While having a wander round I spotted Pioneer's UK site now has some info on two new models:
[list][*]545 (as we knew) with 160G drive like 540 but also with HDMI, USB, Firewire, CI Card Slot (takes decoder cards), G Code (= Glink). Has new remote, more buttons than 540.[*]940 has 500G drive, as above (apart from remote which looks like 540's) + eSATA (for chaining on external drives as if u will ever need them with 500 onboard)[/list]some more info in their 06/07 catologue.[list][*]The USB explicitly doesn't mention transfering video in to player, let alone anything out.[*]No XVID mentioned - but seen elsewhere that 540/530 does XVID even though not mentioned.[*]Guideplus display still looks 4:3 - not widescreen yet![/list]Tempting?....

Nae thanks Im stay with my 540HX-S --- and wait for the next one that may come up with new model.

I looked at these 545HX and 940 but the 940 has very big hard drive with 1,422 hrs so do you need to use the size of hard drive? the 545 remote control is much same as 440/540 but the 940 has slighty different so I stayed my 540HX just now - GuidePlus is anagloue/Digital EPG is digital as I used digital EPG for record subtitles as Im deaf that why I record straight from Freeview channels (sometime Guideplus via G-Link when use Sky Digital) but Digital EPG is fast scroll when you need to record up to 8 days.

Yes, I was tempted, until I read the online manual......

What I want is effectively a PVR, like the Humax I've already got, but with a DVD recorder for archiving. However, it seems the PVR like features (pause live TV, etc.) in this and all current 'all in one' units are very limited.

The web spec is tempting "If you miss parts of a programme or are interrupted during viewing – the system allows Time Shifting. Pause live TV, or use Chase Play – which allows you to playback the programme you’re recording – while you’re recording it." Sounds just what I want.

However, delving into the online manual reveals "Pause Live TV only works with the built-in A.TV (analog) tuner. It does not work with the D.TV tuner or the external inputs." This seems really strange - it can't store the signal that is arriving digitally but will store the analogue signal which it is having to convert.

If the big manufacturers can't get it right we're going to have to hope that Topfield or Humax will add DVD writers to their PVRs.

As for availability, a dealer told me he'd have a limited quantity next week.

This is the $64000 question that none of the manaufacturers want to answer! I can only believe it is politically driven by big brother in Hollywood.
The point is that recording broadcasts is arguably illegal except for short term time shifting. All the current DVD recorders have external inputs so you can argue that making 'illegal' recordings is not the sole function. A Humax 9200 with an added DVD archive function is a much more explicit device.
A friend who is in the manufacturing business claims that there is no conspiracy and it is simply down to a lack of a suitable chip set. I say that is simply passing the buck!
There is a clear market demand, the technology is puerile and proven on media PCs, and the extra components are worth (at most) tens of dollars.

I hope my explanation of this makes sense, BECAUSE YOU *CAN* 'PAUSE LIVE TV' WITH THE 440/540, IT IS JUST KNOWN BY A DIFFERENT NAME. (Analogy: calling your Front Door a Entrance Window, then claiming you didn't have a front door - but you do have an Entrance Window which is the same thing).

If you want to pause live TV from any source, you just hit the record button, then press pause. It keeps recording forever til you hit stop record, and saves it into your 'Guide' menu screen. YOU CAN DO THIS WITH ANY SOURCE!

The actual function misleadingly called 'Pause TV' by pioneer is something completely different from what all over manufacturers call 'Pause live TV' - just read the manual to work out what pioneer mean by this.

THE FUNCTIONALITY IS THERE PEOPLE, YOU JUST HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THE INSTRUCTIONS!

YOU CAN PAUSE LIVE TV FROM ANY SOURCE, JUST ASK ME IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS!
Last edited by AlexD : 20-10-2006 at 02:50

Hi. I understand that guide plus allows recording from, and switch channel of an external device, but I think that not all digibox channels are covered, can the 540 be manually programed to switch a digibox to a channel not on guide plus? and would it be worthwhile buying the 545 instead of 540.
Thanks.
Brian

There will be new Pioneer dvd/hdd recorder in the middle of 2007 by upgrade new hard drive from 160GB to 200GB-250GB plus new look remote control but dont know which model but think it may be DVR55x or DVR7xx -- I keep my DVR540 just now and leave off 545HX as I rather to wait until middle of 2007 - that will be include digital tuner. Just keep watch for latest news that would be same as Sony, Toshiba and others.

That what i think the hard drive may replace IDE as it would be built into SATA version - dont know about add up features.. it happen to be release new model from 2007

Thanks AlexD. It seems to do more than was apparant, at first. However, as a PVR user, I'm used to everything received via Freeview being automatically committed to the HDD buffer so that you can both pause AND REWIND something, even if you hadn't had the presence of mind to decide that you might want to do this.

From my (limited) understanding it appears the combined HDD/DVD-Rs don't have this feature. It's something that the family find quite useful.

Yeah, I looked at the manual and it talks about how to use it for JPEG and MP3, but not video.

In fact, it appears these recorders STILL can't read DivX video from DVD's - still CD only! (Unless the manual just hasn't been updated). Can anyone confirm if Pioneer recorders (any model) support this yet?

(Why is it only crappy makes such as LiteON can manage media files correctly? Those recorders can copy media to HDD and BACK TO DISCS, but big names are left far behind)

You can regard Xvid and DivX as being the same thing re. hardware players in most cases.

By Xvid and DivX am I to take that you refer to .avi files? If so then the player WILL play from CD or DVD.

Seems odd that the USB will not recognise .avi files though. (Mind you that could just be down to me!)

If you want to get accurate, by saying Xvid and Divx in this context, I'm actually using a common misnomer for: "MPEG-4 ASP video stored in an AVI container".

DivX and Xvid are pieces of software (codecs) which create files in MPEG-4 ASP format (in the same way as both "Word" and "Open Office Writer" can create the same file formats), but they are NOT formats in their own right. There are also other codecs which will produce this format, such as FFmpeg MPEG-4.

Divx is a company and brand name, and therefore would like to make its name synonymous with the MPEG-4 format (and is doing quite a good job of it!). That's why "DivX certified" players will also play video encoded with other MPEG-4 codecs, such as Xvid.

Take a look here for more info:
http://www.avidemux.org/wki/index.ph...e=Common_myths

Then their manual is out of date. Big surprise I'll drop them an e-mail about this, I think

No, it's not you, there's nothing in the manual about it, so it's not supposed to work. Another half-arsed attempt at media support from Pioneer...