Panasonic DMR-BW780EBK 250GB HDD Blu-Ray Recorder with Twin Freeview HD Tuners

I decided it was time to upgrade my old Sony 120GB hdd dvd recorder with this machine, the latest in blu ray/hi def freeview technology from Panasonic.

It's slightly smaller and lighter than I expected (compared to my old Sony) which is no bad thing. Setting it up was easy. I connected it to my tv using hdmi and also plugged it into my internet router.
Switching on for the first time, it found all of the channels in a couple of minutes and I was ready to checkout freeview HD on my 40" Samsung LED TV. The quality of the HD channels was as good as I had hoped. Standard freeview looked very good but I still prefer the picture from the tuner in the tv. Next I tried a blu ray movie. Again, the quality of the picture and sound were excellent. Dvds looked great too. It upscales them to HD but it's hard to say how good it performs because my tv upscales the dvd picture too.

Recording onto the hard disk stores it in an uncompressed format which means that when you play it back you get perfect broadcast quality. (Assuming the broadcast was "perfect" in the first place.) You get the option to compress it if you decide to record it to a dvd/blu ray.

I tried the Viera Cast (internet) functions. Hitting the button on the remote sends the screen black for 10 seconds which is slightly disconcerting when you've only been using the machine for 15 minutes. I was worried that I might have broken something but I now know that it's perfectly normal. I was presented with a screen of "boxes" containing portals to various web services including YouTube and Picassa. There were several German language sites too. Viera Cast is probably something I won't use every day but they will be adding more services in future, possibly including a film rental site which would make it a more useful feature.

And now for the EPG....
How can such a great piece of technology end up with such an awful electronic programme guide??
I am not complaining about it failing to show a small picture of the current programme (picture in picture) in one corner of the guide, the same as my Samsung tv. That would be have been useful.
I am not complaining about it switching off the sound when you switch to the epg.
I am not complaining that it's not transparent which means that I can't see the current programme in the background. Although that would have been nice.

I can forgive all of these failings but what I cannot forgive is the damn adverts which take up 25% of the left side of the epg. They've ruined it! There's this large box on the left which contains random ads whilst the actual epg itself is squashed into the remaining part of the screen. Most of the programme names are too long to fit in the small boxes provided, so you find yourself having to highlight each programme in turn so that you can see the full title at the top of the screen.
I only use the epg for scheduling recordings. It's too annoying to use all of the time. I have to use the epg on my tv for normal everyday use. That's because Samsung have taken the radical approach of only showing tv programmes in their epg!

Anyway, I've been using this machine for several weeks now and I am generally quite pleased with it. It has never locked up/frozen which is more than I can say for my old Sony hdd freeview recorder or my even older Panasonic hdd recorder. If it wasn't for the epg then I would have given it 5 stars.

I've now been using the Panasonic BW780 for about a week and, whilst I've got nowhere near to trying out all of its numerous and impressive functions, I think I've used it as much as the average person would use it in order to make an informed judgement. It's paired up with a not huge 32" Sony KDLW5500, and no amp or extra speakers (no room), so I'm judging the BW780 very much on its own merits. Please note I am not affiliated with Panasonic or any of their partners.

