trinculo
13-01-2009, 07:50 AM
... and possibly other Panasonic for all I know. What I do know for certain is that the above model compels one to receive unsolicited and, in my case, entirely unwelcome adverts on the tv guide pages. This appears to be because Panasonic use 'Gemstar' software for the EPG - Guide+.
When I bought this dvd recorder no mention was made of the fact that in effect I would be providing a conduit for junk mail and spam to come into my own home - and at my expense! If 'people' [e.g. Panasonic] want to put an advertising hoarding on my property they should clearly state their intention and pay for it. That would then give me the option of accepting or declining - in my case, unequivocally, the latter.
Apart from everything else, I dislike and ignore advertising wherever possible and resist it where it is unavoidable. All advertising is to a degree dishonest. I also subscribe to both postal and telephone preference services to avoid junk and pay money to block spam; as the dvd recorder is now my property NOT panasonic's and I want control of it. Worst of all, the adverts waste limited screen space that would be better used in displaying the information I want i.e. program info.
It would be a simple matter for Panasonic to revise the software either to include an option to receive/not receive unsolicited junk adverts or to remove that element entirely and make it available as a downloadable update - I assume that is what the 'setup > others > system update' option on the machine is for. I have contacted Panasonic about this but they appear to have no such plans.
Does anyone know of a way to replace Gemstar? I have a pc attached to the tv via hdmi [as is the dvd] but am unable to 'see' any folders that might contain operating systems or software - but I assume they are in there somewhere!
The nett result is that I only use the guide on the tv [also a panasonic] which does NOT have junk on it. This means that when I bought the dvd I paid for something [EPG] that I am unable to make use of because it was mis-described [i.e. not described at all - I wonder why!] and thus mis-sold
I think buyers should be made aware of what appears to be a policy decision of panasonic's to foist unwanted junk on the public. Had I been told of this or known of it I would emphatically NOT have bought the machine.
When I bought this dvd recorder no mention was made of the fact that in effect I would be providing a conduit for junk mail and spam to come into my own home - and at my expense! If 'people' [e.g. Panasonic] want to put an advertising hoarding on my property they should clearly state their intention and pay for it. That would then give me the option of accepting or declining - in my case, unequivocally, the latter.
Apart from everything else, I dislike and ignore advertising wherever possible and resist it where it is unavoidable. All advertising is to a degree dishonest. I also subscribe to both postal and telephone preference services to avoid junk and pay money to block spam; as the dvd recorder is now my property NOT panasonic's and I want control of it. Worst of all, the adverts waste limited screen space that would be better used in displaying the information I want i.e. program info.
It would be a simple matter for Panasonic to revise the software either to include an option to receive/not receive unsolicited junk adverts or to remove that element entirely and make it available as a downloadable update - I assume that is what the 'setup > others > system update' option on the machine is for. I have contacted Panasonic about this but they appear to have no such plans.
Does anyone know of a way to replace Gemstar? I have a pc attached to the tv via hdmi [as is the dvd] but am unable to 'see' any folders that might contain operating systems or software - but I assume they are in there somewhere!
The nett result is that I only use the guide on the tv [also a panasonic] which does NOT have junk on it. This means that when I bought the dvd I paid for something [EPG] that I am unable to make use of because it was mis-described [i.e. not described at all - I wonder why!] and thus mis-sold
I think buyers should be made aware of what appears to be a policy decision of panasonic's to foist unwanted junk on the public. Had I been told of this or known of it I would emphatically NOT have bought the machine.