Thinking of buying panasonic DVD recorder EH50

[Paul Trz]

Please excuse me for doubling up on this thread. I was previously reading a long discussion on this forum but cannnot seem to find it again.

My concern about buying a DVD recorderis that I read that it will be useless after 2008 when the turn off the analogue television signal? I'm obviously no tech head & I would really appreciate any help with following queries:

1) When they turn off the analogue signal can't you connect a digital set top box to the DVD recorder to receive the digital signal?

2) How can I tell if the Panasonic EH50 is capable of connecting to a digital set top box?

3) I currently subscribe to Optus cable TV (not digital). Does this mean that in 2008 Optus will stop transmitting their analogue signal & force everyone to upgrade to digital?

4) Is it possible to connect a digital set top box to my optus analogue receiver to achieve digital?

I know there are a lot of question here but reading through this forum has forced me to catch my breath at times, thinking "Oh no". So thanks for the education for a true elctronics novice.

[jokiin]

Plug a set top box in now, the results are much better anyway. Optus have plans to go to digital transmission down the track also, this has nothing to do with free to air TV going digital though. Short answer is buy it now and start enjoying it.

[Paul Trz]

Thanks for your reply, Jok11n.

Basically, I'm trying to do it on the cheap.

I don't want to go Optus digital because I don't want to pay the extra subscription which adds up to thousands of dollars over the years. All their box will allow me to do is record tv content & does not offer the additional advantages of a DVD recorder like back up family movies & view digital photo's on the tv plus lots of other stuff obviously.

As a moderator of the forums I would like to say to you that I think this forum is wonderful & you guys offer good advice. However, one recommendation I could make is that it would be even better if you could include an option for people to get an e-mail alert when someone has replied to their thread.

Thanks in advance.

[jokiin]

You can set the option to subscribe to threads yourself, Optus are not likely to charge any more than what you are paying once they switch to digital, digital set top boxes only give you what's on the free to air channels.

[andw]

... However, one recommendation I could make is that it would be even better if you could include an option for people to get an e-mail alert when someone has replied to their thread.

Thanks in advance.
If you click on the "UserCP" at the top of this page, then in your user control panel, select "Edit Options" under "Settings and Options" (left hand side), then under the section (middle), marked "Messaging & Notification",
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[barneyg]

My friend has a panasonic hard drive recorder and i have a pioneer hard drive recorder and we both have no trouble recording from a set top box or from digital cable tv either foxtel or now optus.