Previously mentioned things that will not influence my final score:
1) speed of response - anyone upgrading from a DVD recorder (or even a basic blu ray player) will be used to the slowness of response. It's easy to forget we are still very much in the early stages of domestic digital recording and it's to be expected that speed will follow once the technology is at a basic standard and we are a few generations down the line.
2) price - yes, it's expensive. But then most things of this type are on first release, every technophile should know this. It's now November 2010 and the price since its first release has dropped by over £250 already. Don't be too surprised if it drops another £100 or so in the next 6 months. I don't understand why people give a negative review on this point.
3) EPG - yes, it's dreadful. But then most recorders and TVs I've used in the last few years have used exactly the same EPG system, because it's the "best" (and I use that term loosely) one with the most coverage. Unfair to mark this recorder down for that reason alone.
4) the "smart" recording system - ever since the days of VideoPlus I've never trusted automatic smart systems. I've lost count of the number of things that I missed part or all of thanks to the uselessness of VideoPlus. To me it seems this uselessness has carried forward to EPG and series record with little improvement, so I only use the manual timer record function. Aside from when transmission times of programs/films change at the last minute (which, to be fair, you can't account for with manual timer), I have never had a problem and have missed far fewer things as a result.
5) availability of HD - limited right now on Freeview, but more will come on line as time goes on. Pointless marking it down for that.
6) size of the hard drive - unless you're the type of person who records anything and everything without proper archiving, the "limited" 250gig hard drive on this model will be more than enough for most people, even if you record everything in HD.

Onto the unit itself. Looking at the box and the (substantial) manual you'd think you would need a degree to work this thing but, whilst that is the case for the more complicated functions and features, most people will be relatively comfortable using its basic functions within a couple of uses. Initial set up is easy as, once you plug in and connect it up, it sets itself up and is ready to go in a few minutes. The remote is, as with all Panasonic equipment and like the main unit itself, not very pretty, but functional and well laid out. The menu system, once you figure out which buttons do what, is fairly intuitive - anyone used to any other form of digital recorder already will pick it up in no time. If you are moving from a basic DVD player (or VHS!), you may struggle a bit, but most of the manual is straight forward enough to follow should you need its help.

The picture and sound on the unit is, quite frankly, staggering, so much so that we now tend to watch TV through the unit rather than the TV itself. The HD channels, particularly BBC HD and, surprisingly, Channel 4 HD, look and sound brilliant - lines are crisp, colour is vibrant and the sound follows suit. I know that the TV has a lot to do with this, but I've seen the same Sony TV hooked up to a Virgin box and sound and picture have not been as good. Naturally picture and sound on a blu ray disc are similarly amazing - whilst waiting for the 6 free blu ray discs (get in quick!) and my umpteenth purchase of Blade Runner, I had a quick demo of John Hillcoat's The Road, and Mamoru Oshii's Ghost In the Shell 2: Innocence and both look and sound stunning. Direct recording onto the hard drive is literally broadcast quality (I've yet to sample all of the different quality settings) and recording onto DVD (which is upscaled admirably) and blu ray is also excellent.

The main features that most people will be interested in are the twin tuners, ability to record onto both hard disc (two channels at once) and blu ray or DVD in HD (though on DVD it's merely upscaled), back compatibility with DVD (I've had no issue with any pre-recorded or blank DVDs of various formats and manufacturers), pausing and rewinding live TV, and watching content from USB and SD memory. From the limited dabbling I've had with these features, it seems to excel with all of it (though be warned that some video formats on the USB are not currently recognised - hopefully this is an issue that will be sorted with future firmware updates). More complicated features include video editing, streaming from the net (with an ethernet connection), HD conversion and all sorts of copying functions. I've not played with any of these features yet, but given that everything else works fine, I'm sure these do too.

Any niggles? Yes, but VERY minor - no open/close button on the remote for the disc tray (but then us couch potatoes could do with getting up off our behind every once in a while!), there are a few software blips that are, hopefully, just teething problems and that will be sorted with future firmware updates (we are, after all, in a time when new technology is never released in a completely finished state from the off), for me the so-called automatic system update over the air refuses to recognise that there is an update available, let alone install it in standby mode even though we are very close to a digital transmitter, which means downloading it from the Panasonic website and wasting a CD-R (you can't install it from a USB stick or memory card), and the inability to change aspect ratio after you've recorded something (this has already been mentioned in another review).

Despite those niggles, I still have to give this thing a full 5 stars, for the simple reason that it's currently the only one-box unit that will play, record and copy blu ray and DVD, record to hard drive, have twin freeview tuners and the ability to record two things at once (whilst watching a blu ray or DVD as well!), internet connection, editing, and HD viewing and recording. And, really, that only scrapes the surface of this very clever machine.

