Blu ray recorder

tomasdeb

newleaf wrote: »

Thanks for that. What I'd really need to know is - if you record from a Saorview channel on the BWT800 hard disk, and then archive the recording to DVD (not Bluray) is the sound still there?
With the BWT 720 TMull found the sound was gone after archiving. So I didn't get the 720. After Trojan work (see many earlier posts) TMUll found a workaround but it didn't convince me to buy. If this isn't a problem with the 800, maybe the 700 will be OK too. Not sure what happens with 735, but it's only available in silver, and expensive!

How many scarts on 800 , if any?

Is the DR recording then later conversion to SP awkward?

Are you happy with BWT 800? Does it get Saorview OK? Does it put Saorview channels in the 800 range?

Any problems with ads in the EPG? Does the EPG include Saorview?

Sorry for the interrogation! All help welcome. Thanks in advance.

Yes, I avoided the 720 for the same reason. I didn't risk the 735 either as there is no reason to believe the problem has been solved and its more expensive. I took a chance with the 800 as its an older model and has RGB input. Not readily available though and prices vary widely - this was very expensive when it came out first. I think the 700 is of similar vintage but lower spec (don't know the detail).

To answer your question, I have recorded from Saorview and then archived to DVD and the sound is ok. I have also done the same from a Sky box.

Two scarts. I think that AV1 is output only (not at home at the moment to check). AV2 is RGB enabled. HDMI output also.

DR conversion to SP is not a problem. You can set the machine to do the conversion when it is idle. It will either keep or delete the original after conversion (depending on your setting). If you need the conversion quickly, you can manually have it done now rather than wait for the machine to do it in its own time. One small issue: I found that the sound is often missing from the first few seconds of the DR recording and also on the converted file. So its best to do the editing after conversion - hence edit out the missing sound.

So far so good with the 800. Not overly impressed with its editing and authoring features however - my old Sony was better (more accurate editing and better choices for title screens). The Saorview channels are numbered from 801 upwards - not really a problem - at least they're in sequence - don't know what happens if you're in a border area where both Saorview and Freeview are available. have had some reception problems but not inclined to blame the 800 for those.

EPG is only ok. A big wasted area on the left. Doesn't react to scheduling changes (not that Sky reacts very well either!).

Health warning - the above relates to the 800 - I don't know how it differs from the 700.

Interesting though that the sound problems appear with the 720. Wonder what they did to cause it? Also wonder is there a regional factor - i.e. is it something to do with some of the Saorview transmitters?

Hope this helps...

tmull

As far as i know the only real difference between the 700 and 800 is the size of the hhd.The 800 has the bigger one but the cost difference was enourmous. I though I might get the official Panasonic agent here in Cork ( the only official repair on the island of Ireland) to replace the 250gb hhd in my 750 but on reading Gavtech's input on AV forums it really cannot be done. Apparently the software is set to the size of the original hhd and though a bigger one might work the machine will still think it has the original and limit the input to that size.To me the freesat 750 is a better machine than the 720.If I could swap the hhds around I would be very happy.One thing I did discover lately that on the 720 I can register a portable hhd to the machine and offload the files on to the portable very fast.As a file goes on to the portable it dissapears from the 720.I can transport it back quite easily and can make a dvd direct just by having it connect to the 720.I think Panasonic should reconsider dropping Freesat recorders from their range.Even if they stuck with one model of same I believe there is a strong market for such a machine.The 800 is so much sought after I saw a second hand one offered at above the original cost price. TMULL

newleaf

Thanks folks that's really helpful. It's a pity Panasonic wouldn't make one for the Irish market. As Soarview stuff now has to have T-2 capability such a machine would capture all available terrestrial channels, put channels in sensible order for Ireland and have none of the 720's sound archiving issues. I won't hold my breath though.
Now any recommendation as to where to get a 700 or 800 would be welcome. Have tried the usual but the only ones selling them for a good price on Ebay won't send to ROI.

tomasdeb

newleaf wrote: »

Thanks folks that's really helpful. It's a pity Panasonic wouldn't make one for the Irish market. As Soarview stuff now has to have T-2 capability such a machine would capture all available terrestrial channels, put channels in sensible order for Ireland and have none of the 720's sound archiving issues. I won't hold my breath though.
Now any recommendation as to where to get a 700 or 800 would be welcome. Have tried the usual but the only ones selling them for a good price on Ebay won't send to ROI.

