LG LST-5402P

Bad – Buy something else until LG provide a 3 year warranty like Philips did when their products failed like this LG one does. Easy to Use Hard Drive failed less than 2 years after I bought it. Not sure how that costs to fix so for now it is simply an ornament gathering dust.

Terrible – I would not get another one (even if this did'nt happen) due to not being able to pre-set 2 shows at the same time. When it was working, I found it easy to use. From just one month after I purchased it it back in 2008, it kept going back to 1 st January. It took a lot of goes to put the correct date back. This was very anoying as I do shift work, which my pre-set shows would'nt tape.I rang LG who kept fobbing me off. Two weeks ago it did it again but this time I could'nt get the date to change & this time I could'nt turn the machine off. I rang LG again & this time made them give me a repairer. They rang me yesterday to tell me it's going to cost me nearly $400 to replace the mother board. I dont know what I'm going to do as yet... NOT HAPPY!

Good – Works very well, is very reliable and can have a lot of recorded shows saved on the hard drive. I set up a week worth of recording and watch it back so I never have to watch live TV and the stupid ads!!! It is quiet whilst on and recording. I think it is a great machine, I have had mine since 2004 and still going strong, recommended. Records heaps of TV shows and is awesome to watch TV on play back and skip the ads (yay!). Can only set to program record one channel, however you can program record and manually press the record button to tape another channel at the same time if you happen to be home to press the button at the time.

Bad – These machines need to be more robust and not so fragile. To pay hundreds of dollars on a machine that only lasts 12 months is not good and therefore I will not be buying LG again. Very good and easy to use, records 2 programmes which was exactly what we wanted Started making funny noices when hard drive was getting full. It's now 12 months old and just won't power on.

Excellent – This unit is so much easier to use than the Topfield. In other areas it has attracted adverse comment because it is not possible to set two timer recordings. This has resulted from not understanding the manufacturer's objective. Whilst other manufacturers are looking to produce a timer set dual recording facility; LG has has aimed at a single timer recording plus the second tuner being used for watching HD television. For me, this is far better than having two timer recordings going and when the second one activates suddenly having no ability to use the set top box function. Depending on reception where you live, reversion to analog TV is a real downer.

It is a good looking unit and the remote is easy to use. Like many, the remote is a "Universal" but I don't use that functionality. Excellent picture quality and easy to use. Once you are aware of the operations and some limitations there are no really adverse comments to be made about this unit or the LST-5403P with the larger HDD.

Certainly, the concept of how the twin tuners work, can be a problem for a novice; however, it is entirely logical and all falls into place in the end. There is a minor issue with the ineffective facility for "jumping" adverts on playback. Forget it; it just doesn't work; speed through the adverts at 5X instead.