My primary requirements are the comfortable reception and further processing, playing my movie collection, integration in the network (DLNA streaming). Who is primarily interested in HD +, should skip this review.
The scheduled recording via EPG is simple and intuitive can also Opa. Today possible functions, as per view program search function, etc., there is not (old technique, but it works). Extra hours at the beginning and end can be defined globally so it should be.
Parallel picking up and look works. The current program will be recorded automatically and can be stored retroactively great.
When connecting an external drive my trouble begins. An external USB drive may extend the internal plate by being formatted or registered. Such a plate is not readable on a PC and can only be read and written from the receiver.
Who wants to infect a USB disk to play it stored movies, music or pictures, can only use disks with FAT32. NTFS is not supported !! This is particularly unacceptable because neither Windows 7 nor Windows 8 a hard drive with FAT32 can be formatted. On FAT32 also only films with a maximum of 4 GByte can be stored (Note: FAT32 disks with cluster size can 64k not read the Panasonic)..
If the FAT32 drive times shot, then (some) content can also be played. However, the supporting formats seem to me very limited. My many MPEG-1 (* .mpg) children's films can not play the Panasonic.
HD and SD recording with the Panasonic work well, however, the approximately 10 different compression and quality levels are very confusing.
Burning to DVD takes on a 90min film good 2 hours. During this time television, playing and recording is not possible! The burned DVD was recognized me from most devices, but not by all.
To play a music CD you have to fire up the TV to select the source CD.
The streaming movies via DLNA from Panasonic to another device (eg PC) with WiFi you can forget about. WiFi seems way too slow especially for HD content. LAN I could not test.
The streaming movies from Panasonic on an Android 4.2 smartphone using the Panasonic DIGA app works so well as not. With tablets, it is supposed to work but I could not test.
The remote control has 6 buttons for the TV. Over a 2-digit code (01-99) you can select its brand. That did not work out with my TV. I guess there are more than 99 different signals for all TVs all manufacturers.
The user interface is simple and intuitive (EPG) in some areas. But whoever considers all menu items overall, will judge differently. This looks to me like dozens of times but never expanded consolidated. It seems to me the latter is a problem in the industry, not only from Panasonic.
The manual is extensive, but very difficult to understand even for a technician.
Conclusion:
The device works with value and provides wonderful HD quality. Who wants to take from time to time movies to watch them later, gets what he needs. Anyone who wants to process films or want to integrate the device into a DLNs / UPnP / NAS Network, should look closely. Not everything that was announced big marketing brochure, also works. The many possibilities of this multifunctional product shall be borne by the intuitive usability. The usefulness of the device is more and more determined by firmware and software, their quality is partly terrifying. The price is high.
4 stars for a good device with Verbesseringspotential. 3 stars due to the high price.
