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Foxsat HDR vs Virgin V+ HD |
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#1 |
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Guest
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 957
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Foxsat HDR vs Virgin V+ HD
I'm fed up waiting for Humax to get their act together and fix this box so I'm looking for an alternative. Is there someone out there with experience of the Foxsat HDR and Virgin V+ HD who can provide me with some ideas about how they compare in terms of functionality and reliability.
(I'm not interested in comparing the content available, I know VM has more available. I'm also well aware that V+HD is not free - so no cost comparisons please. I am currently on VM for Broadband and Telephone so I can get their basic SD package for free but will have to pay extra for V+ and HD.) |
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#2 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 70
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Quote:
I'm fed up waiting for Humax to get their act together and fix this box so I'm looking for an alternative. Is there someone out there with experience of the Foxsat HDR and Virgin V+ HD who can provide me with some ideas about how they compare in terms of functionality and reliability.
(I'm not interested in comparing the content available, I know VM has more available. I'm also well aware that V+HD is not free - so no cost comparisons please. I am currently on VM for Broadband and Telephone so I can get their basic SD package for free but will have to pay extra for V+ and HD.) Although VM has no ITV HD it does have CH4 HD. Forgot to mention, I have both! |
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#3 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Nottinghamshire
Posts: 1,233
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The V+ records three channels at once and is AFAIK pretty reliable. You already own a HDR so I don't need to tell you about that.
Not sure what else you need to know, or what aspect of your HDR is broken. Mine works fine all the time so not sure what this un-released fix will cure. |
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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: In Gods Own County
Posts: 20,678
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So content is not important , you require or simply a working box ?
Is a FS box sooooo bad ? |
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#5 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 1
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This V+ sounds interesting.
I've had the HDR for almost 6 months (switched from sky, so it's almost payed for itself). I too am sick of waiting for the infamous update, and virgin does sound appealing. |
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#6 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Redditch Worcs
Posts: 17,289
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Quote:
The V+ records three channels at once and is AFAIK pretty reliable. You already own a HDR so I don't need to tell you about that.
Not sure what else you need to know, or what aspect of your HDR is broken. Mine works fine all the time so not sure what this un-released fix will cure. Deletion while recording is now allowed The subtitle bug is fixed You can't now crash the hdr by trying to switch to a radio station while recording two Empty series folders are auto deleted when the last file in it is deleted An option to auto delete the oldest recordings in the event of the disk being too full is provided A folder containing unwatched programmes is now flagged with an icon Adding/moving/ deleting non-freesat channels no longer deletes freesat programme reservations An auto channel update no longer deletes ITV HD reservations The diagnostics display now shows correct info for both tuners. And of course iplayer access |
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#7 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 107
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Quote:
I'm fed up waiting for Humax to get their act together and fix this box so I'm looking for an alternative. Is there someone out there with experience of the Foxsat HDR and Virgin V+ HD who can provide me with some ideas about how they compare in terms of functionality and reliability.
Have they got better? |
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#8 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Brackley, UK
Posts: 16,657
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Quote:
I wasn't impressed with the v+ box i used but it was some time back. The box was very slow to respond to the remote, the owner said it locked up fairly regularly, the 'search' function locked up the box for about 30 seconds. My experience of it was definitely worse than the Humax.
Have they got better? At least with Sky the box is yours from the day you get it and is still useful without a subscription. But I can't say I've heard anything bad about the VM Box. Several good comments in fact. That suggests it's at least as reliable as Sky+/Humax. Unfortunately I have heard a lot of negative comments about VM's customer service - more than Sky - so that might put me off as well. Still - it's a moot point for me. VM don't think my town is worthy of cable anyway. |
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#9 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Redditch Worcs
Posts: 17,289
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My son has a V+ box. It appears to work well but it has two major downsides. One you can't update the HDD as it's not your box and two there's no way of archiving the stored recordings directly to a hdd. You can of course record SD in real time to a dvd recorder but quality suffers due to the multiple recoding required
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#10 |
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Guest
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 957
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Quote:
So content is not important , you require or simply a working box ?
