Better than a VCR, but not perfect, yet!
Written: May 17 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Incredible number of features, easy to use, great recording quality, no more video tapes!
Cons: Sometimes records the wrong channel because the IR Blaster port acts up.
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| dmatsumo's Full Review: Panasonic PV-HS1000 (20.4 GB) 20-Hours Video Recor... |
Well, it was about time for me to get a new VCR. I don't have much time anymore to watch TV, and I can't stand to miss the latest episodes of Friends, MTV soaps, or Frasier. My parents had given me their old Mitsubishi VCR, but it recorded horribly!
I've known about ReplayTV and Tivo for some time, but never really felt like purchasing a first generation unit. When I heard that Panasonic had just released their ShowStopper unit, I figured that now would be a good time. Free service, incredible recording times, plus a wealth of features... what else can you ask for?
Hmm... how about reliability? I don't mean reliability from a mechanical failure standpoint. I'm talking about reliable recordings, on time, and accurately (i.e. recording the right channel). You see, the problem is that it's very difficult for a manufacturer to take into consideration all of the different cable boxes and services out there. In my case, I've got digital cable service from AT&T, and I have a General Instruments cable box. The only way for the ShowStopper to communicate with the box (i.e. change channels) is to use the "IR Blaster" port. Basically, you switch the cable box so that it'll response to IR commands (instead of RF), and then the ShowStopper will mimic your cable box remote so that it can change the channels when necessary.
In general, this is a reasonable approach, as long as you don't block the signal! I don't feel like I can ding Panasonic for the IR Blaster, because that's the only way it can be done. However, I am upset because the communication just doesn't work consistently. I've got the IR Blasters pointed directly at my digital cable box, only 2" away, and many times I haven't been able to successfully get the channels to change! The result? Instead of taping MTV, I'm taping whatever channel the cable box was last set to. Major bummer.
If you've got a standard cable service (non-digital), then I think you'll be in luck. The ShowStopper has an internal, cable-ready tuner, so you shouldn't have any problems like mine!!! However, if you're on one of those strange cable services that use the A/B channels, then you'll have the same problems as me, unless you get one of those separate boxes that'll do the channel switching for you. The downside? You'll have to program TWO boxes, the ShowStopper, plus this external channel-switching box!!!
Last point on the connectivity side of things... they include a serial cable because some boxes have a serial input on the back! This should totally eliminate any unreliable IR communications.
And now for the good stuff...
* Installation
Installation takes about 20 minutes, but it's not because you have to navigate through several menus with complicated settings. The time is mostly spent downloading channel guides and other info over the internal modem. Setup is easy! I plugged in all the connections as follows:
AC power -> power cord
digital cable line -> coaxial cable in
S-Video out -> TV video in
RCA audio out -> TV audio in
Then I entered a few pieces of information: my area code + prefix, cable box code (for the IR emulation), dialing method, and type of cable service. It was literally as easy as that! The only small trick was that my cable box requires 3 digits to be entered, even if the channel only has two digits. For example, if I want to go to MTV (Channel 70), I have to enter 0-7-0. This threw me for a bit, but the manual clearly explains how to fix this in the cable code!
* Ease of use
Wow, this is the easiest system I've ever used, both for recording, playback, and channel surfing! You have a few guides to use, the Channel Guide, the Replay Guide, and Replay Zones.
The Channel Guide is just like a TV guide! I really like this feature, and even more so than the channel guide offered by AT&T digital cable. They have good descriptions of each show as you flip through the stations in the guide, and you don't have to press any "info" buttons to gain access to the descriptions. If you want to record the show, just hit Record twice! If you want to adjust the settings of the recording, then you can change them after you hit Record the first time.
If you want to replay shows that you've recorded, then hit the Replay Guide! 'nuff said.
The Replay Zones feature is one that I haven't quite mastered yet. Basically, it allows you to create your own "channels". You can create a zone that only has TV shows / movies with Jennifer Aniston, or one that only has action movies! It seems like a powerful option, but I haven't had a chance to play with it much, yet.
How about when you want to delete a show to free up some space? Just go to the Replay Guide, navigate to the episode, hit the select button, and choose Delete!
* Quality of living
What??? Most of you are probably asking yourselves, "What the heck is this guy talking about?". I'm just talking about how well this unit fits into your lifestyle. Are you going to put this in the living room, where you're just watching TV once in a while? Or are you going to place it in your bedroom, where you want to get a good night's rest?
One thing that had concerned me initially was the amount of heat generated by the ShowStopper. Happily, I've found that the heat dissipation is extremely small! However, the one thing I overlooked was the noise. No, the ShowStopper doesn't roar like a file server or network storage server, but it whirls about and emits a very high-frequency sound. It's just barely within one's audible range, and therefore just a little bit annoying. I've got the unit in my bedroom, and it's taken me a little while to get used to it. Eventually, you'll forget it's there, but at the beginning it'll be somewhat annoying.
* Recording quality
You can record programs at 3 levels, High, Medium, and Extended. In extended mode, you can record up to 30 hours! The other settings allow you to make higher quality recordings, but the total amount of free space diminishes with these settings. I've been extremely pleased at the medium level, which gives you about 17 hours, I think.
* TV the way you want it!
If there's a couple of features that I use over and over again, it's the "Instant Replay" and "Quick Skip". Imagine this, you're totally engrossed in your TV show, and the phone rings. It ends up being an important call, but you don't want to miss your show! How many times have you done the "uh huh, yeah, uh huh, yeah" thing while on the phone! Now you can dedicate 100% of your brain cycles to the person on the other end of the line! After you hang up, pick up the remote and hit Instant Replay (rewinds 7 seconds). Sure, this may not be enough, so then you can use the Rewind button to scan backwards! And there are many rewinding speeds available, which is pretty handy. Now that you've missed the show (live) because of the phone call, you're actually at an advantage! When you come to the next commercial break, you can actually fast forward or use Quick Skip to bypass the commercials! It's great! Of course, you can only fast forward until you're at the end of the recording (i.e. watching live TV again).
All in all, this is a great unit. Not perfect, but pretty darn close to it. I love the combination of features and ease of use. However, I don't like the communications problems over the IR Blaster port, and this is a *huge* problem. After all, if you can't record the stations you want to watch, what good is it? You can't stand next to the box every day to make sure it's recording properly. I'd give the product 5 stars, but because of this setback, I'd have to give it 3.5... If they fix the problem in the future, I'll be sure to change my rating.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
dmatsumo
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Location: San Jose, CA
Reviews written: 81
Trusted by: 19 members
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