Keep an eye on eBay. The best prices are from video services in UK for reconditioned models but, as you say, they don't ship to ROI. I got one from electronic bargain world. Wasn't cheap though - worked out about the same as the 735.

tmull

I do a fair amount of business on e-bay.I find that a PM or email and a confirmation that you are a verified Paypal customer usually brings a change of mind about posting to Ireland.Really they cannot turn down potential customers as the market is so limited.Nine months ago I tried all avenues for another Freesat recorder for my next door neighbor but failed.Within about two weeks of Panasonic announcing that they were ceasing production they were sold out in most UK av centers.I predict that next years models will have no AV inputs.I also predict that as soon as the 720 and 735 are gone there will be members here regretting not moving in time.They are still good recorders.TMULL

bridster007

The new Panasonic DMR BWT 735 can be bought online and collected in Currys in NI for 339 Stg - works out about €408. I checked and the Newry store has it. They won't ship, must collect in store.
Offer lasts until 24 July. Well worth the trip. Super price. I saw a 720 model on sale there last month for 278 Stg.

newleaf

Finally got the BWT 700, happy so far. For pausing live TV nothing happens when I press 'Pause" until I press Rewind Live TV first, then I can pause. Hardly intuitive! Is this the experience of others?

Now here's another. My Viera TV is Irish model, channels RTE 1 at position 1 etc, BBC's etc after the Irish Saorview Channels. However the BWT 700 has as expected put BBC 1 at position 1,RTE 1 at 801 and so on. Do channels have to have same numbers on TV and recorder for Pause Live to work from the TV remote/Viera Tools? I could try but am afraid TV might take over recorder and download its channels and mess up recorder channels so I thought I'd ask here before trying.

Presume issues would be the same for other BWT machines.

tmull

I cannot comment on that but having the 750 and 720 now for over a year I am still discovering things.I knew that if I was copying with the 720,ie,making a dvd that I could not record or watch another program whilst copying.Recently while copying on the 750 I became aware that I could either record or watch another program. The point is that the 720 was released at least two years later than the 750. Basically proves that as Panasonic releases machines they increase the price but reduce the features. I would love any member who has a 735 to come on here and comment on same. TMULL

newleaf

And another thing that might help someone else. I recorded something from Saorview on the BWT 700, in 'DR' mode, which seems the only option for the initial recording, converted it while on standby to 'SP', then archived it to DVD and the sound on the resultant DVD was fine. In other words it doesn't have the disappearing sound issue that has been widely reported for the BWT 720. I wonder how the 735 behaves.

tmull

Over the past six weeks or so I have had about six or seven failed recordings on the 720.Two were rather embarrising in that a friend had asked me different occasions to record matches for him.One on TG4 and the other on TV3.I had set both as timer recordings and about 20 minutes of one match was ok but the rest of the two hour recording was just unwatchable. Nothing appeared on the second recording although the recorder gave the impression that it was doing its job.My first impression was that it was maybe linked to the timer function.A few week went by and last monday I manually pressed record to copy a film from TV3 and was watching programmes on my 750.On finishing the film I checked and there was no film but a mix of broken images. I switched to TG4 and pressed record again but again no file on the HHD. I spoke to the manager of the Panasonic store but she was not familiar with the problem but wold talk to the Panasonic repair man here in Cork and get him to phone me. Fortunatly I know Ken and we duly talked. He explained that my HDD was too full and advised me to offload as much as I wanted on to a seperate HDD.This can be done at very high speed s o I did this and I cannot now repeat the problem. He also advised me to do a HHD reformat at least once a year and that once about every three months to completely shut down my recorders overnight. The store manager upgraded her 720 for the 735 and says she sees no diffrence in the two machines.She says the sound problems are not on the 735, TMULL

tomasdeb

newleaf wrote: »

And another thing that might help someone else. I recorded something from Saorview on the BWT 700, in 'DR' mode, which seems the only option for the initial recording, converted it while on standby to 'SP', then archived it to DVD and the sound on the resultant DVD was fine. In other words it doesn't have the disappearing sound issue that has been widely reported for the BWT 720. I wonder how the 735 behaves.

