I require a blu-ray/hdd/freeview player/recorder.

Forums › Freeview (DVB-T/DVB-S) › I require a blu-ray/hdd/freeview player/recorder.

Chainsaw

357 posts

Ultimate Geek

#74698 5-Jan-2011 17:40

My DVD player is scratching discs. I still use my VCR to record stuff. I have a Samsung 40" HD TV with freeview built-in.

It looks like the PanasonicBW880GZK is the only one? http://www.panasonic.co.nz/at-home/entertainment/blu-ray-products/blu-ray-players-recorders/dmr-bw880gzk.html

If I move to somewhere I can't get terrestrial Freeview, will it still get satellite?

Or maybe I should get home theatre (about which I know nothing).

Thoughts appreciated.

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822 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#424383 5-Jan-2011 18:55

Have you thought about getting a PS3 with Play TV?
http://www.dse.co.nz/dse.shop/4d24078d025219c6273fc0a87f3b0661/Product/View/YG0255P4

dontpanic42

1574 posts

Uber Geek

#424395 5-Jan-2011 19:57

mattRSK: Have you thought about getting a PS3 with Play TV?
http://www.dse.co.nz/dse.shop/4d24078d025219c6273fc0a87f3b0661/Product/View/YG0255P4

+1 to that.
I've been using the PS3 - PlayTV combination for over a year now. It's great. Haven't looked back since.

Gilco2

1556 posts

Uber Geek

#424406 5-Jan-2011 20:37

i have the Panasonic 880. I like it with couple of hates. Hate the freeview guide to use to record. I have to switch to the channel I want to record then wait while the guide loads then I can select record. Quicker to do timer record. Seems maximum record on HDD is 72 hours. Its dr only. Cant select HE or any other quality settings when recording tv programs. Only selectable when recording from external source. Not bad otherwise.

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

Chainsaw

357 posts

Ultimate Geek

#424482 5-Jan-2011 23:45

mattRSK: Have you thought about getting a PS3 with Play TV?
http://www.dse.co.nz/dse.shop/4d24078d025219c6273fc0a87f3b0661/Product/View/YG0255P4

No, because I have no idea what that is! But the less boxes the better for me. Can it record to blu discs?

Chainsaw

357 posts

Ultimate Geek

#424483 5-Jan-2011 23:46

Gilco2: Its dr only. Cant select HE or any other quality settings when recording tv programs.

Could you please explain what that means?

Chainsaw

357 posts

Ultimate Geek

#424484 5-Jan-2011 23:47

dontpanic42: +1 to that.
I've been using the PS3 - PlayTV combination for over a year now. It's great. Haven't looked back since.

There must be some things that combo lacks that things like the Panasonic have?

Gilco2

1556 posts

Uber Geek

#424522 6-Jan-2011 07:27

Chainsaw:
Gilco2: Its dr only. Cant select HE or any other quality settings when recording tv programs.

Could you please explain what that means?

HE is just one of the quality settings for recording. There are quite a few quality settings which take up less space on the hdd. depending on setting you can have 70hour or over 300 hour capacity on hard drive. They dont give you that option when recording live tv.
Also Terrestrial on. If I move to where terrestrial only is, I would use satelite receiver hooked up to this to record 1 program

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

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Gilco2

1556 posts

Uber Geek

#424523 6-Jan-2011 07:30

the panasonic records 2 channela at once and you can watch a 3rd. I have put media files on 500GB drive and it reads them. Tried a 1TB drive but havent got it to work yet. You can watch DVD/Bluray while recording. you can watch a hdd recording while recording programs

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

Chainsaw

357 posts

Ultimate Geek

#424772 6-Jan-2011 20:45

Just read that Play TV requires broadband connection for EPG and can't record two things at once - rules that out. Seems a reasonable option if you already have a PS3, but that's not me.

The only glitch, for me, with the Panny so far seems to be it's probably not region-free, and I haven't been able to find a hack for it. It seems to be the ONLY Blu-ray/Freeview/HDD recorder available at present in NZ, staggering, I thought there'd be heaps!

Gilco2

1556 posts

Uber Geek

#424869 7-Jan-2011 07:02

The Panasonic is not region free BUT you take it to your nearest authorized repairer with your receipt and they will make it region free for free. I read it here on another thread and I have contacted the one nearest and they will do it while I wait. I will have mine done once things settle from holiday period

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#425034 7-Jan-2011 18:49

@Gilco2

Be aware that they only make it region-free for DVD playback. Blu-Rays are still region locked. This is what I was advised by the guy in JB Hifi.

Gilco2

1556 posts

Uber Geek

#425039 7-Jan-2011 19:20

oops, yes you are correct, I forgot to say that DVD regionfree only. Bluray still region locked. Been thinking I may not bother with getting mine done. I have about 20 zone 1 disks and I will back them to computer

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

thorax

75 posts

Master Geek

#425040 7-Jan-2011 19:27

Could you deal with having a htpc ?

It would provide you with the most features and be upgradable in the future.

Alot more work in setting it all up to begin with. but could save yourself some money if done right.

Dunnersfella

4086 posts

Uber Geek

#425046 7-Jan-2011 19:45

The quickest and easiest way is to get a Panasonic DVD recorder...
The most affordable / functional would be a Freeview Set Top Box (STB) and a seperate BluRay player - working in tandem.
Personally, I have enough issues with multiple boxes in the lounge - so a simple, do it all box works for me. But then, I have MySky...

sbiddle

30853 posts

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Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#425049 7-Jan-2011 19:54

Gilco2:
Chainsaw:
Gilco2: Its dr only. Cant select HE or any other quality settings when recording tv programs.

Could you please explain what that means?

HE is just one of the quality settings for recording. There are quite a few quality settings which take up less space on the hdd. depending on setting you can have 70hour or over 300 hour capacity on hard drive. They dont give you that option when recording live tv.
Also Terrestrial on. If I move to where terrestrial only is, I would use satelite receiver hooked up to this to record 1 program

Virtually every STB that's out there now just dumps the raw MPEG TS (transport stream) straight to HDD. This means it requires no transcoding and is the best way of doing things.

To transcode a 1080i H.264 TS is realtime you need some very serious CPU performance and would probably find the box is suddenly a lot more expensive. The older Panasonic DVD unit took ages to trancode H.264 to MPEG2 to burn DVD's.

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