Hi

I have a PVR80 (T810) bought from argos about 3 1/2 years ago. been working flawlessly till this morning and now completely dead.

i done the obvious things like check fuse tried different plug sockets etc, even took the lid off to see if anything burnt out, but nothing.

anybody any ideas?

failing that whats a good replacement these days?

cheers

Ian

If there is no sign of life at all, it's probably a failure on the PSU board. With the lid off, the capacitors may be worth a closer look. I expect you will probably have seen if one of them had literally exploded, but maybe one of them as failed all the same (type in "domed capacitor" in google images and you'll see examples of failed capacitors).

If it's more serious than that, it's probably not worth bothering. If you were happy with the PVR80 all this time, then newer Vestel models would be worth a look - the software and operation is very similar to the PVR80 still, but with added functionality. The latest incarnation is the single scart T835 model, complete with an external PSU which can easily be replaced . Depends how much you are willing to spend really. If Freeview HD is available in your area, then perhaps you might want to look at a Freeview+ HD box, although these are relatively expensive and still in their early days - lots of flaws and not much choice currently.

Thanks

i did have a search through the "pvr died" threads on here and found out it could be a psu failure. had a good look at all the components on the psu board but nothing looked odd.....

have reserved an Alba ALDTR160 from argos http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Browse...nds|Alba|1.htm £69 down from £129!!
from what i've read its either a T825 or T845R machine? these any good? (please say they are!!)

Ian

Yes, for £69 it is quite a good deal for the twin scart models. I personally would choose a Hitachi HDR165 instead which is currently £75 at Argos which is the newer and smaller T835 model, which additionally has the prospect of software update hopefully being broadcast soon (will make it better than the T825 or T845R software). But then the T835 does have only one scart socket. Feature and software-wise the T825, T845R and T835 are all very similar.

so i bought the alba pvr. turns out it is a T825 box. hopefully it won't give me too much trouble

hmmm.....

just checking the technical spec on the alba,
"standby power consumption 13W" isnt that a bit high? although i can't recall what it is on my pvr80
the hitachi that futura mentioned is sposed to be low standby power consumption
anybody got one and can tell me if it is?
or am i worrying unnecessarily?

That's pretty much the same as your PVR80. The Hitachi (and all T835 models) use a little less in normal standby - 10W. The low power mode that the T835 has trims the standby consumption to <1W when enabled, but it's not all good - in low power mode the aerial out socket is switched off (so if you have that hooked up to your TV tuner, you won't be able to watch TV with the PVR off), and it also takes a minute or two to boot up. It also has an annoying habit of switching to the scart input on the TV when it comes out of low power standby to record something. For these reasons users often choose to disable low power mode.

ahhh, so not a great feature then?

i'll give the alba a hook up then

thanks

know anywhere i can possibly get a psu for the pvr80?

AFAIK, the PSU board in the T810, T816 and T825 models are interchangeable. Likewise with the HDD. So, ideally you'd need to find one of these PVRs which is faulty in some way completely different to yours, preferably with just a faulty HDD so you can swap them .

just out of interest did the display on the front start acting weird before it died? mine died over the weekend, had it for about 3 years, recently upgraded to sky so its not been used but been plugged in, all of a sudden on friday night the clock started showing funny numbers, so i turned it on to see what was wrong, watched for couple of minutes and the display was showing channel instead ok, turned it off again and it started playing up again so i turned it off at the mains (thinking it might need refreshing or something) turned it back on it ran the disk check, reported the disk was ok then the unit went off and wont turn back on.

IIRC, a dodgy front panel display usually indicates PSU problems - most likely a faulty capacitor on the PSU board. The fact that it won't switch on goes some way to confirming this.

is it easy to fix? or just not worth doing?

If it is a capacitor problem and the dodgy capacitor can be spotted easily (i.e. domed/bulging or literally exploded), then it can probably be fixed easily if you are handy with a soldering iron. Capacitors cost only a few pence too.

Be very careful about replacing ANY components on a SMPS power supply board !

Note the engraved warning: "use only approved componenets"! That's not there for fun.

Remember, if recently plugged in, there may still be a hefty 350 v charge on the big capacitor.

just noticed replies to this thread!

did not notice any strange display on the unit, (it must have failed overnight)

i have taken out the HD and copied the recordings to PC to try and burn them to dvd, with reference to: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...opy+recordings

while i did that had another look at the psu board and yes there is a domed capacitor! so there is the fault

@spiney2: the box has been unplugged for around 3-4 weeks, think that will be enough time for any charge to have dissipated from the capacitors? i have asked my dad if he could change the blown capacitor (he's a bit handy with a soldering iron!), dont want him getting zapped!!

I had the same problem on a PVR80, and replaced an obviously bulged cap (PLUS 2 or 3 others in the same area of the board to be on the safe side), and all works fine. I did see the jumbled display as mentioned above when the PVR started to fail, all corrected after the capacitor(s) replacement.
Certainly worth doing in my opinion, as my PVR80 is in use every day, and never lets me down with recordings/playback etc. One thing to be careful of... the scart sockets on the back of the machine. These aren't secured to the chassis by screws, and rely on the soldered pins to hold them in place. If you're a bit rough when disconnecting / reconnecting your scart lead, or use a 'heavy' scart lead, this can pull the scart pins out from the board, and can be difficult to spot. You may then do your capacitor-repair, reconnect everything, and think it hasn't worked when no picture or sound appears!.

Forgive me if it's been said in this thread already, but I've seen advice to smear the SCART socket with petroleum jelly to facilitate and actually improve the connection.

That info is extremely vague and untested by me, let's hope someone more knowledgable will come along and elaborate.

parthena

Yes, that would be more than enought time, as the charge leaks away fairly quickly. It's not lethal, but you might get quite a jolt!

My point is, "critical" components have to be the official ones, for safety reasons.

I can't see how using lube on your scart would "improve" the connection. How would that work?.

Although it could be argued that the capacitor brand that Vestel use is not exactly safe since it is probably one of the most common failures of all their PVRs. As long as you replace capacitors with the correct capicitance value (i.e. exactly matching the old one) and of a good brand, then in theory it should be safer and last longer than the originals.

That's what I'm hoping someone will confirm/explain. I read it on a techie site - maybe even this one, or Radio&Telly, or AVF, within the past week.

parthena

Not recommended!

Why? If the specifications match, then what's the problem? IIRC, it was a CapXon capacitor that blew on the control board of our washer/dryer, which I replaced with a 20p Panasonic branded capacitor of the same specification. A quick google on CapXon leads to the conclusion that they are cheap rubbish, and I see Vestel use these in their PVRs, although from the photos I've seen (can't be bothered to open mine to check) HEC, TL and G-Luxon seem to be used on the PSU board - at least two of those brands are known to be cheap/rubbish makes. In the UK, as a consumer, it is hard to get hold of most of the rubbish far-eastern makes anyway, so it would be next to impossible to replace capacitors with an exact replacement.

What spiney2 means is that there is more to choosing a capacitor than simply its capacitance and voltage rating. In very basic terms, capacitors also have an inductance and a resistance.
I wouldn't go so far as to say there is any likelihood of danger but some strange things can happen if the replacement is not chosen wisely.
Fortunately, when buying the supplier will often give an indication of the suitability of a cap. For example, it may be sold as being suitable for use in a power supply.

Hi just had my PVR 80 die today, it's been a true pleasure to use so took it apart and seen one bulging cap, am going to order one online tonight and see if it fixes it.

I had the same issues, display went all wierd then a few days later it just died.

Thx for the advice..

What I mean is, if you use a non-specified component for the repair, and your house burns down, then your insurance could be invalid!