Considering a Humax FOXSATHDR500 or similar version. Have a couple of questions before I decide to go that direction.

1. If a VCR is connected to it via VCR SCART, can this passthrough to HDMI output?

2. If I had a FreeSAT TV, is there some configuration that allows me feed the 3 sat inputs needed (1xTV, 2xPVR) without having to put a third sat feed in. I currently have TV, FM/DAB, SAT1, SAT2 from a switch/distribution amp in the loft where SAT1, SAT2 are on their own separate feed, one of which is multiplexed with TV,FM/DAB. I see that FOXSAT has LNB 1 Out.

Preamble: I'm not really in too much of a hurry to buy. So far Sat TV is a secondary feed used only in bedroom for HDTV. The main room in question is Freeview and occasional non Freesat tuner satellite channels. I'm content with Freeview from Humax 9200 but would like HDTV and iPlayer etc. The obvious things is to get Humax Freeview HD box, which I did but return as HDMI was at the time incompatible with my TV - not sure if this has changed with latest update. Going with Freesat box is both cheaper and gives me a few extra programmes not on Freeview.

Q3. Probably most contentious question. What is the likely lifespan of this product? I see talk about much delayed Youview and also of Freesat G2. What is the likelihood of another model being announced instead of Youview type functionality/Freesat G2 compatibility being incorporated into current model.

Q4. What is HDMI stability/compatibility like? My TV is DVI/HDCP which did not work with the Humax Freeview HDR box, but that is the only HDMI box that I have tried so far (out of 4) that my TV has not worked with.

Q5. How does Humax handle regional programmes on BBC1 HD. My current TV goes to a red info screen telling you to change to 101 when regional programmes being played on BBC HD which is pretty useless. If same with Humax, any word if/when this is going to change. The wording of the message implies that this may change in future.

afaik no pvr has the analogue to digital convertor required to go from an analogue video input to a digital output. Only high end AV amplifiers have this capability.

The lnb out could be used but it's not a very good idea with the hdr on or recording a restricted subset of the available channels could be viewed on the TV. The hdr can use the terminal to give both tuners a connection using a single cable. The second tuner recording capability would be the same as the viewing options on a Tv connected to lnb1 out.

Q3 No idea

Q4 No problems with hdmi from my hdr to a Sony TV other than that can't really comment

The hdr like any box shows what the broadcaster transmits, on BBC1-HD you get a caption asking you to retune during regional news (just like Freeview) but that's entirely down to the BBC

The HDR's HDMI compatibility usually works well, but under certain circumstances, when you wake it up from a recording state sometimes it'll display nothing but a green screen on some TVs (mine inclusive). Replugging the HDMI lead always fixes it.

Q5. BBC has 'aspirations' for BBC1 regions on HD - Scotland Wales & NI ('nations' in BBC terms) will almost certainly be first.... possibly Manchester (Salford) and London (BH from TVC) following on and others at studio upgrade / refurbishments.

BUT it will all cost quite a lot of money and it won't happen very soon (IMO) due to the Licence Fee being fixed.

You'd perhaps be best to ask the BBC for an answer, as anyone posting here is likely to be guessing?

The biggest obstacle is transponder space, 17 or so BBC 1 regions, at 10 Mb/s each, that (at DVB-S2) would be four or five complete t/ps.. They would need to be narrow beam ones too, very scarce to say the least.

More likely, and feasible would be DTT of course, but a lot of code-mux kit would be required, as well as SD:HD up and downconverters in the regions.

Thanks for posting a question I had myself

I've not been able to conclusively establish whether the HDR-T2 will be able to have YouView (eg through software update) and emailed Humax directly now.

Axel

If and when the Foxsat-hdr2 arrives it's likely to be very similar to this.

http://www.humaxdigital.com/global/p..._hdfoxplus.asp

Just like the Foxsat-hdr shares many features and hardware with the Humax-Icord.

Originally this link featured a twin tuner model, wonder why it's now a single tuner pvr ready box

I didn't expect a regional HD channel, just some automatic mechanism in the Freesat service that automatically changed to regional SD channel 101 and back to 108 instead of putting up the info page.

There may be some way of changing channel from 108 to your regional 101 channel using MHEG, but it wouldn't work to take you back again as MHEG applications decay on channel switching.

While talking about switching between BBC 1 HD and SD it may be worth reminding people here of the (undocumented?) feature of the Humax that if you press the 'i' info key on the remote and then press 'back' this will take you to the previous channel you were watching. It acts as a toggle so each press of 'back' while the info bar is up toggles between the two most recently viewed channels.

Limitations: 1) if you switch channels by scrolling through using the rocker button then obviously this won't be of much use.

2) the previous channel is not remembered during standby, so when you wake up your machine you'll need to manually switch at least once before 'back' does anything.

3) it's still ultimately 3 keypresses to toggle to another channel 'i -> back -> exit' but maybe a bit more convenient than some other methods.

I am sure there is some way of getting an MHEG app to trigger on a channel switch. After all it seems to know when to put up the Red Button symbol after you change channel. It could even automatically set a Watch timer for BBC1 HD.

The red button reappears because the MHEG app is reset, not because it knows the channel has changed.

I'm sure it is possible even if it means support for the feature being put in to the freesat software. I don't believe that Sky HD has the message and supports seamless HD and regional programmed so see no reason why Freesat/Freeview cannot implement the same as in the case of Freesat the underlying channel feed is identical to Sky.

Is that really so???

I'm pretty sure when I was using the SkyHD+ box about 6 weeks ago that I got the 'red screen' message to tune away for the local news.... but as it's consigned to the loft at the mo I can't check 'live'.

Sky does uses a different programming language to Freesat for interactive features, though.

Surely one solution - as NO news is actually transmitted in HD yet - is to program in the news programmes to be watched on 101?? (or whatever regional variant is preferred).