Our experiences the versatile,
space-saving wonders of Panasonic’s DMR-BWT720 – the UK’s only Blu-ray recorder
In the US, only Panasonic offers machines
that can record onto as well as play Blu-ray discs. Everyone else, it seems, is
happy to focus on HDD-based PVRs, appealing to the watch-n-wipe crowd. Is
archiving a dying trend? Almost certainly, by Panasonic continues to support it
and we’re glad it does.
Not that the MDR-BWT720, the latest in a
very long line of Panasonic disc-recorders, is an old-fashioned slab of
electronica. It’s fully 3D-compatible and makes plenty of online concessions.
Three handset buttons certainly give that impression – one’s decorated with the
Skype logo (bit you’ll need the optional camera here), while the other two
shortcut to Netflix and Panasonic’s portal of net-delivered services. A
separate network menu yields access to DLNA-networked video, audio and photos.
Panasonic
DMR-BWT720
The units can also act as a server,
enabling recordings to be streamed to other media players, although doing so
restricts the machine’s functionality.
However, the DMR-BWT720’s raison d’etre is
Blu-ray recording. Making your own compilations of HDTV programmers on
rewriteable (BD-RE) or recordable (BD-R) media is great news if you want to
keep them for posterity. Up to 17.5 hours, complete with 5.1 soundtracks where
broadcast, can be crammed onto one 25GB disc (double that for 50GB). To this
end, the DMR-BWT720 includes a Freeview+ HD PVR equipped with two DVB-T2 tuners
and a generous 1TB of storage – so watch-n-wipers are still catered for. 1TB
not enough for you? This machine also supports recording to an external HDD.
Although it needs to be uniquely “registered” with the recorder.
You can record two different programmers at
once, while watching one of them, or instead be feasting on previous HDD
recordings, USB files, DVDs or Blu-rays. Yet access to networked content (and,
inexplicably, USB JEPG still images) is denied to you while the unit is
recording.
Lets’ get dubbing
Programmers are archived to the 1 TB PVR,
as per a normal Freeview+ HD unit. If you want a Blu-ray copy, the material can
be trimmed of junk via a friendly “editing” function and added to a dubbing
list. Select one of the five recording modes (which balance quality against
duration) and, in real-time, the programmers shuttle across to a ‘custom
Blu-ray’ that should (after finalization) be compatible with any recent player.
‘As a digital recorder, the
DMR-BWT720 is as good as any out there. HD shows looked exquisite’
UK terrestrial HDTV uses AAC for both
stereo and 5.1 soundtracks. This unit decodes them into 5.1 PCM when viewing HD
transmissions via an HDMI-equipped AV receiver (only the front channels are
active for stereo audio), but they’re transcoded into Dolby Digital 5.1 during
the dubbing process. The soundtracks of your discs can thus be enjoyed in 5.1
surround with practically any AV system.
This
unit decodes them into 5.1 PCM when viewing HD transmissions via an
HDMI-equipped AV receiver
If blank BD media is too expensive for you,
multiple-format DVD recording – with four modes yielding between one and eight
hours per 4.7GB disc – is also available. Sadly, you can’t use them to make
short-capacity ‘mini Blu-rays’ from HD material. The lower-capacity format is,
however, ideal for standard-def programmers and recordings from SD sources made
via the rear-panel ‘AV2’ Scart socket. There’s a choice of four SD/DVD
recording modes, in addition to a ‘make-it-fit’ mode that automatically
determines the best way of fitting all of your dubbing list’s programmers onto
a single platter.
A 32-event recording timer can be set from
the Panasonic’s EPG. Series recording is available, as are the other features
offered by modern HD PVRs (including time shift, audio descriptions, subtitles
and digital Teletext). Off-air programmers go straight to the hard drive with
no recompression (Direct Recording) although you can arrange for conversion to
an SD or HD recording mode. Copy-protected HD programmers (most, if not all of
‘em) can be dubbed only once; after that they can be played in HD off the hard
drive or dubbed in downscaled SD format only.
Disappointingly, a DVD made form a 5.1 HD
source is only given a stereo Dolby Digital soundtrack. You should always use
conversion recording/dubbing when going to Blu-ray, or you might not get sound
when the disc is played on machines other than the MDR-BWT720 itself. This is
because high-speed dubbing keeps digital terrestrial AAC audio ‘as is’, and
other Blu-ray players aren’t guaranteed to be compatible.
