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

If you like to keep the clutter under your TV to a minimum then this combined Blu-Ray player, Hard disc recorder, with catch up and popular video on demand services, may just be what you are looking for! One quick tip, ensure you check for any new software updates as soon as you have finished the set-up process. This will ensure you have the Freeview Player functionality. Setup, after you have made the required connections of Aerial, HDMI and power, is quite straight forward. Ensure you make all settings, by selecting "Yes" to all the setup items to ensure you get the full functionality out of this unit. Wi-Fi setup is simple, as long as your router supports WPS (most new ones do have this feature). All setup items worked first time for me and IO was soon able to explore all the features on offer. After the required software update was installed the basics seem quite easy to operate. The displays are clean and simple to use, as can be seen in the pictures I have added to this review. Pressing the Guide button brings up the usual grid showing the TV programs and includes a live inset of the current program. As you select a different program in the grid you get a picture from the program (if available) and a short synopsis. Pressing OK on the remote brings up more details and allows you to either watch the program, by simply pressing OK again, or the option to record it or see series information (if available). All very easy and intuitive to operate. Another quick tip, to move up or down a whole page in the guide you need to hold down on either the channel up/down buttons or the cursor up/down buttons. This speeds up moving through all the channel lists rather than multiple button presses moving from one channel at a time. To use the Freeview Play catch up function you simply scroll to the left, moving back in time, to see the catchup programs available for the selected channel. Moving the curser down or up allows the material from other channels to be seen and selected from the grid (see attached photo). So again all very easy to operate. All the menus appear swiftly and the guide populates within a second or two at the most. By comparison to my 5-year old Panasonic it is speed demon! One feature not widely mentioned is the ability to be able to set a program or view a recording from your Android or Apple iOS device, from anywhere you have an internet connection. I loaded the App onto my iPad and was able to set a TV program to record directly without having to turn the TV on or reach for a remote. Now the process is not fast, as your Panasonic box is being accessed from servers in Japan, but it works. When I first setup the App on my iPad I received an error message, which I could not get passed. However, I simply uninstalled the App and then re-installed it and all was fine. The popular video on demand services are currently limited to Netflix, YouTube and Amazon instant video. For many these will cover their requirements without the need for a separate box. 4K video is supported, where available. It would have been nice if they also included NowTV, as this is quite popular. The unit can also act as a DLNA server or client, meaning you can view content stored on the internal hard disc from another device or view content stored on another device using this to render (show) the content. The Panasonic also supports control via the HDMI cable so if your TV supports this function then you can control many aspects from your TV remote. My LG 49UF850V plays very nicely with this and I can perform all frequently used functions via the TV remote, including setting a program from the guide and playing back from the disc drives. It even turns the Panasonic on and off (equally turning the Panasonic on will turn the TV on). If you have a surround sound system connected to your TV via HDMI (with ARC support) then the audio return channel (ARC) works well and supports 5.1 Dolby surround sound. In the case of my LG TV I find the panasonic, connected directly to the second HDMI input on my TV, not only passed Dolby Digital but also DTS to my surround sound system. This mitigates the missing digital output from this model but which is included in the PWT655 and BWT850. Currently (December 2015) the only fly in the ointment is the lack of Channel 5 catchup, which hopefully will arrive shortly. Overall though I am very happy with my purchase and it has simplified my life and more importantly pleased my wife, who now can operate all the technology simply and with reduced clutter!

