Panasonic Viera TV USB HDD PVR: Supported drives ???

Rod S

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Model TX-P42G20B

Had it just over four months, lots of niggling problems (intermittent type things with HDMI, nothing I can actually point at the Plasma itself as it may be the cables or the Bluray and DVD players connected, so inconclusive whether the plasma itself is faulty)...

Anyway,

Western Digital 2TB USB HDD - formats fine under Panasonic and registers fine even though it isn't listed as "proven to work" by Panasonic (they only list one single disc anyway...)

In this thread http://www.avforums.com/forums/lcd-...vr-supported-drives-pc-access-recordings.html most people have found that most USB HDDs work, so I assume if it registers and re-formats (which it does) mine should work.

Using the record button at the bottom of the remote (slide switch set to TV) it records anything that is currently running perfectly, SD, HD, Freeview, FreeSat, whatever. Orange LED on the plasma flashes as it should whilst recording and once recorded it all comes up on "Media player" and plays perfectly.

But if I use the top right "direct TV rec" button and I get two error messages "starting up" then "invalid operation". Nothing then happens, no change of LED from green. (setup menu is set corectly for "live TV" or whatever they call it).

If I use the programme guide and set it to record for a future programme, all seems well, LED changes to flashing orange at the appropriate time as if it's recording, if I try to watch anything else it prevents me as the tuner is in use, but when it's finished recording, Media player says the HDD is empty.....

So why was the orange LED flashing all that time ???

I don't think there is anything wrong with the USB/HDD as it records fine in one situation but there seems to be something very strange with Panasonic's firmware (or possibly hardware in my case).

Has anyone else experienced this?

I have written to Panasonic (email) but from previous experience they take weeks to respond.
 
I've had the problem where you set recording on the program guide and the recording never appears on the hard disk. That was with my old 42V20B, which I had to get swapped when part of the panel failed. I haven't had a chance to try it again with the replacement yet. I was using an old Maxtor 160GB drive, and had only tried it with Freesat (I can't get Freeview). It's a shame really as when I got it I was hoping to sell on my Freesat PVR as I don't watch that much TV, and hoped Panasonic's USB recording would be good enough. It's pretty useless if recording from the guide isn't reliable though!

I'll see if I can set it up again tonight and see if the new TV does the same thing.
 
Thanks SlightlyMagic....... but it's my own fault.

User error.

In the programme guide it says "Ext Rec" - which I assumed was the USB HDD, but it's not.
I have to click on "Ext Rec" to then get the option of USB HDD.

It appears that "Ext Rec" is the signal being sent down one of the Scart leads.

And the same applies on the top right record button, it sends the signal down the Scart lead, not to the USB HDD.

I should have read the manual better.....


So the only inconsistency is that the plasma reports the correct error message if using the top right record button but fails to mention there is no external HDD if using the Guide, Record menu and flashes the orange LED to say all is OK even though it isn't..........
 
Doh, I think I was probably making the same mistake! Tried it out and it seems to be recording fine, thanks for the tip.
 

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