Yes I can get one channel in small picture on top of another channel full screen (with sound) BUT then I just want to swap so the channel in the small picture goes full screen with what was in the big picture now on top in the small picture. eg Watching/Listening to 7 full screen with pip channel 10 on top in small window in corner. Press button (hopefully just one not heaps) and I am now watching/listening to 10 full screen and 7 is in the small window. I really find this feature useful for me.

Oh well but would be nice to order them.

So it does work, will have to recheck whats available in Melbourne.

But is anyone subscribed or does dgtec/icetv say it works?

Thanks for all your answers.


I notice the internal hardware specs of Dgtec seem almost identical to the Mediastar DT920PVR and to a lesser extent Yess DVBT2688PVR and Digicrystal 9070p anyone crazy enough to try their firmware (might not work and could require reflashing though)?

Ok, I uploaded the latest firmware 061009B last night.
I haven't had a proper investigation yet, but there's no
obvious differences to the previous firmware. The "Files"
button still doesn't work. Maybe this was just a minor
bug fix? I agree that DGTEC should at least provide
list of the changes they make with each firmware update.

I've found with the latest version that going into the EPG doesn't wipe out my existing timers... Woohoo!

Other than that, no difference as yet...

Edit:
I've also signed up for the ICETV 30day trial... and have a copy of the current guide in XML format... now where do I put it?

I'm amazed how many DGTEC DVD recorders are freezing or locking up but have you noticed its always when you do the same particular functions or hasn’t anyone ever experimented the freezing phenomena yet? Mine doesn’t freeze on normal DVD disc playing or DVD hard-drive playing normal DVD vob types. However when I play avi or mpegs I’ve downloaded from the Internet it sometimes locks up on a few of them Why well as far as I can understand it doesn’t like certain codecs. For instance it doesn't like certain avi audio avi 3 audio 3ivx certain mpeg 1 or 2s depending or variable bit rates. Also when I played it at the beginning for the 1st 4 days it locked up 3 times but since I removed the unit off the carpet & into the cabinet it isn't as hot or static. Why don’t you inform me & the rest of us, exactly when it is locking up or freezing then eh?

PS is that Huff at DGTEC you are talking about? Yes I find him helpful & the other guy their too but I just hope they aren’t being overly friendly because they know their units sometimes freeze & don't do as they should like record analog channel 31 TVS but can only play them. Refer to my other posts for this. Now that I have given a brilliant synopsis, I hope I get the same in return. Thankyou.

I know it is confusing (shame we don't have a more specific title) but this thread is about the DGTEC DG-SD200PVR & DG-SD80PVR, both twin digital (no analogue) tuner units with no dvd recorder. That is why we can't record analogue channel 31 and never will. If you want to talk about the dgtec DVD recorder can you keep that in its thread DGTEC DG-SD160DVR.

Played a bit more with it only few things that really want/need:-

1. Picture IN Picture support improved, at the moment its a clumsy mess. Make it more like how twin tuner TV's work. Swap channels keeping position and layering. (picture AND picture works ok)
2. Being able to timer record the now (already started) program from epg.
3. Recording for a 30/60/90 minute amount easily (not having to set up a timer). One way would be to display time slots after now/next in epg even with no guide info.
4. This is probably hardware problem but in standby it doesn't pass through antenna/rf (to tuner 2 out).
   
