Hi, I'm going to buy one of these recorders but which one. I know the majority of contributors will say Humax but my experience with this company has been poor. One new Freeview PVR lasted a week and a refurb Foxsat wouldn't record so no experience of this unit but bad experience of their products and customer service.
I have used a Sagem for a month courtesy of Maplin, a refurb that came with no inner packaging, just floating about in the box with loose accessories, a big scratch across the top that was detached from the front panel. Kept it to try out before returning it. It performed well, very good HD, never missed a beat.
I'm not interested in iplayer and just want a good recorder.I will be buying new this time and the Sagem is around £50+ cheaper but doesn't control the TV. Does the Humax?
I will buy from John Lewis and both will therefore come with a 2yr guarantee. Definitely not Richer Sounds.
Any pros and cons on these will be welcome.
Sorry if it's long winded.
Rob

Yes the Humax remote has buttons for PVR TV DVD and AUDIO

The Humax comes with a full multi-function control. With luck, it'll control almost everything on your TV, DVD player, and amplifier.

The "problem" is that, just for normal TV viewing, you only need the volume control and power. So you have to switch to TV mode to adjust the volume, back to PVR mode to pause then re-start the recording, back to TV mode to adjust the volume again, back to PVR mode to stop the recording and switch the STB off, then back to TV mode to switch the TV off.

Some other remotes (I know of Sky and Echostar, but there are probably others) just include the TV power, volume, and in some cases AV input and "mute" as dedicated buttons on the remote control. You just press them. You don't have to press "TV" first to change modes.

Which you prefer will be a personal choice. The Humax remote is very good at controlling our DVD player. It's even quite good at controlling the Humax itself if you scratch the paint off the flap of the STB!

Cheers,
David.

P.S. All currently sold Freesat products have BBC iPlayer.

Or use a universal multi-device remote control from the likes of One-For-All which include the Volume control "punch-through" feature which you can set up to change the TV (or AV amp) volume no matter which device mode is selected. Get an activity-based remote control and you can use it to switch on everything that needs to be switched on with the TV switched to show the desired source all with the press of one button.

At the moment I actually use a OFA URC and the Humax Foxsat HDR remote control together as I can control all these features without extra device mode switching. I am still looking for a replacement which is as good as my OFA but which will control more than five devices. Time is running out as the TV button on the OFA is beginning to fail after many years service - I may well get another one of the same model.

Thanks for the replies, I've got tv,bluray and freeview remotes so if I can replace one so much the better and it looks like I'll try Humax again despite prvious problems and hope for the best

The Sagem is a good bet as an uncomplicated HD pvr - it's remote doesn't control the TV but the simple set -up and recording facilities are ideal & it's been very reliable (ours has withstood many a power cut and poor reception problems in Spain with no problems).
Your example of the box working even though "banged about" shows it may not be a "geeks" machine but it does it's job .....
By the way, it appears to have better tuners than the Sky box we also have (for Ch 5 "family").
Also Sagemcom's customer support is pretty good (they have recently setup a Users Forum, which shows how customer oriented they are - a lesson to others..?)
I'm sure there are those who might disagree, but we're happy with ours!

You don't need to adjust the TV Volume while using the Foxsat-HDR as it has it's own built in volume control. I only flick out of PVR mode on the remote when I want to watch something on the Freeview + box, also the Source button on the HDR remote acts as the Input button when in TV mode.

Not all currently sold Freesat products have BBC iPlayer, only the HD PVRs and stbs have BBC iPlayer as they have an Ethernet port on them and the SD stbs don't have an Ethernet port. Also some of the earlier Panasonic Freesat TVs didn't have BBC iPlayer functionality and I beleave still don't (there is a thread somewhere on DS about it) even though they have got an Ethernet port.

Roland

I'd avoid the Sagem DTR range like the plague. I briefly had a 500GB Sagem PVR, had to vtake it back and exchange it for the Humax Foxsat-HDR 500 as it would crash all the time and over heat. I went for the Sagem because I've got a Sagem Freeview+ PVR and liked the UI for it, but the Sagem one is nothing like the UI for the Freeview+ PVR, it's counter intuitive and pretty ugly compaired to the Freeview+ PVR and also the USB port is only used for Software updates.

The Humax is far more user friendly and there is two USB ports one on the front and one on the back, the Front USB port can be used for Software updates and also for importing and exporting recordings.

Roland

I've ordered a Humax and will see how it goes and I've also got the distance selling rules if it's not to my liking.
The Sagem I had was good but a couple of things were an irritant like folders not able to be deleted and the pin no. in use for many changes. If the Humax is u/s I'll get one of them. I just want something to record when programmed.

The Humax is very reliable. I've had mine since September, It's got a very user friendly UI compared to the Sagem, Folders are deleted once the last program has been deleted unlike on the Sagem where you have to use seveeral key presses to be able to delete them. The PIN use can be turned on or off on the Humax unlike on the Sagem and it's very reliable at Recording. Also the rear USB port can be used to add an External HDD for Archiving and Play back of Recordings.

Roland

Using that means setting the TV volume to high, using the Humax volume to reduce the volume as needed. Result = poorer signal to noise ratio, and getting your ear drums blasted when you switch to another source. I wouldn't do it this way. (Does it even work for HD channels using digital output?)


OK, all currently sold HD Freesat products have BBC iPlayer. I'd forgotten about the SD ones. By currently sold, I didn't mean 2009 TVs on eBay!

Cheers,
David.

