I had other more pressing problems yesterday.

Spent an hour in the dentist's chair in the morning, had a harrassed afternoon with vehicle problems and when I arrived home severe toothache was still there! Last night I just watched some movies as my 42" tv only came back from repair the previous day (after two weeks away).

Can you believe I forgot about the update? Just reading all about everyone's experiences here this morning. Will check mine this evening after work.

With a bit of luck things may now be sorted. I am not looking for any extra features at this stage, just an upgrade in the general reliability of the unit as a whole. I love it anyway but if it works - so will the missus!

My sympathies. I dread this happening everytime I flash a BIOS, download a firmware update, etc etc. Nightmare. Why can't people provide a safe recovery function?

On a happier note, last night's batch of recordings completed properly. Four recordings in two sets of overlapping programmes. Second pair went over midnight (although I never noticed that issue - and I don't believe I've never recorded anything across the witching hour!)

And I was watching an archived recording while all this was going on. FF/RW'ed with abandon, and even went in & out of Direct Navigator, and put the machine in and out of Standby during the recording. Things I would previously have avoided as much as possible, for prudence's sake.

Anyway, this morning, I have four correct duration recordings. Unfortunately, it'll be the weekend before I can watch them.

Only one data point, but a good 'un!

Sorry... I fleetingly viewed WSM's post and thought it was you... I really can't say more Why not try leaving it on standby today and check tonight... you never know... best of luck!

This is not the Panny's fault, it can't load what isn't being sent down in the epg and I know that it's no consolation but this affects all makes of PVR's that use the Freeview epg. Check along each day, as sometimes there may be a few days missing, and then the following days filled. I know that you can't program future recordings but ITV, channel 4 and all channels on this mux are notorious for missed listings. Hopefully this will all be rectified on Freeview when we get a new EPG in the future.

GG

Okay lewisnt, and all Panasonic TU-CTH owners, I have been informed that this update has concentrated mainly on the recording problems that some of you were experiencing with the unit.
This was obviously felt by Panasonic to be the main priority. It is intended to change the MHEG engine in the near future to counteract any 'lock ups' caused by the text services et al, but this will not be completed until April/May. It is then felt that this will end any occasional lock ups.

GG
Last edited by Grannygrunt : 09-02-2006 at 11:58

I gave the MHEG a good work out last night and didn't encounter any problems. One bug it definately seems to have fixed is timer recordings disapearing from the timer recordings list when putting the unit into standby if they had been set from certain channels. Previously if I had gone to the EPG from The Hits, TMF and set a timer recording this would disapear once I put the unit into standby. Checked last night and this no longer happens. Recording stays in the timer record list where it should.

It's like waiting for buses, isn't it? Nothing for months, and then they deliver a decent update, and tell us there's even more to come. With a timescale!

Does life get any better??

Thanks for that GG
Nick

Trev2 - was this your problem? Being a boring old f*rt, I'm not likely to have gone into the EPG from these channels................

That's okay lewisnt, the pop up of info bar on playback has also been sorted. I will spend the rest of this week really putting it through its paces. If any of you do encounter any more problems after this update, please post them on this Panasonic thread (I don't mean your wish list, I mean if you get any more problems with recordings not taking place, cut short, etc.) Your posts are being read, and please also post on the thread if any problems that you had prior to the update have been sorted and how you now view the TU-CTH, it all helps to give feedback!!!

Thanks GG

I'm pretty sure that this update has greatly reduced the noise from our Panny.

My reasoning : sitting with the wife last night I noticed that for the first time I could hear the TV clearly over the gronking noises from the unit. Even listening carefully I could hardly hear anything bad. And this was before I heard there had been a firmware upgrade.

Hi Folks
The effect that the software update has had on my Panny I can only describe as spectacular. A few weeks ago I described on the forum how my TU-CTH100 performed, or to be more precise didn’t perform. It did not shutdown correctly and the fan continued to run when on Standby. Even more annoying was the fact that it would never record when in Standby Mode. If I wanted to record a programme I had to leave the sodding thing turned on and powered up. And that is what I have continued to do. I know that I should have returned it to Empire Direct but the hassle involved and the fact that I was working away deterred me from doing so. However, the software update has completely changed everything. I must say that I didn’t hold much faith that the update would benefit me but I was so wrong..
When I got up this morning the software update had taken place during the night and I duly programmed the Timer. I switched to Standby Mode and the Panny went as quiet as the grave. No noise, no fan. When I returned from work the Panny shown the Record Icon and I could hear the Hard Drive quietly clicking. This had never happened before when on Standby. When the programmed recording had finished the Panny display shown ‘Wait’ for a short time and then went back to Standby. All the programmes that I had placed in the Timer had recorded. It seems incredible that the update could have so completely transformed my piece of electronic wizardry in this fashion. I’m well pleased.

