Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3075 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Panasonic
• Model: DMR-BS850EBK
• Released on: 2009-05-26

Manufacturer's Description
HD Everything
Panasonic allows you complete access to the breathtaking world of High Definition and all its possibilities. A world where you can pause, record and rewind all your favourite channels with freesat+. Where you can watch Blu-ray films in stunning HD, and stay connected by streaming content direct from the internet. With Panasonic you can access, manage, store and share all this HD content effortlessly.

Record 2 Channels at Once
Recording and Viewing Freedom with freesat+ Twin Tuner.

With more than 140 digital TV and radio channels to choose from it’s fairly likely that at some point you’ll want to record two programmes broadcast at the same time.

The freesat+ Twin Tuner allows you the freedom to do this and offers a multitude of other viewing and recording options.

You can watch one programme and record another. Record two programmes at once. Watch a Blu-ray disc while recording two other programmes. Watch a recording from HDD while recording two programmes.

freesat+ EPG
The freesat+ EPG organises channels into easy to use categories with this 8-day on-screen programme guide.

Find what you want at the touch of a button and save all your favourites so they’re easy to find.

Set the timer to record just once and each programme in the series will automatically be recorded. Recorded series’ are easily located as they are automatically archived in the same folder.

Even if the broadcast schedule changes, programmes are correctly and completely recorded.

Full HD Recording and Playback
In DR mode you can record a digital broadcast signal, without the slightest change in quality, directly to your HDD. The precise Full HD picture quality, 5.1ch surround sound, subtitle and audio description, all recorded perfectly and ready to view.

5.1ch Surround Sound Recording and Playback
The Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus surround sound signal embedded in HD broadcasts can also be recorded.

By adding an AV receiver and speaker system, you can enjoy recordings complete with 5.1-channel surround sound.

Subtitle and Audio Description Recording and Playback
The Blu-ray Disc™/High Definition DVD Recorder can record the subtitle and audio description data that is included with some digital broadcasts.

Because these are also recorded digitally, they can be switched on or off during playback.* Only for DR mode.

H.264 Encoder
Panasonic’s original H.264 Encoder responds to the movement in a video image and compresses it so that the recorded image is as clear and vivid as possible.

H.264 conversion recording is particularly convenient if you want to save space on your HDD or want to record a number of programmes onto a Blu-ray Disc™.

PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus
PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus is a high quality image processing technology developed to precisely process each pixel of the Blu-ray Disc™ video signal.

It reproduces colour data with twice the accuracy of conventional systems to keep colours faithful and sharp.

High Precision 4:4:4
When viewed on a high end VIERA TV model, which features 4:4:4 signal compatibility, it recreates images with the original film quality to further enhance movie enjoyment.

P4HD (Pixel Precision Progressive Processing for HD)
The Panasonic-unique P4HD technology processes more than 15 billion pixels per second, generating each pixel correctly according to information obtained from up to 60 surrounding pixels, and applies the optimum processing to every pixel in the video data on the disc.

The result is images with exceptional resolution.

1080/24p Playback
This means movie images from a Blu-ray Disc™ are reproduced in their original 24p form, with no need for conversion. Watch movies as though you were at a movie theatre.

Box Contains

Customer Reviews

A very impressive machine + UPDATE
These are first impressions - the 850 only arrived this morning! (See below for an update...)

First, compared with the Humax it's replacing, quality of picture and recording is as good or better; and - a vital difference! - unlike the Humax it's possible to edit HD (and other) recordings. Controls are an improved version of older Panasonic DVD recorders, which makes for easy operation. The two tuners work seamlessly, and Viera link turns on the TV when you start up the 850...

Second, downsides - apart from the cost! There doesn't seem to be any search option for the programme guide, something I'd found really useful on the Humax (although even then it wasn't as good as Tivo!) There also seems to be a subjectively lengthy gap between channel changes, meaning too much black screen. Otherwise, this appears to be a really fine piece of kit.

AFTER 10 DAYS of using the 850, a few more comments...

It's still a great machine - but - controls are far less responsive than they should be; there's always a noticeable delay before pretty well any action is carried out, which is not only annoying but, for example, can lead to leaving a second or two of frozen screen when editing out commercials. Recording works well, but grouping of recordings is arbitrary... basically, the Humax is undoubtedly far better for recording HD - AND it allows searching of the Guide!

