I'm looking to get rid of my troublesome Sony 710 HDD/DVD machine (they were a nightmare for many people), so having been put off of Sony I was thinking of getting a Panasonic HDD/DVD machine, but can somebody answer this:

I have a Norwegian satellite box that goes THROUGH my Sony (should I want to record anything off of Satellite), and when the Sony records a program in 'standby', as its not really "on", I'm still able to watch the feed from the Satellite box...Do the Panasonic recorders behave the same way, as I find this very handy.

Many thanks

Vince

All the Pannys I've had work in the same way as your Sony - they do not output their own video whilst doing a timer recording and will allow you to watch something that loops through their SCARTS. Very handy if you are short on SCARTS.

Just to confirm comic's answer and add that there is just one thing to beware of...

The recent units have a power saving mode - which you get an option to turn ON during installation.

Refuse it - because when Power saving mode is invoked there is no power provided for the pass-through circuitry.

[ It is always changeable in menus ]

Thanks very much for the replies, that pretty much guarantees it'll be a Panasonic I get next time after my Sony 710 debacle (mine locked up on Saturday and only came back after removing the power cable from the back fro the 10th time! If you search the Sony forums you'll find many a similar sorry tale!).

By the way, with the Sony, if a program was, for example, 10 minutes in when you switch on, it is still able to record the rest via the EPG, can Panasonic machines do this (sorry for all the questions!)?

Many thanks

Vince

If you switch on whilst the machine is recording a timer programme, then it will continue to record unless you tell it otherwise. It will also continue to record if you then decide to put it back into standby, which is even more usefull if you are wanting to use the loop through facility.

Thanks for that, that works the same as the Sony (I agree - the loop through is very useful).

I probably didn't explain myself very well, but what I also meant was, if I switch on, and see a program that I have NOT set to record, and its already under way, can I easily tell the Panasonic to just record the remaining time via the EPG?

My Sony does this, but a humax box I have won't as the EPG recordings have to be set BEFORE the program starts. Once underway, you have to tell the humax to record using timer settings, e.g. 80 minutes if you're 10 minutes into a 90 minute film

Thanks again for all the help, its very much appreciated.

No - you cannot use the EPG once a programme has started.

You can access the EPG and select the programme - but all it does is switch to that channel so you can see the programme.

However you have two recording options.

You can use the instant timer recording function by multi-pushing the record button which will increment the recording time in 30 minute lumps - or alternatively you can press record immediately - to ensure you miss no more of the programme - and then go to manual timer input and programme it at your leisure.

Once your programming is complete, press timer standby and the timer takes over control as the recording continues.