Thinking of getting a Freetsat+ HD box this summer as (due to the Oxford aerial going pop) I no longer get ITV or CH4 via Freeview and to be honest, I don't know when we will get HD in the area now.

So, going down the Freesat HD route, is the FoxSat HDR the one to go for? If not, which one? What's the forums recommendations. Currently the FoxSat HDR is 229 on Amazon.

Thanks in advance.

Provided you don't have a problem with power cuts the Foxsat is an excellent piece of kit.

It's certainly the most cost effective method of getting a good quality PVR for Freesat.

Had a couple of brown-outs in the last few months but seems to be fine here now. At least until winter comes....

The problem is that the Foxsat will not record anything after a power cut if the box was in standby at the time. (Which it would be if you were away for a few days). It's a problem that Humax have known about for a considerable length of time but do not seem to be able to do anything about - at least in the short term.

If you need to leave the box unattended for significant lengths of time and are in an area that suffers from power cuts it's hard to really recommend this unit. If, on the other hand you don't suffer from power cuts or are usually about around the time you want to record, it's fine.

Where are you that gets brownouts? I've not heard of those on the mainland UK, although I know that the Americans suffer from them a fair bit.

North Oxfordshire. Had a fair few a while back but seems to have stablised, seems to be more of a winter thing really.

So, if not the foxsat, then what?

Think you may be confusing brownouts with the invevitable voltage drop that ocurrs when there is fault on part of the system close to you until the fault is cleared by a protective device. Brownouts are extended periods of very low voltage that should not happen on the UK system. If the voltage falls significantly below 6% less than nominal demand is disconnected to preserve the integrity of the total system. Switch mode power supplies are totally immune to this as they work over a massive voltage range.

Thanks for confirming that, Graham.

I had a feeling that was the case but wasn't sure if they'd changed things recently.

I know American friends had frequent computer/CE problems with brownouts before switched mode power supplies came along.

To the OP I have had a Foxsat-hdr since November 2008. It's a great machine and I have not lost a recording to a power cut. I do have a backup system that I use when away though, using a universal remote that turns the hdr on from sby early morning and late evening using a timed macro so max loss of recordings is around 12hrs. So far (touch wood) it's not been needed. Of all the twin tuner freesat pvrs it's the most mature by far and offers a number of advantages that the others don't have. For anyone restricted a single lnb it's the only one to buy.

I've got a Grundig GUFSDTR500HD and very happy with it. It's a straightforward Freesat+ HD dual tuner PVR and I've had no problems so far. MrsA has adapted to it quite quickly and it's relatively easy and intuituve to use. I even installed my own sat dish - pretty easy for any half competent DIYer with a reasonably accessiblte mounting point.

The Foxsat has some extra capabilities, but none of these add any real value for me, though I recognise that they may make a difference for other people. The Grundig was on offer at Costco for just under £200, so an easy choice for me with their long no-quibble guarantees. Maybe when Humax release their next generation box (or fix the power cycle problem in the current box), that will be my choice for a second unit.

Thanks for that mate. Do you know what the feature differences are between the Grundig and the Foxsat?

EDIT: done a quick search but most of the Grundig units are coming up more expensive than the Foxsat, unless I go for a refurbished unit.

The 320GB Goodmans branded version is £209.99 on Amazon.

Thanks mate, appreciate that.

The Foxsat HDR2 is supposedly due out sometime in Q3. Although the HDR looks like a good piece of kit, hopefully the HDR2 will have some of the minor niggles fixed so it might be worth holding off buying anything for a month or 2.

Any links available for this or is it just rumour at the moment? I have noticed the HDR has been dropping in price over the last month or so...

For me the killer difference is the lack of USB archiving on the Grundig. 320GB sounds a lot but it rapidly fills if you record a lot of HD programmes. The foxsat can archive BBC-HD and all SD to a USB drive and replay from there (I have a 1TB external drive). The hdr also allows you to record HD programming in non-freesat mode without encyrption like a generic fta box. Additionally the ability to watch some 3rd channels while watching two can be very handy at times. (any 3rd channel if the two recordings are being made from the same transponder)

You will get Freeview HD at the end of 2011,
after the Second Switchover Date in your area, which will be announced later in 2010

Having flipped through the various reviews I think a key point for me would be that the Grundig is said to be nosier than the Foxsat HDR. The ability to suck off programs and use an external drive is also nice, probably not something I would use all the time, but then who knows how many HD shows I will record. The lack of freeview ITV reception means I missed all of the new Lewis's a few months back and there is probably other stuff too...

Looks like it's edging towards the Foxsat, but the question is, when should I buy. Now or wait until Q3 (August?) to see if the HDR drops the price even further. Still a good buy at 230 quid though can't argue with that.

Does that include that lag time caused by the fire in the old mast? Apparently they have to order another now...

Yes, your transmitter Oxford should be
fixed by the end of September

See the Links beow
http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/when_do_i_switch/central
http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/transmitt...e_2010_WiT.pdf
http://www.arqiva.com/corporate/pres...0September.pdf

And Digital Switchover will start in Late 2011,
not announced yet, when it is,
I will let you know straight away

I hope this helps

Yes thanks that's excellent news, only problem is that it's 3 months to find out if the new transmitter will allow me to see ITV again and I won't get HD for 18 months, where as the Freesat will get me both now.

I don't think the hdr2 will be out until next year from what I saw a few months ago on hummy.org.uk. And you know, seeing as Project Canvas now has the go ahead to develop devices and services - I wouldn't be suprised if it's Canvas ready when it goes on sale.

GG, who's had the most terrible bad luck finding a suitable PVR finally found one that works properly called the Grundig GUFSDTR500HD. She's taken the time to do a review here. The Humax's UI is good to very good in some respects and needlessly over engineered in others. For example it's file manager - which thankfully I hear has been binned for their forthcoming freeviewHD PVR. I've seen a Grundig in action and it's simple to operate and there isn't much to it anyway as there are no bells or whistles.

When it comes to picture quality I've not come across a PVR that has the ability to put another quite 'to shame' in this regard. But my experience with the Foxsat-HDR and a Samsung TV is exactly to same and Sandra - I was deeply unhappy at the result. I was lucky enough to be able to check my PVR with someone elses TV and was lucky enough to sell it on nearly new for just a small loss. I have owned a Sony and now Panasonic TV with the Foxsat-HDR with no problems. So word of caution if you have a Samsung TV as both GG and myself had models that showed very clear picture quality issues.

I have a Toshiba regza, any ideas if the foxsat will work with that?

That's news to me.

I use a Foxsat with a Samsung at the quality is first rate. Perhaps not all Samsung models have problems?

I think you are absolutely right. GG and I definately had a problem with picture quality and it wasn't something that could be corrected in settings. I knew it was my TV in the end as i was lucky I could check the same box with another TV. The strange thing was it seemed the Samsung TV only had a problem with the Foxsat-HDR and not anything else.

To try to explain why other Humax Foxsat-HDR owners with Samsung TVs were/are really pleased with the picture quality, I guess perhaps it only affects certain models. If someone has the same model I had (LE32A456C - the S model that is S-PVA) but picture is good, then my next conclusion is that its just an odd little defect that's crept into production radomly at Samsung and GG and myself were unlucky. It was picture quality issue which I solved by changing the TV in the end.

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.

It 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.