   Little things that are bugs/annoying/suggestions/dreaming:-
   
   
5. Channel up down buttons should use your favourites list, press numbers for others (allowing guide channels etc tuned but not coming up)
6. Sort/order favourites list.
7. The font for the detailed program info (red button) is too small/hard to read.
8. Fast forward/rewind/pause/etc brings up an time index in top right corner which requires exit to get rid of (play could clear it).
9. The playback time index doesn't update often enough if ff/jumping(using right arrow), END doesn't always appear if jumping.
10. During playback a remaining time value display would be nice.
11. Sound takes a while to start when playing back video. (will try the pause/play trick)
12. Favourites button (and other minor things) stuffs your pip setup (menu doesn't).
13. Video list would be better with all info (name/datetime/length/etc) on each line and preview at top of screen
14. Video list would be nice if it converted date to yesterday/today/day of week for anything in last 7 days.
15. Videos could have a resume from last postion and a watched flag.
16. Timer could have a monday-friday occur option.
17. Video's would be nice if it recorded detailed epg info for show so red button worked during playback.
18. Front display would be good if you could select clock/video index/video remaining/channel/completely blank(off).
19. Can't set RF UHF output channel (not that I have used it), sounds like default is 31.
20. Would be great if it subdivided recording when now changed into different names (eg check now each 10 min and record that to its txt file)
21. Generic external guide support, hopefully simple xml/csv/txt file.
22. Music manager could have multiple playlists
23. Before connecting to pc output the timer list to a file (xml/csv/txt whatever) then on disconnect reload from this file.
24. Be able to schedule it to connect(USB) to PC at certain hour (say 4am) on a regular basis. Allowing pc to update timer list/guide/take off files/whatever.
25. Auto detect an attempt by PC to connect via USB.
26. Love it to play mpg/xvid/divx files that are copied to it (and subtitle files as well while I'm dreaming).
27. Be able to record High Definition channels (like toppy) even though we can't play them on the unit.

I like the pressing right arrow during playback for a ~40 second jump and left arrow for -~20 secs. Don't know what would be the perfect time periods for that. Seems this is undocumented along with the Music Manager/Press 9 to get radio, I'm sure there are others.

Does anyone recognize the firmware file format? Tried to find an icetv file reference with a fairly straight hex to ascii conversion, didn't find readable text.

It seems my HDD is a Seagate ST3200826ACE, specifically aimed at PVR type units.

Will read up on file transfer stuff and have a play around tommorow but what software do people find the easiest to convert/view files (all these have been mentioned ProjectX, VideoReDo, ConvertXtoDVD,MPEG Streamclip) ? How about converting xvid/divx/mpg/dvd's to files you can play on the dgtec any tips?

What is the oldest firmware file anyone has (oldest I have 060120A 051221A (thanks kiwigene)) ? Would like a copy of oldest if possible.

I have been using a freeware program called "DVD Double Shrink" found on the cover disk of the latest PC User Mag. to convert the video transport stream (video.ts) files found on the DGTEC hard drive. The resulting MPEG2s can be burnt to a DVD for archiving. No facility to covert MPEGs back to .ts files to play from PVR's HDD though!

Re the lastest firmware release, has anyone been able to successfully use the "bookmark feature"? For example if you are playing back a recorded movie/tv show and want to pick up viewing it from a particular spot at a later time, the bookmark is supposed to mark the spot for later retrieval.

There's a "bookmark feature"?

How is it supposed to work - which buttons etc?

I have 051221A if you're interested. I did have one from August last year I think,
but can't seem to find it - probably deleted.

To quote from the DGTEC 80/200 PVR manual:

Bookmark
This function provides the user with the option to add bookmarks to recorded videos. Adding the first bookmark designates the end of the last chapter and the beginning of the next chapter.
By adding a number of bookmarks you can divide your recorded video into "Chapters". To add a bookmark press the "Bookmark" key on the remote at the desired point in the recorded video. To navigate between chapters press the "Chapter" key on the remote control.

The "bookmark" key is on the second bottom row on the remote control with the word "Mark" above it.

The "Chapter" key is next to that - looks like an open book.

When I press mark during playback the screen shows "Start" plus the time stamp. When you press "Mark" again the screen adds an End time stamp. Then if you press the chapter key the video goes to the start time and plays to the end time. This info is not saved when the playback is stopped.

It seems like it doesn't work in the manner the manual suggests.

