Suggestions for PVR please
 

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote
In article ,
Steve wrote:
My elderly father-in-law wants a freeview box with built in recorder. I
know there's plenty to choose from but I could use recommendations for
one which is easy to use for someone who has barely grasped using a
cordless phone or basic TV remote. The idea of trying to teach him to
use interactive menus gives me the shudders. Anyone got any success
stories to share?

Well, I'd say a Topfield just using the as supplied software pretty easy
to use for one who previously coped with a VCR - easier IMHO,

The software supplied in the current Topfields is a heap of bug ridden
c**p.

The Topfield can be made to be one of the better machines but it
requires the software to be changed and possibly the use of third party
software.

Topfields (good) reputation was based on the older models running the
older software/firmware.

BTW I have a reliable and well featured Topfield achieved with the use
of third party software (TAPS). If someone is technically competent and
has the inclination to play with the machine I would recommend a
Topfield, but one of the older models. I would not recommend a Topfield
'out-of-the-box' nor for someone who expects not to touch his expensive
purchase to make it reliable
There is a wealth of experience, help and everything Toppy PVR related
at
http://www.toppy.org.uk
http://forum.toppy.org.uk/forum/index.php



--
Alan
news2006 {at} amac {dot} f2s {dot} com

Suggestions for PVR please
 

On Fri, 01 May 2009 13:34:05 +0100, charles wrote:

Why not just use the switch on the socket?

Because in the minds of some, there still exists the possibility that
electrical power will leak through the switch due to it malfunctioning
and therefore still reach the appliances, thereby causing them to spontaneously
ignite during the night.

Strangely enough these same people have no problems leaving an electrical
compressor motor* more or less permanently connected to the power supply
which may probably be more likely to cause a fire.

* The refrigerator and/or freezer.

Suggestions for PVR please
 

In article ,
J G Miller wrote:
On Fri, 01 May 2009 13:34:05 +0100, charles wrote:

Why not just use the switch on the socket?

Because in the minds of some, there still exists the possibility that
electrical power will leak through the switch due to it malfunctioning
and therefore still reach the appliances, thereby causing them to
spontaneously ignite during the night.

Strangely enough these same people have no problems leaving an electrical
compressor motor* more or less permanently connected to the power supply
which may probably be more likely to cause a fire.

* The refrigerator and/or freezer.

and an electric clock - mains ones being very common in their younger days.

--
From KT24 - in "Leafy Surrey"

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.11

Suggestions for PVR please
 

On Fri, 01 May 2009 18:46:50 +0200, J G Miller wrote:


Strangely enough these same people have no problems leaving an electrical
compressor motor* more or less permanently connected to the power supply
which may probably be more likely to cause a fire.

* The refrigerator and/or freezer.

Ah but in ye goode olde dayes those appliances used Freon as a
refrigerant. Freon will also extinguish fires. So if one of those caught
fire it could extinguish its own fire -- maybe.

Suggestions for PVR please
 

"Doctor D" wrote in message ...
But if it goes wrong don't even expect Humax to be interested, let alone
resolve matters!
Worst manufacturer I've ever dealt with.


When mine suffered a hard drive failure they were very helpful sending a replacement out by courier and collecting the faulty unit at the same time

--
Alex

"I laugh in the face of danger , then I hide until it goes away"

Suggestions for PVR please
 

In article ,
Alan wrote:
Well, I'd say a Topfield just using the as supplied software pretty easy
to use for one who previously coped with a VCR - easier IMHO,

The software supplied in the current Topfields is a heap of bug ridden
c**p.

Right - mine is a fairly early one. Dunno about any bugs as I don't use it
to the max, as it were. Just as a VCR substitute, and FreeView box, since
my TV only has analogue tuners.

The Topfield can be made to be one of the better machines but it
requires the software to be changed and possibly the use of third party
software.

I did install the later much recommended TAPS and found it offered pretty
colours but actually less functionality for the things I wanted. Rather
typical of graphic design lead stuff. Changing the name of a channel to
just a logo might be fine for a teenager - but not for me. But perhaps
I'm being unfair, since as I said I only really use the basic features.