And you were the guy with the most extreme manifestation of its problems, it seemed to me..............

Hi lewisnt
Yes, I had far more troubles then the vast majority of users and there were many times when I wished that I had returned it to the supplier. I really cant believe that the update has done this. Its brilliant. I know that only time will tell us (all of us) whether the other glitches have been rectified such as the odd recording cut short etc but as for now I am over the moon. I’m glad I kept it.

Trev2 thank you for posting this and I am so glad that you are pleased with Panasonic's vigilance in taking their time to get this OTA update right. I know that for all of us, it has seemed an age, but honestly, isn't it better to wait for an update that works and doesn't cause more problems?? I think that you will agree it has been worth the wait.

GG

Hi Grannygrunt
Yes, it was worth waiting for the update, I’m more than pleased. However, it will be interesting to see the other opinions as the roll in over the next few days. Will past snags still persist, or other snags appear? We will see.

Ripping yarns tonight (BBC4), it still instists on setting the apect on the TV incorrectly

I was hoping this would be sorted. Bahhh...

yes Spaced Captain, I too was dissappointed that the incorrect switching hasn't been put right. Will be passing this on. It's worse when you forget about it and set a recording then on playback,see the thin screen!!! (Being an old codger, I have done this quite a few times!!) So will be pointing this out.

GG

Excuse my ignorance, what is this issue? I happened to watch a Dave Allen recording last night, and all was fine. He was displayed in correctly proportioned 4:3 with borders down the side.

Thanks for the info. Houses2

Hi lewisnt is your TV a widescreen?? The Panny if you are watching say an older film (often broadcast during the afternoon on BBC2, it should be auto switched to zoom 14.3 but certainlty with my telly (a Philips widescreen) the Panny switches then seems to switch again with the result that you get the 4.3 picture more like 2.4!!! It is very thin with very wide bars down each side and everyone looks like a stick!!! I know that it does this with anything broadcast by the BBC, and I have also experienced it with other channels as well, can't remember which.
Last edited by Grannygrunt : 10-02-2006 at 12:38

This is my first post. I have owned a TU-CTH100 since September and I have been fairly lucky with not too many problems when the machine settled down after about six weeks. However I have one major fault that has not been fixed by the software update of earlier this week. Occasionally on Live 1 I will get a ‘Bad Signal’ message that results in picture break-up and no sound and sometimes a ‘No Signal’ message that results in a blank screen. If I then switch to Live 2 on the same station I receive a full strength signal and perfect picture and sound. This happens when recording as well as just viewing.
I have browsed through the threads but cannot find any mention of a similar problem, or have I just not found it.
Has anybody experienced this and is there a solution?

This has been discussed before. I suggest you have a look at this post and the followup. http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/...&postcount=184 . I've not experienced the issue, but your symptoms sound similar.

Yes, it's a Panny widescreen.

Are you sure this an intrinsic issue with the Panny box as such? I've just had another look at the Dave Allen programme I referred to. With the TV in 16:9 aspect ratio, the 4:3 Dave Allen prog is displayed perfectly. The only way I get stick figures is to put the TV into 4:3.

I normally have the TV in "Panasonic Auto" mode, because that usually makes a reasonable fist of producing something viewable out of the mish mash of aspect ratios that various broadcasters bombard us with. Its got some sort of fancy rescaling/stretching algorithms, but drops automatically into 16:9 if a widescreen broadcast is being shown. It slightly narrows the 4:3 transmission, but not much.

I'll record a "Ripping Yarns" next week and see how my box/TV handle that, or if someone can point me at a problematic programme before next Thursday, I'll give it a whirl.

getman, what is your aerial set up?? Do you get a good signal? The panny does amplify the signal on Live 2 so that there is no degration (I think that's the word) because of two tuners sharing the signal. Does this happen on certain channels, and if so which?? What does the Panny say, 'no signal' or ' no service'? And what is the state of the signal quality if you go into check in the tuning menu???
Sorry about all of these questions, but it does help us posters to help you.

GG

Go here and read from post 184 onwards:-

http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/...2&page=8&pp=25