I bought one of these boxes at the start of November 2010 despite all the dire
warnings and discussions regarding the adverts on the EPG.

I did this because - from the pricing at the time at £479 - it was only £100 or
so more than a normal HD Freeview PVR which can't even record to DVD in SD let
alone record to a Blu-Ray disc in HD!

It also claimed to be able to take HD recordings from a Panasonic camcorder and
allow them to be written to Blu-Ray. Thought I - if this worked with a Sony
camcorder as well as a Panasonic then it would give me a capability which had
eluded me for nearly 4 years of owning Hi-Def camcorders - a capability which
would mean I would no longer have to upgrade my desktop PC and buy one with a
Blu-Ray writer on board. Which would be expensive! And would mean that I would
have to pay for new versions of all my software due to Microsoft's insistence
on bio-degradable software compatibility - a characteristic which annoys me
intensely!

Alternatively (to transfer camcorder HD Video to Blu-Ray) I could have upgraded
my existing PC with a Blu-Ray writer but this would have cost me over £200 anyway
- even if my machine had any spare slots - which it hadn't! And enough power -
which it hadn't.

And neither option would have given the capability of watching broadcast HD TV on
my super 52" Sony TV ... but this machine would!

And if it all worked perfectly I could replace 3 boxes under the TV with just one
- those being my Blu-Ray player, my DVD recorder and my PVR (a UK TiVo).

So - I bought one!

And it does virtually all the maker claims.

But - like so many of these types of kit (or any complex software) - it's not so
much a matter of what it CAN do - it's a matter of what it CAN'T do that really
matters.

So - how does it do?

The Pros
========

Let's be fair - this basically an excellent machine with many capabilities:

1) Receives HD freeview so your expensive HD TV can do what you bought it for -
show HD telly - without exhorbitant ongoing fees and forking out for new BD
releases as often. And it upscales SD Freeview to an excellent standard as
well.

2) Records HD Freeview so you can watch the programs whenever you like and as
often as you like - in HD! (or upscaled SD of course)

3) Has 2 tuners so you can record even more HD programs than you thought!

4) Has a Blu-Ray player so you can watch your BD's in excellent quality.

5) Has a Blu-Ray Recorder so you can transfer recorded HD material from the HDD
to a Blu-Ray disc. Very quickly too in DR mode - like 6 hours' worth of
HD material to a single (nominally 2-hour) BD in about 20 minutes!
And play them back - in full HD! Magic!

6) Can accept HD movies from a Panasonic or Sony camcorder (AVCHD) and copy
them to the Hard Disk Drive and from there copy them to BD for distribution
to friends (if they ever bother to watch them!).

Is it perfect then?

Of course not! What is?

The Cons:
=========

1) The EPG with its adverts is annoying but not that big a deal in practice.
I would certainly prefer that all the screen real estate was used for program
info but it doesn't make me tear my hair out. At least it does work - I
have never noticed it miss a program recording - even successively timed
ones which one reviewer complained about - and series link works fine even
with programs which have varying time slots.
I did find that it initially recorded programs OK but placed a garbled
title for it in the program listing (like $~Xz for Strictly Come Dancing!).
On the good side it provided comprehensive editing facilities to correct the
title(!) and about 3 days after first plugging it in it received an
automatic software update which fixed the program naming bug and seemed to
also improve the rather sluggish menus.

2) I still find the menus somewhat sluggish - particularly when listing
programs on the Hard Disk. This is largely due to the current trendy
display of the actual video content start instead of just a simple text
listing which is all you really need after all. An option to just display
text in this listing would be useful and would (I suspect) make it much quicker.

3) As well as direct USB copy from Hard Disk camcorders it has a DV input
so it can take data from Mini-DV camcorders as well.
I was delighted when I found this capability as it really would solve my
HD camcorder problems - however I was somewhat dismayed when I found that
it would only transfer SD via the DV input and not HD.
I have emailed Panasonic about this but so far no reply ...

