Panasonic Hi Definition Recorder Available August

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635 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 239375 27-Jul-2009 16:05

dickytim:
Back to reality now, I am sure everyone would like to see those prices but when the normal DVD-
R HDD recorder are $600+

I would like to see the prices closer to $1,600 for the bluray version then I'd buy one, but I'd like to see a Sony one to match my TV.

For $1600 you could setup a HTPC to do the same thing and then some. In fact you could probably do it for a lot less if you didn't mind what it looked like or could hide the case behind something.

db

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jonathan18

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# 239389 27-Jul-2009 16:40

browned:
dickytim:
Back to reality now, I am sure everyone would like to see those prices but when the normal DVD-
R HDD recorder are $600+

I would like to see the prices closer to $1,600 for the bluray version then I'd buy one, but I'd like to see a Sony one to match my TV.

For $1600 you could setup a HTPC to do the same thing and then some. In fact you could probably do it for a lot less if you didn't mind what it looked like or could hide the case behind something.

db

The point is that MOST people couldn't do this! Many people may be willing to pay these high prices to have a product that works well, that they haven't had to put together, that won't require ongoing maintenance... Personally, there's no way I'd think about paying $1600 (even though this is what our DVD recorder cost about six years ago!)...

Deev8

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Ultimate Geek

# 242417 4-Aug-2009 15:35

The new recorders are now listed on the Panasonic NZ website:
DMR-BW850GZK - Twin Freeview|HD tuners, 500GB Hard Drive, BluRay Writer/Player, Dolby 5.1 recording RRP $1,999.99
DMR-XW350GZK - Twin Freeview|HD tuners, 250GB Hard Drive $1,199.99

It will be interesting to see what they actually sell for once they get into a few stores.

Deev8

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Ultimate Geek

# 242427 4-Aug-2009 15:39

Deev8: DMR-XW350GZK - Twin Freeview|HD tuners, 250GB Hard Drive $1,199.99

That's interesting - the RRP given for the lower-end model is $100 less than Harvey Norman were advertising it for a week and a half ago.

Dingbatt

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# 242486 4-Aug-2009 16:32

I seem to remember the FreeviewHD PVR when it first came out was $1200. What can you pick them up for now?
The first Blu-Ray player Panasonic brought in (BD-10?) was multi-thousands, now look at the price of the BD-60.
First adopters always pay a premium. I just hope my combo of a HTPC and Sat-HDD/DVDR hangs in there until prices drop.
Saw the Pana 850 on demo in Melbourne at JBHF, quite impressed, but it was playing AFL (totally confusing).

Areas of Geek interest: Home Theatre, HTPC, Android Tablets & Phones, iProducts.

Brunzy

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# 242514 4-Aug-2009 17:20

Dingbatt: I seem to remember the FreeviewHD PVR when it first came out was $1200. What can you pick them up for now?
The first Blu-Ray player Panasonic brought in (BD-10?) was multi-thousands, now look at the price of the BD-60.
First adopters always pay a premium. I just hope my combo of a HTPC and Sat-HDD/DVDR hangs in there until prices drop.
Saw the Pana 850 on demo in Melbourne at JBHF, quite impressed, but it was playing AFL (totally confusing).

$699.00 www.scottstv.co.nz

freitasm

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# 242551 4-Aug-2009 18:00

Interesting this discussion is going on - after the 2Degrees launch in Auckland today I stopped by Panasonic on my way to the airport. I had a good overview of this unit - and they arranged for me to take one home ahead of the launch:

Review coming later... Just unpacking a new laptop first, then this. Long night ahead, and I had to wake up 4am to go to Auckland this morning!

Lurch

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# 242817 5-Aug-2009 08:23

They had both of models on display at Harvey Normans when we went in on the weekend, looked great. Far better build quality than the Zinwell.

Almost bought one right then and there but $1999 was outside what I'm willing to spend on something like that. Still thinking of getting a Zinwell, as they are around the $750 to $799 mark now which is fairly reasonable. Did have a Media Center machine setup but it was very "touchy" and loud. ;-)

Kinda deciding wether to wait for Tivo or buy a Zinwell (and finally a PS3 to play movies) :-) Choices....it wont be the Panasonic at this point in time.

