Review of Panasonic DMR-BWT850 HD Recorder/DVD Blu-ray burner

[Rupert]

As an extremely satisfied owner of the previous Panasonic HD recorder (DMR-BWT740) I was interested to read the review in What Hi*Fi? of the latest DMR-BWT850.

It seems to be very similar to the 740 with the addition of Freview Play, so I certainly won't be looking to upgrade/replace my kit yet awhile. The price of close on £500 was queried but I thought, fair enough, it is the only piece of equipment of its type, therefore no competition .. but more than that, the build quality and performance are all excellent, so I don't have a problem with the price.

The thing that intrigued me from the reviewer's conclusions was this: He asked the question 'Who is it aimed at?' and I was completely amazed that he felt the need to ask! Am I really in a minority of people who like to record off the TV in high definition (two programmes simultaneously if needs be and play a previous recording at the same time if there's nothing on the telly itself worth watching), with the option to burn to a Blu-ray disc or standard definition DVD? How else am I going to do that?

When my old Sony HD recorder died towards the end of 2014 I eagerly pored through my then recent copies of What Hi*Fi Answers Awards Issues at the time, mortified to discover that they no longer felt the need to even discuss such important equipment! I was delighted to find that at least one responsible company still made such a thing .. and it was Panasonic, so it would dovetail neatly into my other home entertainment equipment. Problem solved!

 

[daveh75]

The thing that intrigued me from the reviewer's conclusions was this: He asked the question 'Who is it aimed at?' and I was completely amazed that he felt the need to ask!

I'm Amazed you're amazed by this.

Am I really in a minority of people who like to record off the TV in high definition (two programmes simultaneously if needs be and play a previous recording at the same time if there's nothing on the telly itself worth watching),

No, but that's hardly unique/exclusive to Panasonic.

with the option to burn to a Blu-ray disc or standard definition DVD? How else am I going to do that?

That is, but there's a reason for that.

Virtually noone cares for such a feature, especially at such a premium, except you apparently and probably why the reviewers asked the question in the first place

 

[Rupert]

I expected loads of people to weigh in here bemoaning the availability of lovely bits of kit such as this, but you seem to be the only one on here who even has an opinion on the subject. Thank you for bothering to reply, although I have to say I don't think what you said was very helpful and I think I may even have detected a slight note of condescension (sorry if I'm wrong there).

You say that '.. that's hardly unique to Panasonic', but the whole point is that there is only one piece of kit on the market today that can do all these things. So what did you mean by that?

Your comment about Blu-ray/DVD burning didn't seem to make any sense either .. you said: 'That is, but there's a reason for that'. What did you mean?

I say again: How else can you record free to air television programmes, in high definition Blu-ray quality, retain them on a huge hard drive for later viewing, or burn them to one type of disc or another for permanent keeps? Not only that, but if there are two programmes you want to record that are on the TV at the same time, you can record them both (there are two hard drives) whilst at the same time watching a previous recording if you want to, or just watch the TV as normal.

Thank goodness Panasonic is sticking to its guns and continuing to fill this huge hole in the market. When my current machine eventually wears out - if it ever does - then at least I can be sure of being able to buy an updated model.

 

[Gray]

As an extremely satisfied owner of the previous Panasonic HD recorder (DMR-BWT740) I was interested to read the review in What Hi*Fi? of the latest DMR-BWT850.

It seems to be very similar to the 740 with the addition of Freview Play, so I certainly won't be looking to upgrade/replace my kit yet awhile. The price of close on £500 was queried but I thought, fair enough, it is the only piece of equipment of its type, therefore no competition .. but more than that, the build quality and performance are all excellent, so I don't have a problem with the price.

The thing that intrigued me from the reviewer's conclusions was this: He asked the question 'Who is it aimed at?' and I was completely amazed that he felt the need to ask! Am I really in a minority of people who like to record off the TV in high definition (two programmes simultaneously if needs be and play a previous recording at the same time if there's nothing on the telly itself worth watching), with the option to burn to a Blu-ray disc or standard definition DVD? How else am I going to do that?

When my old Sony HD recorder died towards the end of 2014 I eagerly pored through my then recent copies of What Hi*Fi Answers Awards Issues at the time, mortified to discover that they no longer felt the need to even discuss such important equipment! I was delighted to find that at least one responsible company still made such a thing .. and it was Panasonic, so it would dovetail neatly into my other home entertainment equipment. Problem solved!

I bought the first of Panasonic's Freesat versions of this for someone who was just looking for twin tuner HD recording as an alternative to Sky from her sat. dish.

It was not much over £400 if I remember - so I reasoned, why not have the unique BD record capability to permanently archive to disc if required?

To be honest though, I only tested once to BD before giving her the deck - and I'm pretty sure she never once used the facility.

I was surprised that HD copying from HDD to disc was limited to 1 (or not at all)

to prevent multi-disc HD archiving (the broadcasters set the copy inhibit, or not, at their discretion - surely that's no longer the case on these newer decks though?)

To sum up: I always thought these were amazing do-it-all decks, even before they were internet connected. (have always liked/bought/installed Panasonic stuff)

I must say I can see both yours and the other poster's view on this. You're both right. It's certainly no mass market product but needs to be there for those that want it and those people will seek it out.

I first saw reviews in old 'What Video' mag and probably more likely to be covered in 'Home Cinema choice' now?

When you consider what they can do, they're not overpriced are they? and that price will fall.

(Can you imagine a layman seeing the instruction book you get with these though?)

 

[Rupert]

I appreciate your input Gray, thank you!

You're right about the HD burn limit to a single BD, but multiple copies in standard def can be made to DVD. There's something in some of the reviews that says that the Blu-ray copy you make probably won't be playable on other Blu-ray machines, which I thought was a bit odd. When I copy to BD I don't instigate the finalise process and so far my burned discs play equally on the recorder's own system (naturally) and on my stand alone CD/DVD/Blu-ray player, which also happens to be Panasonic.

I've not hitherto embraced non-terrestial broadcast sources, so all I have at my disposal is Freeview TV. With my current set-up I can record two separate programmes simultaneously whilst either watching a previous recording or a programme on the TV. I still don't quite understand why people wouldn't want to have these options! Doesn't anyone bother to record anything these days, or what?

Happy viewing anyway!

 

[bigboss]

It depends on viewing habits of people. As I understand, blu ray recorders sell well in Japan, and that's why only a Japanese manufacturer is catering to this segment. I've got Sky, so record all TV programmes on it. Humax also does some recorders if you want to record Freeview. These options are cheaper.

 

[expat_mike]

I think that fewer people record to DVD these days (sales of blank DVDs are on the decline).

If they want to save a copy of software, they record to a USB memory stick. The memory stick can be reused once the software is no longer needed.

If I wanted to record TV programs or films, I have three options:

1 - plug a USB hard drive into my TV and record onto that - and I can always delete the film later, and reuse the hard drive space

2 - record onto the hard drive in my Orange TV box - and I can always delete the film later, and reuse the hard drive space

3 - if all else fails, use my DVD recorder - but I haven't used it to record anything for at least 4 years. If i do, I have to store the physical DVD somewhere, and cannot reuse the DVD, unless it is a DVD - RW disc

Overall I think that the reviewer is right to ask who the recorder is targeted at. If there is only a small target market, then few manufacturers will go to the cost of setting up a production line, then ensuring after sales support as well.