Page 1 of Panasonic DVD Recorder problem

Just popped round to my mum-in-law`s to look at her Panasonic DVD Recorder with Hard drive and freeview. Can`t remember the model but it`s about 2-3 years old at a guess. It`s playing up. I didn`t have a lot of time but this is what I have established:

It had lost all channels in the on screen guide, so, after unplugging and plugging back in to reboot, I did an auto tune and the guide then listed everything again, BUT

when you select a channel either from the guide or by using the prog up/down buttons or selecting a channel number (any method), you just get static, as if nothing is being transmitted at all from the unit to the TV.

Now, I know that if the signal was just weak, they would see a blue screen with the words "no signal" or "weak signal" displayed on it, but this is nothing - empty static. The TV is definitely on the right AV input.

They can watch programmes that have been recorded, but cannot watch Freeview through it as no channels are there. Another TV is connected to the same aerial (new high gain aerial on top of chimney, with strong signal) and that continues to receive Freeview without a problem.

My gut feeling is that the tuner has packed up. Everything else on the unit seems to work (hard drive playback and DVD playback), and now I have got the guide to show all programmes for the next 7 days, but no channels will come up on screen.

I advised my mother-in-law to contact Panasonic to get it repaired. Any other suggestions, or would you also recommend this (anyone?) ?

Oh, also they have filled the hard drive. There are over 70 recorded programmes stored on there and it says that there is only one and a half hours in long play left on the memory. Is there ANY chance that this would affect the machine as above or is it nothing to do with it?

That does sound very strange, although my neighbour did have a similar problem recently.

does the TV connected to the Panasonic show a picture ok for normal tv?

what happens if you pull aeriel lead out of back of panasonic, and put it straight into tv?

I ask cos what had happened with my neighbour was somehow the splitter box which split the aerial feed from roof to go to living room and dining room got knocked (despite being behind a cupboard), so his living room was fine, dining room wasn`t. I stood in dining room trying to retune everything in that room, till he had bright idea of looking at splitter, as soon as he touched it picture came back!

So try making sure everything is plugged in properly still, perhaps unplug and plug in again.

I have something similar happen to my Panny on occasion. The EPG is fine, which probably means that the tuner is working, otherwise it wouldn`t populate.

I get a black screen but I can hear audio in the background. Turning the EPG on and off usually brings the picture back. On occasion, the audio goes as well, and I just get the black screen. For some reason, playing a DVD or a videotape fixes this.

Panasonics are useful machines, but damned temperamental. I still use a Sony Freeview box hooked up to the same TV (it`s probably the daisy chained SCARTs that are causing the problem in the first place) because I`d rather not listen to fan noise while I watch the TV if I don`t have to.

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Jitendar Canth

Quote:
"I thought what I`d do was, I`d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes."

My Top 20 movies at YMDB
Site Reviewer at DVD Reviewer & MyReviewer

Carving out a niche with a pneumatic drill at Anime @ MyReviewer.com

Ooh, had a quick search around and found these threads...
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1016826
http://www.avforums.com/forums/dvd-blu-ray-recorders-media/892426-panasonic-dmr-ez25-freeview-channels-gone.html#post9544685
http://www.avforums.com/forums/dvd-blu-ray-recorders-media/773857-panasonic-dmr-ex85eb-problem-digital-tuner-2.html
http://www.avforums.com/forums/dvd-blu-ray-recorders-media/996408-panasonic-dmr-ex75-no-freeview-fault.html

Boils down to a capacitor
===========================
Jitendar Canth

Quote:
"I thought what I`d do was, I`d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes."

My Top 20 movies at YMDB
Site Reviewer at DVD Reviewer & MyReviewer

Carving out a niche with a pneumatic drill at Anime @ MyReviewer.com

Well, to be on the safe side, I had recommended that they go through the items on the hard drive and delete all that they didn`t need (being oldies, they had never deleted anything...)

Basically, once they had done that, it spluttered and started working properly again. This leads me to believe that a full hard drive buggers up a Freeview/DVD recorder as much as it does a PC. :B

So all`s well that ends well. Thanks anyway. :)

That`s odd, but maybe it makes sense.

I`ve got a panasonic dvd hard drive recorder, but it`s a few years old now no freeview, and i`ve gone down to a couple of hours record time left no ill effects, but maybe the freeview one uses the hard drive as some sort of cache for timeslip etc?

Glad you got it sorted and told us, sort of thing that could catch a few ppl out.

Quote:
but maybe the freeview one uses the hard drive as some sort of cache for timeslip etc?If the unit has Timeslip then unless it`s using a RAM disc then it`s definitely using the hard drive for that.
Dependant on the settings it`ll also vary how much it uses.

Sky+ is on the same principle and I have mine set to 30 minutes max.
If the hard drive gets too full, all sorts of wierd screw ups begin.....looks like it`s the same with the Freeview type ;)

Jimbo : oÞ

"Making Teenagers depressed is like shooting fish inna barrel"

try to see here http://mans.io/brand/Panasonic
if you cannot find info you need - just write to support team there