Panasonic DMR-HWT150EB Smart Network HDD Recorder with Freeview Play, Black

I've only had this for a week and a half, so I'm still at the "playing about with it" stage. Read this in that context. Since the digital switchover, I've always been a bit of a H*m*x freak; I reckon I'm typical in that respect, so I'll be making comparisons between the two here. The Hummie (a 9300T) had started to play up, and with its software bugs and all, I was fed up with it. And I needed to upgrade anyway. I already have a Panasonic smart TV and home theatre setup, which are very good, and I tend to be brand-loyal if they give good service, so I went that route. I ordered this and another item at the same time, and it all came in the same Amazon package. I thought it was just the recorder till I opened it; the Panasonic is tiny, about two-thirds the size of the Hummie. I think the dimensions given are wrong. Physical installation was a faff though, because the Hummie has a hard-wired mains lead and the Pannie uses a bog-standard figure-of-eight. All my spaghetti is in cable tidies, and I had to undo it all. That's not Panasonic's fault of course, in fact it's an improvement. Setup was a breeze; like the TV, it tore through the auto-tune and presented me with a choice: list all found services by signal strength, or select your transmitter. Works perfectly. Saves remembering your MUX numbers and doing a manual tune, like with the Hummie. Veira Link works well; turn off the TV and the recorder waits a second or two, figures out what you're doing, and turns off too. On a couple of occasions, I've been watching on the TV, found something in the EPG, pressed Record, and the TV passed the command on to the recorder. How cool is that? Trouble is, it's not doing it any more so I've messed up a setting somewhere. You can enter your name and address to deter theft; you can change it if you move. It's protected by a PIN which is separate from the Parental Lock PIN. It won't be cleared by a factory reset, so you must remember it. It's a good idea; I wish they had it on the TV, which is more expensive. I still had a few unwatched recordings on the Hummie; I whipped out its hard drive, connected it to my computer, lifted them off and on to a USB stick. Plugged it into the Pannie and it played them straight away; I had the option of copying them onto the hard drive, which I didn't have to, but did. You can do the same with your digital photos, and any videos on your computer too. (And I kept the old hard drive, formatted it for Windows and now I've got extra storage.) It doesn't seem to like SD cards though; YMMV. The Pannie is a bit ponderous in responding to the remote; you press a button, it seems to say, "Are you sure, sir?", then does it. It's only a second or so, but it's noticeable. I can live with it, though. The Hummie was far more responsive, but I figure you use a video recorder far less now that you have catch-up, so I'm not finding it a problem at all. In the same vein, the Pannie is somewhat less intuitive than the old machine; you need more button-presses to do anything, but once you get used to it it's really not an issue. One good thing; the EPG takes a second or two to load, but it does load; a full eight days where the Hummie gave you three days if you were lucky. Important on a recorder. Mind you, they did go and spoil it by not having a search function; a serious omission in my view. Like on the TV, to scroll up and down in the EPG it's the Up/Down arrow; to scroll up and down a page at a time, you long-press the Up/Down arrow. Not in the manual, that one. The Page Up/Down button only serves to change channel in Catch-up view. I've also installed the app on my phone; it worked straight away and I can record something when I'm out. I can also watch TV (or recordings) when I'm out; that'd use a lot of data though. But it does mean, using WiFi, I can (virtually) take the TV to bed. Or (ahem) anywhere else in the house. So, to sum up: Things I like: 1. Small and neat. 2. Uses a standard mains lead. Small things can mean a lot. 3. The price is right. About the going rate for a good quality, entry-level machine. 4. TV anywhere, with the phone app. 5. Integrates well with the TV. Especially a Panasonic. 6. EPG fully populates. Almost instantly. 7. Plays your digital videos and photos. Things I don't like: 1. A little slow to respond to the remote. Only a second or two though. 2. Can't access a USB device while it's recording. 3. No EPG search. 4. No clock on the front. I don't miss it, but you might. 5. Frankly, Panasonic's app market isn't the best. All the catch-up apps are there, and Amazon, Netflix, Britbox and so on. A few games for the kids, and a couple of nice "moving wallpaper" apps, but not much else unless you like Bulgarian or Mongolian TV. Overall though, a great little machine and I'm pleased with it. Great for all the stuff that's not on catch-up.

