I have owned this PVR since June 2009 with no major problems up till now.

I receive my signal from Stockland Hill which underwent DSO in May 2009. This mast is 4 miles away, line-of-sight, so an excellent signal is received. No amps needed.

I had never suffered from the stuttering that so many seem to have had, but my PVR did update to version 13.0 in 2010. Due to the Gemstar issues, I rolled the software back to version 2.7 and it continued to work normally.

Earlier this year I replaced my Sony CRT with a Sony Bravia HD LCD. As far as the PVR setup was concerned it was a simple swap of the scart lead from old TV to new. At this point the PVR went unused for a short time while I played with my new toy. On using the PVR again I noticed that after entering the guide it would freeze/lockup, and also that the stuttering issue had appeared on both live TV and on recordings made prior to the TV swap. Coincidence?

Anyway this week I have had some time to investigate further. I upgraded to version 13.0 again, but this made no difference. I then performed the mod of wiring the 5V HDD supply direct to the power supply board instead of the main board. Still no difference. Finally I removed the aerial leads and performed a factory reset to remove all channels, so all the PVR can do now is play back old recordings from before the TV swap. Still the stuttering remains.

So the question is, can having the PVR connected via scart to an LCD rather than a CRT cause this problem?

No.

Simple answer.

The more technical complicated answer is...

No.

Being serious for a moment. The PVR has absolutely no idea it is even connected to a TV much less what kind it is. So the type of TV is irrelevant.

If there was a fault with the input circuitry of the TV then that could affect the picture however. But again nothing to do with the type of TV.

Only way to be certain is to try a substitution. ie plug some other known good video playing device (VCR, DVD, Blu Ray, games console) into the same SCART input on the TV using the same lead. If you get picture disturbance then that could imply a fault in the TV.

To confirm plug the Alba into a known good TV using the same lead. If you get the same stuttering effect then chances are it's the Alba. But just to be sure use a known good SCART lead just in case it is the lead.

Could be direct interference down the SCART lead (although it would be surprising if it could cause such problems), direct interference on the aerial lead (depends how you have the TV and PVR connected to the aerial) or indirect interference on the aerial lead (e.g. caused by adjacent power and HDMI cables, for example). Does the signal meter on the Alba (manual channel scan screen) show any issues in regards to fluctuating strength and/or quality?

That said, I just reread your post about stuttering occurring on existing recordings - presumably they played fine before you got your new TV? That would tend to rule out a bad signal, but if the tuners in the Alba are picking up interference, this still could cause it to get its knickers in a twist affecting playback.

So, when you say you hadn't used the Alba for a "short time" after getting the new TV, was the Alba unplugged from the mains and for how long roughly? Another possibility would be failing capacitors on the power supply board, which can deteriorate rapidly when mains power is removed.

Lots of "ifs" there, but something to think about . Certainly do try the Alba on a different TV if you can as chrisjr suggests, because that would help answer a lot of my questions above.

Sorry, probably wasn't clear enough in the penultimate paragraph.

The PVR is currently only connected via the scart lead. The aerial leads are disconnected and no muxes are tuned in i.e. no channel scan performed. Because of this I would assume that any issues are not signal related. The PVR stutters and can lock-up when playing back previous recordings.

It is definitely not a fault with the new TV.

The PVR was never unplugged from the mains or other cables, just not used. No sign of any duff capacitors as yet, but I guess this is probably a power supply fault. Will see if I can pick up an old PC PSU to test.

In the meantime I will try a different CRT to see if there is a difference.

Ah, ok - that simplifies things a little. Although unlikely, it would not be unheard of for interference coming in via the SCART. Have you tried connecting via a composite cable instead, avoiding the SCART altogether?

I would try it on another TV before messing with PSUs though, preferably in a different location/room. I'm not implying that your new TV is faulty, just that I generally do not believe in coincidences . It could be something as "simple" as a loose/bad solder joint, which became worse if you moved the Alba whilst installing your new TV. Any other symptoms like corruption on the front panel display?

Just a long shot - there is a control voltage on the Scart output socket of the Alba - if the TV was shunting this voltage an excessive current could result which would cause the stuttering.
Try viewing via the Phono or VCR connectors and see if the situation improves?