Topfields (good) reputation was based on the older models running the
older software/firmware.

Right.

BTW I have a reliable and well featured Topfield achieved with the use
of third party software (TAPS). If someone is technically competent and
has the inclination to play with the machine I would recommend a
Topfield, but one of the older models. I would not recommend a Topfield
'out-of-the-box' nor for someone who expects not to touch his expensive
purchase to make it reliable

Mine has worked perfectly since I bought it. Wish I could say the same
about other similar things.

--
*You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Suggestions for PVR please
 

"Johnny B Good" wrote in message
.. .
The message

from contains these words:

====big snip====

I suspect the OP's father in law is from the same generation as my
father, who methodically unplugs pretty much every appliance in the
house every night ;-)

That's perfectly understandable behaviour when you consider its origin,
Back in the day, the risk of an appliance cord fault causing a house
fire was very real (no plugtop fuse protection on the 5 and 15 amp house
wiring circuits of the day).

Although modern wiring standards and materials have reduced the risk
somewhat, it hasn't completely been eliminated so there's no real reason
for such a life saving habit to cease (at least, not in the mind of the
older generation).

You also have to keep in mind that pretty well all electrical devices
back then (even the electronic ones, such as radios and TV sets) were
fire hazards in themselves.

Nowadays, the only comparably dangerous items are electric fires, hair
driers, irons, washing machines and tumble driers (especially tumble
driers, so much so that the fire fighting service strongly advise
against running one unattended when retiring to bed for the night).

Today, the risk of conflagration from low power (sub 40 watt)
electronic boxes is at a vanishingly small level what with modern
materials and standards of construction aimed specifically at
eliminating this risk.

Although a risk still exists (at astronomically high odds against the
event) it is considered small enough in the risk/benefit equation for
most of us to accept the need to leave such devices powered up in
standby overnight in order to stay up to date with software or epg
updates (or even just to save the hassle of bending down to switch back
on at the set's mains isolator switch or at the mains outlet socket
switch).

However, if my youngest son's habit of loading the tumble drier at 1 or
2am and starting a 2 hour drying cycle just before going to his bed is
anything to go by, I suspect a good portion of his generation are going
to die in house fires due to the false sense of security in _all_ things
electrical engendered by the almost total absence of such risk in other
'household appliances' such as set top boxes, TV and radio sets and the
like.

Like anything else, the risk factor has to be decided on the merits of
each case. For instance, it would be deemed risk free to run a
tumbledrier unattended overnight if it were installed in a brick
outhouse _not_ adjoining the main residence.

Alternatively, the risk of leaving a set top box on overnight would be
deemed unacceptable if it were housed in a closed box with other heat
sources and a stuffing of shredded paper along with a pile of dry
cardboard stacked up against the housing and no (working) smoke detector
to raise an alarm.

This last example, whilst rather extreme, seems unlikely, but it's
surprising how often some folk can unwittingly simulate such a
circumstance.

This just shows how easy it is to under or over estimate the hazard of
overnight unattended operation (standby or not) of electrical
appliances. Most of us get it right most of the time (and live to a ripe
old age ;-), but some of us are going to be caught out and have an
exciting tale to tell of how they just failed to qualify for a "Darwin
Award" (if they're lucky).

Whilst all of this might seem "Off Topic" to the subject matter in
hand, it nevertheless addresses a real concern often expressed in
relation to such operational modes of the technical digital TV kit this
news group references.

It just seemed to me an opportunity to lend some context to
airsmoothed's bemusement over his father's seemingly obsessive concern
for electrical appliance safety. After all, airsmoothed's very existence
might, in a Darwinian sense, be owed to this very obsession. ;-)

--
Regards, John.


But I saw a news item on, I believe, the South-east news within the last
week about a house fire which resulted from a television set (crt-type)
self-igniting!

bhk

Suggestions for PVR please
 

The message
from charles contains these words:

In article ,
Johnny B Good wrote:
The message

from contains these words:

====big snip====

I suspect the OP's father in law is from the same generation as my
father, who methodically unplugs pretty much every appliance in the
house every night ;-)

That's perfectly understandable behaviour when you consider its origin,
Back in the day, the risk of an appliance cord fault causing a house
fire was very real (no plugtop fuse protection on the 5 and 15 amp house
wiring circuits of the day).

