Panasonic DMR-PWT550EB Blu-Ray Player and HDD Recorder with Freeview Play, Black

Product Information

Combining catch-up TV, on-demand services and live television, watching what you want, when you want, is now easier than ever. You receive these TV/radio signals from your aerial via equipment that has the Freeview digital tuners built inside like TVs and set-top boxes. Media server function is useful although it's a shame that media copied onto the player from a USB HDD isn't available through the server. With the newly supported Freeview Play function you will be able to watch TV programmed from the last seven days, that you missed while you were away from home, without even having to record them. It has some amazing features such as pausing and rewinding live TV, recording shows you would normally have to miss and the great addition of a seperate Netfix button.

Shadow detail and contrast are right on the money, giving the movie the epic, filmic quality it deserves.

Freeview Play and Netflix keys let you jump straight to the respective menus, and an Option button provides shortcuts to various menus. After recording a selection of HD and SD shows onto the hard disk, the deck’s DR mode captures programmes without any drop in quality.

Using the Freeview Play EPG to stream Match of the Day 2 from BBC iPlayer in hi-def, the image has a gauzy, jagged quality that detracts from the HD experience. You can’t jump pages either – to scroll through the EPG quickly, you have to hold down the direction pad keys, which isn’t only inaccurate but also takes ages to reach the HD channels.

My only two grumbles their is no audio mute on the remote control and recording jump facility which allows you to jump +1mts or -10sec is very slow, but this is countered by a great fast forward which manages to still display the picture while it goes forward. The Freeview+HD service delivers 10 HD Channels including BBC One HD, BBC Two HD, ITV 1HD and Channel 4.

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Record up to 500GB of TV programmes in HD
Twin HD tuners mean that you can not only pause and rewind live TV but also record two different channels at the same time. That’s not to mention network and local media playback, 4K Ultra HD scaling and Panasonic’s own TV Anywhere service. Unfortunately, there may be occasions where this time frame may not be met due to unforeseen circumstances; in this instance, we deliver product/s as soon as we can. Elsewhere, a useful “now” and “next” onscreen banner provides programme info on the fly, although you can’t browse the entire schedule.This extended warranty is on the same basis and terms as the manufacturer’s original warranty, where possible using the same official service providers, giving you total peace of mind for the extended warranty period. This is the third product with the feature enabled that we’ve reviewed in 2016 but each has failed to fully work with what sounds like a very promising function. Compatible with Full HD 3D TVs, it can also convert 2D to 3D which makes it ideal for your active or passive 3D TV. The Panasonic DMRPWT550 has twin HD tuners which means that you can not only pause and rewind live TV but also record two different channels at the same time. The Panasonic Blu-ray player has the ability to boost standard and Full HD video content to near 4K UHD quality.