Page 1 of Pioneer DVR 530 - faulty or just me?

Can anyone who has this model please help
After much dithering about I finally bought the above DVR and received it Tuesday. Spent Wednesday reading the manual - so I wouldnt make any mistakes - and Wednesday trying to set it up : Nae luck :(
On the initial set up there are several features (according to the manual) that simply do not appear on screen, eg screen type does not have the options as stated in the manual; progressive scan does not even appear to allow me to see if my TV has the capability and as far as setting up the Guide Plus I can`t select my Sky box from the list of models as there is no list! and I just seem to be going round in circles.
I have emailed the Pioneer Support site but have had no response so far.
Any advice anyone?
Thanks
Raffles

Hi,

I also bought the above player, I have to say thus far I am extremely impressed with it!! The set up I did mostly from the screen prompts. The player itself appears to `want` you to set it up in the order as it appears. Obviously I don`t know if your player is faulty or not but I would suggest that you follow the on screen options/promts rather than relying specificallly on the manual. I tuned the box first (auto scan) and chose the auto clock setting (from bbc1) after this all of the other options that you do not have then appeared as they should.

Don`t give up on the player though, when it works it is fantastic. Simple to use and great quality.

Thanks for replying Mike.
I did follow the on screen messages (while matching it up with the manual). I was able to tune using the auto scan but when I tried to set the auto clock (using BBC1) said auto set failed, tried again using a Sky News station and again failed, I was able to set the time manually so that bit went ok.

I am sure I must have the connections wrong (I am a complete numpty with anything technical that why I was using the manual and reading each instruction s l o l w l y).

I have tv, vhs, sky box and the new dvdr. I have been using a Pioneer DVD player with no problems at all and I just replaced the player with the recorder and thought it would work - fool that I am :( .

If you can think of anything else I would appreciate it. Thanks again

Hi again,

The connections being wrong does sound like a likely solution- easy done and hopefully easy fixed!!

Just replacing the dvd player with the recorder won`t work (unfortunately).The only other thing I can suggest is to lose the Vhs for the moment and follow the diagram exactly as on pg 16 of the manual, making sure that the SCART cables are where they should be. Your sky box should not be directly connected to the TV but via the recorder.

Hope this helps.

Hi Mike
Many thanks for the advice. I messed around again last night and got a wee bit further but still not working properly although I could record and play back both on the hard drive and disc :) .

Telephoned Pioneer and "Richard" was very helpfull; first checking all the connections were correct (they were not !) :B and then guiding me through the initial set up (which I had already done). At the moment it is downloading GuidePlus so we will see what happens next then it`s back to the manual for the next stage.

My VHS is not connected though but once I am sure everything else is ok I will have a go at connecting that to the system as the main reason I bought this model was so I could copy my collection of VHS tapes.
My TV is too old for progressive scan but I can live without that.
Thanks again

Now getting to grips with this recorder; recording to hard drive is great - no more searching for a blank bit of VHS tape! Unfortunately I am not able to get Guideplus properly. I can get the first page with all the programmes going over 7 days; the 2nd page gives me a few programmes and then nothing. I have contacted the Pioneer helpdesk again in case it was the connections but they say it is connected properly, we have gone through all the initial settings again and they are correct. I have left it on standby overnight on ITV, then on Eurosport (although the helpdesk guy said it would find it`s own source) and then on an analogue station but still no change. I don't understand why I get some schedules, if it wasn`t connected properly I wouldn`t get any- would I? . I can scroll down to a blank screen and press enter which brings up the programme which is currently playing. I get a rolling message at the top of the screen saying trying to download or something - it goes too quick for me to read - but according to the helpdesk I am doing everything properly.
If anyone can give me any other suggestions I would be grateful as it seems like an excellent way of setting a recording with little or no effort.
Any advice gratefully received, thanks.