Panasonic DMR-HWT250EB Smart HDD Recorder with Freeview Play, Black

27/06/16 As soon as you can update the software/firmware 1.12 is the latest version!ota or wifi. This is a brilliant machine,dont understand the negative reviews,YOU ABSOLUTELY CAN EDIT YOUR RECORDINGS!! P37 IN MANUAL!well IMPRESSED so far and already better than my humax! 29/06/16 Wifi is excellent but if you want to stream from this too mobile or whatever its recommended to use a 5ghz router but not necessary for normal use,but it can be done. A little disappointed in freeview play as its just catch up apps ie:bbc i player,itv player,5 demand,stv player,4 catchup and bbc news and sport!so if you program isnt on bbc itv stv 5 4 or news and sport you cant catchup! Lag/slow menus is not a problem on mine just as fast as the humax. You can convert your recordings to upscale (HG) or save space (EP) or just leave it its up to you and your needs, but it only converts recordings you cant set it to record in the ep or upscale they get converted in standby when sleeping after being recorded! There is a web browser and an app store panasonic one not google,not much in yet but you can get youtube and games,i would imagine more will come. You cant record freeview play programs but you can record a normal channel and watch catchup/freeview play Record 2 channels and watch a recording or freeview play Just discovered this when recording 2 channels if you use the page up down button on tv channels you can even watch a 3rd program not all channels though,thought this was a humax glitch but this one does it too EXCELLENT! Also expandable storage by usb hdd or usb pen drive to export and import your webcam vids and music ,pictures for permanent storage on or off the pvr or plug your camera straight into the usb to do what you like!

This is a very good product*** But I have some small niggles with it! The first is the lack of volume control via this device and lack of compatiple T.V's supported for volume control. 2. The menu is a bit skechy when it come to sorting and deleting chanels 3. The wireless is so weak even though everything else in the room has full signal (Thank you for eithernet). On the plus side I can now play movies direct from my NAS drive in just about any format incl MKV (So no more converting, Up Yours Humax)). The picture quality is excellent from any source. No lag or buffering when using the media server. Footprint is small. Build quality is very high.

A great bit of kit, quick and easy to operate. I read many reviews to choose between this & other competitors, and have realised that many of the negative comments are because the user doesn't understand the system. Previous negative comments about speed & jumpiness of the Guide (EPG) & Freeview Play are wrong - the guide & all Freeview Play comes via the internet. So, if you have a slow wifi then these aspects will be poor. However, I fitted a Passthrough Powerline adaptor to make sure that the box gets high speed internet feed. So, the result is excellent. The set loads very quickly, and gives very good HD quality playback of either live TV or recorded programmes. All advertised functions work really well. I opted for the 1TB version to make sure I am not restricted on recording time.

Nice machine and much faster to fire up than my previous Sony (which died in the end). Freeview Play didn't work but I'd read this was a problem before I bought it. However, a software update a couple of days ago means it now works which is great. Nice to have a separate button for Netflicks as well. The USB port on the front accepts most formats including MP4 which is handy. You can surf the net but it's a bit clunky and works better if you have an ethernet connection.

IMO the only thing that totally lets this machine down is the atrocious EPG - WHY is it so SLOW??? My 10-year old Wharfedale's EPG was ten times quicker than the Panasonic. This is a major flaw as it is the the backbone of a TV recorder, and on this machine it isn't fit for purpose - if a 10-year old recorder had a more than capable EPG it's unacceptable that this one doesn't - shame on you Panasonic. I have kept the recorder, it delivers good picture quality and has some good features, in particular how it totally skips commercials on the majority of recorded media when you press the skip button. I cannot recommend you buy this unit, the EPG alone will drive you mad! I invariably give up on the Panasonic and end up recording the bulk of my media on my Toshiba recorder which is in my bedroom!

I did all the necessary research before purchasing this model and am not disappointed. I can now record all the the TV programmes I want and watch when I need to. More importantly fast forward through those that have adverts which beats the catch up services but also not all shows are listed on catch up. The instruction are clear and it is easy to set up, you see both what you have recorded and what is to be recorded later, it also has a series link for those regular shows and a huge memory that you will not fill up. You can of course watch normal TV channels on this as well without having to switch back to Freeview etc. Have to say that this a great value product, seems future proof and I am very very happy with it. Brill!

This gas been a good and reliable replacement for my V+ box. It hasn't got the greatest user interface and the remote could be more ergonomic. But you do get used to these things. A lot of the criticism on previous reviews have been addressed through updates. There's one particular review where the owner clearly has a faulty unit so is quite unfair. I would advise using an Ethernet cable for the broadband connection. One issue I did have was the box losing the freeview signal for a second or two every 15 mins or so. Panasonic responded to my query within 2 days with a simple fix. (Retune with Ariel unplugged, disconnect power, reconnect power, reconnect Ariel and retune.) Another criticism here is that recordings start 5 mins before the programme. This just isn't my experience. The box is quite good at detecting the start and finish of programmes and adjusting automatically. In any case, you can manually add and subtract from the start and finish times when setting up recordings. This helps with recording conflicts when programmes overlap by a few minutes. And finally...IT DOESN'T CLAIM TO PLAY DVDs so don't give it one star because you can't read the description!

I'm really pleased with this purchase. The quality is excellent and the features are numerous. We have set up TV Anywhere and even have our old Sky box feeding sky channels through this device. Music and videos from the USB port are excellent quality. Best of all, it's great to be able to pause, rewind and record live TV. All of the digital stuff via the Internet is one touch in a lot of cases. I'd buy this again and I'd recommend it to my friends.