Humax Foxsat-HDR Freesat PVR Comments

Great review...I have pre ordered one of these this week.

Any reason why it only supports 1080i and not 1080p?

Actually, the reviewer is incorrect when he states that the HDR can not access non-freesat channels, because this has always been possible on the HDR (It was one of the first things I tried when I got mine last year). To do this, simply perform a manual channel scan from the set up menu, once the scan has completed, a further option appears on the menu to switch the device into non-freesat mode.

id wait for the topfield to be reviewed before considering this, and that has one considerable advantage over this for me in that its of a standard width and can therfore sit neatly above my dvd player and av reciever systems

Isn't it more likely that FreeSat doesn't support 1080p? So the official specs say the same?

This unit is fantastic. I bought it a month back as i just moved into a new house and the previous owner did not have a aerial installed, all he had was a SKY dish, but i did not want to pay a monthly subscription as i do not watch that much tv, hence why i bought this.
The picture quality is amazing and when connected to my 5.1 system via an optical cable....it is amazing!
a recommended buy, and the price is well worth it.

I wish you'd stop reviewing FreeSat products. You're making me miserable because I can't get FreeSat. Being on the side of a hill with trees at the top means no line of sight. Oh yes, I also live in a valley so no FreeView. Oh yes, we survive off a small relay transmitter which, at best, gives three channels on a good day. Oh yes, there's cable in the area but, since I live on a private road, Virgin won't dig it up to give me a line. Thank goodness for iPlayer. Now stop reviewing products that I could buy but can't use!

@Peter Morris - You can't get Freesat OR Freeview? Where do you live, the mines of Moria?

I have Sky HD, and multi room, could i ditch the muti room (Pace 3100 (PVR2)), and add this baby instead? Is this possible or do i need an other dish, or none at all? I'd be interested in seeing how this compares to Sky's offering!

As above, I also want to know .. Can I just hook up my existing Sky+ Dish to this box without having to make any adjustments?

At least the reviewer is now mentioning BBC iPlayer on these sort of devices as a possibility for the future. When is the industry going to deliver......?

To the above comments, I believe you are able to connect a Freesat receiver to an existing Sky satellite dish at the same time as a Sky box (Does not matter if its Sky+ or Sky HD) without having to reposition the dish. They should capable of receiving two feeds at once and sending them to separate boxes.

For those querying Freesat and Sky combinations...

The folks have just added a Quad LNB to their existing dish (purchased with a Sky contract). Two cables now feed a plain old Sky box and the Freesat receiver in their Panasonic TV.

This is specific for the Panasonic TV: the Sky box appears under the AV options button on the remote. To access Freesat, select it's option, accessible via the TV button.

HTH.

guh.

I have a quad LNB feeding Sky+ as weel as my Panny freesat tv and it works fine. Now I just need a Octal LNB so I can put a Humax (or two) upstairs!

I really really want to get this receiver, but at the moment I just feel its overpriced for what it is. Unless im missing something fundmental then this is really just the Human HD received (Currently available for £130) with a 320GB HDD (with some additional electronics and software so it is able to record obviously) for an additional £170!! More than twice again, which considering a HDD only costs £40 or so...

Obviously value is subjective from person to person but to me, the same price again for the recording function just isnt good value, id be interested at closer to £200

I must admit i'm getting fed up with paying Sky 50 pounds a month for and endless supply of poor channels if it wasn't for the footie it would have gone a long time ago.

That for me is the main conundrum as I would miss the football, though sadly nothing else.

Stelph said ^^^^^^^^^
Well all I can say is the build quality is great, the picture quality is fantastic, the Free Hd is super all 1 channel of it, some time itv !!! The recording is bang on and it all works as it should. For one box that does alot of stuff with no monthly fee its great, also you can add mp3s and photos and use a usb HD drive to archive. More updates planned and I have heard a whisper it will be doing DIVX ??? now that would be good, also they hase some future plans for internet use...................

A stark choice has to be made... Either my children have a month of poverty, with only bread and water to eat or drink, or trustedreviews hand over their review unit. Which is it to be?

Can you live with your conscious chaps?

Fibble said on 15th January 2009

Actually, the reviewer is incorrect when he states that the HDR can not access non-freesat channels, because this has always been possible on the HDR (It was one of the first things I tried when I got mine last year). To do this, simply perform a manual channel scan from the set up menu, once the scan has completed, a further option appears on the menu to switch the device into non-freesat mode.

