Panasonic DMR-PWT560GN

10 Stars! Panasonic Blu Ray recorder/player 500GB. 6 years old, still works perfectly! I've used it constantly over the years. V happy, Luvit! Show details ·  1

Modern Panasonic. so so – Not quite as easy to use as the previous model, had a struggle to find some things, but my most disappointing discovery was it does not have a 24 hour clock,surely in this day and age, that would be a given. Show details ·  2

Great unit overall – Purchased this unit at the Good Guys 18 months ago. Compared to my old LG this unit has better functions. Pros: it has 500GB of hard drive, Program 2 stations at the same time while watching another channel, able to adjust the colour which gives me an excellent picture on my HD TV, Can play Blue-Ray CD's and DVD's. Cons: Recording lights very… Read more

small, have to get up close to see if it is recording, our older model has brighter red lights which is much easier to read, the TV guide for programing not so good, some stations you have to press a button to allow it to load all the stations which can take 1 to 2 minuits to complete the task.

Overall happy with the unit.

Honest Senior.

No more catch up TV – Very disappointed to find out the Catch Up TV buttons aren't working anymore because Panasonic doesn't have the licencing for it anymore - it was part of the reason I bought this PVR. Also, it freezes at times and the only way to get it to unfreeze is to turn it off at the wall socket.

DMR-PWT560 – I have purchased a DMR-PWT560 , I am currently in discussion with Panasonic re problem ... overheating to place your hand under this DVD you will remove it in less than 10 seconds as the heat is possibly the hottest I have felt outside of my toaster. I have taken it back to the seller who then sent it to the local authorised repairer, one month… Read more

later I now have it back and there is no change... I have been assured by the local repairer that "they run hot" my previous Panasonic DVD DUAL PLAYER RECORDER is 8+years old It has a rear fan, which you can feel expelling the air this new DVD has no fan. I have made a cradle that lifts the the unit 50cm above our TV Cabinet unit. I have at this point of time SENT A PICTURE OF ITS LOCATION WITH THE TV CABINET AND A SCANNED COPY OF THE ORIGINAL PURCHASE RECEIPT all my relevant information that I had previously supplied has been requested again and I have complied . I am glad this site is monitored by Panasonic and am eagerly awaiting their reply. OUTCOME AS AT 21/3/23...............Panasonic has received a report from local service agent in regards to operating temperature of this unit and have deemed unit is RUNNING WITHIN ACCEPTED TEMP PARAMETERS. I will accept this verdict however I will never run this unit unattended.

Keeps switching itself off – The thing keeps on switching itself off, at least two or three times a night. Most frustrating.

Lack of support – SBS on demand has stopped working, Disney can NOT be loaded, nor can any other streaming service except NETFLIX which was the original selling draw card. Support is non existent for this product now, it seems that 2-3 years is deemed to be the life of electronic products in Panasonic worls.

Not Compatible With A Lot Of Things & Won't Record Cd's Etc – Not as good as my 12y/o panasonic recorder, it could do anything & play anything . Remotes not as easy to use as old one. This model won't play half of my music & photos & videos on my usb sticks, not compatible with much. Show details

Now I can view Wimbledon recorded in full HD!! – Needed to upgrade DVD recorder from SD to receive HD TV channels. Latest Panasonic was ideal. Great product and easy to instal. Now I can sleep through late night Wimbledon matches and watch next day recorded in full HD.  Show reply

So let down by this product – I would never have bought dmr pwt 560 if I knew it will not play movies etc that the dmr Panasonic had not recorded itself, omg how restrictive is that Panasonic. Show details

Glad I didn't read the other reviews before purchasing, as I probably wouldn't have had I done so – Just read a recent review regarding this product - Wish I'd read all this before I purchased this one..... I purchased mine because the LG Twin HD Tuner I already had wasn't compatible with my new LG smart tv. The only issues I have with it so far is that every time I turn it on, it tells me it has found new channels, when in fact there aren't… Read more ·  2

that many new channels being added to the broadcast network every day or less*, and the problem of when I play it forward 1.3x speed, the volume increases substantially which is a bit annoying.

*Logged with Panasonic support, waiting for contact from them.

Wish I'd read all this before I purchased this one – Just bought this for some 80+y olds stuck in their villa with nothing to do..... after a good experience with my 5-6 yo early version I just walked into Harvey Norman and said 'shut-up and take my money'.... Set it up for them.... gave them a run through, few examples of operation... then it happened :o went to set a time to record a program 4… Read more

hours from now,.... and it blitzed the whole channel, setting the timer for each and every show for the next 24-30 hours.... then it proceeded to tell me that selected times were clashing, rectify the selected times... but it wouldn't let me delete any shows. We just had to turn it off and wait for the calendar day to pass.... and turn it back on again... What The Hell Was That All About????

