Aldi - Technosonic PVR £99.99 - Freeview

Whirly

Searcher2 wrote:

From the reviews I have read it is better not to use the SCT technology. I don't know cos mine isn't coming until next week!

Hmm, can you point me towards those reviews. I'd be interested to read what's wrong with the SCT.

fixerman

Whirly wrote:

Hmm, can you point me towards those reviews. I'd be interested to read what's wrong with the SCT.

Check out this forum whirly. It gives a lot of info from experienced users.
http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/forumdisplay.php?f=118

You sure got a result with the 200 version. It's a terrific box if a little quirky on the interface. I never use the compression as it seems reading the forum that it's just not worth it.

Good luck with it. :xmassign:

gromituk

On differences in the picture quality between various Freeview devices:

virgo17 wrote:

This is completely correct. The PVR may well record the program stream to the hard disk exactly as it were broadcast. During playback, the data will be processed and perhaps limited before being fed to the SCART socket. The quality of this processing will determine the viewed quality.

Hang on - you need a sense of proportion here. I said noticeably different. It is extremely cheap and easy to make the circuitry required to decode and output this data as an analogue signal. What do you mean "limited" - why should a playback device "limit" its video signal? Unlike an analogue input device, it will never be presented with an out-of-range signal. You really aren't going to see significant differences in RGB outputs unless your device is faulty, or you're trying to do something silly like drive a 100m SCART lead.

gromituk

Whirly wrote:

Hmm, can you point me towards those reviews. I'd be interested to read what's wrong with the SCT.

Hmm - in trying to find the website you didn't reference, I soon found this:

"Both units playback quality is as good as broadcast quality, but both units in my opinon suffer from one major flaw.... the super compression technology is to say the least, totally rubbish. The quality when played back after setting recordings to just LP mode are terrible compared to a recorder that simply records in LP mode, which these units cannot."

Now where's Digifusion's site? :xmassmile

It takes a lot of processing power to re-code in a sensible way (like to MP4), which these machines won't be doing.

solomonp

Heres my experience with the Aldi box - bought it as the store opened yesterday in Macclesfield. Left it (silly me) until 3.00 pm to test it. Saw all the bad reports on here and thought I had better get it tested. It fired up but stopped with 'boot' on the display. Rushed back to Aldi to swap it before closing and they then had 6 left. (From the number of outer boxes I think they had about 100 in stock at the begining of the day.) Exchange was no problem and checked before leaving the store that the one in the box looked virgin and not a returned one. The bag that is sellotaped around the mains plug is a good indication of wether it has been used.
Got new one plugged in and it did not seem to light up at all. It gave the feel of a non working mains switch at the back. Checked the mains plug and fuse, all OK. After several operations of the on off switch it decide to start working. All was OK and it loaded all the channels and gave a really good quality picture. The user interface was good and felt nicer to use than my Thompson 4000. Did a recording no problem. But I did find I had the 'no sound on ITV' that has been reported, however the 'select channel 9 and down arrow back to 3' workaround worked for me. Also ITV recorded with sound present. Unplugged and reassembled in its correct position under the tele and I got the no startup problem again - but flicking the on off switch a few times got it back. Then when moving the box (could have been a coincidence) I nearly disloged the aerial in plug and the picture looked like an old analogue set with non locked line oscillator. Selecting another channel cured it.
Left it on all night and this morning there was the torn picture (like lack of line lock) again. This time I had to turn it off at the back on again to restore the picture and this time it restarted without any problems.
I have left it running all day and so far...touch wood ...it is still working OK.

My impression are that it is a good unit but with some serious faults. Great shame as really I like the look and feel of it. Will try some more intensive recording tonight but nothing that is too important!!!! I think I will keep it a week or two to see if it settles down and how the 'return the box for a good one under guarantee' that has been mentioned on here works out.

bodgerbill

I managed to get through to the Technosonic help-line after 28 minutes. The chap on the other end was very coy about the number of faults they have had recorded.

Anyway the major thing of interest is that there is to be a software update broadcast on the Engineering channel on the 28th December for the PVR101. All he was able to tell me was that this would address the no sound fault when switching to ITV. He told me that this a significant problem with the Winter Hill transmitter.

I was going to return my unit, but I think I shall hang on to it to see how it goes.

This was just a back up for my Toppy, so no big deal for me.

HTH

cougar101

:mad:

cougar101 wrote:

I've just switched on my Technosonic PVR101 and am getting "NO CHANNELS FOUND PLEASE CHECK ANTENNA CONNECTION". The signal is ok because I have just disconnected my Aldi Tevion freeview box. Yet another unit going back to Aldi tomorrow. I wonder what the failure rate is - 95%???. :mad:

Got my replacement PVR today. This one tunes in OK, but gives no sound on ITV if I move up the channels sequentially. Get sound if I go to ch5 then immediately back to ch3.

It's going to be embarrassing asking for a 3rd replacement! :mad:

jackson3

I battled with mine as long as I could....
The last straw - no sound. Have just returned it to Aldi.The chap
in front of me was buying one - I didnt know what to do. The sales
girl rolled her eyes as if to say "dont say anything"
By the way, I managed to contact the helpline after waing 30 minutes.
The guy said he hadn't heard of any complaints.....Doesn't it just
make you sick.

virgo17

bodgerbill wrote:

He told me that this a significant problem with the Winter Hill transmitter.
HTH

Is it just the Winter Hill transmitter or are people having this problem in other parts of the country?

I have the problem but am in the Winter Hill service area.

V.

PVRBUDDY

I picked mine up today, my 3rd box after 2 sagems, the 40, then the 80 models. I was expecting the worse after all the problems you guys are having. Opened it up, plugged it in, turned it on, boot displayed for about 30 seconds, then it turned off. By then, had found the remote, so turned her on. Did a channel scan and set screen etc.. all pukka! Fast EPG etc... tried a recording from standby, pukka - infact - absolutely over the moon! I am on Hannington, so no ITV sound issue. I am wondering if perhaps by leaving it alone until it has booted up and turned off - finalising set up maybe for first boot up, is the route of the troubles. I only say this as on the first boot, it is programmed to load user prefs etc... so by trying to fast boot it is screwing it up?

Is is so fast compared to the 80GB sagem I took back to Argos today, quiet too. It boots from standby almost instantly and channel hops like a freight train. No lock ups, no quirks, just a damn good box, and for that price! Thanks Aldi, very happy bunny.

Looks the part too, also the buttons on the top are handy for when the remote goes missing, often in my house!

Great box, great performance, great price. Buy,buy buy!!!!

Or am I just one of the lucky few?