We're cancelling Sky+ HD and getting Freesat. Which box is best?

I've been looking at the Humax HDR 500GB but I've seen several posts saying there are unfixed bugs like subtitles switching on during live pause.

This seems a terrible shame as I liked the look of the ITV player and the ability to play video from a USB stick and PCs on the network, but I don't want to get something that isn't properly supported by the manufacturer.

Which boxes should I look at?

Toggling subtitles on/off fixes the problem for all except if you have used customised channels to move a different BBC1/2 region to 101 and 102 instead of the ones set by yout postcode. Even for these pressing exit twice gets rid.

Get the Humax, if there are any bugs then I've not noticed them, it's miles better then a Sky plus box, imo.

Go with Humax.

Check this link

http://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/prodCat...ctory&type=sat

and get a Managers Special, I've had 2 and really can't see any difference from what you'd get in a shop.

Echostar is the best box on the market, dont get an ancient slow Humax. Unless you like watching paint dry.

I have the Hummy and now my sister is about to purchase a Freesat recorder the only players in town are either the Humax or the Samung. I know there are issues with the Samsung but it has great possibilities for updates in the future.

Unlike the Echostar. GG, I am happy that you like your Freesat recorder and think that it is really fast, but we will all have to take your word for it as you appear to be the only person who has bought one. Or maybe the rest of them don't see the need to come trolling on here. The way you keep banging on about how wonderful the Echostar is makes me think you have to keep justifying the excessive cost to yourself and makes me very suspicious of the device.

I installed one for a relative. You can find my review on Amazon if you want. She still loves it.

Amazingly enough, you can find other Echostar owners here on Digital Spy. You're not going to believe this, but they've posted in the "Echostar" thread...
http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showt...452142&page=13
...13 pages and counting.

And GG is right - it is much faster than the Humax - especially when the library fills up.

The Echostar is now less than £220. Same price as a 500GB Humax.

So any prospective purchaser is going to have to look at the pros and cons. Personally, I think:[LIST][*]If they want fast + easy to use, the Echostar wins hands down.[*]If they only have a single feed, the Humax wins hands down.[*]If they want to watch+control the STB on PCs, mobile phones, etc anywhere in the world, the Echostar wins hands down (Sling!).[*]If they want to watch recordings from the STB on some DLNA devices, and FTP recordings to their PCs, the Humax wins hands down (when hacked).[*]If they want to use itvPlayer, the Humax wins hands down (for now).[/LIST]

There are loads of other points. If the fanboys from both sides could keep away, it would be possible to make a sensible + fair list.

If I was buying now, I'd be torn. Half of me thinks the FTP function on a hacked Humax (to let me burn programmes to DVD on my PC) is essential - except I've never actually got around to using it. A bit like all those VHS tapes I never watched! But half of me thinks the faster and nicer interface on the Echostar is more useful day-to-day, and the Sling functionality (if I didn't already have a Sling box) is useful for setting recordings when out of the house even if you rarely use it to watch full programmes.

It's hard to know which is more reliable just from reading DS, and for me that is by far the most important thing. A lot of people report being very happy with both boxes - but here finbaar I think you're right - whichever box people have bought, many seem to want to convince themselves that it's perfect.

Thankfully not everyone is like this - there are enough honest Humax, Echostar and Samsung owners on here that you can read about the faults of each. It's the number of crashes / lock-ups / missed recordings per year that's hard to judge from DS postings - and that's what I really care about. YMMV!

EDIT: Just from reading DS (no first hand experience) I get the feeling that they're now all better than Sky in this respect.

Cheers,
David.