jtrain Posted September 24, 2004 Posted September 24, 2004 I was looking for a HD STB and saw a Panasonic TU HDI104A and the Thomson DTI 1500HD. They were both $699 and would like some advice. I have a Panasonic 76 200A TV. Does anyone have an opinion on these or any others in this price range.
thefarmer63 Posted September 24, 2004 Posted September 24, 2004 Ive had the Thomson for over 2 months now and it is an excellent box. Only has one slight intermitent audio problem which will be fixed with a software update within the next week or so. Other than that it delivers a superb picture consistently. Go for the Thomson, I'm sure you wont regret it.
REZ O'LUTION Posted September 24, 2004 Posted September 24, 2004 I wouldn't wipe my hooter on the Pana. Definitely go for the Thomo.
jtrain Posted September 26, 2004 Author Posted September 26, 2004 I ended up going for the Panasonic and after 2 days I'm very happy. I even took it to a mates who was having trouble running a DGTech box with his Hitachi plasma and he's going to swap it for a Pana.
FrozenPea Posted September 26, 2004 Posted September 26, 2004 I don't have any experience with the pansonic stb, but yours is the first post that I've ever read saying something good about it . I know my post is not in the least bit helpful.
glenncol Posted September 26, 2004 Posted September 26, 2004 I ended up going for the Panasonic and after 2 days I'm very happy.I even took it to a mates who was having trouble running a DGTech box with his Hitachi plasma and he's going to swap it for a Pana. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Dude thats like say you have just had a heart transplant and after two days everything is fine. You will need more that two days to make sure you will be happy
jtrain Posted October 4, 2004 Author Posted October 4, 2004 Well it's over a week now and still no problems. Fantastic picture. How much longer to I need to give this box to stuff up? Am I the only one who's happy with the new Panasonic HD Box?
Dave T Posted October 5, 2004 Posted October 5, 2004 Well it's over a week now and still no problems. Fantastic picture. How much longer to I need to give this box to stuff up?Am I the only one who's happy with the new Panasonic HD Box? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Why did you ask for advice and then totally ignore it? If you do a search you will find that the Panasonic box is the biggest piece of junk that anyone has produced ever!
quadhammer Posted October 6, 2004 Posted October 6, 2004 Why did you ask for advice and then totally ignore it? If you do a search you will find that the Panasonic box is the biggest piece of junk that anyone has produced ever! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Worse than the footy?
jtrain Posted October 6, 2004 Author Posted October 6, 2004 Why did you ask for advice and then totally ignore it? If you do a search you will find that the Panasonic box is the biggest piece of junk that anyone has produced ever! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> DaveT You must have tested every box. I wanted advice but apart from The Farmer, no one offered anything constructive so I made my own decision. I'm not a sheep. Still happy by the way.
digitalhome Posted October 6, 2004 Posted October 6, 2004 We have gone through 7 Panasonic HD boxes that have decided to fail all within 5 weeks, and they are connected to Plasma TV's in the shop for display purposes! How unreliable is that?
smokey2004 Posted October 6, 2004 Posted October 6, 2004 Ive tried both boxes. The Thomo does have good picture quality & I really like the remote and menu options. I did have the intermitent sound problem so I took the box back and swapped it for the Pana. That was a bad move, the Pana had a problem of freezing up when you scroll through the channels too quickly. I rang Panasonic and they advised that they knew about it but there was no fix for it. I was quite discusted that they are actually selling a product like that these days. It was as unstable as Windows 98!! In the end I took it back and swapped it for the LG box. The LG box had a screen centering problem but they have good customer support and were able to supply a firmware upgrade for it that has fixed the problem and now Im very happy with it. Great picture, no sound probs, dual mode outputs, stable software etc. I would recommend the LG box but if you are only chosing between the Thomo and Pana, I would recommend the Thomo and get the firmware upgrade for it. (Ive read some other posts and it appears to be available now/soon). Hope this helps.
