Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 36
 It does everything November 28, 2009
james19635
106 out of 107 found this review helpful
So far I'm impressed with this box. The Freesat+ (series link) function works well, if you select a program from the guide that is also available in HD it asks if you want to record the HD version. You can record two channels while watching a disc. You can copy from the internal hard drive to blu-ray or DVD with ease. If you're copying to blu-ray it is very fast. There is also the ability to record at a lower quality, i.e. re-encode the video. This is done in "real-time" so it takes a while. There do seem to be, what I think, are omissions. There doesn't seem to be the option to copy video from the hard drive to a USB stick or SD card.
Setting the unit up was very easy and quick.
Video quality seems excellent, though I've only used the HDMI connection, so can't comment on the other outputs (SACRT, component and S-Video).
Start-up of blu-ray discs isn't that fast, but I'd say it's on a par with other blu-ray players I've seen. What is slow, is the length of time it takes to power on, and response to the remote is a little slugish.
The only down sides to this unit are the slightly confusing array of recording modes (they are: DR, HG, HX, HE, HL, XP, SP, LP, EP, FR) and the disc types supported for recording (they are: BD-RE, BD-R, BD-RE DL, BD-R DL, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-R DL, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD+RW) and the combinations of allowed recording modes and disc types.
It is worth mentioning that the HD transmissions from ITV and BBC are copy protected. Depending on what has been encoded, it may be possible to only copy a recording from HD to disc once, or not at all in HD quality. Copies in SD seem to not be limited.
This is quite an expensive unit, but considering how many other boxes to does away with, I think it's worth it.
Fantastic piece of kit! January 19, 2010
Machine_Silver (UK)
49 out of 51 found this review helpful
An amazing, feature rich step up from my previous analogue Panasonic HDD recorder. The unit has a really well thought out user interface and the setting up of timer recording from the program guide is childs play. A fantastic piece of kit which I am really pleased to have bought.
Unit connects to the TV via HDMI port and is DIGA and Viera Link compatible so all functions to and from any compatible Panasonic Viera TV go via this single cable. At last, no more rats nest of cabling and separate boxes!
The unit has two Freesat dish inputs and you need to connect both of these in order to take advantage of the twin tuners. If you have TV with built in Freesat, you need three feeds from your dish, one to the TV and two to the recorder, then you can record two programs while watching a third simultaneously (if you want to of course!) The direct TV record feature works very well.
I have been impressed that much of the functionality of the managing, editing and copying recorded programs has been carried forward from earlier models. Functions are very similar to my old analogue unit (c. 2002) so learning to use the new one has been really easy and intuitive.
If I am honest, the remote could have been laid out a little bit better. Some of the functions could be a little easier to get to from the remote, i.e. selecting input source or switching drives and switching bewteen Freesat and Othersat modes is a bit long winded. But, having said that this is a bit subjective and you do get used to it quite quickly so I won't mark it down for this.
If you do buy this unit though, be aware that it does not have DVB-T Freeview or analogue tuners so there is no terestrial aerial input. Whilst most of the channels are available on Freesat, there are a few that are not such as Fiver and FiveUSA. These are coming to Freesat later this year but for now you cannot record them. Bear in mind also that in March this year the UK becomes the first to launch DVB-T2 and with it Freeview HD. In addition to BBC and ITV HD, this will carry C4 HD and C5HD (currently only on Sky) but will require a DVB-T2 Freeview box or a device with a DVB-T2 tuner built in (all the existing ones are DVB-T SD only at the moment). It is presently unclear when or if C4 HD and C5 HD will be joining Freesat as I believe there are capacity issues on the Satellite.
I have no hesitation in recommending this fantastic product.
Highly recommended but... December 23, 2009
M. Whatton (Hampshire, UK)
30 out of 31 found this review helpful
Had this for around 1 months now. Without doubt a great product. Our previous 7 yr old Panasonic HDD recorder died so we decided to replace with another system that can give us the full benefit of the broadcast services available, without paying a monthly subscription to anyone. The recording functions are great (series link recording works well, program guides are good and no delay on the information loading). One of the best features is being able to record HD Freesat broadcasts. Recently ITV screened the Star Wars movies in HD. I couldn't watch them live and only caught the last 2 with the new AV setup, but I did record those 2 to the HDD and they were fantastic. It's not a perfect world though, ITV do not allow transfer of HD movies to a disk, so it's either keep them on the HDD, taking up a lot of space, or watch, delete and wait for Blu Ray release. Overall, this does nearly everything I could possibly want, and there are no other real options out there at the moment for HD recorders.. Plus USB slot for photos, SD card for some media options and all the usual connections. If you have an existing dish you'll need to upgrade to a dual or quad LNB (if you have a Freesat TV) with the additional cabling, so add that into the costs.
But the range of Freesat HD broadcasts are thin so it is a gamble that this situation will improve, and the system is complicated - Panasonic have thrown in just about every option under the sun whether it is useful or not - this is especially true for copying programs stored on the HDD to disks.
Also it isn't possible to tune the system the digital terrestrial TV (Freeview), only Freesat. This does reduce the number of channels available but I can see why, currently it's not possible to get HD broadcasts via Freeview (although the service is expanding over the coming year). It is possible to link up a Freeview box to the AV inputs on the recorder, but no series link functions, etc. There are functions for connecting Cable or Satellite boxes to it and have remote recording control.
In summary, as long as the limits are known about in advance, you will not be disappointed.
quality product August 4, 2009
R. Shelley (manchester uk)
66 out of 72 found this review helpful
I bought the panasonic blu-ray recorder to be able to put my HD recordings off my panasonic HD video camera,all together on one blu-ray disc in HD format instead of several DVD discs & it does that brilliantly.I know it is an expensive item but Amazon gave me a good saving & delivered promptly.If you appreciate quality it is worth the money.
Lovely piece of kit December 21, 2009
Mr. S. Gale (Bracknell, UK)
15 out of 17 found this review helpful
I bought this to use with my Panasonic Freesat TV. How can one survive without a hard disc recorder? This will improve the picture quality of your TV but you'll need two feeds in the back to get the real benefit of the recorder.
If I have one gripe it's the instruction booklet. Idiot proof it isn't and you'll need to be a techno-nerd to decifer most of it!
Update. May 2010
This machine is performing well. It's been six months and I've had no problems.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 36
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