Panasonic DMR-BS850 Blu-ray Recorder

Good quality blu ray recorder.

Id previously had this old model for 10 years,it began to detioriate,so I updated with same model (luckily there was one unused on e Bay, a bit pricey but worth it for quality and many features.
Panasonic do not make a freesat blu ray recorder any more which is a pity.Read full review

Verified purchase:  Yes • Condition: pre-owned • Sold by: akelectronics.ltd

Good depending on your location

I have always loved Panasonic and when buying a place in the south of France I thought of no better way to make sure I missed none of my favourite UK programmes than by buying the Freesat version of the Freeview Blu Ray player/recorder I had already.
Well Panasonic stopped making these units back in 2010 because they say "other Freesat recorders have come onto the market". Well no other machine plays Blu Rays and allows you to archive favourite films and programmes onto Blu ray to watch later. This was/is the only one on the market to allow you to do that.
Imagine my disappointment to discover the tuners are pretty weak and find it hard at times to find the HD channels signal. So instead of all the HD channels I can get in the UK, limited I know, but still, in the south of France I can only get BBC1HD and 2HD, C5HD, and sometimes, if I'm lucky, BBC4HD. ITV HD has never tuned in properly, and C4HD has been removed from the Freesat platform, so though I can get the SD versions, when you're an HD lover like me, you don't want to watch things in SD.
The Freesat platform does give me superb quality HD pictures from Russia, Japan and Korea, but I'm really not interested in their programmes!
Fortunately French TV is far ahead of the UK in technical terms and offers 26 HD channels. Even their SD channels look better than those from the UK.
A shame that Panasonic have dropped the ball on this as I'm certain their machine had they updated it would have been unbeatable. As it is it is the only choice for someone like me, and as I love the kind of programmes BBC4HD shows it is frustrating to watch something with the image breaking up or disappearing.Read full review

Verified purchase:  Yes • Condition: refurbished • Sold by: akelectronics.ltd

Generally pleased but with reservations

I already have two similar Blu-ray Panasonic recorders which are Freeview. Unfortunately our terrestrial signal is deteriorating lately so I purchased this Freesat Blu-ray recorder to avoid paying the ever increasing Sky charges. I expecteditto be very similar to the Freeview versions but it is clearly older technology as the processor is slow to respond. Although not a fault with this recorder, Freesat does not have Channel 4 HD due to a disagreement over fees between channel 4 and Freesat. However there is a problem with all of these boxes in that due to a change made by Freesat some years ago, viewing and recording ITV HD is very hit or miss. I have spoken to Panasonic technical support who confirmed that this could only be corrected by an upgraded tuner. This was never done by Panasonic so there is no cure. It only affects this one channel, the SD version of ITV works fine, so if you are not fussy about HD there is no problem. Otherwise the recorder works well, so I ampleased with it Read full review

Fantastic piece of kit

Excellent products
This is my second machine, and I would not be without it. Panasonic are fantastic machines, it is a shame that Panasonic have not kept up making these machine. Once you get to grips with the remote it is very easy to use. The hard drive is 500gb which is plenty big enough to store films and programmes. The Blu-ray is superb. The added bonus with this machine is that it is multi region, so can play discs from around the world.Read full review

Verified purchase:  Yes • Condition: pre-owned • Sold by: akelectronics.ltd

Panasonic dmr-bs850 Blue ray recorder

I had one of these for about 10years before it fried itself. Managed to track this one down as I particularly wanted this model as it has twin tuners for freesat, blue ray, dvd, cd and you can watch programme stored on hard drive while recording 2 channels simultaneously. Read full review

Verified purchase:  Yes • Condition: pre-owned • Sold by: akelectronics.ltd

I still have to record in SD at normal speed. There is high speed but only for HD that you cannot get.

No hd tv channels in Canada to record

Verified purchase:  Yes • Condition: new • Sold by: saveontechs

Excellent Purchase

I have owned one of these units since they first hit the market and I paired mine with a 60" Panasonic Display unit that has no tuner as the Panasonic DMR-BS850 comes with two FREESAT Tuners and of course I had Sky Dish as well.Read full review

Verified purchase:  Yes • Condition: pre-owned • Sold by: retrostockshop

This particular model is one of the best Panasonic has made. Good work

Verified purchase:  Yes • Condition: pre-owned • Sold by: biriaso

Quite satisfied

Although I already knew, I miss RF sockets. But it have got two scarts (supplied for antique life collectors)

Verified purchase:  Yes • Condition: new • Sold by: tekshop

Very good Product

It performs as well as my cherished version since new in 2014

Verified purchase:  Yes • Condition: pre-owned • Sold by: mojo2012-1