"Ashley Booth" wrote in message
...
Gio wrote:


Thanks for the tip Keith. With luck it will be delivered on Wed so
no report for a bit. It seems a little strange that the machine plays
dead when a drive is fitted. I would have thought the machine would
have set about formatting the new drive on boot-up then would have
been ready for tuning. By the way what is ukra ? The only thing I
know with those letters are The United Kingdom Rocket Association
(UKRA) as in www.ukra.org.uk/ If it means something else then you
will have to let me know because my isp does not list ukra on the
newsgroup list.

Gio

Just got one of these. The tuners are not very sensitive - I get
breakup on it but not on a BT Netgem on the same aerial and lead.


Yep, I've discovered it needs a decent aerial then no problems!


Biggest drawback found so far is
NO subtitles!



Must be the programme, Ashley - I've just checked BBC1 and subbies are
there (and off again) at the press of a button.

The one *quirk* I think I've found is if you hit the Record button
(effectively a One Touch Record button) to grab a programme it seems to
need 'confirming' (at the 2 hour default recording period) by the second
press of the button and then 'OK' - otherwise it can chunter on
recording to (presumably) the limit of the available disk space!

(It's no biggie - I can live with it, especially as I would probably
alter the recording period with a second press of the button as often as
not, in any case!)

"Keith G" wrote in message
...

"Ashley Booth" wrote in message
...
Gio wrote:


Thanks for the tip Keith. With luck it will be delivered on Wed so
no report for a bit. It seems a little strange that the machine plays
dead when a drive is fitted. I would have thought the machine would
have set about formatting the new drive on boot-up then would have
been ready for tuning. By the way what is ukra ? The only thing I
know with those letters are The United Kingdom Rocket Association
(UKRA) as in www.ukra.org.uk/ If it means something else then you
will have to let me know because my isp does not list ukra on the
newsgroup list.

Gio

Just got one of these. The tuners are not very sensitive - I get
breakup on it but not on a BT Netgem on the same aerial and lead.


Yep, I've discovered it needs a decent aerial then no problems!


Biggest drawback found so far is
NO subtitles!



Must be the programme, Ashley - I've just checked BBC1 and subbies are
there (and off again) at the press of a button.

The one *quirk* I think I've found is if you hit the Record button
(effectively a One Touch Record button) to grab a programme it seems to
need 'confirming' (at the 2 hour default recording period) by the second
press of the button and then 'OK' - otherwise it can chunter on recording
to (presumably) the limit of the available disk space!

(It's no biggie - I can live with it, especially as I would probably alter
the recording period with a second press of the button as often as not, in
any case!)


Hi Keith,
Well the unit arrived today and after following your advice re tuning then
shut down and add an old HD followed by a reboot / format and things are
looking well. I had to adjust the colour and brightness but other than that
it records programs and after a bit of confusion over changing channels
while recording on the other tuner it worked well. Whether it will be like
that 12 months on is another thing but till then it will sit next to my
Humax unit.
It is a shame it does not put a title onto a 'booked' recording (from the
epg) and the full screen epg changes channel as you scan through the listing
for another program is a bit of a pain . I would have liked the original
channel to have remained in the preview window while I -or should I say the
other half- looks for something else to watch but that aside it appears good
value with A1 reception .

Gio

"Gio" wrote


Hi Keith,
Well the unit arrived today and after following your advice re tuning
then shut down and add an old HD followed by a reboot / format and
things are looking well. I had to adjust the colour and brightness
but other than that it records programs and after a bit of confusion
over changing channels while recording on the other tuner it worked
well. Whether it will be like that 12 months on is another thing but
till then it will sit next to my Humax unit.
It is a shame it does not put a title onto a 'booked' recording (from
the epg) and the full screen epg changes channel as you scan through
the listing for another program is a bit of a pain . I would have
liked the original channel to have remained in the preview window
while I -or should I say the other half- looks for something else to
watch but that aside it appears good value with A1 reception .


Hi Gio,

Yes, the lack of a title from the EPG is a PITA - it leaves you no
choice but to title the recordings the hard way if you are going to
leave them on the machine for any length of time. (Imagine 3, 4 or even
500 Gig of recordings all named 'BBC One-1 to BBC One-328 &c. -
nightmare!)

I still say it's a doddle for 'watch & blow' and 'chase play' viewing,
though.

As it isn't going to be possible (?) to take movies off the HDD, I ran
the S-Video output round to my little cheap (but good) BenQ W100 digital
PJ and was quite impressed with the results which ranged from
'watchable' to really quite good, according to the broadcast and
original material. I haven't changed any settings at all and would say
the colours (and blacks in particular) were really very acceptable;
allowing for the digital camera, check these out:

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/Image01.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/Image02.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/Image03.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/Image04.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/Image05.JPG


Not bad for the price of a curry (and beers) for two, I'd say - given
the HDD has laid about unused for a couple of years!!