Bang on - then gives you nearly 395 tv stations + 100 radio :-)

As this is the only machine of its type I guess it's all too easy to wax lyrical about its good points but I have to take issue with "It's complemented by a terrific remote that's clearly been designed with simplicity in mind. The buttons are large, well spaced...". The remote is SHOCKINGLY bad, there has been absolutely no thought at all put into its design apart from making it LOOK good. Lets think, what buttons would be most used on a PVR? Maybe the play/pause/skip buttons? OK, we'll make them really small so you have to look at the remote every time. And while we're about it lets have two buttons that move the channel up and down. Oh yes, lets have an 'Exit' button and a 'Back' button that have to be used seemingly randomly throughout the interface. How often do users use the number buttons to change channel on a system with an EPG? Almost never? Right, lets make the number buttons the biggest on the remote then and put them in the prime real-estate where they can most easily be reached with a thumb and relegate all the useful buttons to the bottom of the control where they're almost impossible to press one-handed. And then there's the directionality problem - unless the control is pointing exactly at the machine and the machine is square on to you the control is useless. Danny P, I think you should find yourself a Tivo and take a look - THAT's how a remote should be.

I bought the foxsat hdr, just after Xmas - to say its a fantastic machine is an understatement!! Ok theres a few fixes to be sorted out, but i'd recommend this machine to anybody. Ive been using the Humax 9200 terrestrial, for a couple of years, and because of its build quality, performance, and support, there was only one machine to go for (ok theres only one on the market at the moment). As u guessed - i'm really pleased with it>>

Stelph,
Part of the extra electronics is the second decoder, so more than just the 320Gb SATA HD and the 'stuff' to allow recording. You are right though in that is does seem over priced, but Humax currently have no competition as they are the sole manufacturer with a product on the market. Now how long till the others put products out and the competition starts for Freesat PVRs?

Hi, excuse my lack of knowledge but can anyone help me? I've just been looking at these and agree with "Stelph" that the £170 extra for a recording function (+ 1 or 2 extras) is a bit steep. But my question is can i use my existing set top 'freeVIEW' box which has a 120gb recording function, in conjunction with the standard Foxsat HD Box? Is there any way of using IT'S recording feature still while watching the Foxsat for Freesat? Also, with the suggestion made to use an external HDD (£40).. is this simple to do... am i running out of connections on my Panny TH-42PZ85 for all this?? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Again apologies for my ignorance... all i want is to watch some HDTV on my HDTV!!
Thanks.

I've been trying to source one of these boxes since before xmas. John Lewis finally came through and I can't wait to get my grubby hands on it later this week. I'm even more excited having re-read this review and comments... I was a Sky+ early adopter but baulked at paying an extra £10 p/m for HD. OK, I'm losing the sports but much of that has gone to Setanta anyhow and at least the Humax will pay for itself over about 9 months.

I want to receive TV in The Algarve Portugal can I use this box and what else do I need to connect to the service??

I have the Humax PVR and although generally pleased with it, have found on occasions it does not record a programme for some reason, also I find that sometimes a series link does not come up when it should be available, lastly the delete feature is more complicated than Sky + anyone else had these problems would be interested to know.

have just got humax foxsat HDR great picture shame about remote more thought should have gone into it buttons too small pvr duttons not placed well,£462 less to pay sky they do say in instructions remote subject to change,lets hope again fantastic picture

I've had the unit for the best part of 2 months now and should say at the outset that overall I'm VERY pleased with it BUT -
The remote is dreadful. Poorly laid out with the numeric buttons (seldom used) dominating. Most of the buttons, particularly Play/pause/ff/rew are too small to press without looking and the most useful function buttons (media/schedule/info etc.) are just all over the place. €Not a patch on the simple Sky+ remote, which I was used to.
A very odd quirk is that one cannot delete a recording while the machine is recording. This isn't mentioned in the manual - I had to call the helpdesk.
Something else that prospective/new owners should be aware of is that a certain amount of the HDD is reserved for photos. Never intending to use that facility I would like to free it up for programmes but that requires reformatting the HDD, i.e. losing current recordings unless they're dumped off to a computer or external hard drive.
Lastly, and not a fault of the unit, it seems to me that Freesat choice of channels is inferior to that on Freeview. Oh, and ITV HD is rubbish - on my system it suffers sound drop-outs all the time.
Sorry if all this sounds a bit negative - as I said at the start, overall it's a great piece of kit that can only get better with a revamped remote and fix to one or 2 software glitches.

Does any one know whether the foxsat DHDR can record as well as receive non freesat channels?

Is there a list anywhere of the full set of free to air channels? Paul wrote earlier that he can recieve 395 tv stations, I wonder what they all are.

