I agree with boyzie and boyzie - the HDR is a fine piece of kit that has exceeded my expectations. While is does have the odd quirk they don't bother me - the only defect that did (the power cut when in standby issue) is about to be fixed.
The forthcoming record from the timeshift buffer is icing on the cake and is real added functionality,

Badvok must be a difficult person to please.

Indeed! I'd like to see that reference too!!

As I understand it from my own readings, iPlayer on Freesat was very much a case of the BBC going to Freesat... "well, we think that should be pretty straightforward to implement on net enabled boxes/sets so lets give it a go?" (and the rest, as they say, is history...)

Agree with most of what you say, and although I love the HDR, recording from the buffer really should be a standard feature on any DVR/PVR nowadays - especially one supposed to be a high(er)-end model like the HDR.

If my memory serves me iPlayer was promised by Mark Thompson at the launch of Freesat, it took the BBC, Freesat and manufacturers much longer than was anticipated to deliver that promise (which I was informed Thompson had been briefed not to mention).

The Foxsat-HDR has received improvements that were not obligatory and will continue to receive a level of maintenance. I have said many times no one should buy a product for its 'potential' but ensure it meets their needs as it stands, anything else is always a bonus. If issues are discovered by consumers that can be reproduced and resolved then they will be released in a timely manner. There are some issues that consumers complain of that we don't believe are bugs, some that are feature requests, some that only happen in relation to configurations we have never claimed to support, some issues that are (reasonably) impossible to reproduce and some that encompass numerous of the previous. Humax has no desire to sell faulty products and it is my belief that Humax has a reputation within the industry for supplying the best FTA PVRs on the market. There are those that disagree and always will be, thankfully many of those people choose to return their product to their retailer (remember your contract of purchase is with the retailer not the manufacturer) and they are able to find a product that better suits their needs. I would never wish anyone to be resentful of a product they own and they should exercise their rights as they stand, but I also believe our products are as free from defects as they reasonably can be and I KNOW that we resolve issues to the best of our abilities, even if that doesn't satisfy everyone.

I will say no more on the issue.

Bob

Very eloquently put Bob. (and, IMO, spot on)

Good post

Wish they would sort out the 'hand shaking' issue i.e not being able to turn on and get a picture when the unit is recording

Thanks for your post above bob cat, it is really appreciated that you take the time to post in this forum.

I just read about your exciting Tv portal update for the freeview HD receivers it looks fab! ( http://wotsat.techradar.com/news/hum...nuary-01-12-10 ) is the foxsat not capable of supporting this too?

WHS.... oh and so far CS from them over my remote issue has been fine.....

Terran

I hear you.
When I first got involved in professional software development I challenged every estimate, particularly for system and user testing. It was some time before I understood the complexibility involved and the inevitability of defects being missed.

The TV portal required significant additions to support for multiple video formats and streaming.

To be frank: the platform that the Foxsat products are built on may be more advanced than previous generations, which used RTOS systems, but the architecture isn't perfect and as a result adding more advanced multimedia functionality is a pain in the a*se. Before we launched the foxsat product, internally we had wanted to add so much more but when our engineers implemented the theory they found it clunky and unreliable. We never committed to great multimedia functionality and I am glad we didn't. Much to our own disappointment we can't easily update the Foxsat without completely reworking the software architecture and we can't justify that when we have better hardware available to us now. It makes more sense to us to work on the next generation of products and maintain the older designs as best we can.

Next Gen of products you say.... any idea when we will glean some info of what they will be like and when they will be released - I remember they were pushed back until next year?

Trust we will see something like ftp enabled though in the next release, as thats pretty trivial, probably more a pain to remove than leave it enabled.

I had to stop using my HDR due to the green screen HDMI handshaking issue, the Sony TV W2000 works fine on Ps3, Sky HD, Bush freesat and panasonic dvd player just the HDR causes issues. I hightlighted this to humax as I'd seen other members with the same issue but different TVs and was told to contact Sony for a new firmware. Since then I've used Sky HD but now my sky contract has ended might give the hdr another go...somehow I doubt it's fixed.

I know we have spoke before and it cant do DNLA etc.... but I'm I right that ITV Player would / does use the same tech for Foxsat as Iplayer does ? ( eg the same codecs and processes ) If so do you know if others are looking at Leveraging this ( names not needed if you cant say ) ?

I do think these types of smart box will become more popular rather than liner PVRs but only when our broadband infrastructure is vastly improved so the majority can access the servces.

Terran

Just because your TV works fine with other equipment doesn't mean that the issue is with Humax. If I remember an earlier Bobcat post corectly, the HDMI standard is open to interpretation. (Certainly, that would be the case with other standards, not HDMI, that I've worked with in the past.)

Have you contacted Sony? What have they told you? Will they issue new firmware.

Sky HD is a poor Use Case. Many consumers, myself included, have had major problems with their HDMI implementation. In their case there is no ambiguity, the issues were/are with their equipment. One example, now apparently fixed, is that HDCP incompatibility errors arose with some TV's on non-HD channels. It broke my heart for about six months and then the problem went away again. Googling will find you more examples.

I think it is a problem with Sony, neither of my HDMI devices autoswitch when turned on and it only seems to be Sony that has a problem with the HDR.

Of course they will both blame each other and it will never get fixed.

If the Humax is active but off (ie recording whilst in stand-by) and I turn it and my Panasonic TV on, I have to navigate away to HDMI 1 then back to HDMI 2 for a picture to appear.

Thanks for your reply bobcat, but I only bought this device 1 month ago, they are still selling well, with plenty of stock and a high price tag, youview is ages away, so I would still count this as a current popular product worth the effort of reworking the software architecture - its linux, you can do anything you like with it subject to hardware limitations. Either that or could you now open it up to developers like the topfield 5800 - so we can enhance it ourselves if you feel that it is not worth the development time any more.

Is it a a stage where it is safe to be released as a Beta via http://beta.humaxonline.co.uk ?

No problems with that for me, I have had the green screen but the last one was about a year ago and the HDMI never auto switches.

That would be fantastic, realistically maybe a Youview machine will allow this. I'll only upgrade from the HDR when I see something with this DIY capability - I ***really*** miss the extensibility of the Topfield 5800, shame that they dropped this with their HD boxes. Man all those things that the DIY program guides could offer, recording based on search words, automatically keeping only N copies of a series record (e.g. the last 2 Eastenders), even a suduko you could keep in the corner of the screen and play whilst wife watches something boring.

Hopefully one of the manufacturers will take a lesson from the iphone and android and allow app development sometime soon.

Reading some of the specs for YouView (software architecture draft spec http://www.youview.com/wp-content/th...re_Draft_A.pdf) seems like YouView will bring with it an open API - seems like there is hope.

I know that it would be good to have this extra functionality with our HDR boxes but in defence of Humax they have never promised to deliver this. It's nice they are still working fixing bugs! However if it is opened up I would be as keen as the rest of you to get in on the act - here's hoping,

Id like things opened up so we could do things like edit recordings, change the EPG channel order etc.

Originally Posted by rent-a-nuke View Post
If the Humax is active but off (ie recording whilst in stand-by) and I turn it and my Panasonic TV on, I have to navigate away to HDMI 1 then back to HDMI 2 for a picture to appear.

Same with my Panny but changing the Foxsat channel usually does the job.