[Post copied to uk.tech.digital-tv, uk.tech.tv.video.pvr]

International Megastar Keith G wrote:

Meant to add the 49.99 price included shipping!

(Can't be bad! :-)

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=221276&TabID=1&source=1&doy=1 6m11


OK, bottom line is - it isn't! Not at the price, if you have a spare
(IDE) HDD kicking about - and less face it, who doesn't?

Initial impression is that it's plenty OK appearancewise for the money
and comes as a nice little bundle that even includes the screws to mount
the HDD which you will have to provide for it to become anything other
than a simple Digital STB. Fitting the HDD is a breeze but involves 10
screws altogether - making quick drive-swapping impossible. In the
unlikely event that someone would want to swap hard disks on a regular
basis (they are not recognised by my PC, at least) it would pay to let
the drive 'dangle' - possibly on extended leads.

I was disappointed at first how the thing worked - it is nothing like as
clever as the Tommy I had been used to using; the Nikkai is a simple
twin tuner device with one dedicated to PVR work, while the other
provides a TV signal. This means you can watch TV and 'pause/navigate'
the programme or you can record a programme and 'chase play' it (watch
while the prog is still recording) with full navigation options, but not
both - if you are recording one channel and watching another, you will
not really be able to do anything with the channel you are watching
other than pause it and lose time.

Once you (me) get into it a bit you find that it's not so bad - picture
and sound are quite impressive (picture is excellent) and the
menus/remote control pretty intuitive. The EPG is OK and onscreen info
isn't at all bad, but one PITA is that you have name your recordings
yourself (with a 'soft', onscreen keypad) otherwise it will only give
you station, date and time info. One signal advantage that I haven't
seen on another machine (or at least, have never yet discovered) is that
a button on the remote will allow you to toggle between 'DTV' and 'VCR'
which is effectively 'AV In' - this allows you to watch another source
(DVD or Tape) *through* the Nikkai which has to be on but which can be
doing other stuff like recording at the same time (I think) - very handy
for people whose telly has only the one scart, like mine!

Biggest ****er? - You can record/playback the radio stations just fine
but you can only pause them - you can't run backwards or forwards
(FF/REW) through the programme! Other niggles are minor (lurid,
single-colour orange display for example) but the fatal flaw, for me, is
that I can't pull the recordings off the HDD; that will have to continue
to be done from the Toppy we have here - whether or not the Nikkai gets
added to the heap of other Bright Ideas that I don't use after the
'honeymoon period' (and will eventually give away) remains to be seen!

Inasmuch as the Triumph petrol tank pic is coming from a DVDR in the
Pioneer, the whole story is pictographically depicted here, really - if
anyone is interested:

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/Nikkai-01.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/Nikkai-02.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/Nikkai-03.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/Nikkai-04.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/Nikkai-05.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/Nikkai-06.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/Nikkai-07.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/Nikkai-08.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/Nikkai-09.JPG


Now, who do I see at Maplins for my commission?


[Post copied to uk.tech.digital-tv, uk.tech.tv.video.pvr]

Hi Keith,

Fine Post.

Thought I'd bring some collective minds to ponder over your discoveries ...

:-)

--
Adrian C

On Nov 16, 2:24 pm, Adrian C wrote:
[Post copied to uk.tech.digital-tv, uk.tech.tv.video.pvr]

International Megastar Keith G wrote:

Hi Keith,

Fine Post.

Thought I'd bring some collective minds to ponder over your discoveries ...

Looks interesting. One of my teenage lads wants a PVR, this might be
an affordable solution.

Any screenshots of the menus etc ? I assume the valve amplifier in
jpg.09 is optional ? :-)

"Adrian C" wrote in message
...
[Post copied to uk.tech.digital-tv, uk.tech.tv.video.pvr]

International Megastar Keith G wrote:


:-)

I can do signed photos (genuine signature - no facsimiles) for 2.50 each
(post paid), if anyone wants them...


Hi Keith,

Fine Post.

Thought I'd bring some collective minds to ponder over your
discoveries ...

:-)


OK, but I should point out that I know squiddly-diddly about it really -
that was just an overview for the few on ukra who are mainly *audio
enthusiasts* but who also dabble in a little TV recording and like to
spend in Maplins! :-)

Key to the whole thing is if you have a spare HDD already, you don't end
up paying *stupid money* for one simply because it's already in the
PVR!! I ended up with only a 40 Gig disk in (I had already buggered up
my spare 300 Gig disk and another 80 Gig disk I was given simply didn't
work) but I suspect it will be ample for what I will use it for - mostly
a bit of chase play 'watch & blow' or to record the end of a proggie I'm
halfway through when summat else calls me away!!

"Mark Carver" wrote in message
...
On Nov 16, 2:24 pm, Adrian C wrote:
[Post copied to uk.tech.digital-tv, uk.tech.tv.video.pvr]

International Megastar Keith G wrote:

Hi Keith,

Fine Post.

Thought I'd bring some collective minds to ponder over your
discoveries ...

Looks interesting. One of my teenage lads wants a PVR, this might be
an affordable solution.

Any screenshots of the menus etc ?


Streuth, there's a lot of 'em! I'll see what I can do a bit later - only
cleaning a motorbike and cooking (preparing) a stew atm!


I assume the valve amplifier in
jpg.09 is optional ? :-)


No to me it's not - I wouldn't be without it! ;-)

"Keith G" wrote in message
...

