GJR Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 (edited) With the soon to be released Topfield (what a wait that has been and continues to be!!!), I hope this will be one of my last posts on this forum. I bought one of these Sony machines when they were first released. It still has the original firmware and I have resisted getting any upgrades as it seems that the litany of problems continue and no doubt further upgrades will be required. Having to take the unit to a service centre for an upgrade is also just a complete joke. I have cameras and other devices where F/W upgrades are simply available over the net. No doubt the F/W upgrade may fix a few of the problems that I continue to have with my unit such as: -occasional pixelation -the black screen of death EVERY time I foolishly attempt to switch from HD ABC to normal ABC (as the news is not available on HD) -Split files -the everpresent "can't playback" message -failed recordings -the need to continually pull the power lead out of the back of the unit to get the thing to reboot!!! -etc etc What F/W upgrades won't fix are: -the ludicrously slow EPG. By the time it populates, the show is almost over!! Pathetic. -The useless remote control which has no ability to scroll on any function. Having to manually press the time button 30 times is a complet farce. -Inability to prename timer recordings. Even el cheapo SD boxes have this feature, but oh no, not the over priced Sony. This thing fails the fundamental test of reliability. What's the use of having a recorder which simply cannot be relied upon. I was away for a few weeks and the Sony missed every programmed recording of West Wing. Not impressed. All I got was "can't playback". It's a piece of rubbish. The software programmers must have been interns or they did it as a practical joke. It's so far behind best practice it is unbelievable. So for anyone out there thinking of buying one of these lemons, my simple warning is DON'T!!!! I just can't wait to rid myself of this frustrating, poorly designed, unreliable hunk of junk. This shouldl be in the SONY topic, not a separate subject. Sorry. Edited February 23, 2007 by GJR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinX Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 The Toshiba you could understand - it was the first one. The LG, well LG doesn't have the best rep. The Sony ... Sony has no excuse. They've been in the game for years and should have the wisdom of Solomon available to them. If the Toppy doesn't work as it should out of the box, I'll give up and get a Panasonic SD HDD/DVD recorder I think... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainPicard Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 I agree, rubbish. However the rubish is with HD. HD is a complete waist of Australias resources. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinX Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 When HD is done right (e.g. Letterman) it looks fantastic. I think the main problem is that the stations have absolutely no idea what to do with the HD playground they've been handed. Here's what should have happened: HD DTV mandated at 720p. That would have got the ball rolling because every display that can play HD can play 720p. 1080p sets are only just becoming affordable now. We should leave 720p for TV and 1080p for physical media players. Forget broadcasting 1080i: no-one can seem to agree if it's worth it so let's just give the most value to the most people, 720p. Every station plays at least one channel (their main channel) in HD and SD. They can run anything they want on the other channels they have. SD, HD, go nuts. Easy. If only I was running things... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techo Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 I agree, rubbish. However the rubish is with HD. HD is a complete waist of Australias resources. Yes, that blind as a bat Alston that gave us this heap should hold his head in shame. I hope he is noting how it could have been now that he is enjoying a cooshy UK ambassadorship. Easy. If only I was running things... I wish you were running things Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yabbal Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Forget broadcasting 1080i: no-one can seem to agree if it's worth it so let's just give the most value to the most people, 720p. 1080i is best for anything recorded at 24/25fps (eg movies), even on a 1366x768 or 1280x720 display. With 720p some resolution is lost to overscan, leaving closer to 700 lines of resolution. Properly de-interlaced 1080i will allow a 1366x768 screen to display at its maximum resolution ability. However, I do believe that sports and live broadcasts would be best at 720p due to full 50fps frame rate. Every station plays at least one channel (their main channel) in HD and SD. They can run anything they want on the other channels they have. SD, HD, go nuts. Its hard with the limited bandwidth they have. You may not relise this, but they only have one channel - the HD and SD are both contained in the same 7Mhz channel. If you look at ABC you will see that they are running one extra channel (ABC2) on top of their main channel in both HD and SD, and the picture quality on all channels is suffering for it. Dont get me wrong, they are doing very well in the bandwith they have, but its far from ideal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgdownload Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Way to hijack a thread guys If you'd like to debate the merits of HD in Oz, I'm sure there are other places you could start a thread? GJR, I'm afraid your candour pretty much precludes much sympathy: It still has the original firmware and I have resisted getting any upgrades. By most accounts the newer FWs for the Sony make it a credible product (you list a lot of major fixes yourself). Having to get it installed is a pain (and worth harking up about), but not getting it sorted seems a tragic waste of $1200.Regards Peter Gillespie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinX Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Way to hijack a thread guys Sorry Should a customer have to keep returning something until it works as advertised, though. And this isn't a one-off lemon, this is the whole lot of 'em Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainPicard Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Way to hijack a thread guys.....Peter Gillespie Well I've read through just about every forum in this topic and I'd say that more than %60 has been hijacked by the regulars in one form or another. The forums title is "It's Rubbish!" that, in my mind, invites comment about a multitude of sins with everything DTV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neon Kitten Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 The Toshiba you could understand - it was the first one. The LG, well LG doesn't have the best rep. The Sony ... Sony has no excuse. They've been in the game for years and should have the wisdom of Solomon available to them. And they would have, too - except for the fact that this isn't actually a Sony designed or built product. Along with the $600+ X-series bevels, this one will go down in history as one of Sony Australia's great mistakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Refidim Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Both Sony and Toshiba were not designed by them, nor are they made by them. Brand name junkie's draw your own conclusion. Both roll of the same production line at the Zinwell factory at Hsinchu Tiawan. Both use the same Broadcom main processor which is also used by the 7000 Topi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arry74 Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Where is the LG made, Korea I presume? Will be buying one tomorrow, hopefully I don't get a lemon :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techo Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 The old often espoused statement in this topic “you get what you pay for” springs to mind. As I continually tell my customers this rarely applies to modern electronics. With brand new off the shelf devices that probably had its development frozen 24months before its launch day (let alone by the time most of us get it). Unless you have special arrangements with retailers etc. I think the average punter is better off paying less and replacing more often and never never buy state of the art it will 9 out of 10 be overly buggy. Of course all this is not helped by what I consider to be the worst DVB/DTV standard in the world, especially those clauses in regard to HD. I say get rid of broadcasted HD and give the bandwidth to FTA data casting where it belongs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hex Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Both Sony and Toshiba were not designed by them, nor are they made by them. Brand name junkie's drew your own conclusion. Both roll of the same production line at the Zinwell factory at Hsinchu Tiawan.Both use the same Broadcom main processor which is also used by the 7000 Topi. came across this while i was on the internet this must be where the nec comes from as well as the next wave http://www.mitinc.co.kr/mitinc/e_site/prod...d_mdr300pvr.jsp more crap lets hope the new topfield isnt the same Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexMJ Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Both Sony and Toshiba were not designed by them, nor are they made by them. Brand name junkie's drew your own conclusion. Both roll of the same production line at the Zinwell factory at Hsinchu Tiawan.Both use the same Broadcom main processor which is also used by the 7000 Topi. oh oh Anyone know which chipset the Strong and the Teac use? These two seem to be the best of the bunch at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techo Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Where is the LG made, Korea I presume?Will be buying one tomorrow, hopefully I don't get a lemon :-) Low Grade - I think you are right - Korea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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