Hi again,
It arrived this morning and despite turning on and off 5 times it refused to boot up. Phoned humax and they have sent a return form. Left it stewing while I walked the dog and I came back and it was waiting to upload new software. Hmmm
It's not as user friendly as the Sagem but does more but I have one problem I can't find the solution to.
The picture is too big for the screen, top and bottom and sides are missing. Tried all the settings on the box, all settings on the tv and a mix of both. Nothing changes the picture.
Subtitles and the info bar disappear off the sides. The manual is no help and if it can't be remedied it's back to Humax and Sagem here I come.
Help please.
Rob

Which TV and how is the box connected to the TV. ?. What vformat setting is the box on.

Start with the TV set to widescreen and overscan options turned off, the box set to 16:9 and vformat set to 1080i. This assumes the box is connected by hdmi to a widescreen TV.

Hi Graham,
HDMI to a 32" Toshiba Regza
TV set to Auto with stretch turned off
Box set to 1080i auto widescreen.
As I said I've tried all combinations on the tv/box and nothing has changed the picture in any way. I had an old Sky box, then the Sagem connected before and have a freeview box to with a normal size picture.
I've just tried with a scart lead and the picture is normal size
Rob

Baffled,

not familiar with the TV but as a starting point I would set the hdr to Widescreen not auto and vformat to 1080i.

On the TV start with the same set it to wide. There are usually other options not associated with the picture aspect ratio that control the degree of overscan. The name varies but you are looking for a 1:1 pixel mapping mode.

The long boot up sounds like an immediate ota to the latest firmware (1.00.17), it's not a bad idea after a firmware upgrade to carry out a factory reset, suggest you try this next. If none of the above works time for a replacement box.

I have a Toshiba Regza too, used with the Humax HDR, previously also used with Sky+HD. With Sky the HDMI video always fills the active picture area, it relies on the Sky+HD box sending 4:3 commands on 4:3 material to the TV over HDMI to switch AR on the TV itself. So Auto setting was needed on the TV in order to respond to this. There is a long-standing problem that the HDR flags everything over HDMI (apart from the startup splash screen) as 4:3. Many TVs don't respond to HDMI AR commands so on these this isn't noticed.

To use with the HDR, turn Auto off on the TV and set the TV to permanent widescreen 16:9. The HDR re-sizes everything itself, unlike the Sky box, as 16:9. This means on 4:3 material the HDR inserts it's own side bars to keep the shape correct, the TV doesn't need to switch at all. This may be what's going on, give it a try.

Tried everything I and Humax helpline could think of, factory reset, unplugged for 20 mins, the lot and also the remedy from galleonslap but I think it had been tried before all to no avail so a refund organised and Sagem on the way. Third Humax product that has been faulty so they will not get any more chances from me.
Fingers crossed for the Sagem although I know they have some problems but we'll see. Why is it so difficult to get them right?
Thanks to everyone who has offered some assistance.
Last edited by robbra : 18-11-2011 at 16:28

I have the Humax HDR & a LG LCD and I seem to lose a small amount of the picture all the way around the edge. (OVERSCAN)

I am now watching BBC HD and I can only see BC HD as the first "B" is off screen. I can move the picture up, down, left and right but this doesn't really help.

Unfortunately my TV won't let me fix this.

Every STB I've ever checked, including the HDR, appears to send HD content out "pixel-perfect" in terms of the video that's sent, and I've not spotted a way to change this!

However, HDMI aspect ratio signalling leaves something to be desired and it sounds like this may be confusing the TV (though it's not doing what it's supposed to be doing either!).

Cheers,
David.

What setting are you using for vformat, and what TV type do you have set on the HDR ?

It is a 720p TV so V-format is normally set to 720p or 1080i. The picture quality and screen size remains the same using either.
TV Type set on HDR ? I presume you mean 16:9 or 4:3. So that is set to 16:9 as it is a widescreen TV.

I've played with all the TV settings I get when using a HDMI input and there doesn't seem to be anything to reduce the overscan.
Auto Config is only available if using RGB (PC) mode.
H-Position & V-Position just moves the screen up down or left and right. (no help)
(Phase and Clock adjustments are not available with HDMI.)

The only fix I can think of is a new TV !

If you view a full-HD channel like CH4-HD or NHKWORLD TV do you still lose the edges.

What happens if you connect using a scart lead, do you now see all the picture ?.

Put this image on a usb stick and view it using hdmi. (Its 1920 x 1080), can you see the edges of the test card (set vformat to 1080i)

http://www.4shared.com/photo/gU8ArOEc/HDtestcard.html

If you view a FULL HD channel like CH4-HD or NHKWORLD TV do you still lose the edges ?

I've taken a few embarrassing photos of the problem, the PQ is normally pretty good with HD.
The fact that I'm effectively using permanent digital zoom possibly explains why my SD PQ is so bad.

Tried it via scart and the Overscan was actually worse, full HD channels are the same as any other channel.


Test Card
http://i674.photobucket.com/albums/v...n/P1020622.jpg

Channel 4 HD DOG
http://i674.photobucket.com/albums/v...n/P1020624.jpg

BBC HD DOG
http://i674.photobucket.com/albums/v...n/P1020625.jpg

That's a very large overscan, looking at the BBC-HD Preview clip and assuming the BBC-HD dog was hard up against the left hand side of the frame you have lost around 57 pixels to cover one letter. Work that out for a whole frame. I would be talking to the TV maker, somethings seriously wrong. Odd that the still jpeg image is less badly clipped

I agree a very large overscan, possibly to late to contact LG as the TV is about 5-6 years old now. I only spotted the problem when the DOGS were finally put in the corner.
I thought the Test Card jpeg looked just as bad, must be an old pic as the DOG is now in a different position.

So I presume you don't get this problem with more modern TV's, or if you do you can adjust it.