9200T's EPG – Good & Bad Points
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Having read various posts in other threads, I can see many people have varied opinions on the 9200T’s EPG. Also, from having read through a number of threads in the Humax sub-forum, I gather that Humax themselves take notice of users’ comments in the forum. As some of the threads have become highly populated and therefore difficult to follow, I thought that I would start one with the sole purpose of discussing the 9200T’s EPG.
For me, it is the most important part of any multi-channel digital TV receiving device. Whether you have Sky, Cable or Freeview, the EPG is the first thing that many people would go to when sitting down to watch TV. I have been watching DTT since On Digital and have owned several STB’s & IDTV’s and I am now on to my second PVR. In my opinion, the 9200T’s EPG is good but not the best that I have experienced.
Below is my list of likes and dislikes about the 9200T’s EPG:
Likes:
1. Pictures in-view.
2. General layout.
3. Little yellow dots going through programme list depicting current time.
4. 2 hour schedule view (same as my Sony IDTV).
5. “Find” feature, allowing you to search by name & genre (a bit longwinded but useful).
6. “Time bar” feature, allowing you to quickly skip forward or back by programme, every 2hrs and day (I liked the Calendar on the Fusion FVRT200 which was quicker for the 14 day EPG, though for a 7 day EPG the Humax’s “Time bar” is probably quicker).
Dislikes:
1. Only 4 channels listed in view (my Sony IDTV has 6, which I prefer).
2. No programme information displayed in the main view. You have to press ‘i’ and then the channel list disappears from view. In my opinion, it’s a bit of a waste of screen space and users’ time.
3. Inability to “page up & down” through channel list eg. Next/previous 4 channels. One by one is a bit laborious.
4. When you highlight a programme that you want to watch and press OK, only the picture-in-view changes and you have to EXIT to get out of EPG. I think that there should be a separate button to change the picture-in-view and OK should take you straight out of the EPG to the programme in full screen.
For me, it is the most important part of any multi-channel digital TV receiving device. Whether you have Sky, Cable or Freeview, the EPG is the first thing that many people would go to when sitting down to watch TV. I have been watching DTT since On Digital and have owned several STB’s & IDTV’s and I am now on to my second PVR. In my opinion, the 9200T’s EPG is good but not the best that I have experienced.
Below is my list of likes and dislikes about the 9200T’s EPG:
Likes:
1. Pictures in-view.
2. General layout.
3. Little yellow dots going through programme list depicting current time.
4. 2 hour schedule view (same as my Sony IDTV).
5. “Find” feature, allowing you to search by name & genre (a bit longwinded but useful).
6. “Time bar” feature, allowing you to quickly skip forward or back by programme, every 2hrs and day (I liked the Calendar on the Fusion FVRT200 which was quicker for the 14 day EPG, though for a 7 day EPG the Humax’s “Time bar” is probably quicker).
Dislikes:
1. Only 4 channels listed in view (my Sony IDTV has 6, which I prefer).
2. No programme information displayed in the main view. You have to press ‘i’ and then the channel list disappears from view. In my opinion, it’s a bit of a waste of screen space and users’ time.
3. Inability to “page up & down” through channel list eg. Next/previous 4 channels. One by one is a bit laborious.
4. When you highlight a programme that you want to watch and press OK, only the picture-in-view changes and you have to EXIT to get out of EPG. I think that there should be a separate button to change the picture-in-view and OK should take you straight out of the EPG to the programme in full screen.
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Comments
It seems like PVR designers find the nastiest, cheap, smallscreen TV, connect it as badly as possible then make sure its still usable. Which is fine, but just once I'd like some support for those of us using bigscreen sets with good connections and reasonable eyesight!
You can use the channel up/down buttons to skip through more channels at a time.
I stand corrected. I should have looked further into that feature before commenting on it. You do have to press the Channel up/down twice before jumping to the previous/next 4 channels in the list. This isn't exactly an inconvenience and is the best way to do it as the coloured buttons are used for more useful features.
I take back #3 under Dislikes in my original post.
4 or 6 would be OK on my telly ... 10 would be terrible with in-picture.
On dislikes I would like to see a Sky type ability to select autoview or record when a future programme is selected. An auto reminder would be a useful alternative to filling the recording schedule.
I have got to add the inordinate length of time it takes to populate the EPG after coming out of standby. Assuming that the machine is doing nothing else why can't the second tuner be set to scan across all the MUXes for EPG content whilst tuner 1 is being used to receive? Each MUX seems to be heavily biased towards its own programmes so that, for example, if tuned to the BBC1 MUX the ITV data is very very slow to arrive and vice versa when tuned to ITV. I know that there is talk of a disk based EPG but I still do not know whether that is a commitment by HUMAX or just a hope. If it isn't going to happen we need a better way of acquiring the data at power on.
My other winge is aimed at the broadcasters (especially Channels 4 and 5) who regularly leave gaping holes in their EPG on IDTV (but not apparently on Sky!). Can some authority rattle their cages about this? If so, which one has that power?
When looking through the channel list in the EPG and I see a programme that's currently running and decide that I want to record it, I have to press OK to select channel, EXIT to come out of EPG then RECORD.
It may not seem like much of a chore, but is particularly annoying when you've already missed some of the programme. One-touch recording from the EPG for a programme that's current running would be much better. I had this with my Fusion FVRT200.
I forgot about that. Its true. It would have been better to assign the OK button for just reservations in the EPG and then maybe another button to change channels in the picture in guide. I thought maybe the picture in picture channel change buttons could be used to change the Picture in guide channel, but that would take loads of up or down button presses potentially. A quick way to change the picture in guide screen without pressing OK while its on the current time line should be possible to work out. I think its a big assumption Humax made that people will press instant record on a current channel/programme in progress - or maybe they couldnt decide on a good ay to do it. A candiate for the wish list - I'm almost certain thats never come up in there before
An example (not directly EPG related) is the recorded programmes list. The quick list button on the remote is good, but if you want more information about your recorded programmes and are use to other PVR’s (Fusion FVRT200 as in my case), you will navigate via the MENU. On the 9200T, as well as this being a cumbersome task, if you are also use using the OK button, you are quite likely to delete a programme if you are not careful.
HUMAX - More buttons are not the answer, more sensible menu controls are.