Humax's new Freeview HD receiver:-

http://blog.wotsat.com/page/whatsat?...ew_hd_receiver

Interestingly it says:-

"Users will be able to record to external USB storage, and access media on other Humax STBs, PCs and network storage using the DLNA protocol."

Could it be talking about the HDR and the long awaited firmware upgrade will allow recorded programs and other media to be transfered via Ethernet port.

Lets hope so.

bob-cat already confirmed they tried streaming from the hdr and canned the idea - too many issues. I'd be happy if they just enable FTP, or feed us a patch like that for the icord which enables at peoples own risk.

Was that using the HDR to stream media stored externally?

It should be possible the other way round with very little processor power required i.e. the HDR feeding data to another device which displays it.

Doesn't hold much hope for the iPlayer service if the HDR is genuinely so underpowered it can't supply a steady stream of data to an external device.

The HDR will be able to stream media stored externally, bob-cat confirmed that, the ability to PLAY media streams that is being added is not limited to iplayer. Although to stream other media from a PC in your house he has said that someone would have to serve up an MHEG application. He said he was tempted to provide more info on how this could be done but has not done so as yet.

For the HDR to be the streaming server, you must understand that the HDR is a linux PC. Its "man enough" to allow dual recording and watching of a third program but they will not have over specified the chips to such an extent that it can do juggling tricks at the same time ! If they had done it would have driven the price up - people already complained it was expensive, even though it was probably the cheapest dual tuner satellite HD recorder in Europe.

If you try to stream media from the HDR what do you want to be the priority for the system - the stream its sending to another PC in the house or the dual recording and watching of a third program that could be going on at the same time ? Most likely they tried some stock streaming packages and found that under certain circumstances they could detrimentally affect the other features, so they decided not to risk it.

We can only hope that at some point a third party firmware becomes possible - they would be able to take more risks.

bob-cat has said the updates for the machine will become less and less just after this update for the iplayer, as they will concentrate on newer products - there are no newer features planned other than the iplayer, shame as other humax products have far more features.

I'm waiting for the new product from another supplier that has network transfer, divx playback etc and leave the humax range, my first time with a humax product it was nice but not fantastic too many issues that took too long to fix.

At this time were at the forefront of hard disk recorders, if you want perfect products stick to the mainstream, hdr first software is better than FINAL firmware on boxes I had from topfield and Thompson (avoid Thompson at ALL costs).

I'm very tempted to get the topfield box, it handles divx transfer onto the box

Topfield TF7710 HD

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/home/pr...ource=googleps

That URL is *very* confusing I believe as from what I can see looking around other sites it is not "Freesat" just "free sat" (note no logo on front). I think you'll get a now and next EPG and nothing more.

Also note vanilla EPG on Topfield boxes (unless really improved since the 5800) is really horrid, on the HD versions you cannot replace the EPG with something more useful.

I don't think so; the artical linked is discussing Freeview HD.

Dan.

Needless to say, a hacked Tivo, with 10 year old hardware, running Linux, would stream fairly reliably. The Humax does feel a bit underpowered sometimes.

Bit of a different business model though.

Tivo HD PVR http://www.tivo.com/dvr-products/tivo-hd-dvr/index.html $299 then $129 per year thereafter. Normally for these kind of things dollars will translate roughly to pounds - ouch ! If we were all to pay Humax £129 per year then yes I think the software would end up pretty damn good and yes they'd probably over-spec the hardware in the first place so they could keep the box going and revenue rolling longer.

There is a level of honesty looking at the website that I found refreshing, on non HD version http://www.tivo.com/dvr-products/tiv...dvr/index.html - when did you ever see a product manufacturer web-page that says what a product does NOT do "Works with HDTVs, but does NOT record in HD". Respect.

Might seem a dumb question but a friend today expressed a frustration at getting stuff off his Foxsat HDR and I suggested USB Transfer (assuming it would work same as for 9200T) and then thought "Maybe Humax disabled it" ... so I'll ask... Is it still possible to archive recordings off via USB (and edit with say VideoRedo) ???

Thanks

Only SD ones I think, HD are copy protected.

HD isn't protected if recorded in NON-freesat mode.

Well you lost me there.. whats Non FreeSat mode

Non-freesat mode means the box operates as a regular free to air satellite PVR, it will not receive the Freesat EPG in this mode, recordings have to be made by pressing record.

I've never recorded in non-freesat and its been ages since I enabled it last, hopefully someone will correct if I get it wrong....

(Doing the tune may delete any recording schedules you have)

Menu->Setup->Manual Tune
Menu->Settings->STB Mode

I believe you need to switch to non-freesat mode and then turn the HDR off for a little while, turn it on and then you can record BBC HD unencrypted.

All correct, small clarification After The Manual Tune you are left in non-freesat mode so the Menu/Settings/STB Mode is needed to get back to Freesat mode

A second press of record lets you specify a duration

Adding/moving/deleting non-freesat channels deletes freesat recording reservations. Viewing/Recording is OK though

A Freesat recording due to start 15 min or longer after entering Non-Freesat will take precedence and stop the non-freesat recording (You can't record in both modes at the same time)

HD/SD recordings larger than 4Gb require a EXT3 formatted USB partition

Well that sucks, as the HDR has the potential to be a really good product. In my opinion the interface sucks big time. YMMV