Very happy with my purchase

Wanted ONE device that could record TV, play DVD/BDs and was smart all at the same time. Might seem funny, but the main reason above all other considerations was to reduce the number of remote controls I had on my coffee table. No joke! There seemed to be very little choice to be honest - lots of smart TVs, smart Blu-ray players, smart Hard Disk recorders, but not many all-in-ones. I was considering getting a mini PC and building my own solution, but in the end this seemed less hassle and I thought a purpose-built media centre would be better at doing it's job well. As I discovered, this both was, and wasn't, true. Overall I'm happy with it, and now I've got used to all it's quirks I'm quite pleased with it, but there are quite a lot of quirks, most of which I think could have been avoided. Let me list you some pros and cons: PROS + all in one solution + great picture quality + good looks and fairly compact + reliable + quick start up (of the unit, network services take a little while) + built in WiFi + flexible recording - record 2 things at once whilst watching a third + android app that lets you schedule recordings from your phone (although see CONS below) + dedicated on-demand button and dedicated netflix button (ok if you've got netflix, but a more generic programmable button would be more use for Amazon Prime etc. customers) + remote control can be programmed to control TV power, input, channel and volume, meaning I am FINALLY living the dream and only have one remote! Only function missing is audio mute. + Pause live TV. Didn't think I'd use this feature half as much as I do! It's great to be able to get a cup of tea, take a phone call etc and just pick up where you left off! + Even better than pause live TV is the ability to watch the beginning of a recording whilst the rest of it is still being recorded - you don't need to wait until it has finished recording. For example, if you set a film to record because you are not going to be in for the first half an hour, you can go to the video menu when you get home and start watching from the beginning, even though it's still in the middle of recording it. Then, you can fast forward through the adverts and pretty soon you've caught up to where it is "live"! CONS - Main thing for me is the TV guide is SOOO slow to navigate. There is at least a half second delay when moving up or down the channels. This seems to be because it insists on loading the channel logo and detailed "playing now" info for each channel as you move up or down, even if you don't want to know a particular channel. This is totally unnecessary and REALLY impacts the user experience. People want to use the guide to quickly navigate between channels, but it's just impossible. The only saving grace is that if you press the up/down button 6-7 times quickly, it does skip to the next page quite quickly, so you can skim read the channel list. They either need to make the process quicker or have a way to turn the channel logos/info off - disjointed interface. It feels like Panasonic have just bolted together a few existing interfaces they had left over from other products (TV guide/recorder, DVD player, Smart player) for this one product. In fact, I'm sure that is EXACTLY what they've done! There is a very noticeable difference between the different areas, and even the different smart features have different looks - the "network features" looks very dated, whilst the new Freeview play and dedicated on demand menu are much more modern. - Smart functions are slow - slow loading for netflix and on demand channels, slow navigation in channel 4 and BBC apps, although netflix is not too bad. - rubbish smart input. I wasn't expecting a full QWERTY keyboard on the remote, but when I performed the initial set up, I discovered it was possible to type using the number keys (like text messaging in the old days! ha!). It really helped when typing in the wifi connection details. I thought this was a great solution from Panasonic, and was looking forward to typing in this way when searching on netflix/BBC/C4 etc. but no. In the built in apps you can only use the arrow keys to select letters from a grid. VERY slow and frustrating. This was a simple and effective opportunity Panasonic have missed, big time. - rubbish web browser. This is part of the very dated looking network features menu and it is terrible. Just don't bother. - Slow Android app. It's great that there is a free Panasonic Media Centre app that lets you schedule your recorder from your phone, but it is RIDICULOUSLY slow. I think it's because it relays all the information via a server in Japan. The app is also very basic-looking. All this can be forgiven though, because being able to set my recorder from the bus or when on holiday is great! - Miracast is clunky and temperamental. One great advantage of smart TVs is the ability to cast to them from your phone, supposedly very easily and natively. It is possible to do this with the Panasonic, but the option to activate Miracast is hidden away in the menus. It needs activating, and when you do, it disconnects the wifi connection. On other TVs I've been able to connect my smartphone in a matter of seconds, but on this it takes ages to switch connection and activate miracast. Also, 50% of the time it just refuses to connect, or isn't visible to my phone. So, lots of niggles, but on balance I am happy with it as a dedicated and self contained device. What annoys me is that most of the cons could actually be fixed very easily if Panasonic had a mind to - the disjointed interfaces, rubbish web browser and bad text input for example just need a programmer to sit down and smooth it all out. Other things such as slow app loading, clunky miracast switching and even the slow TV guide could probably be fixed with better or more powerful components. It feels like they've skimped on component quality a bit, which is a shame because it's not that cheap, and they're the only company offering an all-in-one solution, so why not make it the best it can be? I echo other reviews on here: probably the best all-in-one solution currently available, but still not great by any means.