Another
simple-to-use, chunky handset from Panasonic
Stonking performance
In other respects, it’s good news all the
way. As a Blu-say player, the DMR-BWT720 delivers a stonking performance. It
certainly did justice to The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Terry Gilliam’s
most recent visual fantasy. This imaginative mix of modern London and elaborate
Victoriana was conveyed with depth, stunning detail and vivid color. Meanwhile,
the DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, heard through my Yamaha RX-A820 receiver
and Rogers 5.1 speakers, proved to be dynamic yet subtle when called for. Up-scaled
DVDs also looked good, although not able to compete with Blu-ray on the finer
points.
As a digital TV recorder, the DMR-BWT720 is
as good as any out there. HD programming looked exquisite, with a 1080i 4HD
broadcast of The Simpsons Movie approaching the quality of the BD release.
As for the quality of its archiving, I
found the middle-rung Blu-ray HE recording mode (which provides five hours per
25GB disc) offered little deterioration relative to the original broadcast.
With that in mind, anything above is probably wasteful of disc capacity. On the
other hand, if you go lower, artifacts become more noticeable. Placing SD and
HD material side-by-side on a Blu-way only serves to show low the standards of
some SD channels have fallen.
DVD recording is up to Panasonic’s usual
standards, quality only taking a turn for the worse when more than four hours
of material are crammed onto a 4.7GB disc.
Unique option
The DMR-BWT720 is a fantastic machine,
enabling buyers to combine a PVR and Blu-ray player into one unit, and archive
their favorite programmers to DB or DVD or posterity. It’s unique in that
regard, so manages to justify the rather high price tag.
Panasonic used to offer a Freesat Blu-ray
recorder, but stopped last year. I only hope it continues with this Freeview
iteration for the foreseeable future. If it doesn’t – we should find out in the
next month – then there’s even more reason to grab one of these.
On the menu
The Panasonic’s user interface mixes the
modern Viera Connect portal with more staid-looking setup and feature menus.
There are a lot of options here, though, so a full-color animated GUI is
probably wishful thinking
The
Panasonic’s user interface mixes the modern Viera Connect portal with more
staid-looking setup and feature menus
AV info
Product: Freeview HD PVR and 3D Blu-ray
recorder
Position: Panasonic’s only current Blu-ray
recorder
Peers: Samsung BD-E8500; Panasonic
DMR-PWT420; LG HR929M
The verdict
Highs: The only self-contained Blu-ray
recorder available anywhere; exceptionally well-featured; easy-to-use;
Lows: Can only dub HD to Blu-ray once and
no 5.1 on DVD dubs; online features and general user interface can be sluggish
on occasions
·
Performance: 4.5 stars
·
Design: 4 stars
·
Features: 5 stars
·
Overall: 4.5 stars
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Specifications
·
HDD: Yes. 1TB
·
Tuner: Yes. 2 x Freeview HD
·
Up-scaling: Yes. To 1080p
·
SACD/DVD-Audio playback: No/No
·
Connections: HDMI v1.4 output; aerial in/out;
Scart input (composite/S-video); Scart output (composite/S-video/RGB);
optical and coaxial digital audio; Ethernet; 2 x USB; SD card slot; composite
video; stereo analogue audio
·
Dimensions: 430(w) x 59(h) x 249(d) mm
·
Weight: 3.1kg
·
Features: 3D Blu-ray playback and recording;
five HD recoding modes (4-17.5 hours per 25GB Blu-ray); four SD recording
modes (1-8 hours per 4.7GB DVD); DR (bit stream) TV recording, record two
different programmers simultaneously; multi-format DVD (DVD+ /-RW, DVD-RAM,
DVD+/-R/DL); dub to/from non-copy-protected Blu-ray or DVD; copy SD/USB
content to HDD’ music jukebox (with CD ‘ripper’); FR (‘just fit’) dubbing to
DVD’ conversion of AAC soundtracks into 5.1 Dolby Digital; integrated Wi-Fi;
DLNA client/server; Smart portal; Android/ iOS app control; extra storage
with external hard-drive
·
Panasonic DMR-BWT720 price: $825 Approx
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