Sadly, I took back my Pioneer 633 today.

[p_l]

Sadly, I took back my Pioneer 633 today. It is a really great machine, except for the TVGOS problem. It blinked out on me for the third time last night, giving me the 24-hour rebuilding message.

The first time it happened, about five days after I got it, some six weeks ago, I thought OK, despite hoping I wouldn't be a victim of all I had read about it, this was just bad luck. I reset the machine and it started rebuilding again. It would go well for 3-5 days, then I'd get no listings for 1-3 days, then it would come back. After a couple of weeks of this, I did a soft reset with the "XI" code, and it started building things up again, day by day. Last weekend, I finally got to within one day of a fully populated guide, but I lost everything again for the third time. Three strikes, you're out. Back it went.

At the Pioneer headquarters in Minato-ku, Tokyo, they must be saying, "Those technically inept North Americans! The one aspect of this otherwise fine made-in-Japan machine we entrust them with, and they can't get it to work properly." Now they've had to pull them from the shelves.

It defeats the purpose of having a DVR if you have to record all your programs simultaneously on a good old VCR in case the DVR doesn't.

Once this bug is worked out, I'll be the first in line to to buy this otherwise excellent machine once again.

[redwudz]

I've had no problems with mine, including the TV guide part. Works fine. I haven't noticed the HD running near as much lately. But there are always a few problem machines in any brand.