Is a FS box sooooo bad ? It is not so much that the Foxsat HDR doesn't work, but just that it has a number of bugs that Humax just haven't thought worth fixing yet. (Some MAY be fixed in an update due sometime in next year or two.) I have always had a FTA Satellite receiver and I did subscribe to Sky for a while (Analogue and early days of Digital). I dropped Sky purely due to cost. Then my first PVR was a Pace Twin which was very good for a first to market box. I later upgraded to a Humax 9200T for the better functionality it offered. This box had outstanding support from Humax, lots of updates, even an update bringing it in-line with the Freeview+ spec. Based on my past experience of Humax, the release of the Foxsat HDR looked fantastic. A box that was as user friendly as the 9200T (and Sky) but also had FTA capabilities! Suddenly I could put a single box in the lounge (replacing the 9200T and my FTA DSat receiver) that I could let the whole family use with no worries. Unfortunately that vision faded rather quickly once I got it installed and experienced my first few crashes. After a while you get used to what actions are likely to cause it to fail (all widely reported here) and learn to treat it nicely to keep it going, plus you get into the habit of rechecking the recording schedule regularly. Definitely not family friendly at the moment. I don't particularly want to go back to Freeview with all its interference issues so I'm thinking I might need to bite the bullet, accept the cost, and go for a VM box. (VM would be cheaper than Sky because I already have VM BB and Phone.) The other alternative I'm considering is the Panasonic boxes but it is still early days for them and not a great deal of feedback available yet (once bitten - twice shy). |
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#11 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Redditch Worcs
Posts: 17,289
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Quote:
The other alternative I'm considering is the Panasonic boxes but it is still early days for them and not a great deal of feedback available yet (once bitten - twice shy).
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#12 |
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Guest
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 957
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Quote:
I have never had a recording failure that was not the fault of the broadcaster screwing up the crid's. The Panasonic box or any other freesat+ pvr will have exactly the same problems.
I've already gone back to having a separate FTA box for multi-sat because a non-Freesat scan will wipe the schedule. |
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#13 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Redditch Worcs
Posts: 17,289
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Quote:
Very true. But hopefully other boxes will not lose the recording schedule due to a channel update or forget to reset the time after a power outage. (Fortunately infrequent for me but I do get occasional power outages - probably due to being on overhead power lines.)
I've already gone back to having a separate FTA box for multi-sat because a non-Freesat scan will wipe the schedule. |
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#14 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Brackley, UK
Posts: 16,657
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Quote:
I later upgraded to a Humax 9200T for the better functionality it offered. This box had outstanding support from Humax, lots of updates, even an update bringing it in-line with the Freeview+ spec.
![]() I bought my 9200 just after the Freeview+ update and have never seen an update in 18 months. There's a couple of nasty bugs (most principally dissappearing timers) that remain unaddressed. |
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#15 |
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Guest
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 957
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Quote:
... the other problems are fixed in the shortly to be released V04 firmware ...
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#16 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St Osyth
Posts: 3,249
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I have both.The V+ outputs a great sd and hd picture,(in actual fact I've been looking for a dvd hdd recorder that would have the same quality output as the V+but as yet haven't found one.The V+,in the main works well,and I have had it from day one.I don't like the Foxsat sd pq and only record hd with it,but that's ok by me.I would recommend the V+ unconditionally.Probably the only thing I have against the V+ is you cannot record from the buffer,but the Foxsat is the same.
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#17 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Redditch Worcs
Posts: 17,289
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Quote:
LOL, heard that one before
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#18 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 70
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Quote:
I have both.The V+ outputs a great sd and hd picture,(in actual fact I've been looking for a dvd hdd recorder that would have the same quality output as the V+but as yet haven't found one.The V+,in the main works well,and I have had it from day one.I don't like the Foxsat sd pq and only record hd with it,but that's ok by me.I would recommend the V+ unconditionally.Probably the only thing I have against the V+ is you cannot record from the buffer,but the Foxsat is the same.
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#19 |
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Guest
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 957
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Many thanks for your comments. Looks like the V+HD is definitely an option for me for Christmas TV viewing. I just need to get the lounge redecoration finished and then I'll make my choice.
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