Electronics
Panasonic blu-ray/HD recorder
Introduction
Panasonic’s DMR-BW850 blu-ray/HD recorder is the first in New Zealand. But is it worth the money?
With the rise of Freeview, more set-top boxes with built-in hard drives are available. The Panasonic DMR-BW850 aims to be the one box you’ll ever need - whether you’re watching TV, playing a DVD or blu-ray, or even browsing YouTube.
We take a first look at the DMR-BW850 to see how it performs.
Features and functions
Panasonic DMR-BW850
The Panasonic DMR-BW850’s major features:
- A 500GB hard drive allows up to 70 hours of footage to be stored.
- Two HD tuners let you record two channels at the same time. These tuners give access to Freeview channels, and you can record in high definition (HD) any programmes that have been broadcast in HD.
- It's a blu-ray player and recorder. So you can transfer content from the hard drive on to blank blu-ray discs as well as play blu-ray movies and standard DVDs.
- A feature called Viera Cast provides direct access to YouTube and Picasa online photo albums (you need to plug in a network cable first).
Many functions
As you’d expect, there’s a learning curve in getting this device running. Switching between TV watching, hard-drive playback, recording and blu-ray is probably the most confusing aspect.
Other than that, setting up is straightforward. There were few hiccups in finding all the available Freeview channels – and recording snippets of TV shows was as simple as pressing a button on the remote. Playing back this footage was also simple, as was scheduling the recording times.
However, the BW850 can’t schedule more than a month in advance and that can be annoying if you want to record a show’s whole season.
What we found
Comprehensive recording
The most important feature of the BW850 is its two HD tuners and our test results show they perform admirably. Many DVD/hard-drive recorders don’t have built-in tuners, so they can’t record directly from a Freeview set-top box. The BW850 can - and in HD to boot. The ability to put your content on to blu-ray discs is simply icing on the top.
Not so cheap
Having so many features rolled into one set-top box reduces the clutter in your living room, but it does have a drawback - price. The BW850 is a costly $1999. This puts it out of reach of the average TV watcher - you can buy a decent HD widescreen TV for half the price of the BW850.
Then there’s the TV content. Only Freeview channels can be recorded - Sky users will need to buy a MySkyHDi-box to record Sky’s paid content. If you watch a lot of free-to-air TV, this won’t matter so much. But if you aren’t going to be constantly recording TV shows, it’s hard to see how you’ll get your money’s worth with the BW850.
If you just want a blu-ray player (you can also run your DVDs on these), then you can buy a standalone model for less than half the price.
Our verdict
The BW850 performs its myriad of functions well. But unless you really need all these functions - particularly blu-ray recording - we’d recommend waiting for the price to drop.
Alternative options
While the BW850’s blu-ray makes it unique, it’s not the only HD recorder around. Look at these models if you’re not after a device that plays disc-based media:
- mySkyHDi is designed to record Sky’s pay-TV channels. It comes with three HD tuners that allow for simultaneous recording and watching. Beyond that, its features are much like the BW850’s. The mySkyHDi-box will set you back roughly $600, plus ongoing fees on top of your usual Sky subscription.
- TiVo has only recently arrived here, after conquering many markets overseas. But here Telecom holds exclusive reselling rights. This means TiVo’s many broadband features (such as remote scheduling and additional content) can only be accessed if you have a Telecom broadband account.
Like the BW850, TiVo lets you record Freeview content in HD. The TiVo box costs $899 upfront, or can be paid off in instalments.
Test results
| Panasonic DMR-BW850 | |
| Price | $1999 |
| Test results | |
| Overall score (%) | 72 |
| Ease of use (/10) | 7.3 |
| Digital-tuner performance (/10) | 8.6 |
| Faulty-DVD-playback performance (/10) | 2.6 |
| Standby energy (/10) | 8.0 |
| Specifications | |
| Dimensions HxWxD (cm) | 6.5 x 43 x 33 |
| Weight (kg) | 4.2 |
| Hard-drive capacity (GB) | 500 |
| Digital tuners | 2 x HD |
| Features | |
| Recording hours | 72 |
| LAN connection | yes |
| Card reader | SDHC |
| USB port | yes |
Guide to the table
Our test was conducted by the Australian consumer organisation Choice. Price is from a September 2009 survey.
- Ease of use (55% of overall score) based on auto tuning system, menu navigation, recording functions.
- Digital-tuner performance (25%) assessed using digital TV signals of varying quality.
- Faulty-DVD-playback performance (10%) assessed using DVDs with deliberate faults such as dirt and scratches.
- Standby energy (10%) based on energy used while unit is switched off but plugged into the wall.
Recording hours are as claimed by the manufacturer.