Panasonic DMR-BS750 and 850 review

The SDHC memory card reader or USB port enable you to load music and photos on the hard disk or burn them to writable media. The DMR-BS recorders use the GraceNote online service, which helps you organise your MP3 collection, providing track names, album art and playlist suggestions. Photo browsing is speedy, aided by 12 onscreen thumbnails at a time, and there’s a basic slideshow.

Blu velvet

You can, of course, watch Blu-ray movies too, with disc load times being fairly typical. There’s also impressive DVD upscaling. All the video and audio outputs you’d expect are included, and support for 1080p 24fps output, along with all the latest surround-sound standards.

The menu system is clearly presented and does a good job of presenting the myriad of options available. However, it can feel a little sluggish, with an entirely black screen appearing every time you switch between menus. There’s no media streaming, but you do get Panasonic’s Viera Cast internet service. However, at present this consists only of YouTube and Picasa Web Albums.

A Foxsat-HDR and a Blu-ray player won’t cost much more than £400, so you’re paying a significant chunk of extra cash for the Blu-ray archiving and other functions. With FreeSat HD support in the upcoming Windows 7, you should be able build a cheaper Media Center PC that’s capable of the same tasks, although Blu-ray archiving would require using authoring software, too. The two DMR-BS recorders are easier to use than a media centre PC, but have limited file format support and no proper internet access.

The DMR-BS recorders are great for enjoying and archiving a wide range of media, particuarly AVCHD footage from a HD camcorder. However, the high price of media and the complex compatibility and copy-protection issues will put off many potential users.