Yes, you can pause live TV, but it's far from easy; and (infuriatingly) there's no buffer, so it isn't possible to rewind. Again, the Humax feels more responsive, and its controls are better.

Moving recordings to DVD - I haven't collected sufficent material for blu-ray yet! - was sadly inferior to my old Panasonic; not only slower, but, after spending two hours burning a DVD (and while this is going on you can do nothing else) it told me the disk 'might' not have recorded the last part...

(Incidentally, if you do plan to transfer a HD recording, remember ITV will NOT allow you to do so, while the Beeb will only allow a single recording)

Conclusions: sadly, unless you MUST transfer HD to blu-ray, currently I feel you'd be better off with a Humax.

UPDATE

After less than 3 months, it stopped working - timer recording failed.

Two weeks after it had been returned, the dealer - Let's GO digital - told me these machines must be returned to Panasonic for repair; they didn't tell me when they'd returned it, or when I'd get it back...

So, be cautious; and if timer recording gets flaky, don't wait and hope it'll get better - send it back!

DMR-BS850. Some downsides
This is my third Panasonic recorder and undoubtedly another big step forward, but I've found a couple of drawbacks. The first is maybe not Panasonic's fault. Freesat HD gives the broadcasters the option not to allow writing of Bluray discs from HD programmes and they are certainly making plenty of use of that option!
Another major gripe is support for HD camcorders. Panasonic models are the only ones definitely supported. It has a firewire socket, but if you switch to HDV mode the screen goes blank. That is something carefully avoided in the manual and advertising. It will only read AVCHD format on SD cards from Panasonic HD camcorders. It is uncertain what other brands will work as this a new and unclear standard. I know if you edit the SD card on a computer it will no longer read it.
Being early days for HD and Bluray, these are things that are bound to improve, but it's something to be aware of now.

OK but possible inherent fault
Generally I like this unit. When it displays stuff on the screen, it looks really good - and bear in mind that is what you will spend the majority of your time doing.

Sadly, the software interface feels like it was programmed in the way the physical unit has probably been built - made up of different technologies bolted together. The interface is, indeed, clumsy and slow and could take a leaf out of the more intuitive TIVO or even the childishly simple SKY interface. It surprises me that large companies do so much work to get an amazing box of electronics to market and then spoil it by slapping on a really poor interface (and a very poor manual - which, by the way, you should download before you buy it to ensure it does what you think it should because as some of these reviews indicate it fails to do some things you would have thought were no brainers).

Setting up is really simple - well done to Panasonic for getting that bit right. I was really relieved to find out I could just unscrew my twin satellite feeds from that awful SKY box and screwed them into this unit. Be aware though that the box comes with no SCART nor HDMI leads. It also doesnt even have one free blank disc either so you should pre-order some of those too (I would add that Panasonic do offer you a couple of free discs but instead of putting them in the box, they get you to jump through hoops by sending off a large SAE in another large envelope with a photocopy of your receipt to a company who will send you them - I suspect this is in order to get your address and personal data so they can market to you later - poor, poor show Panasonic)

Lastly, I would mention a possible inherent fault that has meant be swapping my unit over only to find my new unit has the same problem. When I switch to Viera Cast (The Internet Module that allows certain widgets e.g. YouTube to access the net) I lose all sound so I can watch a YouTube Video but its silent. Although there are only three widgets available (excluding weather and share prices) - YouTube, Picasa and Tagesschau (a German Streaming News Channel), oddly I only get sound when I switch to Tagesschau but it switches off again as soon as I try and watch a YouTube video. This bug was denied by the Panasonic Helpline but acknowledged by Panasonic when my local dealer spoke to "their support". They have tried to blame my Virgin Media ISP but, as bad as Virgin Media is, I don't think they have a racist firewall that only lets through German IP traffic but not English. Also the system pings as you switch between menus are not dictated by IP traffic and they go silent as well. I will put up with this - but you may not want to - so beware!

So to sum up, great technology, great picture - crudely bolted together and rushed to market which might give you a few nasty surprises unless you checkit out thoroughly first.