Sorry if this is an obvious question.

I currently have a Humax 9200T and am looking to switch over to the Foxsat, primarily for improved reception. The 9200 allows me to watch one live channel whilst recording two channels, so long as the channel I'm watching is on one of the muxes being recorded. After looking through the manual for the Foxsat it doesn't look as if it has this capability.

I'm aware that you could workaround it by switching to another video source, such as the TV itself, or by keeping the 9200 going. It would however be a bit of a pain, as the two primary reasons for going for the Foxsat is to change to a smaller box and get better reception.

The Foxsat does have this facility - but it is not documented.
You can record 2 and watch a 3rd... but the 3rd is a lot more limited than with Freeview, since the channels are spread across many more muxes. I find that there are usually only 1 or 2 channels available to watch if recording 2 from different muxes.

If you can arrange for both channels you are recording to be on the same mux (sometimes possible with BBC 1 being one of the recordings - eg any two of the following

102 BBC Two
105 Channel 5
106 BBC Three
107 BBC Four
600 CBBC
601 CBeebies
950 BBC 1 London
957 BBC 1 NI
968 BBC 2 England

Then not only can you view any third channel you can also time shift it.

I suggest keeping the 9200T going as well as getting a Freesat PVR as there are a number of channels which are on one which are not on the other. And when it comes to prime time TV, some evenings there are more than three things you want to record or watch on at the same time.

Thanks for responses, you can see why they might not document it.
Gomezz you're right, there are times when the clashes can still cause problems, especially 8.59-9.01.
Right, well I think I might get one, I've just got to sort out installation at a time when we're in.

We have just moved house, and new house has no working TV aerials (has two but neither work at all), so our trusty Humax 9200T can't be used.

For a quick fix, as the previous owner had sky+ with two cables, I bought a Foxsat HDR from Argos on Saturday, on the assumption it would do everything the 9200T would on freesat.

So far I'm very dissapointed with it, the user interface is very clunky, selecting/playing/deleting a programme takes three times as many button presses as the 9200 which is annoying, but the MAIN problem is it is showing recording conflicts almost every hour, and when two programmes are recording you can watch only 1 or 2 alternate channels (normally rubbish ones), which is very annoying. As we have no alternate tuners, we are then stuck. The 9200 could mostly watch a wide range of other channels while recording, and worst case we could just flick over to TV tuner - I think I've done this once in the last year or so !

I understand 2nd issue is due to number of freesat muxes, which is ridiculous, the 1st issue I assume is just poor design.

Anyway, if your thinking of switching from 9200 to foxsat, unless you have no choice (ie you can't get your aerial improved somehow) I would try before you buy - I am going to get the aerials sorted and ebay the foxsat box when we can use the Humax 9200 again, as I far preferred it both in functionality and ease of use (and its nearly half the price!).

If anyone can decipher the conflict message and tell me what I should click on to record both programmes I'd be grateful, it makes no sense to me, and we panic as it only shows for a minute then ???

Not sure if you're seeing the same as me. It sometimes pops up with a conflict when a previous recording overruns. Disappears very quickly usually as the overrunning program ends and the next recording starts. Other times you can see the program which should have ended and cancel that as it's probably onto the end titles or next week trailer anyway.

I have a Humax9200, a Topfield5800 and the Foxsat-hdr. The hdr is the best by a big margin with the 9200 being by far the worst.

The short clash message is generated by accurate record, it's just telling you that a second recording scheduled for that tuner has not started on time because the first recording has overrun it's scheduled end. Normaly it just means you lose a few seconds of the second recording beginning. If you want to check if a specific third channel will be available to view just set a watch reservation on it. If it's available the box will auto change to it.at the specified start time. If it's not available and one of the two recordings is a bbc1 then switching to a different region may make it viewable.