Wairau Harvey Normans has the two units if you want to go in and have a play :-)

Lurch

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# 242822 5-Aug-2009 08:38

Man my engrish is doing well today, lack of coffee and working nights :-(

Lurch

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# 242825 5-Aug-2009 08:42

Here is a really good review :-) Kind of makes you think hard on what to do purchase wise, if only the price would come down.

http://apcmag.com/in-depth-review-panasonic-dmr-bw850-blu-ray-recorder-one-with-the-lot.htm

This part from the review puts me off buying one:

Unfortunately Panasonic relies on the hotch-potch Electronic Program Guide embedded in the broadcast signal and it can't search the guide for your favourite shows. Nor can it create a true Season Pass for automatically recording your favourite show each week, regardless of timeslot. The big green button on the Panasonic remote calls up the onscreen TV guide, from which you can select a show to record. You can set a recurring weekly recording, but it will just blindly record the same time slot each week rather than checking the EPG for schedule changes. The "Auto Renewal Recording" option will automatically delete the previous episode as a new one is recorded, which stops your hard drive from filling up, but you don't have the flexibility to specify how many episodes of a series to keep. There's also no option to automatically delete old recordings when the hard drive is full.

Advanced features such as Wishlist recordings according to program title or genre are also lacking. As such, it's not really a "Personal" Video Recorder. Another drawback of opting for the BW850 over a true PVR is that there are no remote scheduling options - you can't schedule a recording via the web or your mobile phone.

Panasonic does have a few tricks up its sleeve, such as the ability to skip forward through the ad breaks in 58 second increments - a feature Australian TiVo users are denied. The Panasonic recorder doesn't always ask for confirmation when you press stop while recording, which is annoying, but it does prevent you from accidentally changing channel whilst time-shifting - a rare feature which should be mandatory on all PVRs.

The BW850 does offer excellent standard and high definition television pictures. Twin HD tuners let you record two shows at once, whilst watching one of them, a previous recording or a disc. You can pause live TV and watch the beginning of a program while still recording the end, but there's no automatic buffer for rewinding live TV. The Panasonic menus, onscreen display and remote control are far less user-friendly than TiVo and you'll need to keep the instruction manual on the coffee table for a while.

Lurch

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# 242832 5-Aug-2009 08:57

More bad news...

http://www.gadgetguy.com.au/Panasonicpanasonic-panasonic-dmr-bw850-review-153647-174.html

Let me get something off my chest before continuing: this recorder is a horribly frustrating machine. Its remote control is a minefield of interrupted enjoyment. Its surface has several prominent keys, some of them quite innocuous (Function Menu for example) that without so much as a 'by your leave,stop' Blu-ray playback and return you to TV watching. Many Blu-ray discs cannot be resumed from where they were stopped, so you have to go through the entire startup process, and then search for where you were up to.

That, in short, is profoundly irritating, and makes me give this unit a mere 2.5 stars for ease of use (also contributing is the unit's overall slowness: nearly 40 seconds to open the drawer from standby, for instance).

Still, this remains the only game in town for Blu-ray recording, which brings me to another point: the unit uses the BDAV format for recording to disc rather than BDMV. The difference? Hardly any. The actual video streams are the same. It is merely a matter of disc organisation and the lack of a disc menu for BDAV.

But BDMV is the format used by commercial Blu-ray movies, and it works on all Blu-ray players. BDAV is hit or miss. I could play Blu-ray discs recorded by this unit on only one non-Panasonic player, but not on the PS3. If you want to send your high definition home movies to your auntie, there's no guarantee that she will be able to play them unless she also has a Panasonic unit.

Downside is Panasonic really have this market to themselves... I guess Tivo or a Zinwell box and a PS3 will be my solution :-)

butlerboy

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Ultimate Geek

# 242982 5-Aug-2009 12:56

Mauricio - can anyone confirm if the Panasonic PVR's have an 8 day EPG and series link?

sbiddle

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# 243017 5-Aug-2009 13:59

butlerboy: Mauricio - can anyone confirm if the Panasonic PVR's have an 8 day EPG and series link?

No MHEG5 - this means no 8 day EPG or series link.

butlerboy

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Ultimate Geek

# 243018 5-Aug-2009 14:08

sbiddle:
butlerboy: Mauricio - can anyone confirm if the Panasonic PVR's have an 8 day EPG and series link?

No MHEG5 - this means no 8 day EPG or series link.

I would have expected the dearer one at least to have an EPG. Makes it very expensive for what it is if it's got an important function like an EPG missing. To my mind an EPG and series link are one of the big advantages of having digital tv.

freitasm

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# 243052 5-Aug-2009 15:22

butlerboy: Mauricio - can anyone confirm if the Panasonic PVR's have an 8 day EPG and series link?

As sbiddle commented, there's no MHEG5 support, therefore no "Link"... However if you create a recording shedule the program name will be correct on the recorded file once the recording starts and the EPG is updated at that time.

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