And I have the 800. This is also fine- no loss of sound.

tomasdeb

Anyone having any problems with the Saorview rescab this week?

The EPG on my 800 has been showing "rescan required" instead of RTÉ1 and RTÉ+1 listings. The reception is fine - just the EPG not working properly. I did a rescan (as advised on Saorview website) but no change. I also have a Walker STB for Saorview - no problem with this - kust with the Panasonic.

Strange one - hope it rights itself....

newleaf

I've been getting those messages on my Panasonic TV. Also have heard announcements on radio that a rescan is necessary.

tmull

Lads, nice to see ye on here again.Just a quick update on my last post. I followed Ken Foleys advice and offloaded all my files on to two portable hhds(Ken is the owner manager of AVTV repair center in Cork and the only official Panasonic repair agent in the country). I was really surprised at how much recording I had put on the 720 in the space of the year.Almost filled two 500mg hhds.I then formatted the hhd in the recorder as advised.Put about half the files back and kept the other half back and I have had no more problems recording. I have since got myself a 1000 gb portable hhd as a back-up. The downside of this is the machine is dedicated to the hhd which means it cannot be used elseware until you de-register it from the 720.As you start offloading from the recorder to the hhd the 720 warns you the this is only a temperory measure and not suitable for archiving important files. What it means is that if the 720 dies then the files on the hhds cannot be retrieved anywhere else. A bit sneaky on Panasonics part. On another issue I offered help to another member in a different post in this section of the forum,but no response back. Why do people go to the bother of posting here and then ignoring any offer? TMULL

tmull

Switched on my 720 this morning to check the recording of a late film on Rte1.I had set the timer about five minutes before the time as I find that Rte are unreliable on their timings and I have been caught out before.This time the film started about ten minutes in but the real problem is that there is no sound . Then found out that old recordings that I had watched had no sound either.All recordings through the Av ports are perfect and one or two Saorview recordings are perfect but the majority are silent.Spoke to the Panasonic store in Limerick but they can throw no light on the matter. Tried to contact the Panasonic repair man here in Cork but am awaiting a call back from him as I only spoke to his answering machine.This machine has caused me a lot of grief. This is almost as big a heap of crap as my Humax iCord that cost me 600Euro in 2009 and ended up in my recycling bin after just two years. I will let ye know how I get on. TMULL

Woodie40

tmull wrote: »

Switched on my 720 this morning to check the recording of a late film on Rte1.I had set the timer about five minutes before the time as I find that Rte are unreliable on their timings and I have been caught out before.This time the film started about ten minutes in but the real problem is that there is no sound . Then found out that old recordings that I had watched had no sound either.All recordings through the Av ports are perfect and one or two Saorview recordings are perfect but the majority are silent.Spoke to the Panasonic store in Limerick but they can throw no light on the matter. Tried to contact the Panasonic repair man here in Cork but am awaiting a call back from him as I only spoke to his answering machine.This machine has caused me a lot of grief. This is almost as big a heap of crap as my Humax iCord that cost me 600Euro in 2009 and ended up in my recycling bin after just two years. I will let ye know how I get on. TMULL

I had the same issue. Initialised the PVR. Basically restored to factory settings. Issue resolved

tmull

Thanks for that .How would I do that? Would I loose the files? Any input very mush appreciated. TMULL

Woodie40

tmull wrote: »

Thanks for that .How would I do that? Would I loose the files? Any input very mush appreciated. TMULL

Firstly check that AD is switched off. The AD button is on the remote control. Make sure it's off and then test.

tmull

Woodie 40, Your are a genius. I wouldn't have worked it out in years and was about to disconnect it from the system and go to the repair man in the morning.
Just did what you told me and all my files have their sound back.How it happened may be of interest to you. A a 74 year old pensioner I need to bring up the subtitles on looking at modern films. The video of same can be pretty aw-sum but the audio in most is pretty crap and I need to read the dialogue as most actors now cant speak properly. As I have two recorders ,the 720 and 750 I frequently pick up the wrong remote control as they are almost identical. Where the AD button is placed on the 720 remote control is is in exactly the same place as the subtitle button on the 750 one. I attempted to bring up the subtitles but must have picked up the wrong remote control.Has anyone managed to retrive the subtitles on the 720 once a film is recorded on a Saorview channel? Thank you again Tmull

The Cush

tmull wrote: »

I attempted to bring up the subtitles but must have picked up the wrong remote control.Has anyone managed to retrive the subtitles on the 720 once a film is recorded on a Saorview channel? Thank you again Tmull

Do either of the PVRs display live subtitles for the Saorview channels?

