Panasonic DMR-EH50 failed a few days ago; was OK right up to losing the channels.
First symptom: recording looked like a series of freeze frames; no sound
Also, other recordings looked OK picture-wise but again no sound. Nothing wrong with (analogue) signal - TV and video still fine.
Could not manually retune a channel (on an unused entry) - if take the grey background off, to see what is happening, snow is occasionally interrupted by actual pictures where the channels would occur but machine does not lock on and capture it - goes straight past. Goes all the way through the numbers, then back to the start and on again till interrupted at which point it says 'No signal' at the top left of the screen.
Rang dealer (out of guarantee a long while back) for advice; said to ring Panasonic. Did, was put through to customer care who said they couldn't advise anything till I did an auto reset under Tuning menu. Pointed out to them that this would probably lose everything judging from manual tuning response. They insisted, so did what they said and machine then had nothing even semi-tuned and was unable to tune anything, either auto or manual. On auto, it just clocked up the numbers then reported no channels were available.
Rang them back - gave me number of local TV repairers. Rang them, told bring it in for investigation, costing £41, which would come off the bill if went ahead with fix. Had already checked on internet and verified Panasonic now only do DVD recorders with Freeview tuners; no Freeview signal here till analogue switch-off. Reasoned that no one else probably does DVD-Rs with analogue tuners either so took it along, thinking it would probably be £75 or maybe £100 at most. They have now left answerphone to say yes tuner has failed and repair is £152! Should they go ahead and order the part!
Question - is this a reasonable charge? How else could it be repaired for cheaper? (Not up to soldering chips I'm afraid.)
Would go for freesat but am waiting for the hard disk PVR - rang a dealer for that and was told their supplier says that supplies will be tight and probably it won't be obtainable till after Xmas. Also want to carry on using the DVD-R for archiving off old videos, and have quite a lot of stuff still on its hard disk.
Advice gratefully received,
Thanks, Herdie
First symptom: recording looked like a series of freeze frames; no sound
Also, other recordings looked OK picture-wise but again no sound. Nothing wrong with (analogue) signal - TV and video still fine.
Could not manually retune a channel (on an unused entry) - if take the grey background off, to see what is happening, snow is occasionally interrupted by actual pictures where the channels would occur but machine does not lock on and capture it - goes straight past. Goes all the way through the numbers, then back to the start and on again till interrupted at which point it says 'No signal' at the top left of the screen.
Rang dealer (out of guarantee a long while back) for advice; said to ring Panasonic. Did, was put through to customer care who said they couldn't advise anything till I did an auto reset under Tuning menu. Pointed out to them that this would probably lose everything judging from manual tuning response. They insisted, so did what they said and machine then had nothing even semi-tuned and was unable to tune anything, either auto or manual. On auto, it just clocked up the numbers then reported no channels were available.
Rang them back - gave me number of local TV repairers. Rang them, told bring it in for investigation, costing £41, which would come off the bill if went ahead with fix. Had already checked on internet and verified Panasonic now only do DVD recorders with Freeview tuners; no Freeview signal here till analogue switch-off. Reasoned that no one else probably does DVD-Rs with analogue tuners either so took it along, thinking it would probably be £75 or maybe £100 at most. They have now left answerphone to say yes tuner has failed and repair is £152! Should they go ahead and order the part!
Question - is this a reasonable charge? How else could it be repaired for cheaper? (Not up to soldering chips I'm afraid.)
Would go for freesat but am waiting for the hard disk PVR - rang a dealer for that and was told their supplier says that supplies will be tight and probably it won't be obtainable till after Xmas. Also want to carry on using the DVD-R for archiving off old videos, and have quite a lot of stuff still on its hard disk.
Advice gratefully received,
Thanks, Herdie