"Keith G" wrote in message
...

"Gio" wrote


Hi Keith,
Well the unit arrived today and after following your advice re tuning
then shut down and add an old HD followed by a reboot / format and things
are looking well. I had to adjust the colour and brightness but other
than that it records programs and after a bit of confusion over changing
channels while recording on the other tuner it worked well. Whether it
will be like that 12 months on is another thing but till then it will sit
next to my Humax unit.
It is a shame it does not put a title onto a 'booked' recording (from the
epg) and the full screen epg changes channel as you scan through the
listing for another program is a bit of a pain . I would have liked the
original channel to have remained in the preview window while I -or
should I say the other half- looks for something else to watch but that
aside it appears good value with A1 reception .


Hi Gio,

Yes, the lack of a title from the EPG is a PITA - it leaves you no choice
but to title the recordings the hard way if you are going to leave them on
the machine for any length of time. (Imagine 3, 4 or even 500 Gig of
recordings all named 'BBC One-1 to BBC One-328 &c. - nightmare!)

I still say it's a doddle for 'watch & blow' and 'chase play' viewing,
though.

As it isn't going to be possible (?) to take movies off the HDD, I ran the
S-Video output round to my little cheap (but good) BenQ W100 digital PJ
and was quite impressed with the results which ranged from 'watchable' to
really quite good, according to the broadcast and original material. I
haven't changed any settings at all and would say the colours (and blacks
in particular) were really very acceptable; allowing for the digital
camera, check these out:

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/Image01.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/Image02.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/Image03.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/Image04.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/Image05.JPG


Not bad for the price of a curry (and beers) for two, I'd say - given the
HDD has laid about unused for a couple of years!!



Not bad at all :-) and thanks for the posting. I just want to see if I can
use my all in one remote to control the basic functions then I will be happy
because the supplied handset does seem -in my case- to be very directional.

Gio

"Gio" wrote in message ...

"Keith G" wrote


snippage


Not bad for the price of a curry (and beers) for two, I'd say - given
the
HDD has laid about unused for a couple of years!!



Not bad at all :-) and thanks for the posting. I just want to see if
I can
use my all in one remote to control the basic functions then I will be
happy
because the supplied handset does seem -in my case- to be very
directional.


??

You had me checking - just now, mine worked pointed up at the ceiling,
standing virtually behind the telly and pointing to a door opposite the
telly, from outside the room out of sight of the telly and directly off
to one side of the telly (180 deg.) at about 2m distance!

It couldn't be *less* directional!!

Keith G wrote:


"Ashley Booth" wrote in message
...
Gio wrote:


Thanks for the tip Keith. With luck it will be delivered on Wed
so no report for a bit. It seems a little strange that the
machine plays dead when a drive is fitted. I would have thought
the machine would have set about formatting the new drive on
boot-up then would have been ready for tuning. By the way what
is ukra ? The only thing I know with those letters are The
United Kingdom Rocket Association (UKRA) as in www.ukra.org.uk/
If it means something else then you will have to let me know
because my isp does not list ukra on the newsgroup list.

Gio

Just got one of these. The tuners are not very sensitive - I get
breakup on it but not on a BT Netgem on the same aerial and lead.


Yep, I've discovered it needs a decent aerial then no problems!


Biggest drawback found so far is
NO subtitles!



Must be the programme, Ashley - I've just checked BBC1 and subbies
are there (and off again) at the press of a button.

The one quirk I think I've found is if you hit the Record button
(effectively a One Touch Record button) to grab a programme it seems
to need 'confirming' (at the 2 hour default recording period) by the
second press of the button and then 'OK' - otherwise it can chunter
on recording to (presumably) the limit of the available disk space!

(It's no biggie - I can live with it, especially as I would probably
alter the recording period with a second press of the button as often
as not, in any case!)

Had a further play with it. Got the subtitles to work now.

Other comments.

Pressing MUTE 'mutes' the subtitles as well!

Very difficult to use the EPG more than a day or so in advance. You
right scroll thru the listings but after about a day or so in advance
the listings run out. You see them update but it then takes you back to
the present time. Very frustrating!

Selecting OK to record from the EPG is complicated as you are offered
the chance to alter the record time then you have to go into a little
sub-menu to activate the recording.

The item you are recording does not show up in the recordings list
until it has finished recording.

I guess I've been spoilt by having 3 TiVos.

Tried to give it to my mother(83) to use but she said it sounded too
complicated for her.

--
Ashley
For Windsor Weather see www.snglinks.com/wx