I recently purchased the PWT635 and Saorview subtitles, live or recorded, aren't available for the Saorview channels because they are displayed using teletext font and in the Freeview spec traditional teletext isn't included so no subtitles unless the manufacturer includes it for other markets

tmull

No,The 720 has a twin tuner and is designed for the UK market.I got a real run-around when I finally did get to contact a rep from Panasonic.I believe that they only managed to deal with me to try and limit my negative output both on this site and on AVforums about the serious sound problems which is still an issue on this model.I eventually got them to admit that it was designed for the Uk market and was not a Saorview model.I asked if not why did they release it here but got no satisfactory answer to this.They implied without saying it specifically that maybe the sound problem was a Saorview issue.The 750,though an older model has better features.It is a Freesat box but cannot obtain the Saorview package but is capable of recording the channel that is displayed on the tv which the later model 720 cannot do. Therefor if I put a Saorview channel on tv I could record it on the 750 Freesat box. A film recorded on the 750 has the subtitles encoded in the file and can be viewed ,if needed by just pushing the subtitle button on the remote.Even live broadcasts of the Saorview package on the 720 cannot display the subtitles. It can display the Text menu no bother. TMULL

bridster007

For anyone interested , the 2014 version of this has been announced.

http://www.avforums.com/news/panasonic-dmr-bwt740-blu-ray-player-recorder-brings-4k-scaling.10166

bridster007

The Cush wrote: »

Do either of the PVRs display live subtitles for the Saorview channels?

I recently purchased the PWT635 and Saorview subtitles, live or recorded, aren't available for the Saorview channels because they are displayed using teletext font and in the Freeview spec traditional teletext isn't included so no subtitles unless the manufacturer includes it for other markets

Subtitles work for TG4 on the sister model DMR HW220. Checked just now on old recordings. So should be same for the other models.

tmull

Whats the betting on that updated recorder having any AV inputs> TMULL

cunnijo

Hi all

Panasonic have finally released the newest version of their blu ray/HDD recoder, the DMR-BWT740EB. It still has the same connections as the previous model (DMR-BWT735EB). Click on this link for specs of the new unit here.

http://www.panasonic.com/uk/consumer/home-entertainment/hdd/dmr-bwt740eb.specs.html

tmull

One scart input? I wonder will it transfer Saorview recordings to dvds with the sound intact.Any idea of price? TMULL

cunnijo

tmull wrote: »

One scart input? I wonder will it transfer Saorview recordings to dvds with the sound intact.Any idea of price? TMULL

Currently selling at £499.58 (€651.10 approx.)on Amazon.co.uk, £549.99 (€683.90 approx.) in PC World UK and €669.00 through the Panasonic Store in Limerick.

There is also a sneak review of it on page 7 of the July 2014 edition of What Satellite & Digital TV magazine, which is in shops from today.

tmull

Thank you. TMULL

burdenedgnome

I just purchased a panasonic dmr-pwt530eb on line and now worry I made a mistake. I can not see a satellite input on pictures of the back and even unsure if I can record home movies to hard drive from my old sony digital camcorder (the main reason I bought it). Is the a recorder that does the following.

1) play DVD's and Bluray.
2) have saorview and satellite tuners (freesat) for recording programmes.
3) Record from old camcorder (AV etc).

tomasdeb

I have the DMR-BWT800 (older version of the current BWT735).
- This plays DVDs and BDs.
- Records from Saorview - but not satellite. I believe that there is an equivalent satellite model but am not aware of a model that will record both Saorview and Saorsat.
- Has AV input for recording from external sources via scart.
- Also archives to DVD and BD.

I'm not familiar with the model you mention - maybe check the specs online?