I just wanted to play dvds – Call me old fashioned but I watch movies on DVD. So I bought my 2nd Panasonic DVD player and thought it would be nice to have the facility to record as well if needed. Compared to my 11 year old DVD player, this new one loads slower, takes several minutes to turn the TV on, doesn't remember where you were up to (to return later) and now it's not… Read more

loading some DVDs. Very unsatisfied with the product. It seems like many hifi products, as technology improves, the quality deteriorates.

DMR-PWT560GN – HD Is getting extremely hot to the point its effecting its ability to function. It sits on a clean dust free area by its self. Shuts down, freezes, icon spins then resets. At first I gave my internet company a ripping but I have now found its the unit when coming to streaming, and we may only watch a movie three times a week I have placed it up on… Read more

blocks so it has cool air underneath but still getting hot. I have the older models and never had a problem spent a motza on this small light box but seems inferior. I do love it when it was working I would give it 5 stars, its way quicker than its predecessors but they are still going and this one is not two years old. The store said unfortunately because its out of warranty they cant do anything. Even when its switched off in standby the base is hot to touch. Kids are missing it. Never had a problem with Panasonic before I still have a LCD cruising along magically. Any ideas anyone???

Not what the customer, what National say you have to have – The format used on the USB HDD is only usable with National equipment at the moment. If you store programmes on the USB HDD you can not save or play them on any other equipment but National as the format is not generic as with other recorders. After purchasing a USB HDD for about one third the price of the unit, I find that my computer will not… Read more

read the USB HDD due to National's choice of formatting. I can only see the USB HDD as a trick to supply a large enough HDD in the recorder and let the buyer pay for extra storage than can not be used with normal USB equipment. The company should be reported and offer upgrades to solve their generated problem which is at the expense of the buyer. I find this disappointing as a user of an older model which has and still works the same as from day one.

won't play movies from external USB Hard drive – won't play movies from external USB Hard drive as it wants you to register the drive, but to do so it wants to delete everything on drive. copied all data of the External drive, registered drive with unit plugged back into computer to put all data back on drive and now it is not compatible or recognized by computer.... now have to pay money to get… Read more

external drive fixed bought unit in late October 2019. will be returning for different brand and product

I think it great ,however there is a problem – Bought this unit to upgrade a 12 year old model that is still working just fine ,but it can’t scan in the newer HD channels and can only records one program .this model appears to work very well ,except for the fact that when I delete a recorded program it deletes the scheduled program as well .it seems that I have to remember to reschedule a… Read more ·  2

program that is on the programed list ??? Am I doing something wrong when I delete ,or when I set up a program link ?

Hmmm ..., not completely satisfied – This is my 3rd Panasonic Blu-Ray recorder and I'm still not 100% satified. Once it's up and running it works well but it just won't connect to the t.v. straight off the bat. It turns on and say 'Hello' and then nothing. I have to wait 5 mins or more for it to revert back to the time and then if I press the power button again it will connect. I… Read more

find this super frustrating but have checked and re-checked the cableling etc and it's all in order. The other thing I find rather strange is that my 1st Bly-Ray recorder of almost 9 years ago (which was the best by far) was the only one where you could 'eject' the DVD via the remote control. One would think that after all this time, technology would allow you to do this. Aside from these couple of things, I am pretty happy with it but as to how long it will last is anyone's guess. Given the price of the Blu-Ray recorders and the fact that there is very little to choose from out there, I doubt I will be replacing for a 4th time. I will just buy a DVD player for which there is a lot more to choose from.

Won't find simple Free to Air channels – My unit can't find any of the channel 7 channels (Prime in my rural area) when tuning the channels and loses SBS and all it's companion channels regularly - even though the signal strength through the TV and the 2 other TVs in my house is at 100%. I have had no luck with the Panasonic support line as the operator claimed that Channel 7 is not a… Read more

free channel and as such, the blu ray player can't pick up the signal? Still looking for a solution but if one isn't found soon I'll have to make the 4 hour round trip back to the shop to exchange it for something that will work as intended :(

Not good enough – Cannot watch Netflix or You Tube if recording anything. Unit goes into a self check mode and shuts down. Will be calling Panasonic for a fix or returning to the retailer for a refund Show details

