Hi Numptydumpty,
Have you got it connected to (or are intending to connect it to) either a terrestrial aerial and/or a LAN connection (i.e. an ethernet cable back to your broadband router)?
I don't have a DMR-BWT850 but have the earlier DMR-BWT735 and, if I recall correctly, the "quick set up" etc were mainly concerned with tuning to the Freeview channels and establishing a wired or wireless connection to my router. You might not need to do this if you're just intending to use it to copy your camcorder footage. You might need to set basic functions like the clock though before the machine will let you use it.
BTW, you cannot connect the DMR-BWT850 to a satellite dish. It does not have a satellite tuner in it, just a terrestrial Freeview one.
Hi k-spin,
Thanks so very much for your reply chap, good of you. Dealing with your last point first, I discovered the truth of that this morning. When I first started reading about these sets, I read the word 'Freeview', but my mind turned it into 'Freesat'. Rightly or wrongly, I see Freeview as very old hat, so didn't give it a second thought.
I didn't discover the stupidity of that mistake until I had a brilliant brainwave this morning (that alone should have warned me that this would NOT end well
). I thought, "why don't I just pull the cable out of the sky box, then plug it into the Panasonic set, whenever I want to use that?" Sorted!
Of course, the second I pulled the two boxes forward to try it out, and looked at the back connections, the truth dawned on me....I could have cried
Anyway, to go to your first point, I do intend to connect the Pany to an aerial, even though that will now cost me several hundred pounds more....because I no longer have a terrestrial aerial
. Also, the LAN connection would have been a doddle if I was still with Virgin, because their router was right by the TV table, which also houses all the boxes. Now that I am with Sky, it's in another room, where the landline phone enters the house
. I may be able to link it wirelessly, but haven't tried that yet.
As you say, It might not be essential to do all the 'Quick set up' and other stuff, for the reason you mentioned. Certainly, when I skimmed through the instructions on line, I assumed I would not need to. However, now I have the thing, I discovered that every time you try to do something without those connections, it pops a box up with 'No signal, check your aerial connections', and stuff like that. I got so overwrought and in a panic with that, and the fact that you need a 98 page instruction manual, full of stuff I simply do not understand, just to set the thing up and use it, I nearly gave up and binned it
.
I have cooled down now, and you two guys responding to my cry for help has given me the heart to keep trying. You will never understand what it's like being locked in a state of almost total inability to deal with/make sense of technology, but you were kind hearted enough to help again anyway, so I thank you both with all my heart.
j