4) The HD broadcast recordings made in DR mode copy very quickly to BD without
loss of quality - but those DR recorded discs will not play back on a standard
BD player! There are other modes which I suspect are standard player compatible
but I have not actually tried them yet as they are slow (real time) and
you can only fit 2 hours' worth of HD material on a 2 hour BD! Boo!
This incompatitbility is presumably why the blurb talks about "archiving"
programs rather than just copying - they will only play back on the
machine that wrote them. I am hoping that they will actually play back
OK on another BW780 - i.e. that they are not tagged with the "originating
machine ID" as that would make my considered purchase of another machine for
my Hi-Fi room somewhat pointless!

5) I was surprised to find that when I connected the BW780 to my Yamaha A-V
sound system that it displayed (and produced) Dolby Digital sound when
playing Blu-Ray (and DVD) disks but NOT when receiving or playing back
broadcast HD TV. I understand that this is due to the BBC changing the
standards used in broadcasting HD sound rather late in the day and Panasonic
were caught out on this one. Hopefully this will be corrected in a software
and/or hardware upgrade? I emailed Panasonic on this one as well but I am still
awaiting a reply ...

6) I have only removed 2 boxes from my TV rather than all 3 - the TiVo still
remains - despite it only being SD. This is because the operation of the
TiVo is so ergonomic that even the wife and two sisters-in-law can operate
them to full capability. The BW780 isn't bad (especially considering it
has more capabilities) but it is not as intuitive to use.
For example - you come in the room and notice that something is recording
that you would like to watch from the beginning. Now. With TiVo you just
fast wind back (or jump back) to the start and it allows you to watch straight away.
Not so this box. You have to switch the menu from viewing to the playback
menu and go through the nausea of searching through all the listed programs
before you find the one that is currently recording (probably grouped under
a separate layer out of chronological order) and then select it for playback
before you can rewind back to the start. Not really difficult but requires
several key presses and probably a minute or so before you can start watching
the program that was displaying when you came in!

Another strange trait is that if you are NOT recording something and notice
something is on that you would LIKE to record, with the TiVo you just press
record and it starts recording immediately AND tacks on (up to) the previous
30 minutes as well to complete the recording. This box claims to keep the
previous 2 HOURS worth of the current channel instead of 30 minutes - why oh
why then if you press record does it DISCARD that previous time so you lose
all the lead-in that you need to complete the recording!!

What can I say - a TiVo it ain't!

Oh - the TiVo also controls the Sky (SD) box so there's another reason to
keep it!

7) The recorder prevents copying of some HD material to Blu-Ray for copyright
reasons. I archived two (broadcast on ITV HD) James Bond movies to a BD disc
but it warned me I could only do it once (each). I was on tenterhooks until
I played it back to check it had recorded OK and they looked great.
(Albeit not as good as the officially released Lowry processed BD discs
of Dr. No and From Russia - they looked STUNNING on this machine! Mind you
the released BD disks are full 1080p whereas broadcast is only 1080i.)
This protection (DRM) is probably to be expected on any machine copying in HD.

8) Another niggle is that when viewing material recorded (or broadcast) in 4:3
aspect ratio via HDMI (it upscales you know) with most TV's you get only a
"stretched" display. To get true 4:3 you have to switch to SCART input
(yes you have to connect via HDMI AND SCART otherwise it will drive you mad)
and this means of course that you lose all that beautiful upscaling! However
I am told this is a basic SNAFU with the design of HDMI - some wisea*s
said at the committee meeting that "HDMI is HD and so is always widescreen"
so the decision was taken - thus ruining the concept of upscaling 4:3
material for evermore!! Perhaps there should be a "squash" setting so that
4:3 material can be upscaled and sent to HDMI and still have the correct
aspect ratio? Surely not rocket science is it? Read more ›