I understand the 9200T has a USB socket which John Lewis say is for transferring digital photos and MP3s, but can it also be used to copy recordings to a PC where they could be edited and burnt to DVD? Would these discs play back in broadcast quality? How simple is it?

Also, I was ready to buy a Panasonic TUCH100 a few weeks ago but was put off at the last minute after reading about all the bugs. If the next update fixed the major flaws of the Panasonic, would it be a better machine than the 9200T? I know the Humax has double the storage but I'm not sure about other features or picture quality etc. The Panasonic still costs more, despite being a few months older, not having a USB port and having long standing bugs.

It's all covered here:
http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/...d.php?t=293178

Ah, thanks for that. It seems it's pretty simple, though it does reply on Humax's own software.

The USB port alone is probably enough to put me off the Panasonic for good now unless anyone knows of a very good reason to pay the extra for it? (surely they're charging more for a much lower-spec'd machine?)

The Panasonic is just about the worst PVr out there - even if they were given away free with cornflakes I'd probably STILL take it back! Avoid it like the plague (unless there's an OTA that fixes its serious faults)

The only real competition to 9200 is the Topfield and after that perhaps the Fusion 200 and at a pinch (if it were cheaper!) the Inverto

Cliff

PS I am a massive Panasonic fan and love my E55 DVDR but they REALLY screwed up big time with the TUTCH100 !

Um, yes, they are. I generally like Panny stuff (my video and TV are Panasonic) but I think their DTT stuff is unimpressive at best. I'm very impressed (this far, only 3 days in) with my 9200.

Well there's one due in a couple of weeks and it has been said that this update is specifically to fix the major bugs (first and foremost - missing so many recordings!) however assuming it all works perfectly after that, it's still taken them too many months to get their act together in which time devices like the 9200T have come along offering much more for less. So I'm pretty much set on the Humax.

Do Humax have a good track record in offering updates to fix bugs and add new features to old models?

As an aside, because I don't know much about the technical side of widescreen TV, I see the manual says that the default screen ratio is 14:9 but aren't freeview channels 16:9? And it says it can record in 720x480 or 720x576 but isn't non-HDTV widescreen 852x480?

Humax, on the 8000 have a pretty good track record of issuing software to FIX BUGS - but not really to "add features".

Don't worry about the aspect thing - the key thing is the 9200 can display all the current pixel ratios used by the Freeview broadcasters - including the "odd ones" that ITV2/E4 use.

Cliff

On the other hand, they added a very important feature to their satellite PVR, the 9100 - the capability to transfer recorded programs to a PC via the USB port.

From the release notes for the software update:

14:9 is the nominal active area of the major current UK broadcasters (BBC, ITV, etc) for much analogue terrestrial. It is actually just 4:3 with slight letter-boxing (blank areas top and bottom). The original program material is 16:9 widescreen so there is slight cropping of the sides by the broadcaster. Some material is still 4:3 so will not have the blanked areas.
Most Freeview (digital) is either true widescreen 16:9 or is true 4:3. It is sent with a 'flag' that identifies the aspect mode so that the TV can switch automatically (if so enabled). You will see for instance that currently most ad breaks on ITV are set to 4:3 even within a 16:9 programme!
In terms of numbers, 720x576 is the current 'PAL' MPEG signal, 720x480 is the size for 'NTSC'. Even 4:3 is thus slightly anamorphic (horizontals squashed) although for the Yanks it is the other way around (slightly stretched).
To make matters more interesting, the actual 'active' area is only about 702 pixels in PAL and about 712 in NTSC, but that is another rather complicated story!