I have frimware version 050722b if you would like it ,just a quick question have signed up up for free icetv how do i activate it and do they cater for country vic viewers ?

have downloaded latest firmware and have found that if you are timeslipping and wont get to watch it for some reason hit record and will save all that you have not watched (quite handy) would like to see capability of going to PIP while timeslipping (incase you want see other channel or decide to record it.

They don't have a specific guide for vic country areas so you use the melbourne one see:- http://www.icetv.com.au/guide/guide_vic_regional.html

Since the DGTEC isn't in their supported list and I couldn't find any instructions I just got (see howtoretrieveiceguide) the standard XML file from http://iceguide.icetv.com.au/cgi-bin/epg/i...cgi?op=xmlguide and put in on the HDD using various names but had no luck. (Just login then that link should work)

Hopefully the new HD DGTEC will improve the details/support (dgtec state icetv support for it on website) as it appears to be the one in the picture on http://www.icetv.com.au/cgi-bin/webcoupon.cgi?client=dgtec even though DG-SD80PVR or DG-SD200PVR are mentioned.

Oh. My. God.

IceTV works. It WORKS!

I'm a bit excited about this.

You need to have the hard-disk mounted via USB on your computer. You--I presume--need the latest firmware, but that's available at the DGTEC site. You go to this address:

http://iceguide.icetv.com.au/cgi-bin/epg/i...tch_dgtec_guide OR if that doesn't work, try linking from the address above: http://www.icetv.com.au/cgi-bin/webcoupon.cgi?client=dgtec

and put in your username and password (I've got a paid subscription, but I imagine/hope it would work for the free trial) and you save the the file iceguide_cgi.txt to your DGTEC's drive. Or save it and copy it across later.

And then you go to EPG and there it is. This has made me very very happy. Must try the skip forward/back and the save the timeslip buffer thing soon. And install a bigger hard drive.

It's like a whole new machine!

Also: not sure if IceTV covers country Victoria yet. It doesn't come up on the list when you set the widget (which is separate from the DGTEC, I use it with EyeTV). And just noticed that that question's already been answered.

And, cttc:

MPEG Streamclip is a fantastic freeware program for Macs, so if you've got a Mac it's an elegant intuitive way to go. ProjectX runs (fast) in Java, so it'll work on anything. Once you realise how much of it you can ignore it stops being intimidating and in any case it does a fantastic job. It's what I use most of the time because it feels quicker than MPEG SC and you can set up the next lot of files while it's processing the last. Although it's fast enough that I usually don't bother. (MPEG SC can batch files, but I think you have to be doing the same thing with all of them, if that makes sense.) Haven't found anything that can put other files onto the DGTEC in a playable format, but if anything can do it--with sufficient tweaking--then ProjectX could.

Sorry for the long post--still excited,

Dan

So can anyone with a DGTEC PVR get this 3 month trial of ICETV or
do you have a coupon from a newly purchased model?

And that's good news about recording the timeshifted program.
Will definitely give that a go.

As to bookmarking - has anyone tried bookmarking while
a program is recording? - perhaps it'll work as described then.

The new HD DGTECs come with three months free EPG--it's not really a trial, it's something you would otherwise buy from IceTV for $39 ($33 at the moment).

IceTV offers a full 30 day free trial at this address:

http://www.icetv.com.au/cgi-bin/webfreetrial.cgi

Enjoy,

Dan

Great stuff Mactor! It works, you can keep scrolling down and pick anything from the 7 days! I never looked closely enough at that special offer for dgtec page . And thanks for the software info, got mpeg steamclip for windows and will play around with projectx.

Cool--I stupidly didn't realise that MPEG SC was platform "neutral." It really is a fantastic piece of software.

By the way, many thanks for alerting me to the forward/back arrow skip feature, which is magic. Either one of these new tricks would have been cause for celebration--both is superb. Almost feel like buying another DGTEC just to thank them. (But won't , at least not yet. Shame the ridiculous Myer prices have ended.)

Is it worth starting a new thread to let people know about this?

