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Previous: Test results
Previous: Test results
I have purchased the sucessor to this model that is the Panasonic DMR-BWT700 and have no regrets ditching mySky HD and going for myFreeview HD because I never watched enough of the Sky channels to justify paying $90 a month for mySky HD + Sky Subscription + Movie channels and HD ticket. Would of cost even more if I added Sports. The money I saved from ditching Sky will cover the $1300 I paid for this device in about a year.
Anyhow one major gripe I have about this device is the Auto Standy. This is a real pain in the ass as the device switches off after no use for a certain amount of time. I use my device as my primary TV tuner what is annoying is when I turn on the TV I have to turn on the BluRay recorder as well I used to just leave the mySky on 24/7. The only way to disable the Auto Standby is to disable Rewinding Live TV. When I had Sky provided I left the device on the right channel if I arrive home from work late and missed the first 10 minutes of the news I could rewind back to the start, can't do that with the Panansonic Blu Ray recorder because it turns itself off after no use. The way around it is to disable Rewinding Live TV but that one of the reasons I have a PVR so I can quickly rewind live TV if I get home late or get up to do the dishes during the ads and it takes longer than the ad break I can rewind back.
The new BW880 is fully integrated with Freeview EGP with twin tuners, easy as, over all a great machine, to watch blu-ray, record in HD with fantastic results on our 50" full top end HD Panasonic Plasma. Found a retailer selling for under $800, well worth it, AAA+++
I see that panasonic has introduced FV certified versions of the BW850 and XW350 recorders (BW880 and XW380 respectively).
The price is better, but does anyone know if they have fixed the EPG shortcomings, or messed around with the HD copying capabilities?
To quote "annoying if you want to record a show’s whole season."
Just set for same day every week I would have thought.
Alternative options listed are quite different. Actual alternative is more like Panasonic 350 model which has DVD drive as opposed to Blu Ray and this is sub $1000.
I suspect the reason that Panasonic never got this unit Freeview certified is that Freeview would insisted that HD copying of HiDef programs to Blu ray disk would not be allowed. Only copy back to SD DVD. Same reason as FV won't allow analog HD over component only HDMI with certified STBs..
Freeview NZ seems to have really dropped the ball with their Electronic Program Guide decision. Why did they choose to go with a system nobody else is using? It means that many of the Freeview products from the UK and Australia simply don't work properly (in terms of EPG) in New Zealand, and in some cases it's unlikely they ever will!
Whoa! Before buying one of these, check out the Electronic Programme Guide. As per the comment above, the EPG on this recorder cannot record up to a month as your Australian report says. Our system is different than theirs and the people in the shop do not know when, if ever Panasonic will build for NZ. I recently bought a Panasonic TV with the intention of buying this recorder when the price drops. Now, I am thinking instead of the Tivo, which could be the best of a bad bunch. (Locked into Telecom -ugh!)
The PlayTV accessory for the Sony Playstation3 is also an alternative. It's a relatively cheap way to record and time-shift Freeview if you already own a PS3. It's not currently officially available in NZ, but can be bought from overseas websites for about NZ$150.
Although official NZ support is in the pipeine, it's about 90% functional here already. The only problem is with the Electronic Programming Guide, because Freeview NZ decided to use a different system than the Rest of the World.