Blu-ray recorders are finally coming
Yeah baby, this is what we've been waiting for. The DMR-BW500 is the first stand-alone Blu-ray disc recorder to be launched in Australia and the first to be launched by Panasonic outside of Japan.
The DMR-BW500 features two high definition TV tuners, a 500 GB hard drive and the ability to record "Full HD" 1080 television to disc or the hard drive (72 hours on the hard drive or 6 hours 40 min on a 50GB double layer Blu-ray disc). Of course it's also a Blu-ray player, offering 24 fps playback via HDMI 1.3 along with 7.1 sound.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is a tick in every box. Until now the only way to get all those features in the one device was to buy or build a media centre computer - something I certainly wouldn't inflict on the non tech-savvy.
Remember we're still in early adopter territory here. The DMR-BW500 will retail for $AU2199 so, unless you've got money to burn, I wouldn't rush in as soon as they hit the shelves in June. If the first-gen Blu-ray players are anything to go buy, the DMR-BW500 could be slow, clunky, expensive and ugly.
Still, I think Panasonic make some of the best HDD/DVD recorders on the market, so I've got high hopes for the DMR-BW500 and the future Panasonic Blu-ray models.
If the prices of those first-gen players are anything to go by, Blu-ray recorders should sell for under $1000 within 12 to 18 months. That's when I'll start recommending them to friends and relatives who, up until now, have been forced to chose between HD tuners or a burner in their recording devices.
The big questions are whether the DMR-BW500 supports BD-Live for interactive content and has Ethernet for accessing online content and downloading firmware updates. I'd be very reluctant to drop two grand on a Blu-ray player that doesn't have these features, but there's no mention of them in the press release - which isn't a good sign. There are obviously annoying DRM issues to worry about, and I'm also interested to see if it will automatically delete old recordings so you never run out of hard drive space.
As exciting as the DMR-BW500 is, it still won't win a place in my lounge room. Why? Because it leaves you at the mercy of the free to air Electronic Program Guide, which still sucks. I'd rather keep using Ice TV's guide, but of course that limits me to using a computer-based media centre or one of a handful of stand-alone PVRs from the likes of Topfield and Beyonwiz.
Like I said, after fighting with my bipolar Vista Media Centre for a year I certainly wouldn't inflict one on anyone who doesn't like to tinker with computers and I think I see a Mac-based solution in my future. If you want to record HD television to Blu-ray but don't want a computer in your lounge room, for now Panasonic's DMR-BW500 is as good as it gets.
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Comments: 1
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Oma
Jul 7, 2008 8:48 PM
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Blue-Ray may be ok, but after watching a blue-ray movie on my PS3 using a suitable monitor/TV I found the detail TOO SHARP that it almost hurts the eye. I hope all movies aren't like that because if that is so I won't be getting the player etc. for the lounge room yet. |