It doesn't actually matter where the fuse is placed in the circuit. Indeed
it is argued by most other countries that a correctly fused (MCCB'd)
distribution board is safer. the only real advantage of our Ring Main
system is cheaper installation costs. the fact you can buy fuses to fit in
a plug with a higher rating than the cable leaving that plug is quite
unsafe.

On this last remark, I agree. However, the odds of a short cct on a 5
amp lamp cord blowing a 13 amp fuse are still very high, far far higher
than such a fault blowing a 20 amp consumer unit fuse or cct breaker.

If the householder wishes to tempt fate by fitting a 13 amp fuse in
place of a 3 or 5 amp fuse appropriate to the cordage rating, then on
their head so be it.

Such practice of over rating the fuse protection at the consumer unit
was also common prior to the advent of the 30 amp ring main and 13 amp
sockets. On balance, even with the flaw of the potential to 'overfuse'
the plugtop, the 13A socket and 30A ringmain wiring system is a vast
improvement over what went before.

As for the fallacy that a "correctly fused (MCCB'd) distribution board
is safer", I don't agree with that at all. If you make it all too easy
to restore power onto a suspect or overloaded circuit, you're going to
increase the risk that whatever is causing the breaker to trip will
eventually result in a conflagration.

When it proves much less convenient to "reset" the fuse at the consumer
unit, the householder is more likely to take appropriate remedial action
than let the problem continue indefinitely.

Of course, you cannot totally eliminate the "Darwin Award" factor (the
ingenuity of human stupidity knows no bounds), but it does at least
require that a conscious decision be made to compromise safety.

Aside from the human stupidity factor, the safety offered by
conventional rewirable fuse bridges at the consumer unit is very hard to
beat. Resettable circuit breakers to handle what should be a once in a
lifetime fault event seems like totally unecessary overkill to me.

In the last 27 years or so, I only have a vague memory of having to
replace one of the two 5A lighting circuit fuse bridges (and that must
have been some 15 to 20 years ago).

Even the top floor ring main has not required its 15A fuse to be
replaced (it's wired as a 30A ring main, I'd just elected to fit a 15A
fusebridge in place of the 30A one to further minimise the risk on a
circuit that hasn't been required to supply much more than a few hundred
watts worth of power over the last 25 years or so). The wylex fuse
carriers allow the substitution of the rated fuse bridge with a lower
rated one but prevent a higher rated fusebridge from being so misused.

Personally, I think the substitution of fuse links with mcbs is a
backwards step in regard to safety.

--
Regards, John.

Please remove the "ohggcyht" before replying.
The address has been munged to reject Spam-bots.

Suggestions for PVR please
 

"charles" wrote in message
...
In article ,
J G Miller wrote:
On Fri, 01 May 2009 13:34:05 +0100, charles wrote:

Why not just use the switch on the socket?

Because in the minds of some, there still exists the possibility that
electrical power will leak through the switch due to it malfunctioning
and therefore still reach the appliances, thereby causing them to
spontaneously ignite during the night.

Strangely enough these same people have no problems leaving an electrical
compressor motor* more or less permanently connected to the power supply
which may probably be more likely to cause a fire.

* The refrigerator and/or freezer.

and an electric clock - mains ones being very common in their younger
days.


My grandmother had an electric clock built in to a wall mirror,
which was built in to the lounge wall.

It was a self-starter, but it was 50/50 whether it ran forwards or
backwards.

There was no switch, FCU or clock connecter socket, so you
had to interrupt the supply by pulling out the fuse in the CU
and then wait until you perceived the minuet hand moving
the right way.


--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

Suggestions for PVR please
 

On Fri, 01 May 2009 19:45:44 +0100, bhk wrote:

But I saw a news item on, I believe, the South-east news within the last
week about a house fire which resulted from a television set (crt-type)
self-igniting!

Was the CRT connected to a digital converter box?