Have just cancelled my Sky contract so looking for a Freesat PVR.
Am undecided between the Foxsat or Echostar.Slingshot wouldn't be used much by me so I am more concerned with reliability, menu lag/responsiveness and picture quality.
Also I saw on Freesat's website on a (fairly) recent press release there are new generation boxes coming at some point -though what these offer in addition I don't know - so wondered whether to wait a while.
Any advice welcome!

You can continue to use your existing Sky box to get the FTA and (with existing card?) FTV channels. But f it is a Sky+ / Sky HD box then you need to pay a tenner a month to still be able to record (and to view existing recordings, I think?).

I don't think it is worth waiting for the plasticky bells and whistles that are planned for the NG of Freesat boxes. The Foxsat already gets BBC iPlayer and ITV Player, not sure if the Echostar does but you may have a genuine use for its built in Slingbox functionality (a feature that has had its day in my view in light of the ubiquity of online catch up services)

Reliability: Humax used to be the king. As Echostar has improved greatly since launch, and Humax has decreased fractionally, I think it's tough to call now. I'm happy with my Humax, my relative is happy with her Echostar, but best to ask someone who has both.

menu lag/responsiveness: Echostar wins, no question. Better designed interface too IMO.

Picture Quality: I can't see any difference. On HD I'm fairly sure they're identical. FWIW on SD both are streets ahead of my first generation Freeview PVR (may it RIP!), and that's not just because of the usually better picture quality of the actual broadcasts on Freesat than Freeview. They're also streets ahead of an old Sony Sky STB I used for a while. However, if you have your Sky box set to "high" contrast, this actually "blows out" brighter colours, but you'll find any Freesat STB less "vibrant" because it's showing you what the picture actually looks like. Increase the contrast on your TV if this bothers you.


For me, reliability is key, but other the important thing to note (if it bothers you) is the difference between having DLNA+FTP on a (hacked) Humax STB, vs having Slingbox functionality out-of-the-box via any web browser from the Echostar. The former lets you watch+copy recordings within the home, the latter lets you watch recordings and control the STB (e.g. set up future recordings) from anywhere in the world.


Freesat G2 has been "coming" for a year now. YouView (Freeview + connected TV on a STB) has been "coming" for longer. If you can manage to live without a PVR until either of these actually launches, then good luck to you.

Cheers,
David.

I think 2Bdecided has given a very fair appraisal of the 2 boxes. I currently have both but will be shortly selling the Eurostar as I have no use for the Slingbox facility but I've hacked the Humax and will definitely get some use out of that.

The things I personally don't like about the Echostar are:

1. The tiny, odd shaped remote - easily solved - use a Logitech 300

2. The EPG which packs 2.5 hrs worth of progs. across the screen so the actual prog title is very curtailed.

3. Have to press the red button in Guide to record rather than OK as on Humax & Samsung. Not a big deal I agree.

4. The appearance when on is a bit weird, why have a row of 9 12mm red lights across the front showing the manual control buttons ?

I've been using it for about a month and it's generally been reliable. Locked up once and I had to do a power cycle after which it had lost scheduled recordings. Locked up again Wed. night, probably when power dipped momentarily, again had to power cycle but scheduled recordings intact.

I'm going for my tin hat now before the Echostar fanboys arrive and start hurling bricks.

Don't forget your bullet proof vest

The strange thing is that the first three things you mention bsw are specifically liked by my relative - especially the remote.

IIRC "the red button" you mention in item three isn't the red button, it's the record button!

I agree about item 4 though - they've really gone to town on those front panel buttons, yet I don't remember ever using any front panel button (other than "power") on any STB I've ever owned.

Cheers,
David.

David, you're right it is the record button that just happens to be red ! I know all PVRs have them but I never use it as everything I record is set before hand. Having to use it whilst in the Guide just seems odd but this just shows how difficult it is design something that pleases everyone.

The other disappointing thing about he Echostar is the fact that the USB port is only used for firmware updates. At least on the Humax you can use it to transfer music, pics & progs both ways. Very handy if you don't fancy doing the full hack.

I have been using my sisters Samsung for a week now before I go and install it for her. IMHO it is better than my Foxsat but I would miss the occasional use of ITV Player but YouTube is nice. I know others have had issues but it has been solid for me.

I would wait and see what might come from the CES next week.

Go ahead and buy an humax. Hey, it's three years old and slow as shit but they love them on here so they must be good lol.

Igot a Humax box last September and don't find it slow at all, and the hack to give it more functionality has added some Sling type features like remote record and streaming without having to buy the Sling PC client, although the hack can't stream HD content wich I'm guessing the Echostar can do through the Sling feature along with something that I don't think will ever be added to the HUmax Hack Remote viewing of channels via Sling.

I love my Humax and wouldn't trade it in for another PVR for the world.

But lkike the saying goes

"You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time."

Roland

Doesn't the Echostar have a flap to cover the manual control buttons?

