David Neiger28 May 2008, 6:13 PM
Fancy replacing your ol' trusty $39 DVD player with a PVR that has a 500GB hard disk that can also record TV programs and home movies at 1080P high definition to BluRay?
18 months after BluRay first graced our shores, Panasonic has launched what it claims to be Australia’s first domestic BluRay recorder.
About the size of a typical BluRay player, the Panasonic DMR-BW500 features twin high definition digital tuners to allow recording of two simultaneous high or standard definition broadcasts onto the unit’s inbuilt 500GB hard disk or directly on to BluRay media.
The BW500 supports up to 1080p recording although this is only useful if you have a camcorder, since television in Australia is presently only up to 1080i. With an emphasis on ease of use, the BW500 features one touch recording with a 1 second start time (buffering the recording in the player’s memory until the hard disk or burner spin up) and integration with other Panasonic components through their proprietary Viera link (over HDMI).
With features akin to a PVR, the BW500 features the ability to pause live TV (with up to 8 hours of buffer time), time shift TV (allowing you fast forward commercials) and take advantage of the seven day EPG broadcast by the networks. By capturing the full high definition signal, the recorder supports closed captions and 5.1 Dolby sound (when it is broadcast).
The BW500 also works as a top of the range BluRay player supporting 24p playback (24 frame per second refresh for non-jolty on-screen reproduction of material originally shot on film), full HD and bitstream support for all of the current BluRay audio codecs. You will need a suitable receiver to enjoy lossless BluRay audio but if you don’t have appropriate equipment, the player with downmix to Dolby or DTS 5.1 audio.
The 500Gb hard disk is adequate for up to 36 hours of full high definition content and whilst the unit supports external USB hard disks, this is for playback only as you cannot use an external drive to boost storage. The unit also supports SD cards to allow for easy playback of high definition camcorder footage. All current DVD formats are also supported including DVD-RAM and whilst the unit supports AVCHD playback and editing, it will not create high definition AVCHD DVDs. Unfortunately there is no Ethernet port so the recorder cannot be upgraded from Profile 1.1 to Profile 2 (if Profile 2 every gets released).
With such sweet specs, you must be wondering what it will cost you, and the answer is: a staggeringly large amount. The unit will be available in the shops from mid June 2008 at an RRP of $2,199. However, to sweeten the deal, Panasonic will bundle three 25Gb BluRay rewriteable disks worth around $120 hoping you will lash out your cash to record and treasure your Olympic moments.