Ive had a Humax 9200 for 3 years and I'm trying to decide between the HDR FOXSAT and the terrestrial version T2. I can get good terrestrial reception where I am at the moment in Leeds but I'm going to move to somewhere in East Yorks in the next year and dint now what the terrestrial reception would be like as I don't know where I will end up yet.
Can anyone tel me the pros an cons between the terrestrial and sat versions. I don't have any experience with sat.

I think the main advantage of DSat from your point of view is that you are more likely to be able to get a signal at some unspecified place in the British Isles.

Not necessarily much more likely but unless you locate somewhere with restrictive covenants or council prohibitions on dish placement or have your line of sight blocked you will be able to use DSat. For DTT, you could be in a poor reception area which is served by a relay and end up with only a subset of channels.

Other than that the primary advantage of Freeview at the moment is that it has a few channels (e.g. the C5 extras, and Dave) that are not currently available on Freesat.

The primary advantage of Freesat is that it has the potential for a lot more HD channels than Freeview has at the moment.

Freesat offers more Red Button choice. Freeview offers the ability to record the single Red Button stream but you have that already with the 9200T. In your position I would keep the 9200T and add the Foxsat HDR to cover all the bases.

Thanks for your reply. Can you tell me if the dish must be in line of site and can it pick up the signal through a window. Does wind blowing on the dish break up the picture.
Im planning to give my 9200 to my Mother for the digital switch over.

Yes, you must have a line of sight.

Some people have reported picking up a signal through a window but I believe the general consensus is that it's unlikely to work well, if at all.

No, wind blowing on the dish does not break up the picture. (Unless, of course, it shifts the dish so that it no longer points in the correct direction.)

I have read I am sure over the last year or so.. comments to the effect that..

'BBC compressing HD on FreeSat even more to make it look like the crappy Freeview HD'

No relevance for me as i then read ..as i did not have any HD set..

As no comment otherwise and such input to date is from those i regard as Gurus,,Could I ask..

Is it now collective wisdom that there is no difference between the video outputs of the systems

I only ask because.. I now have both HD Systems and I have been doing early testing of video outputs as seen ..which i find interesting and will input on soon when i have siorted out the Aerial issues..

Stan

Yes, line of sight to the satellite.

http://www.uksatellitehelp.co.uk/200...calculator-v2/

The dish is unlikely to work well (if it all) from behind glass.


No but most standard installs will suffer some break up in torrential rain or heavy snow. If you fit a slightly oversize dish or get perfect alignment then even the heaviest of rain is unlikely to affect you. I only get break up during the very worst downpours and they usually only last ten minutes. UK weather generally goes in for sustained light rain rather than monsoons so anything capable of disrupting a typical installation will probably not last long enough to be anything more than a momentary irritation.

I have had occasional sporadic picture breakup in gales, but my dish is mounte in an exposed position on a chimney (to comply with planning regulations) so a wall mounted dish should have no problems.

It's digital switch over here (Yorkshire) in August.

After switch over, you will receive Freeview anywhere that currently receives analogue.

However, if you end up receiving Freeview from a relay transmitter, then you will only get half the channels. In this case, just get Freesat - it wins hands down against Freeview Lite.

People who can receive the full Freeview service usually choose to use it (sometimes in addition to Freesat) as each platform has some channels that the other lacks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...n_channels_(UK)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...els_on_Freesat

Cheers,
David.

As switch-overs have been mentioned could i ask..

IN theory we here in the SE are a year ahead of our switch over date in Mar2012..
I am tuned to Crystal Palace and all the Channels are 100% Signal and 100%Quality ..EXCEPT
the HD channels on the old '31' frequency..
The quality on these is about 50%..
Is it normal to have this huge variation? or..
Is it a Pre-switch over condition? or
An aerial parameter?
The video on all channels is stable and superb..


Thanks

Stan

It's a pre switch over condition. To serve the major areas temporary low power HD transmissions have been used for some areas that are pre dso (eg Birmingham and London). After changeover the HD mux will be much stronger.

As you know Graham there are no Emoticons for.."Huge Sighs of Relief"..but please imagine them here..
I had done a bit of Googling on the subject.. but never realised.. and many must be in that same boat i guess.. the stark dichotomy of the situation for the future is as described in small print by the BBC ..


Everyone will have digital television after switchover, but
they will not necessarily have High Definition (HDTV).
High Definition TV (HDTV) is a new standard for television, offering superior quality pictures

I must start a new thread for a Techie follow up

Ta

Stan

In fact even those on Freeview lite relays will get the HD mux. It's the commercial mux that some won't be able to receive.

I read some where that the HDR Fox T2/Foxsat don't have picture in picture as the 9200 does, is that true

No PIP with the Foxsat.

The menu screen transparency on the Foxsat is adjustable though.

And before anyone complains, no I have not actually played with this option to see if works.

One of its better features - I'd rather use the space to display programme information. It's a shame that there isn't an option though for those who do want it. Better yet an option to decide if you want it during playback and/or live watching.

I never watch anything live so it's just a waste of space if I'm not playing a recording back but if I've popped the guide up during playback it would then be nice to still see the recording.

The one bugbear is not being able to pull up a menu with playback paused.

You can if you press 'EXIT' first to remove the progress bar

Really? Cheers for the tip.