Having just re-read your message, as long as the Freeview unit is first in line from the aerial connection, it should be ok.

Chris.

Well you should certainly try it without the Sky box first, could it be outputting an RF signal that is on, near or interfering with channel 53?

Edit: sorry, just read previous post and that sounds right, in that the signal quality on the receiver should not be affected by the Sky box. However, I'd still try switching the box off and bypassing it.

I suppose the the modulator in the Sky box isn't set to (or near to) channel 53 is it? (or has that already been suggested somewhere?)

Yes - just above!

Oh yes, so you did. Mind you, I suppose even though the Sky box is later in the chain, if the modulator is on 53, it could radiate enough to make the digital signal from Reigate unusable.

The Sky box outputs on channel 33, but it occured to me just now that the arial goes to the Panasonic and then HDMI to the tv set so the Sky box doesn't come into it. Panasonic are picking the box up today, so fingers crossed.

I get an 83% signal strength on channel 53 from Brierley Hill,but 0% quality,which is HD on a standard Freeview box.

Finally sent the unit back to Panasonic after their official local service centre, AVS Horley, refused to fix it.
Panasonic had it for 2 weeks and said they were waiting for a part and did not know when or even if there was one coming.
Got them to send it back unrepaired and took it into Richer Sounds.They have sent it off somewhere or other and I have a feeling that I will never get it back again, but since I only bought it on 5th March I am covered by the warranty and the 5 year dealer warranty I took out. Problem is, I had it for just under 6 weeks and it's been gone a total of another 4 weeks. I was hoping to watch the Olympics in HD, but I don't hold out much hope. Had a reply from Panasonic Customer care that I contacted on 5th May on the 23rd May apologising for their uncharacteristic delay and asked if I had resolved the issue. I wouldn't recommend this unit or manufacturer to my worst enemy.

Why don't you just demand a full refund under the SOGA if you feel that strongly?

You'll have to use the money to build your own HTPC to get anywhere near the same features in one box though. Absolutely no-one else makes a recorder like it.

Absolutely. It is less than six months old so the onus is entirely on the retailer to prove that it is not faulty, not you to prove that it is. Warranties are completely irrelevant.

Hi there,

I'm sorry to hear of the problems you're having with your Panasonic unit.

So that I may look into this matter asap, and ensure everything is resolved to your satisfaction, please would you PM me with your sale and contact details?

In the meantime, my apologies for any inconvenience, and I hope to hear from you soon!

Many thanks,

John Clayton
Operations Director
Richer Sounds

Thanks to the intervention of the operations director of Richer Sounds, I am sorted. I was advised to talk to the boys at Richer Sounds, Reigate and see what they thought would be a solution as it looked as though the DMR-BWT700 could not be repaired. They agreed to scrap that unit, or at least return it to Panasonic and provide me with another model.
So I now have a Panasonic DMR-PWT520. It fired up instantly, connected to the internet and my PC seamlessly.
Downside is that it will play Blu-Ray but not to record to it, but upside is that it has a 1TB HDD and you can connect an extra HDD to it. But shock horror, when connecting it up I realised there was no scart connection, so I can't record SKY programs any more. I didn't do it a lot before, because it had to be done in real time and a bit of a pain. I'm not quite sure how I am going to get round that. Congratulations to Simon, James and the manager, who's name I unfortunately I forget, at Reigate. They were great.

I may be asking a daft question here, but had you considered getting a Freesat HD+ HDD/DVD Recorder/BluRay Combi rather than the Freeview model?

I don't see any advantage in that. Also I have to pay some bloke to climb up the roof to attach more satellite cables.

I thought it might be posssible to daisy chain Satellite receiving equipment similarly to daisy chaining Terrestrial Tuners, oops! Or, at least, swap between a Panasonic Freesat HD+ PVR and the Sky bo.

Also you'd have more Freesat channels than Freeview channels to record.

Ah well, it was worth suggesting.

Nah; with satellite the boxes need to send something to the LNB to tell it which of the four groups of channels to send down the cable. This is because satellite signals are very high frequency and don't travel well down cables, so the LNB converts them to lower frequencies before sending them, but the trouble is, there isn't enough bandwidth in the lower frequencies to send the whole band at once (also send it twice, remember each frequency can be polarised vertically or horizontally). So the box sends various signals up the cable to tell the LNB which band (high or low frequencies) and which polarisation (horizontal or vertical) to send down the cable.

Thank you kindly for the tech talk, Muzer

Continuing the sad tale of the faulty DMR-BWT700. The unit that Richer Sounds suggested as a replacement DMR-PWT520 is an unmitigated disaster. They said I would have to compromise as it didn't record to Blu-ray discs but it had a larger HDD. I have recorded all the footie so far and yesterday I thought I would copy it to disc. I thought it was funny because the copy link that I am used to on the previous unit which should be similar, was not there. I went round and round and round but just couldn't find it. Finally, I went to the hand book. I don't believe it. IT DOESN'T WRITE TO DISC AT ALL. What is the point. Is it my fault or theirs. maybe I should have checked, but I thought all these units wrote to disc. That is what they are for.
Well, Richer Sounds open at 11am. I shall be standing on the doorstep waiting for them. I think it's going to be a baaaad day.

All the best: please let us know the new new solution.

A DVD recorder that doesn't record to DVD? I'd just get a refund and move to another brand, and possibly another store if Richer Sounds have twice failed you.

Took the DMR-PWT520 back to Richer Sounds Reigate and James there was fantastic. Although the original DMR-BWT700 was out of production, he found one that had been opened but apparantly not used. So he supplied that and took back this unit.
All seems to work OK except the HD pictures are identical to the SD pictures on the unit. Not brilliantly clear definition the swapped unit had. I've set it to 1080p but it makes no difference. I give up now. I've had enough and will make do with what I have got.

Sorry, stupid question, but you are connecting it through HDMI?

Yes, and a top of the range cable

Just a thought TV HDMI in set up correctly to work with the Panny? This review advises keeping the manual handy.