"Mark Carver" wrote in message
...
On Nov 16, 2:24 pm, Adrian C wrote:
[Post copied to uk.tech.digital-tv, uk.tech.tv.video.pvr]

International Megastar Keith G wrote:

Hi Keith,

Fine Post.

Thought I'd bring some collective minds to ponder over your discoveries
...

Looks interesting. One of my teenage lads wants a PVR, this might be
an affordable solution.

Any screenshots of the menus etc ?


Streuth, there's a lot of 'em! I'll see what I can do a bit later - only
cleaning a motorbike and cooking (preparing) a stew atm!


I assume the valve amplifier in
jpg.09 is optional ? :-)


No to me it's not - I wouldn't be without it! ;-)



I had an old Rogers valve amp which I was going to 'dispose' of, however my
daughter put it on ebay where it fetched £130, purchased by a very nice
gentleman in Japan, however it cost over £90.00 just to send it to him!

Ivan wrote:

I had an old Rogers valve amp which I was going to 'dispose' of, however
my daughter put it on ebay where it fetched £130, purchased by a very
nice gentleman in Japan, however it cost over £90.00 just to send it to
him!


The Far East has a number of hi-fi enthusiasts
who will pay big money for classic vintage valve
gear; a local guy used to have a business
buying in the UK, selling in the far East,
via a web site.

BugBear

"bugbear" wrote in message
...
Ivan wrote:

I had an old Rogers valve amp which I was going to 'dispose' of, however
my daughter put it on ebay where it fetched £130, purchased by a very
nice gentleman in Japan, however it cost over £90.00 just to send it to
him!


The Far East has a number of hi-fi enthusiasts
who will pay big money for classic vintage valve
gear; a local guy used to have a business
buying in the UK, selling in the far East,
via a web site.


In the 1960s my mate used to be a engineer for Radford electronics and owns
a very nice Radford 30/30 valved stereo amplifier complete with preamp from
the period.
I've been trying to get him to put it on ebay, as he might just as well make
a few bob whilst he still has the chance, especially as he hasn't used it in
recent times and probably never will.


BugBear

Keith G wrote:
"Keith G" wrote in message
...
"Keith G" wrote


I can feel and 'online purchase' coming on....

Done! Now, we'll see....

Meant to add the 49.99 price included shipping!

(Can't be bad! :-)


OK, bottom line is - it isn't! Not at the price, if you have a spare
(IDE) HDD kicking about - and less face it, who doesn't?

*** snip

Biggest ****er? - You can record/playback the radio stations just fine
but you can only pause them - you can't run backwards or forwards
(FF/REW) through the programme! Other niggles are minor (lurid,
single-colour orange display for example) but the fatal flaw, for me, is
that I can't pull the recordings off the HDD; that will have to continue
to be done from the Toppy we have here - whether or not the Nikkai gets
added to the heap of other Bright Ideas that I don't use after the
'honeymoon period' (and will eventually give away) remains to be seen!


The Humax USB-computer is slow as well - about half real time. I take
the HD out when it's backing up time, connect to the PC, and read the
files with softwa

http://humaxdisk.wikispaces.com/HummyReadFiles

It *may* be that this prog works with your PVR. Otherwise, you'll have
to wait until some kind soul works it out.

The files are playable with VLC, and editable/squashable (MP4) with MPEG
Streamclip.

I recently archived a few shows to AVI, and then DVD, which play on my
DVD player. 8 hours of DVD playback in pretty good quality. So that's
more stuff not to watch ;-)

Rob

"Mark Carver" wrote in message
...
On Nov 16, 2:24 pm, Adrian C wrote:
[Post copied to uk.tech.digital-tv, uk.tech.tv.video.pvr]

International Megastar Keith G wrote:

Hi Keith,

Fine Post.

Thought I'd bring some collective minds to ponder over your
discoveries ...

Looks interesting. One of my teenage lads wants a PVR, this might be
an affordable solution.

Any screenshots of the menus etc ?


Here ya go - ignore all the pinky/purple (that doesn't happen - it's
just the camera and the crap pix) and for some reason everything is
shifted to the left a bit which wasn't happening yesterday but it's only
a 14" portable and I haven't a clue, so I wouldn't shoot the PVR.
Anyway, I'm sure this will all mean more to you than it does to me!

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/L1010029.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/L1010030.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/L1010031.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/L1010035.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/L1010038.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/L1010039.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/L1010041.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/L1010042.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/L1010043.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/L1010046.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/L1010054.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/L1010056.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/L1010057.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/L1010058.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/L1010062.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/L1010064.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/L1010067.JPG


There's probably a load more, but I'm sure there's enough to give you an
idea...

"Rob" wrote


The Humax USB-computer is slow as well - about half real time. I take
the HD out when it's backing up time, connect to the PC, and read the
files with softwa

http://humaxdisk.wikispaces.com/HummyReadFiles

It *may* be that this prog works with your PVR. Otherwise, you'll have
to wait until some kind soul works it out.

The files are playable with VLC, and editable/squashable (MP4) with
MPEG Streamclip.


Thanks Rob, but sod all that - I'm backed up with recorded stuff as it
is! I'll use the Nikkai for 'chase play' and to finish off progs that I
have to leave halfway through (and never catch up anyway!)!!

(For a while - then it'll never get switched on! ;-)


I recently archived a few shows to AVI, and then DVD, which play on my
DVD player. 8 hours of DVD playback in pretty good quality. So that's
more stuff not to watch ;-)


See above...

:-)