Aldi - Technosonic PVR £99.99 - Freeview

znww5

Thanks to 'Babbler' (message 458) for the pointer to the Humax offer.

Interestingly, the Empire Direct site also has a Goodmans GHDD 1782DVBT PVR for sale which appears to be the same as the Technosonic and the (single tuner) Bush IDPVR801B which I returned for a no-sound problem.

Clearly these machines are closely related as the update starting 29th December is for all three! So the message is not to be tempted by either of those if the OTA doesn't fix the problems.

robonz

my Goodman GDB 3 freeview player has very similar looking software to the Technosonic PVR101, its software is probably based on its source

my PVR101 stopped retaining any new recordings and refused to delete three other recordings. i formatted the disk and now seems to work again but has since crashed twice when prior to format it never had.

ZZRKarlos

abomb1969 wrote:

The PVR8000T seems good - 7% off using quidco and amex. Reviews seem good too. But does it offer recording on one channel and watching another?

I tried one of these and it only picked up half the Freeview channels that my Pace DT210F could pick up, so I took it back.

Having just bought a Sony HXD710 Freeview/DVD Recorder/160HD which has got to be the best thing I have ever bought, I was not expecting the Technosonic to be very good, but for £99 it has to be a bargain. Yes I have all the same problems as you here with no signal, missing recordings lockups etc etc I rang the helpline which was answered straight away (lucky) and have a swap out arranged. We will see if the upgrade on 29th will do anything.

Its very good the service so far, with a new upgraded box being promised when the new ones are in. At least they know these machines have problems and are doing their best to get it sorted out.

Keep trying the hotline number to arrange a swap they will get them working properly. :rudolf:

fixerman

abomb1969 wrote:

The PVR8000T seems good - 7% off using quidco and amex. Reviews seem good too. But does it offer recording on one channel and watching another?

This is a very reliable stable machine but has limited facilities. Single tuner and you cannot watch a different channel to that which is being recorded. Also it has no way of "Bookmarking" recordings or of creating "scenes" or thumbnails. I very quickly became frustrated with it and went for the 9200 which is a superb machine but is not without problems.

This is an evolving technology and is still not perfected. Even huge manufacturers like Panasonic cannot crack it. The Panasonic machine is a turkey.

gromituk

-gonzo- wrote:

I may be wrong here, but I dont think I am..
Subtitles come from teletext. This box only records from the TV signal and will not record from interactive services or teletext.

Digital subtitles are not related to teletext, which is an analogue service. They are a stream of data within the multiplex, just like the video and audio data streams, and there's no reason why a PVR shouldn't be able to record them, and decode them on playback just as if you were viewing a live broadcast. I guess it shows with what haste this box was put together that the very minor bit of programming necessary to do this has been omitted.

Six million people in the UK benefit from subtitles in some way. Shame on them for not implementing it properly (yet?).

tecstar

LesD wrote:

What's your solution to the lost recordings Eric. We've not lost any lately and timeshift is working fine as I type this. But I'd like more certainty over Xmas!

Come on EricF, share your secret!

Lorian

tecstar wrote:

Come on EricF, share your secret!

For me it seems to loose programs when I have to reboot. Waiting until I hear the disk spin down, and then rebooting seems to avoid loosing stuff, so far, anyway. I did forget to do this yestersay and lost some entries.

creddish

Lorian wrote:

For me it seems to loose programs when I have to reboot. Waiting until I hear the disk spin down, and then rebooting seems to avoid loosing stuff, so far, anyway. I did forget to do this yestersay and lost some entries.

I have found the same thing. So far this has prevented any loss of recorded programmes since I have been careful to put the unit into standby for a while before switching of at the rear of the box. On one occasion yesterday the unit locked up with no response from any keys on the remote. I had no choice to switch of the box and I lost all programmes I has recorded since the last time I had gone to standby. I believe the theory behind this behaviour is that the unit maintains the Recorded Programme list in RAM memory and stores this on the HD when you enter standby. It is then retrieved from the the HD next time you come out of standby. The current list is of course lost if you power cycle without entering standby first and a previous version of the list is loaded from the HD next time you boot up.

The only problem with this is that I can't actually hear the HD spinning so I am unsure when it turns off. I usually allow about 30 sec after standby. Is this long enough?

Colin

marsha11_2

creddish wrote:

The only problem with this is that I can't actually hear the HD spinning so I am unsure when it turns off. I usually allow about 30 sec after standby. Is this long enough?

Mine takes 4.5 minutes to stop the HD spinning after going into standby. I've only timed it once though.

tecstar

This thread is getting a bit long, so in anticipation of the OTA update on 29/12/05 for the Technosonic PVR101, I am starting this new thread for posting comments, queries and experiences once you have attempted/completed the update.

http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=320642