Panasonic TU-HDT104A

Bad – The unit worked well for a few years but has not lasted as long as we would have expected from a Panasonic product. When it works it works well. After 6 years we have lost the red colour and the remote control hasn't worked properly for over a year so we are currently looking at getting a replacment. The unit was aloways slow to start up.

Good – After the DGTEC nightmare, this is a breath of fresh air. The STB actually does what the remote tells it. The instructions are quite good, but I found that if you download a set from the Panasonic website (and therefore print them in colour) they are even better. The instructions supplied with the STB are printed in B&W, and therefore some of the screen images shown in the instructions are not very clear.

I use the 'Favourites' feature to group all the HD channels togeter for simpler use.

I also understand that Panasonic does some manufacturing in Australia. If so, then this is another very good reason to support them. Excellent picture and sound quality.

The unit looks good, and is quite compact. The setup is simple, and the instuctions simple to follow. 'Favourites' allows the most requently watched channels to be grouped together. Takes a reasonably long time to switch from standby to on. Does not group the channels together according to the station (e.g. 9, 90, 99), but lists them numerically (e.g. 1, 2, 3 to 99). A couple of very minor points.