HD receivers -- please HELP! (1 Viewer)

[GerardoHP]

I bought the Panasonic receiver and it sucks. The picture is great, but the menu is excruciatingly slow, incomplete and hard to program. To boot, it has a noisy fan that won't quit. It S-U-C-K-S! I'm dying to get something better, but I have no idea what's out there. I tried to look at the threads here but people usually refer to the machines by model number and, frankly, I don't know if they're are talking about a receiver, a TV or what. Can you please help?

 

[CarlS]

I have the Panasonic also and I know how you feel. The Toshiba DST3000 is also available and most have had good experiences with it. Here is a link with a price and picture.
http://www.onecall.com/PID_10249.htm

 

[Michael Lee]

The RCA DTC-100 is available at a great price, but the tuning is excruciatingly slow also. I recently acquired the Toshiba DST-3000 and I find it to me much quicker to zip through. A downside is that I have to go through a number of nested menus to switch antennas for my OTA HD signal and my cable HD signal. Thankfully, my Pronto (and AndyV's expertise in that)has made the procedure just a single press of a button.
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[Michael Lee]

You could also get the transcoder from RCA. It is the VHDC300. It also retails for 129.95 and you could probably get a discount if purchased with the DTC-100.
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[GerardoHP]

All this info is really helpful, you guys. Thanks so much. I tried to get the RCA from Good Guys, but someone there told me it's been discontinued. Is that not true, then?
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Gerardo
"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

 

[Al Rebchook]

I'm in the market for a receiver and am considering the Panasonic, mainly because it has RGB outputs.
What do you mean the tuning is slow? Are you talking channel surfing here?
Since converting to TIVO that is no longer an issue for me.
Appreciate your input. Thanks.

 

[GerardoHP]

The Panasonic -- a frustrated overview:
You punch in a station number and, 2/3 of the time, the machine doesn't get it, or gets it wrong. You have to point the remote precisely at the receiver. You push the first number button. You have to wait a second. You push the second button. Wait. Push the third. Wait. Then the machine takes a couple of seconds and, if you're lucky and didn't confuse it, it will take you there.
The wait to review the menu is unbearably slow and awkward. The menu has too much information in it and, according to the guy who set up my equipment, takes too long for that reason. The menu is also very unclear and unnecessarily complicated, with the graphic of a weird wheel that spins to deliver the information.
Also, the "Favorite Stations" set up is preposterous. You can input the numbers but the machine doesn't tell you what stations you're looking at, so if you don't remember that TCM is 256, you're screwed.
Then, whenever you invoke the grid, it gives you the guide to the stations but it's isolated from picture and sound.

The remote is not RF, so if it controls another TV in a different part of the house, you have to go to the receiver and to operate it. Clear across the house.
And that's just for starters. But of course, you have to see it to experience it. I'm used to the SONY non-HDTV receiver and loved it. This feels like it's years behind, and even the man who sold it to me says it sucks.
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Gerardo
"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

 

[GaryS]

Gerardo,
If you like the Sony receivers then you should definately consider the HD100. I was one of the lucky ones to receive one in the first shipment and it is identical to the current Sony receivers. Unfortunately it may be difficult to find one.