I thought that I was having it too easy! Having received yet anothor 'new DVB channel found' message I stupidly entered yes to allow a re-tune. Since then no BBC1, BBC2 and BBC3, which I assume are all on the same mux, and no matter what I try I cannot get them back. This of course happened on the day that the house mamager had Sky bottled up with you know what and I wanted to record the second 'Rivers' programme. All other Freeview devices in the house, which run off the same aerial system, are all receiving these channels ok. In the handbook manual tuning seems to apply to analogue channels (which are all present), any thoughts or advice?

Have you checked up in the 800's channel numbers to see if they have been shunted up there?

Still going strong here although I'm not really using the DVD record facility - just the PVR and DVD player. I've not had any problem with DVB retuning though. For me its a good example of the advice not to buy new products or technology too early - if I hadn't spent so much on it when it came out I'd have a much more capable and cheaper machine by now!

Yes I have just checked and no there are no channels in the 800's! Would a re-scan with aerial disconnected be worth a try?
Keith

I have taken the bull by the horns and done a re-scan with aerial disconnected and then another with aerial plugged back in and Hey ho I have all the usual channels. Sorry to have bothered you but thanks for you interest Gav.

Good news - Apologies I didn't get back in time.

I still have one, Gavtech, and it works fine, although bear in mind that I bought my new boxed and sealed one in Tottenham Court Road (London) in 2007, so after it was discontinued. You have to disconnect from the mains for a few minutes before doing a channel scan, for reasons you are probably already aware of, but this is no problem. It has the latest firmware, sent by disc from Panasonic at my request, so no Split-NIT issue anymore. It's a solid machine. I'm glad I bought it.

You may be interested in this thread - and what was required to keep mine going.

Cheers for that, Gavtech. I have my one sitting on one shelf and my DMR-EX85 on the shelf above. My EH60D's front flourescent display has always been noticeably dimmer than my EX85 and it can be difficult to make anything out in strong daylight. My Dad's ES20D is similar, though as it's essentially the same machine but without the HDD, that's no surprise.

I'm hoping that someone with A/V engineering expertise could possibly help me.

As I've outlined on this thread previously, I have two Panasonic DVD Recorders (both with Hard Drives). A DMR-EX85 and a DMR-EH60D.

I don't use the EH60D all that often, but it does seem to have a more stable Freeview picture (it is less suscectible to picture freezes than my EX85).

I have noticed a picture fault with my EH60D on Christmas Eve, when preparing to record "The Snowman and the Snowdog". The freeview picture is covered with faint, horizontal(ish) banding which is not stationary, but it shimmers about. On plain pictures, you can see that there is one horizontal area on the screen (about a couple of inches high, and close to the centre of the screen) which is clear of it. It is very much like interference getting into the signal somehow.

I've found out how to turn off the EH60D's RF modulator, and have turned it off altogether. It does not cure the interference. I've tried turning off the EX85, which is situated close to the EH60D, by pulling out the EX85's mains plug. The interference is still the same.

I use a good quality Scart from AV1 of the unit to the TV. I use S-Video rather than RGB, at the moment, as I want to be in control of 16:9 aspect switching etc. I will get around to getting a Scart cable which doesn't have the control pins connected(!).

Nothing I have done, so far, has cured it. I've retuned the Freeview a few times, I've moved the unit further away from the (CRT) TV, I've used another output from the unit using the S-Video out and audio out phonos (using a good quality lead with S-VHS/2 x phonos one end - S-wired Scart the other end) into the TV. I've also tried an RGB Scart connection from unit to TV with a fully-wired Scart, also of good quailty. Nothing stops this 'interference'.

I've established that my old hard drive recordings (which have been on the unit for ages) display this interference now, when they were previously fine. Also, commercial DVDs play fine from the unit (no interference on-screen). I've also established that if I send in a signal of the live Freeview picture, from the EX85 via Scart, the interference is there on-screen, when viewing the EH60D's output picture. Needless to say, if I try to record the Freeview picture, whether via its own Freeview, or the EX85's Freeview via Scart (in the way I've just described), the recording has the interference 'recorded' in the picture. Playing the recording with the EX85's DVD drive shows the interference.

Can anyone help as to what the problem might be.

^ paragraph six, above, is not quite correct: The Scart lead is fully-wired and, as such, I do not have solely-manual control over 16:9 aspect switching etc, with the EH60D. I do have it configured for S-Video, however, as the RGB Scart input of my TV is already occupied by another device.

Where to begin?

At six to seven years, many capacitors in this machine are at the edge of life.
This problem may be as simple as that, and I can tell you where to look, but it may be considerably more serious than that which I'll come to presently.

I presume you are looking for self-help remedies here.

When I first started reading your account of the symptoms, I thought I knew the likely cause (Some caps on the VIF and tuner boards) ... but the latter part of your account indicates this cannot be so and implicates IC3001.

I have written extensively elsewhere about IC3001... This is a 100 pin Sanyo chip on the main board.
It has shown itself to be vulnerable in many DVD recorders, not just this model.

