Panasonic DMR-BS850 Freesat Blu-ray & HDD Recorder Review

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.

I have this kit and on the whole it performs superbly....however. When I use it with the Net to access Youtube it appears to perform badly. The peformance of the downloads is poor. Even at a speed of 6 plus megabits the picture regularly pauses. When I run Broadband speed test it is low down at 1. When I turn the panasonic off it goes back to 6-7 megabits, I am getting no joy but clearly the machine flloods my Lan.

I was extremely disappointed to find that only Panasonic Camcorders can transfer HD content to the machine to make Blu-Ray discs. I like others was expecting to be able to do this and nothing in the spec says you can't. It was only when i rang Panasonic that i was told. Very short-sighted!!