Don't buy this product if you want to watch DVDs – Don't buy this product if you want to watch DVDs as it doesn't memorize where you are up to on the disc allowing you to watch it later from where you left off- this is infuriating and even cheap DVD players have this facility. I spoke to Panasonic who were patronizing and dismissive and told me that product was working to specification - surely most people would expect a machine for this price to have this basic feature. Show details

company responses interesting but not good enough – interesting isn't it that Panasonic responses to the positive assessment but not to any of those experiencing problems poor form Panasonic - why not be helpful and offer assistance to those having problems and or improve the features as noted in the reviews Show details

Good unit except for DVDissues – My dad had a DMR-PWT560 and said it was great but that he never used the DVD function on it, So since i had multiple units doing all the same jobs this one unit could do, i went and bought one for myself. straight away it updated firmware, as someone who used to work in IT, I switched device off and allowed it to properly reboot itself. all the… Read more

functions worked superbly except the DVD player would start playing and about 15-20 minutes into a movie, the picture would constantly start breaking up and then freeze and stop working. went and checked my dads one and it had the same problem

Good product with a few improvement – I bought this pvr about a year ago to record soccer games at the World Cup last year. I must say it produce good quality of sound and picture. The blu Ray is excellent and the play back is good. The only problem is it can not remember where to restart the movie if I stop it in the middle of movie. Show details

Lacks features – This was purchased to replace Sony DVD+Topfield HDD. I was astounded to find you can not stop a DVD movie and try watching the rest at a later time. Even my old 2010 Sony could do that. Another thing the inability to add further apps i.e Tenplay, 7catchup, Nine catchup etc...no can do! You have iView, SBS demand, Netflix that's it!! Very disappointed customer. Show details

Excellent Panasonic DMR value! – I purchased the Panasonic 560 model DMR to tape the new season of Doctor Who and it has so far not let me down. The quality of recordings is absolutely superb and like watching a blu-ray recording of the show. This one is very easy to use, comes with a top-notch blu ray/ DVD player built in and seems like a typical Panasonic product in its high… Read more ·  1

build quality and ergonomic design. This is a classy, premium-feeling unit, while not the cheapest model around. Looking at the other reviews, maybe I have been lucky in my unit; I'm certainly not experiencing some of the issues others have. Panasonic picture quality for blu ray players has traditionally been up there with the very best and this is no exception. Blu rays play back superbly with excellent depth and detail, a stunning natural colour performance and great black levels. DVDs do look very good too with this unit's commendable ability to upscale to full HD. So far, I can not fault this machine from one of the few true stalwarts of the Japanese electronics industry still in business...

Would never buy another Panasonic DMR_PWR560 – Cant watch Netflix if also recording _ unit keeps going in to Self Check function and shuts down. Restart takes up to 5 minutes If recording 2 channels cant watch a 3rd side as advertised, have to watch one of the programmes being recorded and usually the one the unit selects for you. If you try to cancel a recording it wont let you, so you… Read more

have to wait until the recording ends before you can watch anything else.

Even though there is a record cancel button it is greyed out so wont work.

Contact with Panasonic NZ has been poor with messages left going unanswered.

When i did talk to them they only said to turn off at switch and reboot.

Absolute Rubbish – Got this model as a replacement under warranty of our first Panasonic, bought it 13/12/17. Within a month we started having problems, then the Hard drive crashed, it was sent away for repairs, had it back a couple of days and started playing up again, won't let you watch Netflix while recording free to air even tho it's one of the features… Read more

advertised. If you try to record from two channels while watching one it will pick which channel you can watch. They sent it away for more repairs, but to no avail, have told them I want a refund as this is ridiculous, been in the repairers more than I've had it. Waiting to hear back.

Yes in theory it's easy to use, when it works, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it, even to my worst enemy!

Would not purchase another – I purchased this Panasonic because I could play my Photo CD’s . But when recording a program on the TV it will only slow 2 programs to be recorded at the one time. Fair enough you say? Yes, but.. you have to be watching one of the recorded programs. And if you are watching one recorded program and the other is not recorded till a few minutes later… Read more

the recorder will switch over to the program which has just commenced. The recorder is telling you what to watch. No way would I buy another one of these. Simple to

use?? I don’t think so.

So far its awesome – This device replaced our much loved Pioneer DVD/PVR. The machine is feature rich and easy to set up. I have it connected to a HD Plasma display, a Sony Amp and my home LAN via ethernet. The device was very easy to configure, and has picked up my DLNA compliant Netgear NAS, and plays the videos readily stored on it. I am using a Logitech Harmony remote with the device and it was also easy to configure.  Show details