Pace Twin DTV recorder

Good product. My 770D has run well for the 6 months or so that Ive owned it, this is not to say that it ran glitch free but it's overall preformance was good.

Sometimes it freezes (like other chip based toys) and you simply reboot. I've had the wrong times recorded and the wrong shows but I'm sure in at least a few cases it was the TV programming and not the PVR.

I have had a Pace TDC770D for two weeks. It sometimes freezes the picture; while watching the Obama/McCain debate tonight, I had to leave my large flat screen HDTV and go to my small 21 inch in my bedroom because the picture froze. Often when I program it for future recording, I return to find that it has recorded at the appropriate time, but not the channel selected; sometimes if I set it to record a show that runs 5:00 to 5:30, I would find that it has recorded from 5:00 to 5:00. Today I programmed it to record a show on CBS from 4:00 to 5:00, and it recorded the program from 5r:00 to 6:00. A technician from the cable company where I bought it is coming to look at it tomorrow; I hope this can be resolved soon, because after splurging on HDTV, I expect better performance all around than I had before.

Even though, according to the machine, it is receiving a good signal strength, the picture still breaks up occasionally. I recently bought a Toshiba flat screen digital TV and the picture has not broken up so far.

My Pace Twin DTV Recorder used to crash occasionally, but I found by replacing all the cheap hook up coax leads with high quality double screened leads, it has not crashed since. I think the unit is sensitive to room thermostats, etc.

Having bought my sister a Humax PVR for Christmas, I wish I had a Humax as well, much quicker in use and more features for less money.

Have had the Pace Twin DTV Recorder for just over two and a half years and it's been nothing but a problem! Often does not record programmes when set up to do so, also ITV frequently has no sound. The electronic program guide is useless as it is mainly empty when you go into it and frequently takes ten minutes or more to load up! Often drops channels as if there is poor reception yet my Sony IDTV picks them up fine! To cap it all one of the digits on the front display/clock has now gone out which means you cant tell what channel your on unless you hit the remote.

Incidentally my parents have the same model and have exactly the same problems bar the digit failure on the display! Would never buy a PACE product again...

I bought my Twin directly from Pace just over a year ago. I paid £175 then, and it would seem that it is available at around £150 now. It seems to me that this is good value, though the first thing I did on receiving the unit was to trash to puny 20Gb hard disk and replace it with a 80Gb unit, thus increasing the unit's ability to store video from 10 to 40 hours. Provided i) you don't mind taking a risk with the warranty and ii) are comfortable with the idea of delving into the innards of the machine, this is pretty much of a must-do. Actually the upgrade process is easy enough, and well documented on the web, just remember to factor in the cost of a replacement notebook hard drive, which are currently available in capacities of up to 100Gb. An 80Gb drive from Dabs currently costs around £70.

The unit was shipped with software that was already a year old. Sadly, it can only be upgraded by means of over-the-air transmissions, and these are few and far between. Since buying my Twin in October 2004, Pace have broadcast software upgrades in January and October 2005. Murphy's law dictated that I was away on holiday in January, so missed that one, and have only just therefore received a software upgrade (version 1.7.70) that brings me up to date with all Pace's development work over the last two years!

This upgrade has totally transformed the unit. Whereas previously the EPG was monumentally slow and frustrating, it is now very swift to load, and with many more navigational features. It is much easier to set up recordings than previously. In addition, the Twin seems much more responsive all round. The interface is now a great pleasure to use. Indeed, my sister has a Pansonic PVR/DVD combo which has a truly horrible interface by comparison.

The Twin has always excelled at providing high quality pictures, and I really think that Pace have missed a trick here - with its current software, this unit really is a terrific buy. So why did it take Pace so long to get it right?

In its previous form, I would have cautiously recommended the Pace Twin, with the proviso that users should expect some strengths and some weaknesses. Pace now seem to have fixed most of the weaknesses, so I would unreservedly recommend the unit with the new software.

Given the fact that the Twin was originally released in 2002, I'm sure that it must now have a limited life span before replacement I can only hope that Pace make it much easier to upgrade the software in future products (or release over-the-air software upgrades much more frequently), and work hard to get the software right first time!

If the Pace Twin DTV recorder worked it would be wonderful. Unfortunately, I can guarantee that if I go on holiday and set it to record one weeks programmes that at some point in the week it will crash and all further recordings will be lost. This is a known issue that has not been fixed.

I have had my Pace box now for around a month and find it to be excellent quality. The picture is better than my Sky box.

With the twin tuners I can record a program for the wife and still watch the England match without any complaints!

The 7 day EPG is slow compared to the SKY version because it downloads it at a slow speed, but you do get use to it. I still can't get use to the pause feature as it seems weird to pause the TV to answer the front door etc ...

I have had a couple of blips with the Hard disk playing back the video recording but only two since I have had the box. Pace assure me that a New software download will be available in July to cure this.

As seems to be common policy these days, Pace clearly rushed these units out before a complete or even moderate testing program!

The initial level of bugs (crashes/lock-ups) completely cancelled out any possible intial pleasure of owning one of these machines.

From that point and after a few firmware downloads (that have long since dried up) the unit settled down into more infrequent but no less stressful unreliability.

I still never know whether an un-supervised recording is going to just completely fill the hard-drive and then show as "nothing recorded."

That's the unit's absolute favourite trick.

Just today in fact the unit now crashes every time Channel 4 is selected!

Hence the inspiration to finally write a review.

Unfortunately, for those wanting to escape video tape when I bought this unit there was little alternative, and it certainly wasn't the cheapest option!

Considering the general reliability of almost all consumer electronics (even the cheapest stuff) I would say that the Pace Twin is the worst unit I have ever bought.

I will avoid buying anything else from the "Pace" brand at any cost.

Power down at least once a week. PACE customer support leaves a lot to be desired. 2 years and still no fix to the problem.

Had my Pace Twin DTV recorder for a year now and for the few faults mine has shown, I still wouldn't be without it. I have read reports by others who seem to have suffered a great deal more than I have. Mine will fully lock up very occasionally requiring a power down and sometimes on playback the picture will freeze for a second and thenb accelerate back to where it should be again. Some software versions seem to be worse than others. The unit seems to be sensitive to temperature and this occurs more if the unit gets hot. I had a look inside recently whilst fitting an 80GB disk (43 hours of space - yippee!) and there is no internal fan so no surprises there then. Playback picture quality is indistinguishable from the original broadcast.

If Pace had finished the software to eliminate the few faults, they could have had a world beater. The user interface is superb, even my mother could understand it!