Oh I'm glad I bought this. I love high def TV but my previous Panasonic DVR only recorded in standard def, so of late I'd increasingly gone for watching on iPlayer and so on, via an iPad and Apple TV. I was also short of a blu ray player as I'd used an Acer Computer in the past, but so infrequently that any use was preceded by half an hour of Wndows updates. So this looked a perfect solution. Not too long to set up, these things seem to be getting easier, a software update once on line (I chose to make a manual wi fi connection) and I was away. With the coffee table free of the plethora of remotes I previously had I enjoyed more features than I'd expected. Excellent HD on the TV channels, and good reproduction on those that don't offer HD. Fast teletext on BBC. Freeview Play with iPlayer, ITV hub, All 4 and My 5. Netflix and Amazon Prime. You Tube and several other bits I've yet to check out. Good blu ray player - no writer but you can use a usb stick and if you've a usb card reader you can use memory cards too. Only slight drawback so far is old 4:3 DVDs are displayed in 16:9, making everyone look a bit tubby, though I suspect that could be at least partly down to my now aging JVC HD Ready TV - time to trade up to 4K 3D maybe! Summing up, this does all I hoped it would and more.

This Panasonic machine works very well. Allows the recording of two programs at the same time while you are also watching (playback) another recording. It's Internet enabled (via WiFi or wired) so you can watch BBC iPlayer, Netflix etc. The on-screen interface is reasonably intuitive and initial setup was very easy. Has a screen saver to prevent screen burn when pausing playback. Plays Blue-ray and DVD disks but does not allow recording onto removable disks. It connects to the TV via HDMI cable (supplied). My TV is connected to the sound system (amplifier) via a Optical Digital Audio cable and in this scenario all playback audio (HDD and Blue-ray disk) can be routed via the amplifier. This Panasonic player does NOT have separate jack sockets for connecting to a sound system.

I deliberated for a while before buying this PVR / Blu-Ray player but am very pleased with it. It was set up and ready to use within 15 minutes despite the manual which isn't up to the usual Panasonic standard. It took 3 goes to set up the wireless network until I used the WPS button on the router which was dead easy after that. Picture quality and sound are excellent, at last I have HD TV on my HD Ready TV. Very easy to select programmes using the programme guide and then use the timer function to record up to 2 programmes at once. Easy access to Netflix, Amazon and YouTube. I expect more functions to be added as Freeview Play becomes more established. Another good feature is that the remote also controls the TV so I now have just the one remote as opposed to the previous 3 (TV / VCR / set top box). Front USB port but no SD card port (you need the PWT-655 1TB version for that).

Bought a Panasonic DMR-PWT550 DVD/Recorder 3 days ago, downloaded the latest software but could not sign in to ItvX as it kept saying "Itv Hub is no longer available". Contacted Panasonic Support who eventually said that the ItvX app is not supported on this product, but you could use a Firestick on the tv instead !! Cannot believe such a large company as Panasonic make and sell a current product that does not support one of the most popular streaming site !! Buyer beware !

Mine arrived yesterday, and so far I'm really pleased with this. Even at the age of 80 I found it quick and easy to set up and use. I have tried timed recordings, box sets on Freeview Play, watching a dvd, and catch up, and all worked well. My one gripe is that the guide is slow to respond, and I'm still figuring out the best way to navigate it. My reason for buying this recorder is that the monthly price for my previous tv service had become ridiculous, and I'm also paying monthly for a few streaming services. This is a one-off cost, and I can now upgrade my subscriptions to opt out of adverts, and I'm still saving money. Recommended -