I agree with Larry Roxon's assessment of this unit. I've had one since December and I have found frustration and aggravation at the little things as listed in Larry's comments. The one aggravation that he hasn't listed but that I have experienced is that the unit 'freezes' quite regularly and the only way to clear the problem is to switch off and then back on again. The trouble with this is that any advanced recordings you may have listed during the 'freeze' period will not get recorded. I don't know if this is a quirk just for my unit or if it's a general software fault that requires a fix. I'm looking into it and will report back if I find out. The lack of some Freeview channels is also frustrating. I like some channels like Sky News, Virgin 1, Dave & Five USA to name but a few but they are not available on FreeSat. I'm not sure I understand why they're not available if they free to air! I use both a Freeview PVR & FreeSat PVR simultaneously to overcome this problem until FreeSat add new channels. A recording delight between the two units!
The Humax FreeSat PVR is generally a good unit if you ignore the little frustrations and all the positives for the unit are listed above in the review but I thought I should share my negatives with prospective buyers. I suspect that when Humax gets a little competition from other manufacturers later this year (Panasonic for example) they will be forced to fix these little problems quick smartish.

I agree with BigPerson, my unit on occasions freezes for no apparant reason, also sometimes does not record programme although it is set to record, one unusual problem occurs on a Sunday evening? when recording ITV no series link shows up, or in the case of 'Kingdom' this coming Sunday (7th June) no HD option even though it is advertised as HD. Humax need to fix these problems with an update. Finally does anyone know if it's possible to 'Housekeep' as I do with Sky.

I agree with much of what has already been said. The quality of picture and recording is great - especially in HD. However:
The remote is very poor - significant buttons are too small and it has to be pointed accurately at the unit. In addition, when inputting channel numbers, you have to be very quick, or it reverts back to a blank box.

In my view the general interface is awful - much less user-friendly than Sky+ (the only good thing about sky). There is no singele 'planner'. Scheduled recordings are listed separately from programmes already recorded. To delete a recording, you have to go through a number of stages (find the recording in the 'media' list 'press opt+, enter 'file manger', renegotiate through folders and files to the file you want to delete (if you have recorded several programmes in a series, you may also have to press the 'i' button to check that you have selected the right one), and then finally press the red 'delete' button. This seems like an interface designed by computer nerds for computer nerds.

If only Humax would redesign the user interface, this would be an absolutely first rate product.

A small correction to the above. I have found that it is possible to change the length of time channel numbers are displayed on the screen when changing channels (via settings/other/info display time).

Watch out - even my 12yr old can't master the remote control. Television viewing is almost non-existant since we have had this unit. Somehow Humax have managed to create a great product and make it as unuseable as the VCR. Within 2mths of ownership - it is going to be put in the attic and the Sky+ box re-installed. What a disasterous menu system, certainly not user friendly or intuitive. All they had to do was use the same/similar button functions as Sky+ and I would have bought one for my mum. I hate to say it - but I personally don't think I fully appreciated how good the menu system for Sky+ is until I saw how badly it can be done, including grey on grey menus...you have to see it to believe it.

Major irritation with my machine is that every time I pause live TV and then start again the subtitles come on and are impossible to remove. I have exchanged the machine under warranty and the new one is the same. I have spoken to Humax and they say a software update will be available in a couple of months! Is any one else having the same problem?

I have the same problem with subtitles coming on after I've paused live TV.
If I try to turn off subtitles the popup says something like "not possible in Time Shift Mode".
This happens consistently with BBC2, so far I haven't found any other channels afflicted with the problem. But I agree, it is a major irritation.
I'd be tempted to send it back and swap for a Panasonic DS850 it it wasn't so much more expensive.

I've had this unit for four months, previously used Tivo, which became redundant as I switched to Freesat. I can't recommend this product at all: 1.Menu system is hideously complicated. 2.Remote is huge (needs to be with all those buttons, most of which aren't used) and so fussy about direction, 3. Subtitles come on after pausing live tv (grr) and 4.I still can't get the hang of booking a season pass.. it seems to miss a lot of programmes.

Horacethefrog, I couldn't agree more. My husband has just bought one of these and within minutes we began to notice the awkwardness of the remote layout. However, we're persevering and it will be mastered! And it's very satisfying knowing we're not paying an extortionate amount to sky each month anymore...

Can someone please comment on archiving via the USB port? It's very important to me to know how well this works before purchasing. This feature on the Humax freeview box is flaky to say the least (slow and unreliable). Presumably you can't archive just anything - there must be some restrictions - and what do you end up with? An editable MPEG2 file, or what? Price: Humax Direct are selling 'Grade A' versions at £229 + £5 delivery inc VAT(Sep 2009).

hi im seriously thinking too perchase this humax magine, at the moment i have panasonic dmr ex75 free veiw recoder, its been great for 3yrs now great to use ,not bad upscalining either!the only problem is that it has a few software problems which are getting worse so what im getting at is with hardly any HD channels around does the humax peform great with standard tv (non hd) ?does it upscale ok? i really need to know as my pani does the job good when it works that is.
cheer jonty.

