Panasonic goes on the record
FOR Blu-ray player, recorder and DVR – it does everything AGAINST Sluggish in use; quite pricey
Panasonic DMR-BWT850
The Panasonic DMR BWT850 is a curious beast. Sure, it looks like just another Blu-ray player, but it’s actually a Blu-ray recorder. Yes, they still exist, but somehow it seems only Panasonic still makes them.
‘Recorder’ seems somewhat of an undersell, however. It plays Blu-rays and DVDS. It records live TV to its 1TB hard drive (up to 518 hours of programmes in SD or 259 hours of HD TV, which can then be ripped to Blu-rays and DVDS.
It also serves as a TV set-top box, with the new Freeview Play service and a handful of key apps, and you can insert memory sticks and SD cards and watch or listen from there.
Take it for a spin
Blu-ray recorder
Something with this many features must be broken down to its constituent parts, and we’ll start with the disc spinning. Treat it as a regular Blu-ray player and you won’t be disappointed.
It is up to Panasonic’s typically high standards: solid disc tray mechanism, decent loading speeds, plus good sound and picture to boot. There’s even 3D, if you’re still using that. New for this year is 4K upscaling, although we’ve yet to find a need for this as 4K TVS do their own upscaling anyway.
£570
More useful is 4K playback, which lets you watch the Ultra HD videos and photos you take yourself, if you have a compatible camera. They’re getting more common these days.
Rip-roaring success
Then there’s the DVR side of things, which is fairly standard. Choose something and click ‘record’ (or set a timer) and it does so. You get two tuners, so you could watch one programme while recording another, or you could just record two programmes.
The TV Anywhere feature lets you view recorded programmes and live TV broadcasts on a smartphone or tablet over the internet. The service will work even if you’re abroad. It’s pretty neat, but it demands a good broadband connection.
As for ripping discs, you’ll have to copy over existing records from your hard drive. You can’t burn programmes straight onto disc like we used to on VHS. The process of choosing a recording and burning it to disc is very simple, however, and fairly speedy.
Finally, we get to Freeview Play. It’s not available out of the box – make sure you download the latest software updates. Freeview Play offers the same as Youview, an EPG (electronic programme guide) with the ability to scroll back seven days. Notice something you missed? Click on it and it will open, provided it belongs to one of the main catch-up apps: BBC iplayer, ITV Player, All 4 (formerly 4OD) and Demand 5. Netflix and Amazon Video are there too, to complete the streaming family.
Just a tad sluggish
The core features work just fine. Freeview Play is a little stuttery right now, but it’s early days. That said, we find the machine to be a bit sluggish in operation overall. Just playing a Blu-ray is fine, but switching between modes or skipping through the menus is a slow process. We get the feeling Freeview Play needs to be better optimised.
The Panasonic DMR&BWT850 is a small box with a big list of tricks, but we can’t help wonder who it is being aimed at. With great Blu-ray players going for less than £150 these days, and a 1TB Youview box currently on sale for £200, the purchase of these two machines will give you all the streaming action you need.
That leaves the Blu-ray ripping element, which is a very niche demand, and we’re not convinced that it justifies spending an extra £220. We commend Panasonic for making this all-in-one box of tricks, which no doubt some people will find useful. However, it’s no cheap option.