Dave T Posted December 5, 2004 Posted December 5, 2004 We have gone through 7 Panasonic HD boxes that have decided to fail all within 5 weeks, and they are connected to Plasma TV's in the shop for display purposes! How unreliable is that? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Thump!
yossarian17 Posted December 5, 2004 Posted December 5, 2004 We have gone through 7 Panasonic HD boxes that have decided to fail all within 5 weeks, and they are connected to Plasma TV's in the shop for display purposes! How unreliable is that? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Thump! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Dave, let it go mate, just let it go . . .
Guest wire Posted December 5, 2004 Posted December 5, 2004 set up a home theatre for a guy, noticed he's got his aspect ratio all wrong with his tv and stb (pana hd). So i change the channel over on the pana....nothing happens? must be battery on remote change channel direct on box...no response... try all buttons...nothing. unplug from wall sweating a bit explain to guy this is normal procedure plug back in.. see all good go to menu go to menu go to menu. try all buttons again ,sweating heavily. guy looks worried, i look wooried. "so how long you had this box" i ask "3 weeks" he said " well im afraid this box is phucked" i said " " " he said
Guest ebon Posted December 6, 2004 Posted December 6, 2004 I was looking for a HD STB and saw a Panasonic TU HDI104A and the Thomson DTI 1500HD. They were both $699 and would like some advice.I have a Panasonic 76 200A TV. Does anyone have an opinion on these or any others in this price range. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I have been reading all the negatives on Panasonic HD STB's (although a lot of these relate to the old model). I have had the NEW model TU-HDT104A for 1 month now and have held back on giving an opinion because I wanted to give it some thorough testing first. I bought it from Myer and they have the 30 day customer satisfaction guarantee or money back policy. After all the bad vibes I really didn't think it would last the distance but it hasn't let me down. The only thing that surprised me is that the batteries for the remote were flat even though they were still in the plastic wrapping. Setup was simple and picture quality is superb. On one or two occasions I raced through the channels and got it to stick on one channel with no picture but sound. Reverted to Standby, waited 30 seconds and then switched it back on again. No prob's. While changing channels it's just a matter of holding off for a second and then going to the next channel. I have got used to it now and don't give it a second thought. I believe excellent picture quality is worth the 1 second wait. I have also read a lot about firmware upgrdes for this unit. Mine came with the older factory version and I am of the opinion that many reported faults may be unjustly blamed on the software. I would be checking remote control batteries and obvious things first. I mentioned my reading of faults on the internet to the salesman at Myer and he was surprised because they had not had any complaints. I am wondering if there was a bad batch in the East. I'm from WA.
Datastream Posted December 9, 2004 Posted December 9, 2004 Well, I am another who handed back my Panasonic after two exhibited a series of faults including freezing, blocking, no sound, sound 5 secs out of sync, uncommanded switching on overnight......... And that was on the new one, too.
Dave T Posted December 17, 2004 Posted December 17, 2004 Well, I am another who handed back my Panasonic after two exhibited a series of faults including freezing, blocking, no sound, sound 5 secs out of sync, uncommanded switching on overnight.........And that was on the new one, too. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> When will Panasonic fix this Problem?
mickrob Posted December 17, 2004 Posted December 17, 2004 I've had the Panasonic HD STB (TU HDT104 STB) hooked up to the Samsung 56" LCD RearPro (SP56L5HX) since July. Had a few issues with the STB freezing and the only way to fix it was to rest the STB (turning power off then on or pushing ‘EXIT’ and ‘^’ buttons on front of unit at the same time). Rang Clive Peters (Ringwood VIC) 2 months after purchased unit and they swapped it over. The new unit had later firmware and since then no problems at all. In the 6 months I have had this combination the picture quality has been fantastic on all channels. The other thing I really like about this STB is that it has two sets of composite and audio outputs. Hence can connect direct to TV and also to VCR for recording shows. All in all I am very happy with the STB.
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