Panasonic TUCT20 Review

Good Points
Compact design, good picture quality - when it works!

Bad Points
Keeps locking, requiring power down and re-setup to fix.

General Comments
Not being a big sports fan and therefore a prime candidate for the great satellite TV rip-off, Freeview sounded just fine for me. Have always trusted the Panasonic brand, but frankly, what a disappointment. I am now on my second of these units - the first went back as it wouldn't work at all! This one just about works, but suffers from a number of problems and I'm currently trying to get this sorted out too.



Firstly it has a tendency to not latch onto the strongest available signal for some channels - such as The Hits, TMF and UK Brightideas, so we find ourselves having to put up with "the Norman Collier effect" (sound and vision drop-outs) on these channels, except for the rare occasions where a re-tune makes the unit latch onto the stronger transmitter. Then there's the video and audio going out of sync. Finally and worst of all there's the locking out, where the unit freezes and the only means of correction is to waste 5-10 minutes powering down and re setting up.



Frankly, this half-baked product is a disgrace to the Panasonic brand. What's more, if this is the future of TV transmissions (as proposed by the UK Government, who want to switch off analogue transmissions) then I urge an urgent re-think!



Truly dire and most definitely not recommended.