Hi,
I took the plunge and bought a humax freesatHD+ foxsat HDR box on monday. i have already identified the live pause problem with the box whereby if i initiate live pause and go back after a few mins to watching the delayed recording, when the live version of the programme ends the delayed recording exits and takes me to live tv at the start of the next programme and 'throws away' what i was watching delayed which you would miss unless you had set it to schedule record and can watch the rest of the episode in media playback !
having said all that i have established that the retailer, john lewis in this case, is happy to refund on the box.
my question is thus:
is there a new version of this box coming out later in the year that i should wait for which has these gremlins fixed, or is there a better or more robust box by another manufacturer that i would be better off going for now i am in this position?
the www is a wonderful source of info but it is often not clear of the posting date of any given page so unless you have been studying the form you are left unsure of what is current info and what is 6 months out of date.
thanks in advance.
streekie

I don't know of a box that would be better but I do know somewhere on here Humax have confirmed that there will not be a new box this year as there have been delays with the new one.

At the moment there are really only two others boxes. The Goodmans/Grundig one and the Sagem one...although not sure if the Sagem one is the same as the Goodmans/Grundig one inside.

New Humax model is stuck in standby after a power cut

A new Panasonic model is out this week with BD recorder but at £830.00 a little expensive!

Other brands do exist but I don't think they are any better and in fact may be worse.

Automan.

If this is your only issue - instead of using live pause press record to use instant record, then you can playback from the media list.
Pressing record once will default record either up to the end of the current program or to the end of the following program (if it is less than 15min to the start of the next program).. Pressing record repeatedly will toggle between the two options. Pressing record followed by cursor right will extend the recording to a length of your choice.

Does anyone have any views on the other Freesat PVRs ? I am split between the Humax and the Goodmans/Grundig box at the moment.

I just need an easy to use box, not really interested in all the bells and whistles.

as with all these things there is always a workaround, and i guess i found it by recording it anyway, does the grundig GUFSDTR500HD box work as intended or does that just have different bugs of its own? im not convinced that they are of the same pedigree as humax box and maybe another one of these companies that have bought a name that was big in the '70s and are badging up cheap chinese crap?

I've not seen any comments on the other PVRs. Everyone in these forums seems to have the Humax. The general consensus is that the Humax is solid but does have a few irritating glitches like this for which there are either workarounds or you can live with them if you're aware of them.

Humax have said that we can expect maintenance updates for the current box but no new functionality. But some of the problems that people complain of are functional deficiencies rather than bugs, so may not be fixed.

i would hope that my gripe would be covered by a maintenance update as they supply the remote with the functionality of a pause button, its just that the robustness of that function which needs addressing. BTW since my original post have noticed the remote control requires you to be directly in front of the box and the responsiveness to the buttons seems very slow, again mentioned elsewhere. So noone going to express an opinion on the Grundig then? they are on promotional price at costco ends this weekend for £169.99 ex vat.

Out of interest is the problem with live pause only an issue when you are already recording the program or does it always throw you out at program end? I'd thought the former but not sure I use pause enough to know for sure.

ps re remote issues have you taken the film off the inside of the 'flap' in front of the ir eye? - sounds obvious but a lot of people missed it.
Last edited by rich24 : 04-06-2010 at 13:23

I agree. I use live pause frequently, although I've never encountered this problem. Indeed I was unaware of the issue until it was mentioned here in recent days! But at least now I'm aware of it.

AFAIK the Grundig brand name is currently owned by Arçelik/Beko part of the KOÇ conglomerate of Turkey. The original German Grundig company was declared bankrupt in 2003. Arçelik have 9 factories in Turkey and Europe but only 1 in China making washing machines. Grundig products are marketed under licence in the UK by Harvard International - their licence expires at the end of 2010. :yawn:

I found the piece of film on the outside of the flap at the bottom of the humax nowhere else, sounds like i missed a bit doh !

See this post

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...0&postcount=50

In these circumstances simply watch the recording in chasing playback

I took that off and the display still looked scratched and marked until I took off the second piece under the flap.

I have a Sagem DTR94250S Freesat + box and I have to say its bril. The picture quality really is great and its proved reliable too. Recording schedule is fine through a power cut and the live TV buffer doesnt get thrown away at the end of the prog - personally these essential features and the vintage would put me off the Humax which was good in its day (well it was the only one in its day).

My Sagem has all the features you would expect and some great touches such as a very comprehensive prompt list of suggestions if you try to record more than 2 progs at once (offering alternative broadcasts of the same programme etc) and it always points out if you could record it on HD for example.

Its good value (mine was £170 from John Lewis with 2 year warranty) and more modern technology than the now ageing Humax.

1 or 2 improvements need to be made to the user interface such the ability to search the epg for a particular programme but that will come updates as per their freeview boxes.