I know the cheapo looking and pretty crap Sagem box has visible manual control buttons and the Humax box only has 1 visible manual control button (The Standby button) and all the other buttons are hidden behind a flap that also hides the front USB port.

Roland

No it doesn't. And because of the row of buttons the clock display is quite small.

Hello GG, always good to have your intelligent and witty comments. I'm sure the OP will find it helpful.

You could say the same about your oh so helpfull comment

Having been a long time Foxsat HD user I've just bought a Samsung SMT-S7800 box to go with my new 40" 5000 series Samsung telly (1080p, nice ). The software is full of little touches missing from the FoxSat. The ability to browse the channel guide whilst continuing to watch the channel you previously had on (albeit in miniature), the way the names of short programmes in the guide scroll across their box so you get the whole name, and the YouTube player are all nice little extras (although the last one is also on the telly in my case). I was nervous at first since the software was known to be buggy when this box was first released, but I've not noticed any real issues with it yet. If you have a dish with a dual or quad LNB I would recommend this.

I agree with your comments. I liked the Foxsat-HDR of which I've owned two in the past. However, I prefer the Samsung which has a much smoother EPG operation, doesn't suffer from the Humax's inability to record the programme you're watching from start, if you've stayed on that channel (recording from the buffer) and takes on board new channels without any intervention or having to wait till the next day.

I think the Foxsat-HDR is great if you're an enthusiast who is happy to update the box with unwarranted firmware but for most people the Samsung is a more user friendly box - I must add that I haven't had the problems that some people have experienced, although I have found XVID playback to be problematic, but this doesn't even exist on the Humax.

Certainly the Echostar sound very good, but I wouldn't be interested in slingbox. If you just want a PVR, I prefer the Samsung. If you want bells and whistles but rather a clunky PVR I would go for the Humax.

Gary we are all sorry that you bought the wrong box but there is need to lash out. I don't suppose you can sell the Echostar as you appear to be the only customer but use it for a second telly hidden out of the way as it is so pig ugly and get one of the premium Freesat recorders from Humax of Samsung.

No, Sling on PCs and Macs works through a web browser, for free. Sling works anywhere in the world with an internet connection, and re-adapts the experience to get something through even the naffest of internet connections. Sling lets you do anything that you could do if you were sat there in front of the STB - it even lets you pop up a virtual copy of the remote control for almost any AV source - STB, DVD player(!!!), etc etc - to control it from where ever you are.

You do have to pay for the Sling clients on smart phones though.


Anyway, this is all kind of irrelevant - at the current price, you're not actually paying for the Slingbox functionality on the Echostar - it's a now free gift included with an easy to use PVR.


The world is not enough Roland? Mr bond will be along to see you shortly.

Cheers,
David.

P.S. The Humax is slow. AFAICT it gets slower the more recordings you have stored - calling up the media list gets very slow (about 8 seconds delay) with a nearly full library. Deleting recordings is slow (desperately slow for HD - 10s of seconds). It's usable with patience, but if you think "it's not slow at all", I dread to think what else you use.

Once the Media list is open you go instantly to it once you stop a recording so that's only relevant for the first time you open the Media list, I use my Foxsat like a TIVO so I just start playing another recording while one is deleting, it's just annoying when you've been watching something that takes up alot of space that you then delete before turning the box off means you have to wait for the program to delete. I've just got used to that. I'm currently trying to get it from 70+% full to under 50% full but I think with my recording habit it's impossible.

The Foxsat may get slow when the HDD is running at over 50% full but at least it's more stable and user friendly than the crappy Sagem PVRS.

Roland

[quote=Rolandh;55796528 it's just annoying when you've been watching something that takes up alot of space that you then delete before turning the box off means you have to wait for the program to delete. I've just got used to that. I'm currently trying to get it from 70+% full to under 50% full but I think with my recording habit it's impossible.

The Foxsat may get slow when the HDD is running at over 50% full but at least it's more stable and user friendly than the crappy Sagem PVRS.

Roland[/QUOTE]

You don't have to wait you can queue a load of deletes, action them and press the off button. You get a message, box will power off after the deletes, and it does

I know that, what I was meaning is that it's annoying if you want to turn off the box quickly or if you've used the web EPG in the modded firmware to schedule a recording you've got to wait ages for a recording to delete just to reboot the box to add the recording.

Roland

If I'm deleting something from a series link (which means it's in a folder), the box is very slow letting me get out of that folder and into another one to watch something else.

My box sits ~90% full.


Do you mean by using Opt+ to switch to the file manager, and doing it there? Or is there another way?

The problem I have with the file manager (apart from forgetting to use it!) is that you can't see which episode is which, so you don't know which one(s) you're deleting (unless you count through them). It's OK for deleting all of them though.

Cheers,
David.

Running the HDR at 90% full might be the problem as I've never seen that problem on my HDR.

if you press OK on the recording you've just watched scroll down to delete and press ok the select Delete from the popup and press OK.

Roland

You say comment, but it's a fact.