bushwacker

Greetings to all!  I am having a problem recording future programs with my PVR.  This True PVR (truly a piece of shit) and I say that without prejudice as it has never really worked very well.  It was taken by the True people once to fix when it was under warrantee and the bastards kept it for 2.5 months and returned it in the same condition that it was taken minus all of my preset personal programing.  How the hell can it take 2.5 months to fix (really not fix) a piece of electronics.  Good question!

Here is the problem.  Now when I set to record future programs, say 8 each night, the next day shows me the programs have recorded but when I go to them to view them, a message flashes up saying "Unrecordable.  Press stop to return to menu".  So with 8 scheduled on a bad night, only 2 are actually recorded and one might freeze half way thru.  On a good night, only 4 of the 8 record and 1 or 2 of these may freeze up never to progress.  About a year ago I had this Unrecordable problem with maybe 1 program each month, but lately it is unbelievable.

It is so bad that I can actually look at "My Programs" listing and see that a particular program is currently being recorded.  I then select it to view what has already been recorded and up flashes the "Unrecordable" message.  So in other words one part of the PVR is going through the process of recording but actually is recording nothing.

The PVR is 1.5 years old.

I know the problem cannot be the weather because there are just too many programs that do not record.  And I can actually watch a program live while another program is recording only to find out the the recording program is an "Unrecordable".

Any body out there that has had this problem and found a solution?

Thanks for the help ...

cheers

A little help from all of you experts should would be appreciated.  Here is the situation:

Living in Thailand on a Retirement O-A Long stay visa.  Which has been extended 2 times now.

Based on 90 day reporting, I will need to visit immigration in mid April, July and Oct 2011.

Extension of stay needs to be renewed on Nov 2, 2011 for another 1 year term.

Canadian Passport expires on January 15, 2012.

The plan is to visit the Canadian embassy in Bangkok to renew my passport.

Any ideas of what the best chronological plan might be, i.e. when to apply for new passport, how long they take, how to get the transfer of old Thai extension transferred to the new passport?

Suggestions and experiences would be greatly appreciated.

cheers

Hi to All

I have stumbled on a government program here in Nakhon Sawan and would appreciate receiving any facts or information from Members before contacting the local government.  Here in Nakhon Sawan, most of the available land in the city is owned by the government.  In order to increase revenues it seems they have started a project to build those 4 level or 3.5 level shop/houses and lease them out for 30 years.  The structures that I refer to can be seen through out thailand where the first level is set up as a business and the remain levels are for the family to reside.  Here, they have started building these shops around a big permanent market, in the city, near the river, which has been recently diked into a nice walk way.  The Market is already quite busy and many of the built structures are already established businesses.  I think the area will continue to expand and improve and turn into a great place to live.

From what I have gathered todate, the government wants a 30 year lease and the value of the lease is 2.4 million baht.  For an older Farang like myself, the benefits of such a lease would be having a large living structure (with no elevator:() close to markets, doctors, dental, etc for a pretty reasonable amount of money.  So, has anybody had any experience with this kind of arrangement?   I would be using the building as a residence only with no intention of setting up a business.  I am here on a retirement visa.  My questions are ....

1.  Would the lease be paid in one lump sum to the government or on an annual basis?  This is a really big point because if it is annual (which has been suggested by some not-very-knowlegible thais), this means that my current existing capital almost pays for the annual payment, (assuming a 3% dividend rate after tax).  In fact it would cost me about 667 extra baht a month  or 8000 baht a year.  In other words i keep my money in the stock market and earn dividends.  Use the dividends + 8000 each year.  At the end of 30 years, i still have my capital and have only spent my dividends + 240,000baht.  Hmmm ... out of pocket 667baht a month for 30 years ... sounds great to me!  So what am i missing?

2.    Are there any other charges or taxes in this type of lease with the government?

3.  How difficult is it to get out of a lease with the government?  One never knows when they might decide to not renew retirement visas.

4.  Are there restrictions to capital improvements on the building?

5.  Can the lease be in the farang's name?

Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

cheers