Dan

Thought it might be better if I started it, as I might be able to edit the first message for longer (higher status). see http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=42719

Many thanks for spreading the word . (Little embarrassed about 'Mactor got it working,' which does seem to take something away from all the sterling efforts of DGTEC and IceTV combined. Really, I just did what it said on their websites.)

Cheers though--looking good. Can't fathom why more people aren't excited about this.

Dan

PS If you're looking for info on the potentially overwhelming ProjectX, this

http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/DigiTV/projectx.htm

is a little out of date but a good place to start. (You just have to work out where everything is in the newer version.)

I'm not excited about the requirement for PVR-to-PC connectivity (otherwise I would have bought a PC tuner card) and effectively paying for otherwise free tv. My timer list is full and I only make a few manual adjustments every week, so in my case, icetv isn't worth it.

thanks for that have not got ice working yet have copied it across but not showing up will try again later.

cheers

Don't forget to turn it on in the menu Settings/EPG Settings/Ice Guide/On. I am running 061009B Firmware. Still would like that old firmware you have.


Even if you don't do many Timer Recordings it is great to have the program listings available to see whats on if you don't have a paper guide handy. The file format of the guide looks fairly simple so free grabbers/producers will probably appear. Computer only has to be connected once or twice a week.

Updated over the weekend to the new 061009B firmware and while I'm very happy to have the timer deletion problem seemingly fixed, I had some general wiredness going on tonight...

I was taping two channels at the same time and the machine locked up - the shows kept recording, I just couldn't flip between tuners, stop recording, etc... After about ten minutes it all came good again and I could manually stop recording, change channels, etc.

Then I went to replay one of the recordings later in the night, and the scrolling in the recorded program library went nuts - one press of the down button would rapidily move through about 5 programs on the list, same for the up button. Trying to select the program I wanted was a bit like playing with a chocolate wheel where you scroll through the list and try and land on the show you want to watch...

Is this a new "feature"?

Adam P

I had the same issue, machine locking up. No response from the remote or front panel. I didnt wait more than 2 minutes before I pulled the power plug. Hopefully this can be fixed with a firmware update as the Dgtec is becomming a great PVR

hi all have just had pvr do same thing as used to do when i first got before firts or second firmware update wife hit record came home stopped it went to watch program stopped at 18minute mark and yet says it recorded for 3 hours cannot use goto function to get past 18 min mark. when you go to video manager al shows are blank have to turn machine off to regain these programs anyone else had this prob ?

Cttc if you want that firmware mail me thirstydirt@hotmail

Hi all , was in Wow S/nSound Annerley on Saturday and saw a Dgtec HD160 pvr in stock.Is there any threads or reports on this,I think the exact model was DGHD160. Had on the box twin tuner record two watch one ice tv enabled etc priced at $799. Would like to hear back about this ....Thanks Timmsy.

This is an "old" bug I think. Make sure you update the firmware to the latest.
Another option is to rename the program - don't have any spaces - then try
again. That used to work for me.

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=42533
http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=42788

yeah i know it is an problem had it early on but have latest firmware and machine automatically names file from standard epg wich has spaces.
not sure wat the go is will try changing file name.

Ok, I've also got the ICETV guide working.

I just used Mactor's instructions:

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.phps=&s...st&p=505592

Easy as.

The main comment I have is that I just wish the actual TV stations
provided the guide like the ABC does. It's obviously not difficult.
Why we should have to download/upload files - it is just crazy.

The commercial TV stations don't want to make it easy for you to skip advertisements.

New Problem...

Not sure if this has anything to do with daylight savings, but tonight my PVR200 went nuts during a recording of Mythbusters, which was set up as a weekly timer record. It triggered okay, but after a few seconds it would stop, then a few seconds later fire up again, etc, etc. I set tuner 2 to record another channel (Ch 7) to see if it would settle down, and while it then recorded SBS with no problems, the new tuner recording would do the same thing - resulting in about 50 seperate 2 second records in my video list before I hit Record Stop on both tuners.

