Recommended Freesat to my mate and after 6 weeks he still cant get beyond the Humax Foxsat HDR remote. Feel guilty as he is moaning away at every opportunity.

Is there anyway you can programme the SKY+ / SKYHD+ remote to control Foxsat+?

I know you guys recommended All for One etc, but he doesnt feel he should need to fork out any more for a decent remote after he has paid "so much" for the box.

Any ideas?

I suppose you pointed out he has to remove the film from over the LED display inside the flap as well as the outside protective film.
It helps a bit anyway - I am happy with mine now - a bit directional but so what.

Yeah he has done that

The main issue I think is that the sofa is a good 6/7 metres away from the Foxsat, something the SKY remote could easily cope with.

They are experiencing quite a lag at times.

What angle out of interest?

Its pretty straight on.....

Does the remote work if used a metre away?
Are both batteries measuring > 1.5 Volts ?

& has he removed the protective film off the remote's nose ?

7m is a long way away! He would need about a 2.5 m (=100 inch) TV to see HD properly.

David
Last edited by SWIZZ? : 17-06-2011 at 20:18

Interestingly he told me a couple of weeks ago he had taken the strip off.......but just walked him through it and he didnt even know the front flipped down

*sigh*

I am hoping that this will help.

I have also tipped him off about SCHEDULE - RED to get a quicker EPG.

The TV is huge so you can see the difference with HD....just

The Humax remote is tat.

If he still can't get a good result, recommend he gets something like a Logitech or AllInOne replacement. Annoying, I know, but I found that switching to a Logitech made the whole experience of using the Foxsat PVR much more pleasant.

Its a good idea to leave the flap down. This makes more difference than removing the protective covers!

Same here, I got a philips one and the quality difference is massive and it has about half the buttons which makes it a lot easier to use.

The Humax remote is terrible and clearly wasnt user tested by normal people.

I can't imagine which half of the buttons you could lose which would make it easier to use!

Though having an option to lock the volume control buttons for TV use (or audio amplifier use) would be good. My DVD player doesn't have a volume control, and my STB doesn't need one!

Cheers,
David.

All the ones at the bottom (which I think should have been under a flap) from memory, my remote has an option to select extra buttons from the LCD so anything not in every day use is in there. i dont even need a separate back and exit, 1 button will do.

Audio
Text
V format
frame adv
subs

Theres probably close to 15 buttons I never use.

Just checked - there's 7 I never use. Easily ignored though.

I think subtitles has to be there (and I use that sometimes), and maybe audio description does too.

Back and Exit are quite different.


I reckon they must benefit from some kind of economies of scale by having the same number of buttons on all their remotes - their T2 box's remote looks basically the same. Since that came out two years after the HDR, they obviously like the remote.

Cheers,
David.

or couldnt be bothered to develop a new one.
I know back and exit are different but only back is needed. I never used exit even with the humax remote.

A good remote can be used in the dark after a weeks worth of use, thats not the case with the humax, its very clunky. The buttons feel the same and theres too many of them.

I had a great Sony remote from 10 years ago that was double sided, youd use the easy side 99% of the time and the other side very rarely. A flap achieves the same sort of thing.

I despise sky but they got their remote spot on with about half the buttons.

I had a double sided Sony remote like that, more than ten years ago, and it was the biggest car crash of a remote I've ever seen! A few vital buttons missing from the easy side, and no effort made to even "design" the "everything" side - just rows of identical buttons with obscure symbols.

Cheers,
David.

Which is what the Humax remote is now, out of interest, can you remember what buttons you used on the other side because I never switched sides unless I needed to set up the TV.

your sonys, panasonics and JVCs normally have great remotes but your Samsungs, LGs and Humaxs have awful ones. Its something that separates the best from the also rans as you have to use the thing every day.

The Sky remote has a few useful functions hidden behind ridiculously complex functions. There's no easy way to trailer-book a recording rather than a simple channel change; the subtitles are under the "Help" button (WTF?), IIRC there's no easy way to quickly exit from all menus (like the exit button). It also takes quite a few button presses to access the recorded files and the schedule, which are both single buttons on the Humax. Generally I find more buttons to be better, and I honestly don't find the problems you do.

In fact, I find Sky generally an awfully-designed system with so many flaws and irritating idiosyncrasies that I'm amazed by anyone praising it over anything else for how "easy" it is. All it probably means is they can't be arsed to figure out what to do with the new system and realise that it is, in fact, as easy, if not easier, than Sky.

Very similar (mine is an older foxsat remote) but not identical, The most obvious difference is a large Green TV Portal button on the Freeview remote where the list button is on the Foxsat. They use the same codes though (you can change the channel so they don't clash).

A harmony remote is a worthwhile investment. They start as little as about £15.00

I was on about the physical remote but Ive only used the old non pvr remote so maybe they decided to keep that too simple.

Whatever, rows and rows of exactly the same buttons are poor and annoying to use.

Youre talking about the software design.

I had trouble with the Foxsat HDR remote and the wife.
She insisted the box be in a unit facing 90° away from my captain's chair.
I bought an infra red repeater(cheap off ebay) and attached a sender onto the Humax front panel where the IR receiver is (easily seen if you look on the back of the folding front piece). It works now faultlessly.

Ahhh so you are in the software came before the hardware school of thought

p.s. this in in the wrong forum. s/b freesat+

You should consider ergonomics first and then fit the hardware and software around that.

You should not need to use software to make up for hardware deficiencies or vice versa.


Moved now.

Hold for "analogue" teletext.

Ah I always read the page quickly and was always telling the TV to hurry up so it was never a problem for me.