I just purchased one of these on a whim - well the price was ludicrous form House of Fraser as they are closing their electrical departments.

Nice machine and easy to use with one major drawback - NO ABILITY TO ARCHIVE.

You cannot record onto DVD-R of any type
You cannot transfer files to and SD card
It accepts an external HDD which is not readable by any other devices
There is no scart or analogue output of any sort to connect to another recorder

I hoping to ditch my TiVo but this really does not step up to the mark compared even to my old Pana HDD DVD recorder

Bit unusual to have a disk player only built into what is otherwise a Freeview PVR, but that explains why you can't record to disk on it.

Was it described in the store as a DVD/Blu-Ray recorder? If so then there might be a case for getting it exchanged as it is not "as described" but otherwise you would be relying on their goodwill if you took it back.

Not too familiar with the 420 but if it contains a DLNA server then you might be able to archive SD content using a suitable client, i.e VLC player.

Don't get me wrong, as a 2 channel PVR it was a steal and to have a Blu-Ray player, internet access and a host of other functions is brilliant. I paid under £150 for it and there is no way I will take it back!

I just have not seen a PVR that had no archiving facilities. Maybe I should explain. This machine can accept up to a 2 TB hard drive which would make it the largest capacity PVR on the market by far. TiVo is supposed to have the ability to accept an external drive but not implemented.

Now with that size drive, why do I need to archive? Well, I'm not really. It's just that using my DVD recorder I commit programmes to a DVD-RW or DVD+RW and then rip them to my computer to put them into iTunes for later viewing away from home on the iPad. We use it on aircraft etc when away. Even if I could download TV programmes to the iPad (sure you can but never tried) that presupposes that I plan forward - never do. The way I do it I can rip a film off the HDD that I recorded in the dim and distant.

Definitely no complaints about the unit. The new EPG compared to my old pana is great although I do miss the vertical one channel format. Favourites are a lot better though.

And I think there is a lot for me yet to discover about this device.

Is there no way to downscale the HD content?

I've yet to look at the pana app to control the 420 over the network. And I have only installed one cable so it's the 420 or the TiVo. If the app allows me to play recorded content then there is no competition. Other than that it's buy the WiFi adapter or another clamber in the loft!

I suspect one of the reasons for not being able to archive is that it is illegal. Technically the act of recording copyright TV programmes without the express permission of the copyright holder is illegal. But there is an exemption for time-shifting, ie recording a programme to view at a later time/date. But there is no such exemption for storing the recording in an archive or library for repeated viewing or for copying it to another format.

So you could say the manufacturers are helping prevent you becoming a criminal

Mind you the chances of an early morning wake up call from the rozzers and a trip to the local nick are about the same as winning the lottery jackpot if you never buy a ticket.

You only need one cable. Just stick one of these on the end

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-S...dp/B000FNFSPY/

and you've instantly got four network connections to play with. And at under 8 quid got to be cheaper than a WiFi adapter. Especially as you may be forced to buy a rip off Panasonic one rather than some generic job.

Thank you. Could say doh! But I really did not think there would be a switch at that kind of price. Can plug the telly in as well instead of relying on the WiFi.

Cheers

[EDIT] Thanks again - I bought one

I suspect not, but why not get yourself a cheap switch, plug in all your devices and try it! With the latest VLC, you should be able to go to:-

View-> Playlist -> Local Network-> Universal Plug'n'Play

Hopefully your BWT-420 will appear there and you will be able to see your recordings which can be saved (right click, save).

Agreed. But if you read my posts you will see that all I am doing is widening my ability to do a time shifted viewing. May be stretching the bounds a bit but I don't save them, sell or give them away.

I have a 3D HD plasma set. We do not use it to watch low quality videos.

The V+ has a dedicated archive to DVD function which runs in the background. Used to just output composite but now does RGB. Never heard of anyone being prosecuted for using it

I use VLC but usually only for flv files. I will be trying it when I get home tonight.

And if it works, that's certainly fewer steps. Would just remain to convert the file to mpeg4.

I love technology! Never know the direction it will take next or what will be accepted.

This works. As implied, not with HD content. But I have found out that the 420 is not compatible with Pana's iPad app. Why would that be? Does it need some push / pull circuitry that is in the higher priced unit?

Still, as is the way with all these things, the next budget or mid-range models will have these benefits.

I don't think any Pansonic model will let you archive HD, if you want to do that you should have a look at the Humax HDR-T2 with the modified software, which will!

I suspect the iPad app on the 420 is a limitation Panasonic have artificially imposed as a feature reserved for their more top end models.

My switch arrived this week - does not work. The Pana can see the cable and offers limited network capability but no internet.

The limited internet capability means that VLC does not see the unit. I have a spare Belkin 10/100 switch in work which I am going to take home to see if I have better results. I'm also going to take home the 30 metre spare network cable that I have here and unused.


Is probably true but, unusually for me, I did no research on the subject before purchasing the Pana, too late now. But I cannot complain, I paid a silly price for it. Anything it does over the basic is a plus.

It should be a simple case of plug the lead from the router into one port on the switch and another lead from one of the other switch ports to the Panasonic.

And not having Internet connectivity should not prevent VLC seeing the Panasonic. It is using your internal network, not going anywhere near the internet. Which suggests the Panasonic is not seeing the network correctly.

On the Panasonic can you see if it is being allocated an IP address by your router? If you have manually set an IP address try changing it to DHCP temporarily to see if it gets an IP address that way.

One thing to try before dismissing the switch completely. Plug the cable you are using for the Panasonic into a laptop. Turn WiFi off on the laptop to ensure that it is only using the cable connection. Now see what sort of connection you get. If the laptop works perfectly then that implies the switch and cabling are OK.

If not then try a different cable from laptop to switch. Also try using different ports on the switch. Though if the green activity LEDs on the top of the switch are lit and flashing it does suggest the switch is seeing the network and whatever else is connected to it.

And as a final test plug the lead going back to the router directly into the laptop just in case that has developed a fault.

Actually the one thing I did not do (and should have) is reset the modem / router. Nor did I check the connected devices at the router. Have a little more time this evening so I will try this.

I tried plgging the laptop in - that did not work either and I used the cable that I had previously used to connect the laptop to the router as the laptop refused to access the internet wirelessly - no problem on the home network

DHCP is on as far as I know, that's the default and I have not changed it.

But I am going to try the Belkin, it's not being used anyway as it's only a 10/100 and we needed a 1gb for the data we use.

I have just renewed my TV licence online and had a read, It says:

What is a TV Licence needed for?
• To use any TV equipment to watch or record any TV
programmes as they are being shown on television.
• This includes watching or recording streamed services and
satellite TV broadcast from outside the UK. If you only watch ondemand services, then you don’t need a licence.

Now you could argue that that means recorded once, but it does not exclude removable devices. I can record from TV straight to a DVD much as I used to (and VHS in the past). So the way I see it is that transferring it from one medium to another for time shifted watching is covered.