Clearing out the timer records seem to bring it back but I did have a few lock ups in the process.

The time change here in NSW is the only thing different since last Monday night...

Anyone else see this?

Cheers,

Adam

Something similar here in Melb as well.... I had 3 seperate recordings listed for one program - none of which were complete and they had finish times earlier than the start!

Looks like it got confused with the DLS changeover....

I noticed that the EPG times were all an hour off until after the timer recording stopped - then it seems to have come good.

I wonder why it had problems on Monday but not on Sunday - my Sunday timers worked fine!

I noticed some timing issues too. I think it has more to do with what
is provided in the digital signal rather than the PVR. ABC was correct
on Sunday - but 10 still had AEST instead of AEDT.

Does anyone know how to remove the on-screen time counter during playback on the Dgtec 200 Gig PVR.

It's annoying and obtrusive. I have not yet downloaded the firmware upgrade 061009B.

Ideas please

Jelly Roll

Press exit. Should work on the older firmware if I remember correctly.

DGTEC & Mac, USB disconnect method (firmware nr 061009B)

Having just (2 weeks ago) bought a DG-SD200PVR, I figure it is about time to ask a couple of questions.

I gather there are a couple of Mac users with DG-SD200PVR's on here. May I ask if any of you has a foolproof method for disconnecting the USB cable after transferring files?

Using the method proposed by the DGTEC manual, leads to the Mac error message indicating that a peripheral has been disconnected incorrectly and using the correct Mac method (drag to trash/press the eject-unmount button), leads to the PVR hanging.

The other question I have regarding the USB story is, why does it take between 50 and 70 seconds for the HD to mount on the desktop?

Or is that just me?

Probably another Mac issue. I've got a PC and it takes a few seconds to recognise
the PVR as a HDD when connected.

Dear kiwigene, hi, thanks for the fast response. I had a pretty comprehensive look through the 17 pages of this DGTEC forum and didn't see too many mentions of Mac problems. Is there another forum that mentions these Mac issues that I should be posting to or looking at?

Cheers and all the best

Hey People,
Just like to say thanks for the info on the PVR 200, I took a punt and bought one at greys online auction for $270. Pretty happy with it only because I have read all the forum stuff.
I was pretty annoyed about the lack of analogue tuning even when the manual said it could,were I live we have 3 analogue channels then ABC, ABC2, SBS in digital. Just have to wait for the other channels to become digital I spose.
Anyway I found that windows media player plays .mts files and you can save then save them as .mpg files which they then play on Media center, however the strange thing is no other program will play them now.
I've tried all the suggested programs too much mucking around for me. I'm happy with watching the programs on the laptop the quality is great but can't edit them. Duh

Hey NucMed--

The DGTEC has always taken a long time to mount on my iMac's desktop, but then my iMac's in another room and I'm definitely over the theoretical limit of USB cabling (~5 metres). I use a powered hub and a repeater cable, but the connection is certainly more stable the closer you can get your Mac to the PVR.

I have noticed the occasional freeze after disconnection--but I didn't notice them until I upgraded the DGTEC's hard-drive last week. A lot of disk-related activities now seem to take longer, but I haven't connected the two machines often enough since to establish a definite pattern.

I'd recommend always ejecting from the Mac end before you unplug the cables. That ensures that any file transfers are actually completed, not just pending in caches (though I'm not sure how often that's necessary in these UNIX days). If the DGTEC does freeze after disconnect--and the latest firmware does seem slightly less stable than previous builds, but IMO worth it for the new features--I haven't had any problems or data loss switching the DG off at the wall. Just make sure you switch it on again (with a power button, not just at the wall) if you have timers set.

Hope that helps, and sorry it's not more conclusive. I'll post more info if I discover any.

Cheers,

Mactor

PS I think kiwigene just meant "Macs have/cause problems," but that could be my kneejerk Mac-head paranoia speaking .

