV.

Mine would have a struggle since the TV is off at the mains...

Geo