Panasonic EH60D Multiregion freeview questions

[Stuart P]

hello all

1 - does this machine need to be on in order to watch freeview or can it be left on standby?

2 - i have a sony standalone freeview box (vtx 800u), fantastic picture quality. anyone able to compare how freeview performs & inparticular the picture quality (panasonic eh60 vs the sony)

cheers
stuart

 

[laser]

The DMR-EH60D needs to be on to watch Freeview.

I can't compare the Freeview decoder in the DMR-EH60D against the Sony VTX800 but in comparison to my Panasonic external Freeview decoder the built in decoder in the EH60D has marginally better picture quality but the difference is small.

When comparing recordings made by my Pioneer DVR-220S and external Panasonic decoder (scart, rgb) against those of the DMR-EH60D, the differences are again very small, even on my plasma. I was quite surprised but as I bought the EH60D for easy of use i.e. HDD and Guideplus rather than expecting huge leaps in picture quality, I am more than happy with the performance of the EH60D over the two box solution.

 

[HelenS]

hello all

1 - does this machine need to be on in order to watch freeview or can it be left on standby?

2 - i have a sony standalone freeview box (vtx 800u), fantastic picture quality. anyone able to compare how freeview performs & inparticular the picture quality (panasonic eh60 vs the sony)

cheers
stuart

1 - as the other responding poster says, it does have to be on to watch Freeview.

2 - I do have a VTX 800U as well. I would say that the picture quality is very similar (i.e. just as good) - they are now attached to different TVs and the cramped setup of one makes it problematic to drag the Sony box back for a comparison. I have used the Panasonic far more because it's more convenient - it *might* be slightly more prone to the effects of disturbance to the Freeview signal (we live in a place where we're not supposed to be able to get Freeview at all) but I must have watched it 50x more already than the Sony so that may not be fair on the Panasonic, since it's had far more opportunity to demonstrate what happens if a Freeview signal is disturbed! When the signal is seriously disturbed, the Sony sends various "squirts" of mosaic across the picture, whilst the Panasonic momentarily freezes the image, presumably showing the last perfect frame it received in place of the disturbed one.

 

[Stuart P]

1 - as the other responding poster says, it does have to be on to watch Freeview.

2 - I do have a VTX 800U as well. I would say that the picture quality is very similar (i.e. just as good) - they are now attached to different TVs and the cramped setup of one makes it problematic to drag the Sony box back for a comparison. I have used the Panasonic far more because it's more convenient - it *might* be slightly more prone to the effects of disturbance to the Freeview signal (we live in a place where we're not supposed to be able to get Freeview at all) but I must have watched it 50x more already than the Sony so that may not be fair on the Panasonic, since it's had far more opportunity to demonstrate what happens if a Freeview signal is disturbed! When the signal is seriously disturbed, the Sony sends various "squirts" of mosaic across the picture, whilst the Panasonic momentarily freezes the image, presumably showing the last perfect frame it received in place of the disturbed one.

thanks for the reply. if i want to connect the sony freeview to the panasonic eh60 (so i can watch freeview whilst recording a different freeview channel) what method would i use to connect the 2 boxes?

cheers

 

[ROYOLD]

Depending on how many AV inputs your TV has (mine has 3), could you not connect one of the Sony STB outlets direct to the TV.
On my E85 Panasonic dvd recorder (non digital) I have a Sagem STB connected with
its TV out scart to AV1 on the E85 (so I can record Freeview channels or watch a Freeview channel thru the dvd recorder provided it is switched on). The VCR scart outlet of the Sagem STB is connected directly to AV2 on the TV to allow watching a freeview channel on TV if the dvd is turned off.

 

[Stuart P]

Depending on how many AV inputs your TV has (mine has 3), could you not connect one of the Sony STB outlets direct to the TV.
On my E85 Panasonic dvd recorder (non digital) I have a Sagem STB connected with
its TV out scart to AV1 on the E85 (so I can record Freeview channels or watch a Freeview channel thru the dvd recorder provided it is switched on). The VCR scart outlet of the Sagem STB is connected directly to AV2 on the TV to allow watching a freeview channel on TV if the dvd is turned off.

so would i need 2 separate co-ax aeriel leads to work 2 freeview inputs or can i use 1 co-ax & loop thru the sony then onto the panny?

 

[ROYOLD]

I use a Maxview TV amp splitter box to run co-ax aerial inputs to four devices. You could try a loop through but some devices do not provide the signal loop through when switched off. Hence the reason I use a TV signal booster splitter.

 

[Stuart P]

I use a Maxview TV amp splitter box to run co-ax aerial inputs to four devices. You could try a loop through but some devices do not provide the signal loop through when switched off. Hence the reason I use a TV signal booster splitter.

thanks royold - i think my sony freeview has a loop thru so that would be good then in my case?

 

[ROYOLD]

If it works with the loop-thru then all is fine. I switch off at the mains any of my electrical items not in use and this causes problems with some loop thru arrangements. They nornmally work fine if the device is in standby mode but
I find with switching off at the mains it affects the loop thru. Hence my Maxview splitter which I find works quite well.