Hah hah - no not at all. I'm Mac lover from way back. They're just too expensive for
what I need a computer for at the moment. But it doesn't surprise me if Macs have
problems compared to PC's, as most of the world is geared up for satisfting the PC
market. So it's not so much a problem with the Mac - but a problem with the the PVR
interfacing with the Mac.

Cheers kiwigene; sorry about taking your name in vain

Danny

Dear Mactor & kiwigene, hi and thanks for the tips. Unfortunately I'm not much of a computer head and have just used what has been put in front of me since 1979 (Apple II's, DEC PDP's and HP 41's & 67-97's in those days).

I've tried ProjectX and MPEG Streamclip for the .MTS files thing, but can't get it to work (well, show video when dragged into the application. ProjectX comes up with a seperate window full of errors and MPEG Streamclip shows a window with a dragable slider across the middle, but no video. Any hints would be appreciated (bearing in mind I had to find a compiled version of ProjectX on account of I've no idea how to compile this sort of thing myself).

Back to the USB story, the length of cable is 180cm, so it falls well within the putative length restriction (and works well in other capacities).

My understanding of these sorts of connections (IEEE1394, USB) were that they were a "standard" and so as long as it adhered to the "standard", everything would work correctly. I'm unsure as to what "standard" USB adheres to, although IEEE 1394, to me, says something about International Electrical Engineers, so I assume that USB also has some sort of international standards nomenclature along those lines too.

I'm also unsure as to why the PVR insists on you "turning on" the ability to connect. In my mind, I thought the whole idea of USB et al, was to auto detect connections without any help/interference. It certainly works that way when I plug in a camera, external HDD, iPod or USB stick. Or am I just being a bit gullible here?

Has the USB standard been subverted by the PVR manufacturer to only allow this extremely clunky connection method, and is this the sort of thing that could be rectified in these firmware updates (do we know who actually writes these updates and what sorts of quality controls they implement)?

The idea that this is something that has been manipulated by the manufacturer (bastardisation of the standard) rather than being Mac specific, is demonstrated by my experiences, as mentioned above, that every other USB device, regardless of its provenence (Microsoft included), connected in the past two years has "just worked" and mounted on the desktop within 5-10 seconds of connection and requires nothing more than dragging to the Trash or pressing the eject key to de-mount.

Apart from this USB weirdness, I guess I'm happy with the purchase, despite what appears to be some bad press on here regarding DGTEC (are they as bad as many appear to be saying, or does this fall into the Ford v Holden, Imaginary Friend v Imaginary Friend, Mac v Windows, Team v Team rivalry?).

At the risk of getting my head bitten off, comparing brand to brand and feature to feature, I found (for me 2 years ago) it was cheaper to buy a Mac laptop than an IBM laptop (I gather the prices have dropped further since then).

One thing that I also find a little strange about this whole "no-name" brand (from my viewpoint and I suspect from many others, Topfield et al are "no name" brands) PVR story, is where are the well known companies with their machines (not the badge engineered versions)? I find it really difficult to believe that the likes of Denon, Panasonic, Sony et al find it beyond their abilities to produce (what is essentially) a relatively simple machine. Maybe it is just me being gullible again and everyone just contracts out to China/Korea/Malaysia/Taiwan these days.

OK, I've had my rant, back into my box. Cheers and all the best

Well all the "known names" started out as "no names" and had to make their NAME by producing products which were better/different/cheaper/more disastrous in some way than equivalent products.

hornblower

If you've downloaded the compiled version of ProjectX then this:

http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/DigiTV/projectx.htm

should put it all into perspective for you. Although dragging is supposed to work, I find it more reliable to press the + button and select files with the resulting 'open' dialogue box.

Likewise I'd try the file menu in MPEG Streamclip, rather than dragging. Just be sure in either case that the MTS file is first, and then the 001, 002, etc files follow in order.

