Hi,

I'm close to buying a DMREX75 but would like to check the following first:

1. I always turn off my TV and video at the wall rather than leave them on standby when not being used.

Is it ok to turn off the Panasonic box, or will it lose its settings?

2. My analogue reception is better than freeview, so I always watch the traditional terestrial channels this way, rather than through my existing Freeview box. Since the DMREX75 has both analogue and digital receivers, can I switch between them at the push of a button, rather than by plugging cables in and out of different connectors, etc.?

3. Can I watch analogue and record digital, or vice versa, at the same time?

All comments welcome.

Cheers,

Anthony

1. Don't know, I haven't turned mine off for any amount of time.
2. Yes, the analogue stations are channel numbers 901 for BBC1, 902 for BBC2 etc.
3. Yes, you can watch analogue or digital on your tv and record the other on the Panasonic as you have a seperate freeview box giving you a second digital imput.

Thanks very much for your reply - what I didn't make clear was that I was hoping to replace my VCR and existing FreeView box with the one Panasonic machine.

With my existing arrangement, I can turn off the Freeview box and record one analogue channel whilst watching another, or can turn on the Freeview box and record one digital channel whilst watching an analogue channel.

Does your answer imply that if I remove my existing FreeView box and VCR from the equation I can't watch via the analogue tuner and record a digital channel and vice versa - in other words, I'd actually lose functionality?

Apologies if this is a naive question.

Cheers

Anthony

Sorry, I didn't word my answer very well. The Panasonic dvd has a digital tuner so you can record digital and watch analogue on your tv without any problems. If you remove your freeview box then you won't be able to watch one freeview channel and record another freeview channel at the same time. You won't be any worse off than your present set up though until the digital switch over when with only one digital imput you'll only be able to record the channel that you are watching.

There would be no point in turning it off at the mains supply, as you will then not receive the EPG overnight downloads.
At around 3.00am, the front panel display shows "GUIDE" to indicate that it is loading the EPG data into it's memory.

Thanks Nellie, that's cleared that point up perfectly.

Peter, thanks too. I hate having equipment on standby because of the drain on electricity, especially in an era of global warming.

My existing Freeview box always retains its EPG and that's switched off every night, so I assumed it was continually fed to the box in the broadcast signal, rather like teletext.

Is something hardcoded in the Panasonic to only update at 3am then, or does it use an entirely different mechanism to Freeview?

Cheers,

Anthony

It will still show the EPG data when it is switched on again.
But clearly, depending on how you make use of it, it's not quite the same as receiving the download when it is first transmitted.

I to am considering the DMREX75 or even the DMR-EX85EB-S, and I have a couple of questions.

I've read that the units with twin freeview tuners can record two channels while playing back a previously recorded programe.

I have a Sky digibox which I would be linking via scart to the DMREX75 or DMR-EX85EB-S. Would that also allow me to record from the internal freeview tuner, and the sky digibox, and view a previously recorded programme.

Regards,

Rannoch

No, the EX75/85 has a digital tuner and an analogue tuner but you can only record one at a time to either the HDD or DVD. You can watch something you recorded previously on the HDD while recording something else or you can watch the beginning of a recording while it continues to record to the finish time.

Nellie1000,

Thanks for your response.

Main reason for the EX75/85 is to replace my VHS, and add the Freeview channels to the setup. My skybox just broke down, and it's like a mourning when you're stuck to 5 channels.

Like a number of people, the current set up I have is analogue TV, Sky box, and VHS recorder. I can ...

1) watch an analogue channel, and record to the VHS any of the other analogue channels or the channel set on the Sky box
or
2) watch a Sky channel, and record to the VHS any of the analogue channels
or
3) record the channel I'm watching


If I take the analogue channels out the scenerio, would the DMREX75/85 allow me to ...

1) watch a freeview channel from the EX75/85, and record from the Sky box to the EX75/85
or
2) watch a Sky channel, and record to the EX75/85 any of the freeview channels on the EX75/85
or
3) record the Sky channel to the EX75/85 while watching a previously recorded programe
or
4) record the channel I'm watching regardless if it's Sky or Freeview
or
5) Use the live pause if I'm watching a Sky channel

Regards,

Rannoch

1. No
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. Sort of.

You can be watching a recording while it is still recording ie "chasing playback". You can do all the things you can do with any other playback such as pause it, and it will carry on recording.

So if you want to "pause TV", you'd need to quickly start recording, then press play, and then pause. (Although normally I would just press record and then change the TV channel if I didnt want to watch straight away - then press play as soon as I did want to watch - the current recording takes precednce and will play without your needing to select it via menu)

But yes. You can do it on any channel including Sky.

Thanks Padzok,

That's helped a lot.

Regards,

rannoch

In a previous question I asked if using the EX75/85, I could watch a freeview channel from the EX75/85, and record from the Sky box to the EX75/85 at the same time.

Th answer was no.

If there were two freeview tuners on the recorder, would I then be able to record from Sky and watch a freeview channel from the recorder

Rannoch

It would be possible but there's only one tuner I'm afraid.

I'm just wondering if the next range of Panasonic models will have two digital tuners.

Rannoch