Time for another reasonable review on this product. I have read some of the previous negative reviews on this product and if I'm honest. These reviews are a bit harsh and seem to be centred around the fact that the product was not released with Freeview play functionality. This functionality has now been enabled by a software update, which was released on 1st December, which is exactly when Panasonic said the software would be released This product is a very capable DTV recorder and also has access to Amazon instant video and Netflix. These can be accessed by the net button on the remote. Netflix can also be accessed by the dedicated Netflix button. There are quite a few other apps available as well. I have recorded two programs at once on more than one occasion and have not ran into problems One thing to note the scroll back catch up in the EPG only works for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 at the moment due to the fact that demand five isn't currently available on the box. Although, according to Panasonic demand five is coming shortly. Given the fact that the freeview play update was released exactly when they said was going to be I'm inclined to believe them about demand five, as well. The scroll back catch up in the EPG works perfectly. The freeview play catch up apps are accessed using the freeview play button on the remote. I also read comments that the remote is difficult to understand that to be honest I don't think it is. I've seen far worse examples and if you've had Panasonic kit before you might not even need to read the instructions. I would have given this product five stars had it been released with freeview play from the get go. It also gets four stars because demand five isn't available yet, making the catch up facilities slightly limited. The other slight negative is that the EPG can be a little slow sometimes, but not overly so

I bought this to be free of Virgin Media and it replaced V6 Tivo. In short it does nearly everything the Tivo did except the searching for actors and linked material functions. However it does less of it in terms of only being able to record 2 channels while watching a third. This can be an issue in the UK where the good stuff usually all starts at 9pm. I linked it to my home net work so I can watch live TV and my recorded TV on my mobile phone (even on the bus). All in all I am please with the unit I have now and won't miss Virgin too much. The unit pays for itself in about 6 months when I deduct the monthly savings I make no-longer paying Virgin Media from the purchase cost. The remote controls the TV (Samsung) so my controllers basket has one less item in it now.

This little box has breathed new life into an older LCD TV that had no Smart functionality. There has been a visible improvement in image quality compared to a previous HD decoder and with a bit of TV colour and contrast tweaking looks great. It's a breeze to set up: have all connections in place before initial switch on and it runs through its installation procedures with minimal input. The Smart functions give you access to Amazon, Netflix, YouTube, BBC, ITV, C4 and Demand 5 as well as other apps and a web browser. The box will record two channels while you watch a 3rd although one idiosyncracy is that it will switch channel to one being recorded at the start. No big deal. The guide is nippy enough too. All in all this is a great alternative to forking out for a new TV if you want Smart functionality and not looking for HDR or 4K.

In most respects this box does the job. However, the Freeview panel does not display Amaon Prime, one of the most important requirements as far as I am concerned. Sadly Panasonic's customer support was dismal. Held on to their support 'phone line for 29 minutes but nobody answered. Sent email but their reply was, well the best way I can put it is 'weird'. They said Amazon Prime doesn't own Freeview or words to that effect, and yet on the Freeview Panel on the TV, Amazon Prime is listed with all the others, BBC Iplayer, ITVHub etc. Panasonic did suggest a work round but really, this is the 21st century, work arounds for this type of technology are a thing of the past. The delivery from Amazon was excellent, packing excellent. The Panasonic box good as far as it goes but if you want Amazon Prime on Freeview be prepared for a convoluted route

If you are looking for a recorder and do not want to watch DVDs or listen CDs this is just the job. Nice and compact and does not take up much room. Good recorder and very easy to set up and is well worth the money. Good quality playback.

Be warned, this is not user friendly. I purchased this to replace an old friend of many years that was showing its age. It was easy to use. Menu, time set, choose program, press blue and all done. It was a Panasonic so I purchased this one to go with the Panasonic tv. The size of the instruction book should have warned me of what was to come. For example why do you need ten picture quality levels for recording and then a further change if wanted that takes as long as the original recording. There are so many variations possible and multiple alternatives that one is lost in the alternatives. I nearly sent it back but managed to record the Grand Prix which produced an excellent picture. Really the average person wants to be told how to record and how to play back in a straightforward description. Show other alternatives separately if they are available. Life is complicated enough without having to fight the instruction book.

The main reason for purchasing this was to record programmes to watch back at later time. It has been excellent for this purpose. You can set it up to record single programmes or whole series and it does this brilliantly and without any hassle at all. If the broadcast time of the programme changes it adjusts it's timing accordingly. It can also record 2 programmes at the same time which has often proved handy. Another useful feature is that when watching back a programme containing adverts one or two clicks on the "skip to next chapter" button takes you straight to the next part of the programme (it's amazing how much time this can save). We now record almost everything we want to watch on this and then watch it back later when convenient. I have used it on occasion for catch up TV on Freeview Play and iPlayer and it has worked well for this also. I wouldn't want to be without this machine now as it has made catching all programmes we want to watch simple - whatever ungodly or inconvenient hour they might be on.