Hello, I have an LG LST -5403 HDD recorder. I owned it for two weeks now & want to hear other's feed back on this unit. Firstly, I've owned a Pioneer DVR-510H for the past 2 years with an 80Gig HDD. Apart from the fact that the HDD is too small & it wont record HD, this machine is brilliant & it wont be leaving my possession any time soon. When the 5 Yr warranty runs out I might try to retro- fit a larger Hdd to it.
Now to the LG. I have found the STB part of this unit to be excellent, Clear, crisp pictures, good onscreen display info & easy to use. The recorded images are also excellent, no different from "off air" programmes.
Now for the short comming that I have found to date.
1) Only one timer - you can only set one timer to record on one tuner on the timer, the other must be done manually. Minor but a pain in the arse.
2)When playing back a recorded programme, there is no "resume" function. ie If you want to stop a programme to do other things & come back to it later, you must use the search function & hope that you can remember where you were. A MAJOR PAIN IN THE ARSE.
3) The "skip funtion" is rather vague with no real useful purpose. The Pioneer has a "skip" function (CM) that advances the programme forward 30 seconds per push of the button upto 4.00 minutes ahead. Very useful for getting rid of those pesky Adverts. This ommision in the LG is unforgivable.
4) Editing unwanted material from a recorded programmes (read ads) is very time consuming. In the Pioneer, you divide the programme into two parts & then ito two parts again so the ads are a chapter to themselves. You then delete that chapter with the ads, afterwhich you combine all the chapters of the wanted programme to form a complete programme. The deleting of chapters of ads is almost instant. This sounds complicated but is quite easy when you get the hang of it.
The LG actually has a simpler system, similar to the later Pioneer units,where you view the programme to be edited in a screen, Press "mark" at the beginning & end of the ads & then delete that section. This takes an eternity to do - upto 3 ~4 minutes per bracket of 5 ads & a progress line appears. This process is almost instant in the Pioneer. THIS IS A DOUBLE MAJOR PAIN IN THE ARSE.

CONCLUSIONS
The LG LST-5402 & LST-5403 Hdd HD recorders have many atributes & COULD be a great product. However
they have too many ommisions at the moment for me to recomend purchasing one.
I am going to try to contact LG to see if there is a software upgrade to overcome any of these shortcomings. My unit had the "time" software upgrade done in my home 4 days after purchase by the retailer from whom I purchased it.
If I could return it for a refund I would do so but as I bought it as a package with a 40" Samsung HD LCD TV, they wont do it, so I am stuck with it !

Hi Sam, thanks for the feedback:

NB: ALL PVRs record the exact broadcast - so playback is always identical to live.

I'd check out the FAQ (Has some comments that make the LG skip moderately more usable):

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=29072

The 'time' patch is the only one available (and I doubt any others will be forthcoming)

This is a neat quick HD PVR comparrison site:

http://smeg.host.sk

If you've got lots of time then perhaps peruse here:

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=32560&hl=

Regards

Peter Gillespie

Hello Peter,
Thanks for that reply. I will post any information that I find as I find it (IF I find It). I wouls still like any feed back from others on this topic.
Regards,
Samgalah.

Hello Again. This is an uptade to my last posting regarding my experiences with the LG LST-5403 HD HDD recorder / STB.
I stand by what I said about the brilliant picture using HDMI to My Samsung 40" LCD TV (Latest model). The STB portion of it is BRILLIANT. But the HDD recorder, althoug it records a great picture is too basic for a modern machine, with tooo many shortcomings. ( see my previous post)
As a result of this I wrote a letter to LG South Australia outlining my complaints. I recevied a phone call from LG & although no words were actually spoken to say as much, I got the opinion that my complaints were not isolated & that their feelings were " Oh no, not another one" !
I was asked to take it back to the retailer, who then spoke to the State manager of LG. The upshot of this is that I have returned this unit, as it does not do what I need it to do. I will wait until something becomes available that will.

My Topfield 5000Masterpiece works the exact same way as you have described the LG unit.

I dont see that as a problem.

Dont be so critical of it and enjoy it, as it is a great product. I love mine.

Why don't you try in the original thread here

Philip