Whilst we are eagerly awaiting (hopefully) the first firmware update for the HDR, I look at my trusty 9200 and ask which is the better?
Yes the HDR has HD, not much content, and to be honest not that much improvement in picture quality?? IMHA.
The 9200 programme guide is clunky yes, but you can still watch the channel playing in a window whilst you make your selections, and actually read the channel names and times. Channels which are series linked are colour coded too.
You can delete whist the machine is recording and you can multi delete in seconds!! You can also select a group of channels to play for the evening. You can even rewind the live buffer and record from the rewind point, this allows you to capture a full programme if you’d forgotten to record it!
It appears that HUMAX have started again with the HDR, forgetting some of the enhancements then built into the 9200 over I think 5 firmware upgrades. When I bought the 9200 is was only a single channel recorder, the machine was transformed by the firmware upgrades. Strange they didn’t keep the best as the starting point.
Just my thoughts??

Woolfynorm

The Humax is a very nice box in many ways but the UI is exceedingly clunky.

A few weeks ago I spent some time using a Digihome Freeview box and it was so nice to use something that 'just worked' rather than having to remember all the Humax's foibles.

I used a Sky+ for the first time at the weekend (a 160gb version that i think is at least 3 years old). What struck me most was how responsive it was - button presses had an immediate impact.

The Humax still feels very sluggish - movement on the EPG is not instant, there seems a lag when selecting things. I can't help thinking that the processor was underspecced.

When in TEXT mode I find getting the first digit in quite difficult. No joke intended

The 2nd easier then 3rd & 4th quite easy.

Is it me ??

David

You forgot another feature of the 9200:The added excitement of not knowing whether a timer will survive for the full length of a series. It's bad enough hoping that the broadcasters will transmit the right information without having to worry about your PVR randomly deleting timers.

If the HDR avoids that problem it'd be a big enough improvement for me. Maybe then I could use it as much as possible rather than as an overflow from my Sky HD box when I really have no other choice.

I too wondered why they didn't take the code base from there existing Freeview PVR's however as we have discovered (in the firmware udpate thread) the box is based on a dutch cable PVR and it looks very much as though this is where the code for the HDR was taken from as a starting point.

Not much to say except I agree with you all. Here's to another few months waiting. Ho hum.

richard_g_uk,

The Foxsat products were derived from a common architecture that we developed for new HD products at the time. The Dutch PVR came later, but the iCord satellite DTR came first.

We couldn't re-use the existing software from Freeview because it was dependent on an older architecture and wasn't flexible enough to move forward with (part of the reason that it has not been).

We believe the HDR is an evolution of design and the issues raised by the original poster will either be addressed or are fundamental to the platform. I will say however the ability to view the current programme while being in the EPG is not particularly practical because of the way the EPG is gathered and the implications to the way the box had to be designed as a result.

Bob

Bob can you elaborate - the HDR seems to manage it admirably when its recording a channel at the time, why this poorer functionality when it is not recording ?

Excellent news

If you ever fix the vanishing timer bug in the 9200 the next on my list would be an option to get rid of the PiG and use the space for more channel information

But I'm keeping an eye on your forthcoming machine release and at the moment I will be in a position to risk a few hundred quid on it next year. Given the age of my 9200 you might finally get me back as a customer despite my reservations. Having iPlayer on my PS3 has shown me that having it on an STB has value. The more so if it supported the high quality streams.

Andrue is an example of the difference of opinion as to those who want the "PiG" and those who don't want it.

richard_g_uk,

The box must tune to the home TP when the EPG is loaded, the architectural design of the box requires that the primary tuner is used for this (perhaps this could be considered a limitation). It would add to the complexity of the logic to include a "PiG" which we do not have the resources to apply.

Bob

Hi Bob. I imagine that there's no guarantee that tuner 2 has access to Eurobird 1 (it may be connected to a lnb that's using a totally different bird) might also considerably complicate matters

Graham

^^^ Nudge Graham's post

Sky didn't get it right either. You can opt to remove the PiG from the new EPG which is good - but it keeps the sound playing so doesn't free up the tuner. I think that's one of the known bugs because it can prevent a recording from starting

How did I get involved in the EPG conversation - I didn't ask or mention anything about the EPG or "PiG"

I liked the way the 9200t performed.It was simple and and easy to operate.Tho I now use the HDR in place of the 9200 now and again I still consider using it ,but have no more room under the tv.I don't suppose we are ever gonna be totally satisfied.I bought a Panny dvd hdd recorder(to "compliment" my tv),while the pq is what I wanted the operational side of it is appalling.The "Guide plus epg looks as tho it came from the ark.My first priority is the pq,features come second.

Thanks for all your feed back, a good debate. Thanks to Bob_Cat for an insight is what's to come, with the firmware update now expected soon, I hope this is the first of many evolution changes to the HDR??

Woolfynorm.

This is likely to be the last 'feature' release for the HDR that I can see, any others would be maintenance. The new technologies we want to apply would not suit the current platform and so we must move forward.

Sorry if that disappoints anyone.

Bob

I think that's perfectly fair.

The box has done pretty much what it was sold as doing since day one and if all the listed updates are made it will turn it into a truly excellent device.

It's not fair to expect a manufacturer to keep increasing functionality for no reward.

Fair enough - the only two things I want fixed are the deleting of schedules following re-scans and the not recording following a power cut bug. As long as those are fixed I shall be a happy bunny (and awaiting Q2 for the release of the Freeview HD PVR ).

Well the first is on the list, and the second isn't.

If it isn't fixed in this update, and it has already been acknowledged as "difficult" due to the architecture, I would hope it is still being worked on, and would be in a future maintenance release, but I don't know.

Rgds.


Les.

Let's hope it is fixed. I work in the software and hardware industry mainly as a test and verification engineer and the annoying things is, is that this is such an easy bug to detect (powerup the box and see if it does what it is designed to do without any user intervention). I can't believe the testers missed it - if I missed something like that I would be out on my ear

Maybe they missed this, maybe they didn't.
It can't have been easy for Humax, building to a new standard, with only reference kit to test against.
They may well have decided that auto recovery from a power failure was not a big concern.
I suspect that VERY few users would expect this, or encounter any issue.
I don't expect this with PC's, nor would I get it.
Instead, I use UPS's, at home and work, to protect against power failures.

Humax are not alone the original Topfield firmware for the 5800 had the same problem. In this case it was readilly fixed by a firmware upgrade, suspect the problem with the hdr is more of a hardware problem.

I hinted at this to Bob_Cat in another thread and he stated that it was purely a software/firmware issue and there was no hardware issues.