It is the main audio and video processing chip and all internal and external sources are switched and routed through it.
It seems to have a vulnerability ... of what gives all the impression of junction breakdown in the internal switching elements that control signal routing.

More often than not this has exhibited itself in audio problems: Leakage of one audio source over another or total loss of one route source.

It may be that this symptom is another variant of this on the video side. I say maybe... as I have not encountered this fault before, albeit there have been many on the audio side.

If this were the problem, you would have to regard the machine as a write-off.

The chip costs about £30... but more importantly, it has microscopic pins and replacement of such chips is very highly specialised and extremely skilled work which even service departments will not routinely undertake... and it can be regarded as lucky if it works after replacement.
Simply it is not practical or economically viable.

However, that is the worst scenario.

If this were my own machine, I would gamble of the relatively minor trouble of replacing the known problem capacitors - I can point you in detail to them all... and I can also point you to one I suspect may be implicated here but has so far not shown itself to be problematic - but I know to be in a vulnerable position that I expected to bring problems ( Yours may be the first of many)

The cost and difficulty of replacing these caps is not great and is a worthy gamble that stands a chance of fixing your machine ... but you may be left no further forward with the problem in which case the likelihood would be that IC3001 is the problem and the effective end of the machine.

That's the dilemma.

I'd recommend replacing the power supply caps as detailed in the thread linked to earlier in this thread.
Indeed the problem may be as simple as bad ripple on one of the many power lines ... but there is a decoupling cap for IC3001 on the main board which should be replaced and whilst in there a known serious problem cap nearby and three or four on the Tuner / VIF board

I'll provide detail depending on what you decide you want to do.

Gavtech, I am extremely grateful for your thorough and detailed response.

From what you've said, there is nothing I can do to cure the unit of this interference. I will, when I get the chance, take it into a Panasonic-authorised service centre I always use, and will print out your response, and any further responses you kindly send me.

I think it is worth seeking a repair, as it could be a relatively simple fix, from what you've said about possible causes. I don't quite understand something you've written, though, Gavtech, could you just clarify for me - if they established it was that £30 Sanyo chip causing the problem, and assuming they had the expertise to replace this chip, and could get hold of one, why do you say it would be lucky if it works after the replacement?

Since posting yesterday, I've noticed that it does not always show this interference: I've repeatedly pulled the Scart lead in and out of the unit and the interference did stop for a while. Sounds, from what you've said, that this must be just co-incidence.

It might be an idea to record all important hard drive recordings onto DVD, whenever the unit has any period where it is behaving itself. Then, if the Service Centre cannot do anything, at least my recordings are OK to view, via discs.

Yes, I would be extremely grateful if you could point me, in more detail, to the caps, and any other detail of the likely problem components etc, in the unit, which would be helpful for the engineer to know about when looking at my unit.

I would like to get this unit fixed, rather than buying a new Panasonic unit, as the newer machines (of any brand) are now so tacky and cheap in their feel, and in their appearance. This is something which most people may not care too much about, but it is important to me.

I will let you know how I get on, in due course. Thanks, once again, Gavtech.

^ just one more quick question about the unit, Gavtech, which you could, hopefully, answer in any further reply to me.

As I say, the interference seems to be intermittent (at the moment, anyway). Would I need to wait for the machine to behave itself (stop the interference effect) before making a DVD of a hard drive recording, using the EH60D's integrated DVD drive? As it would be a case of simply 1's and 0's being copied from the hard drive to the DVD drive - completely in the digital domain, do you think any of the potential faults in the unit is going to mar any DVD recordings with this interference, if copied directly from the hard drive?

Has anyone managed to tune in the Drama channel on Freeview 20 on a DMREH60D? I have tried all the standard techniques such as tuning without aerial and long power-offs, and shipping condition reset, but without success. I get my Freeview from the Waltham transmitter and the TV, which uses the same aerial as the DMREH60D, has tuned in Drama without problems - showing a healthy signal level. I am also missing Dave ja vu on 25 but do get ITV3 on 10 and Jewellery on 49 - which are all on the same multiplex.

Any thoughts, anyone?

Just retuned our DMR-ES20D (same machine as the EH60D, but without the hard drive and SD card slot). Exactly the same missing channels as you describe, and we get ITV3 on 10 and Jewellery on 49, as you do. Not a fault of our machines, then, it seems.

I, too, have an EH60D, but I leave it unplugged when not in use (which is the vast majority of the time, thesedays), as it gets quite hot on the top of the unit (as you probably know) and can - potentially - cook the caps on the tuner/VIF board. Therefore, I feel it is sensible to leave it powered down when not in use. Thesedays, I only leave my EX85 powered up all the time. I haven't retuned my EH60D for a short while now, and won't bother until I use it next. Seems certain that when I eventually retune, I'll get the same issue.

Has anyone here on DS had recent problems such as the machine will not respond to remote control inputs or the soft power switch not working?