Far as I can tell, DGTEC are valuing reliability over convenience (stop sniggering up the back there), and so the menu command basically tells the machine to "stop being a PVR and start being an external USB hard-drive." Think you'll find that all of the items you mentioned behave differently when they're plugged in to when they're not; you can't take photos with the camera, for instance (although I may be well behind the curve on this one--my old camera also requires a 'PC mode' to be turned on before it'll connect). Since the DGTEC can write data to the hard-drive from two different sources (the off-the-air video stream and an attached computer) it's locked into one mode or the other for the safety of your files. Doesn't have to be that way, but it seems like a reasonable choice for what's basically an appliance.

Of course, it's also possible they just couldn't work out how to do it differently.

I certainly wouldn't get between a former DGTEC customer and their ire . But as a relatively late arrival on the playing field, I've found them to be pretty good, and working hard to improve all the time. I feel that I got good value for money.

And I'm not in the least surprised that you found a Mac that worked out cheaper than an equivalently-specced Wintel. I'll bet it's still working perfectly, too.

Cheers,

Danny

I don't dispute the right of the newer/smaller companies to exist or "innovate" (well, like Microsoft "innovating"), more, just where are the companies that supply broadcast equipment such as Sony? Companies such as Sony are all over broadcasting, you cannot go into a TV studio without falling over their equipment.

Certainly that has a huge amount to do with their market share over the years from the days of Trinitron, UMatic through to BetaCam Digital (and this is the reason I've always bought Sony equipment for TV/video and to a lesser degree, their ES audio, it, if made in Japan, has always been rock solid and has run reliably).

It just seems that the PVR market is almost invisible to them (certainly they are selling some badge engineered equipment, but nothing from their own R&D).

Cheers and all the best

Try VideoReDo. Works good for me. 30 days free trial versions are available.

Then just get a DVD "authoring" program to make a playable DVD. I use DVDLab.



You'll probably find that these companies do make the product you want, but since Oz is
so far behind the times in the digital TV stakes they've not bothered marketing them here.
That'll change in the near future.

Dear Mactor, hi and thanks for the tips.

I managed to get the ProjectX thing to work sorta kinda ok, although the MPEG Streamline app still just puts a slider across the middle of a blank screen (it keeps telling me that I need to spend money to get some sort of QuickTime plug-in to do something else, although the way that you explain things, I don't need that plug-in).

As for your camera needing to be put into "PC" mode, my 2001 Sony just "plugs & plays" with no help or intervention on my behalf (it may well be that different manufacturers do it differently and Canon, Nikon et al all have their own iteration).

The thought that an appliance needs several instructions to do something, almost should disqualify it from the apellation, "appliance".

I think it was Steve Jobs from Apple, who once said that computers should be like toasters, and to a degree, they have become more like that and the manufacturers of PVRs should adopt that attitude as well.

I think that this also goes to my concern about the USB "issue". The smaller companies have not got the engineering understanding or "race memory" of companies such as Apple or Sony that have developed their equipment from scratch (yes, I know they buy their chips et al from elsewhere, but they have done the hard yards with integration and QA), do their own software writing and understand the importance of things "just working".

Speaking of which, are the firmware updates something that appear with regularity? Will they eventually employ a fully sighted non-achromatopsic software designer/engineer with a degree of aesthetic and has studied human interface guidelines (and gets them)? Or is it just the room full of chimpanzees method of programming thing?

The newer/smaller companies, well, it appears that by using the Sussan method of manufacture, they really are just happy pumping out container loads of things that by and large function, mostly, well more often than not, but ultimately fail to provide the best experience. You may think that is being unduly harsh, but if TV's or VCR's misbehaved the same way PVR's have been reported to do, there'd be questions asked in the House.

These are really just rhetorical questions designed to help with spleen venting, again, cheers and all the best

it should be noted that the mediastar pvr also acts in a similar way - when the usb connection is connected to a PC, the PVR functionality is locked out, so the box acts just like a STB.

so dgtec arent the only ones adopting this way of doing things... whether its a safety feature or a limitation of the software/operating system is still to be decided