Hi...

Got a Digihome Argos PVR 80gb about a year old.

Basically constantly had a reception problem, especially certain channels, C4 being the main culprit.

We seemed to fix it for a while by basically jamming the wrong type of ariel cable into the wall socket, but it came back again soon enough.

Is this a tuner problem? On C4 the reception on `manual channel scan` is `medium` about half way up.

Can formatting help? Or should i just get a better box that has better reception - if so any recommendations?

cheers
adam

The quality of reception is more to do with your aerial, cabling and connectors. You can buy boxes with especially sensitive tuners. However as you are having to jam cables in, it would be better to get your aerial system sorted.

These boxes are well known for being sensitive to poor or even moderate signal. They need a good signal to be reliable.

A booster can help if you are just off having a good signal, but if your signal is poor then it will not help at all. The best thing to do is ensure your aerial and aerial cable connection are as good as they can be.

Yesterday my Digihomes - PVR160 and a DTR250 - had awful signal drop-out problems, it happens randomly, especially during the day rather than evenings or nighttime. It was especially bad yesterday on BBC1 and QVC - ITV was, surprisingly, OK.

I am sure that external forces cause this problem because it's fine for weeks/months on end, then suddenly starts playing up. Yesterday even my digital TV's own picture froze, though not nearly as often as the PVR's.

A booster makes no difference. It's even been said that the signal might be too strong! This subject is an old one on this forum.

parthena

Thanks comrades.

What box do you recommend that has a more robust signal-gathering facility? I'm a bit fed up of this one.

thanks again
adam

Must remember to ask Vestel about the tuner issues - unless it's cost driven, probably improving the tuner sensitivity is one of the main things that should be looked at on the next hardware evolution (after the T825). When I get a chance (hopefully this week), I'm going to write an e-mail to Vestel addressing my concerns (and those via posts on these forums) about the progress of their PVRs and the T825 in particular. I really would like to buy a T825, primarily because of series link capability, but am reluctant to do so due to all the problems mentioned here and the lack or urgency that Vestel have (not) gone about fixing them. They obviously don't have to listen to me, but it's in their best interest to improve their PVRs, not just by adding new features, but improving signal issues, and fixing stuff that is broken. Surely the churn rate for their T825 units must be pretty high.

If there's any way I can support you, Futaura, do let me know. You might add to your exortations "and please don't fix what's not broken"

I really feel quite heartbroken that a company could create such good products with such unnecessary faults, and then fail to support those products. It wouldn't be nearly so bad if I didn't love my Digihomes so much.

parthena

A non-Vestel one . Trouble is, there are lots of different makes out there that are Vestel T825 based and therefore have the same tuners, particularly most of the ones that Argos sell. Whatever one you buy though, it sounds to me that the first point of call is to fix/replace your aeriel socket as you are obviously getting a lot of signal loss at the socket alone and that will affect any freeview device to some extent.

Er...what's a `non Vestel one`? Is there a list anywhere? Ta.

Look in the PVR forum here at the individual brands, except Digihome.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/f...splay.php?f=90

parthena

Plus most of the PVRs (DTRs) branded Wharfedale, Hitachi, Sharp, Asda Onn, Digibrand, some Technika and Techwood from Tesco, some Goodmans, some Evesham and Grundig. The easyest way to tell is probably to look at the pattern of ventilation holes on the top of the Digihome case and assume that anything with the same size case and the same pattern of holes is made by Vestel.

Colin

wow! cheers. is Humax the best d'you reckon?

It's a sore subject, and this is the Digihome+clones forum. That's why I said to read the other forums.

However, gedda loada this (which I came here to PM Colin about, but he'll see this message), under £130 delivered, and they're saying it's the UK launch (to be taken with a pinch of salt):

http://www.qvcuk.com/ukqic/qvcapp.aspx/app.html/params.file.tsv_559344,html/walk.html.|tsvmetadrill,html?cm_re=MainPanel-_-TSV-_-TSV

So have a look at the Sagem forum in particular to see if its fans have already discovered this 'new' model.

All the PVR brands seem to have failings, it's just that the Digihome has the best interface.

parthena

This would have to be some kind of awesome, perfect PVR for me to even think about buying it - my first PVR was a Sagem 6240T, and I was not impressed. The tuners were better than the Vestel PVRs, but that's about their only advantage IMO (the worst being that it regularly failed to record things). Equally, I was not impressed at all by Sagem's efforts to fix the software, because largely they just made it worse.

This new one looks well spec'd though - will be interesting to hear how it performs. But, is it just me, or does the chassis design look familiar?

Personally I'd want to see a significant number of positive user reports before considering the Sagem. I'd particularly need to be convinced that it had adequately implemented the Series Record feature as no other manufacturer has perfected this yet. It has the HDMI and USB interface which the Vestels now have so this may be attractive to some. If I had to make a choice now I'd still choose one of the Vestel units. Better the devil you know than the one you don't.

I see you have started a thread in the Sagem sub-forum parthena here so it's worth keeping an eye on that but I don't expect there will be a massive number of reports.

I note Argos have reduced the price of the Wharfedale LP250DTRHDMI 250Gb DTR see here to £129.99. So with postage added to the Sagem they are virtually the same price. So I'd definitely choose the Wharfedale even though I returned the one I bought for the reasons I posted in the thread here.

Colin

Well, Colin, if you would really like a new reliable Series Record PVR, all I can say is that I've used QVC for many items in all sorts of categories, and reassure you that their 30-day 'no-quibble' return/refund policy is absolutely that (in fact, you normally get a bit longer than 30 days in practice).

You could use the PVR intensively for 3 weeks and all you have to lose is the two-way P&P - except, if the package is 4kg-plus they will collect it at no charge, and if you insist that the item is faulty they will collect or send you a postage-paid label and also refund your original P&P.

Off topic:
I've just discovered that the old Yamada DVD/HDD recorder I've been trying to set up has recorded yesterday's trial, when I had the SCARTs wrongly connected, spot on, it's playing back fine, and I've just recorded another programme (Animal Planet of course ) and that's fine too. I've ordered a reconditioned laptop from Curry's and they've finally confirmed they're sending it, much excitement here - though I've been tutoring my neighbours on the new Acer I got for them from Amazon many months ago, having now connected them up to my wifi, and I'm jealous cos it's a very poshly finished lappy, I expect my Advent K4000 will be scruffy, never mind, beggars can't be choosers and it's got 2gigs of RAM.

parthena

Having spent three exhausting weeks assessing the Wharfedale LP250DTRHDMI before returning it (somewhat reluctantly and only because I already had the Hitachi Vestel T816 otherwise I would have kept it) I don't feel inclined to repeat the excersise for a while. I have the feeling I would be dissapointed with the Sagen user interface after the Vestels.

Colin

As you know, you are 'preaching' to the converted There's no hope for us.

parthena