Panasonic launching UK's first Blu-ray HD recorders

Finally we can archive the Antiques Roadshow in HD

Panasonic has caught us well and truly on the hop by revealing that it’s going to launch not just one but two Blu-ray recorders in the coming months.

Hard facts on the two devices are a little hard to come by right now, on account of their slightly distant May launch date. But here’s what we’ve managed to find out so far.

First, names: the higher spec model is the DMR-BS850, while the cheaper model is the DMR-BS750. We can also confirm that both these models carry twin Freesat HD tuners, so that in principle you'll be able to record the BBC HD and ITV HD channels - alongside all Freesat’s standard definition channels, of course.

No store draw
Both decks will also sport built-in HDD recorders, and it’s here that the main difference between the two models lies, with the BS850 sporting a 500GB memory capacity, while the BS750 carries 250GB.

Both decks also carry DV inputs for receiving camcorder footage, and front-mounted USB and SD card slots for archiving and playing back AVCHD HD movies.

The new BD recorders are also well specced BD players, with BD-Live and BonusView Blu-ray feature support, and Panasonic’s acclaimed PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus/P4HD picture processing engine.

Holding out for a Hero?
This all sounds pretty exciting, of course. But questions remain. We don’t know yet exactly how much they will cost, for instance. Also, we stressed earlier that the new decks’ Blu-ray Freesat HD recording capabilities are only ‘in principle’ for two very good reasons.

First, we currently can’t be 100% sure that there won’t be any copyright issues with recording prime BBC HD fare such as Heroes. And second, ITV HD’s broadcasts are accessed by pressing the red button when watching the standard definition ITV channel, and we have our doubts that the new Blu-ray recorders will be able to record these HD ‘substreams’.

If we can get some response to these questions from Panasonic tomorrow, needless to say we’ll update this story as soon as we can get back to a laptop. Watch this space.



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