Several of the above posts refer to connecting the Humax to a Sky dish. I have a Fortec Star dish which is currently aimed at the Astra2 satellite. Can anyone advise please if can I use the Humax with this dish?

We bought this box for my mum ( she is 73yrs old) as she simply wanted the means of recording her favourite tv programmes but she didn't need sky - they already have a Sky + box in one room & the humax box was for the bedroom
What a disaster - when buying, the sales information "guide" says you just need a correctly aligned dish ( which they have) BUT that has to be connected to the tv that the humax box is going to - so we had to pay £230 for the box PLUS an additional £50 for a local installer to set it up
The installer had no idea how to use the box & we could understand why - firstly the remote buttons are ridiculously smallparticularly for elderly people - mum literally couldn't see the buttons
Anyway, my brother tried to figure out the instructions ( he is 46) and was completely lost - compared to Sky+ it was extremely complicated
So we have returned the box to John Lewis but have still spent £50 for nothing
We have now ordered a second SKY+ box at a cost of £60 / plus £40 installation & have subscribed to multiroom for an additional monthly subscription of £9.75
We would definitely NOT recommend this box

I've had this for 2 months now as a replacement for my old Topfield Freeview PVR.
So far my thoughts are;

INSTALLATION: I had an existing Sky dish, so just needed to add a quad LNB (£10 on eBay) and connect the two cables into the back of the box. Add power and an HDMI lead (supplied) and you're ready. Couldn't be simpler.

SETUP: Just enter your postcode and the system will auto-search for Freesat channels. After 5 minutes it's complete with nothing else to do.

INTERFACE: Options are clearly shown, and the display is uncluttered. Easy to understand, even if you delve into the more complex functions available. If you've used a PVR in the past, it will be fairly straight forward.

REMOTE: Not the best layout, but it only takes a day or so to get used to it. It's got four buttons on the top for PVR TV, DVD and Audio, so it works as a multi-function remote - very handy, and it helps you get used to it much quicker!

OPERATION: Not one fault yet. You can set it to record 'x' minutes either side of a program, or using the signal from the TV station. I use the latter and haven't had one problem missing the beginning or end of a program. It knows if a program is a series or a one-off, so displays the correct questions "Record whole series?" for example when you select it. Offering HD alternatives is wonderful too. In all you can't go wrong. You can even search for a program by name, so if you forgot to record something it will find that episode at 2am on Scottish BBC or somewhere obscure.
Being able to backup files to an external disk or memory stick is wonderful too, as the 320GB drive does fill up quick.

CONCLUSION: A slick piece of kit. Quiet, looks good and does the job without fuss.

I've had one of these for some six weeks now and it’s an excellent piece of kit.
It’s so easy to use, programme and even my wife can use it!!!

Two things I have found a little annoying are...
The power to my PVR/TV etc is turned off after use rather than leaving devices in Standby mode. The Humax wakes up with the mains powering up, but can’t be used. It sits there waiting for (Whatever?) then goes into standby after about 30-40 seconds. Switch it on it then goes through a ‘Boot’ period of some 40 to 60 seconds. All of which I find annoying.
Secondly, I don’t know why? But the sound for adverts & music is much louder than for normal viewing etc. So the volume is set to 65 or 70 for normal use then has to be hurriedly turned down for the adds or where music is played. Why???

As for HD viewing, darned if I can see any real difference, even though the PVR is outputting 1080 to the TV.
My TV is a Toshiba 42X 3030D and only the HDMI lead connects PVR to TV.

My Sky+ box will not allow me to record almost all of the programs that I want to record on to my Sony DVD Recorder because it says that they are Copyright, e.g.
programs on Sky Arts and even some on ITV!!!! also most on BBC4. It is of no use to me whatever, and I want to replace it with a Humax Foxsat HDR. I don't want to buy the Humax though if it is going to do the same thing. Would anyone be kind enough to tell me if it does? I know that I will not be able to get Sky Arts, but I will be happy if it will record BBC content and the other Freeview channels, after all I can record them without any problems from my Sony's tuner. I realise now that the Sky+ is only a temporary storage unit and is not designed to make Archive recordings, which is what I want for my impending old age!!! and for when there is nothing else to watch that I haven't seen already.
Thank you in anticipation.
Regards Harry (78)