Over the last month we have seen the release of 160G and 250G High definition Twin Tuner PVRs from firstly LG, and then Sony.  These boxes join the Toshiba HD J35 in the Australian market.

With the release of the Sony there has been considerable discussion on the DBA forums as to which machine is best and as to why you would buy one over the other.

The table below is a summary of the views of many forum members at to why they would buy one model and why they would not buy the others.

A more scientific summary of the specifications of each machine is detailed below. By way of comparison I have also included the specifications for the Foxtel IQ and the Topfield S PVR (with and without TAPs). Both the IQ and Topfield, even though only SD, provide a broad range of functionality that you would expect from a twin tuner PVR.

Last updated 11th June 2006 - Sony Firmware Update

• True twin tuner, watch one while recording another. Twin timer recordings. Chase play and record another
• 30 sec skip
• Upgradeable hard drive
• Picture quality

• Reliability problems with some machines, lockups and timer record issues, poor support
• Amateur on screen display
• No edit functions
• No resume play

• Nice on screen display
• Does most twin tuner things except dual timer recordings
• Picture quality
• Edit functions
• Price

• Can't do twin timer recordings
• No 30 second skip
• People are reporting lip-sync problems
• No resume play
• It's an LG

• True twin tuner, watch one while recording another. Twin timer recordings. Chase play and record another
• 30 sec skip and 5 minute skip
• Auto resume play
• It's a Sony

• Slow remote response
• Price
• No edit functions
• It's not really a Sony
• Splits timer recordings
• Disappearing and reappearing favourite stations
• FF pixelation on some stations

The following problems are fixed with Sony's firmware update v1.08

• Pixelation on playback
• Timer recording disappears if two timers set and watching another channel

Note: put your mouse over the ^{superscript blue} numbers below to bring up an explanation box - don't press the link

+TAPs

Toshiba

With the Toshiba having been on the market for a year or so probably most of it's faults have now been identified, in fact, early adopters, myself included, identified numerous problems on taking delivery of the HD J35. Solution to many of these problems, and some actual enhancements were delivered in 2 or 3 firmware upgrades.

However, a number of users continue to report serious problems with the machine, in fact many people have given up and returned the device. Interestingly the problems seem to be quite machine specific, some (lucky) people like myself rarely have any problems with their machine, others have many serious problems.

The major problem is that the for no reason the machine will just totally lockup, with the only remedy being to unplug from the power and then power up again.  Other people have reported problems with timer recording not occurring and severe pixelation and loss of sound.

In reading the DBA forums many an intrepid J35 user has returned more than one box, others have resorted to pulling the machine to pieces and resoldering boards or attaching cooling fans.

Other than the major lockup problem, probably the most annoying "bugs" with the J35 are the 1x rewind that seems to be much faster than that (x3), and the fact that the EPG is very slow to populate.

LG

A number of issues have been identified with the LG -

Day light saving time - somehow, with the swap to DLS the LGs lost track of what the actual time was, the cause seemed to be a combination of how the station changed their broadcast time and how LG handled this internally.  LG delivered a firmware upgrade that fixed this problem.

"Intelligent" Jump - This was a feature that perplexed initial users of the LG as it appeared to jump forward random amounts.  Users now confirm that it skips forward 3.33% of the program length, which does present some usability challenges

Editing - The editing on the LG is very slow. The larger the file the longer the time taken to edit the file (eg trimming the last 15 minutes of a 2 hour show might take the PVR 10 minutes or more). Additionally the cut points themselves can be very unreliable.

Resume Play - any program which is stopped/interrupted defaults back to the start, there is no easy way of resuming where you left off.

From a design functionality point of view the biggest issue with the LG is that the machine can not be set for two simultaneous timer recordings. It can however record two simultaneously if one of the recordings is set manually.

Sony

It would seem that functionally the Sony delivers the majority of what you would want from a true twin tuner PVR.  However it would appear that a some users are experiencing operational problems -

Pixelation - some users have reported brief periods of pixelation when playing recorded programs, does not appear to occur on all programs, just intermittently - fixed firmware version 1.08

Program splitting - single timer recordings generate multiple files.  This appears to be caused by the machine splitting a recording based on program start and end times from the broadcast EPG.

Lost timer recording - it appears that if you have two overlapping timer recordings set and you are watching a third channel when the 2nd timer is due to start, the timer will not start.  There may be a warning that occurs, but if no action is taken the timer is dropped. This would seem to be a major operational problem with the Sony, that certainly is a serious deficiency in what you expect from a true twin tuner PVR. - fixed firmware version 1.08

Lost Favourites - some users have noticed that stations disappear from their favourites list.

STOP PRESS - 7th June 2006 - Sony have released a firmware patch, v1.08. Initial reports from a few users suggest that the patch has corrected the problems with pixelation and lost timer recordings!! However, the fix appears to have had no impact on the split recordings and problems with the favourites.

Smeg's Buying Recommendations

I've had a bit think about what I would recommend to others.  But as a number of people, wiser than myself, have suggested, that probably doesn't belong on this more fact based page. So if you are interested in a more personal view of what I would recommend for my aged aunty click below. This opens in a new page.

Click here for Smeg's recommendation

Toshiba

Castel Website - HDD J35 - Click here

DBA Forum - J35 firmware V71 - Click here

LG

LG Website - LST 5402P - Click here

DBA Forum - LG HD PVR Owners discussion, LST 5402P / LST 5403P - Click here

Sony

Sony Website - SVRHD700 - Click here

DBA Forum - NEW SONY TWIN TUNER HD PVR IN 160 & 250 GB - Click here