Does anyoen know if there are any plans for alternatives to the Humax Freetime set top box?

It seems strange that there are no other options to provide competition, are there any rumours of a manufacture working in this market?

A Manhattan branded G2 box was in the works, but not heard anything since FreeTime was launched.

It seems confusing to most people that FreeTime (Freesat) and YouView (Freeview) are similar BUT not the same! A Guardian article got this wrong yesterday when it said something like "YouView for Freeview and Freesat...."

Perhaps manufacturers want to concentrate on YouView which is being promoted better!

There's only two Youview boxes anyway. Afaik you can only buy the Humax one, the other is supplied as part of a package.

Don't forget buy cheap you buy twice. I'm new to the Humax brand and have to say I'm impressed both by the brand in terms of build quality and by the Freesat Freetime offering. I know some of the early adopters have had issues. However, touchwood, I'm using the .22 version and the performance so far has been first class. I tell you the fit and finish seems much higher than my Sky+ HD box.

While it does seem that Humax are committed to improving the box they have, I just wonder if there were some competition then, even if not competing on price we would have competition on quality. With both manufacturers trying to be the box of choice.

It also seems strange, from Freesats point of view, to have all their eggs in one basket. If there were more manufacturers they would each have a product to push and the overall reach of Freetime would increase.

Freesat have a long history with Humax, they made the first HD non recording box (Foxsat-HD mid 2008), First twin tuner pvr (Foxsat-hdr late 2008), first G2 box (HDR-1000s - late 2012). They would appear to be Freesat's manufacturer of choice.

Probably because the Freesat box was supposed to be YouView - the whole idea of YouView was to give a standard interface for IPTV across all set-top boxes and TV's. Then out of the blue Freesat released a different non-compatible system.

Probably better if we don't see G2 boxes from the likes of Bush and Grundig anyway tbh

Seems the best way is to get a free YouView box from an ISP and use that for catch-up and keep existing Freesat box for DSAT.

At £26 a month from TalkTalk (line rental, unlimited broadband, free calls 24/7 and a Freeview HD PVR), you can't go wrong.

Without ISP subsidies, off the shelf YouView and <free time> are going to struggle.

and <freetime> on freesat intergrated TV's !

http://www.freesat.co.uk/help/faqs/freetime


as derek500 suggests - may be best to aquire a youview box from an ISP. I currently use an old TUTV box for recordings, and if require to record a freesat channel that's not available on freeview, use a USB drive on the TV. I was going to update to <freetime> but the problems freesat seem to be having - has changed my mind.

Strange that a Humax youview box can access 4oD, demand 5, and other content - yet a Humax <freetime> box has yet to deliver these services.

However with TalkTalk, if you upgrade to its youview service, you are likely to loose any legacy free services.
(e.g. free international calls)

Yes!, even with some advertising, outright sales of YouView PVRs from retailers have been pretty non-existent so far!

There is no doubt that freesat and Humax have a very close working relationship which is great in developing the brand/services; however, it isn't the reason why they have the first product out. Humax have their own in-house development team for the software, where as Sagemcom and Manhattan (the other <free time> approved manufacturers) were using the development team associated with freesat...before they fell out leaving Sagemcom and Manhattan a long way back. Whether this fall out was to ensure Humax would launch first, who knows, but it seems (my opinion, not theirs) Sagemcom and Manhattan now have the luxury and slowing down the development to see if the service is a success before jumping in. It might be that YouView becomes the service of choice as originally intended, but figures so far don't seem favourable, but time will tell.


To a extent I would agree with you there, but to date, <free time> is far out selling YouView from an off-the-shelf point of view.

Makes sense. There's not going to many paying £250+ for YouView when they can get a subsidised box.

Whereas paying full whack is the only option with <free time>

TalkTalk give their YouView box free by default with their unlimited BB/calls package.

No wonder they're shifting 10,000 boxes a week!!

Shame that Freesat didn't go with YouView and the ISPs could give out a choice of DTT or DSAT boxes.

Just confusion for consumers instead.

That does all depend on where you buy.
Ok, so maybe not such as a good deal as the YouView offers from BT & Talk Talk seem to be, but Richer Sounds are selling the 500GB <FreeTime> box for £239.95 which is £40 cheaper than other retailers.

altho the benefit of freetime is its a 1 off outlay and no tie to ISP, whereas with TT there are no doscounts available if u take out youview its full price or nothing, works out just shy £30 month over 18/24 months. only discouns is if u take out VLR and pay line rental upfront at a cost £114...

so costs as below...

18 months with VLR = £450
24 months with VLR = £600

18 months without VLR = £548.10
24 months without VLR = £730.80


so in my opinion its well wortth buying freesat outright, (even tho i'm lucky enuff to get at trade price)

What about the separate costs of broadband and line rental if you buy <free time>? Where are they in your figures?

well i bought my freetime outright and i pay £1.25 per month for my BB, i paid line rental up front at cost £114 which equates to £9.50 per month, then, cos i dont have youb=view and dont want youview, as i am out of contract i ring up CS and haggle a new deal, hence i get 24 meg BB for £1.25 a month happy days

OK for you.

But for existing Freesat PVR owners who pay regular prices for their phone and BB, they'd be better off getting YouView through TalkTalk for their catch-up than buying a <free time> box.

And they'll get 4OD and Demand5, not just a promise. And there's been a few of those broken by Freesat!!

but theres nothing wrong wi those ppl paying regular prices to ring up there supplier and haggle a deal, every isp will give u a deal to keep ur custom, and dont forget over the course the youview contract it works out quite costly....

I haggled with BT and got nothing, so switched to TalkTalk. They're always trying to get me back but they charge so much more.

I still think £26 a month for unlimited broadband, line rental (annual), 24/7 calls and a free Freeview HD PVR is unbeatable.

yep i'm with TT too, and i for 1 dont plan on going anywhere, especially not since i have never paid full price for my BB since moving to TT from tiscali, still get letter from BT asking me back but they canna even come close to offerring me what i get, and ov course living a stones throw from my exchange helps

Which service promised by Humax as ever failed to be delivered on a Humax box ?

You ignore the fact that the current Youview boxes are just as crippled in so many ways as a Sky box.

Quite why anyone with a twin tuner Freesat+ box is so interested in catch up is a tad baffling

With +1 channels and repeats how many programmes does anyone need to watch on vod ?

Seems a bit extreme to me changing ISP just to get a sluggish Youview box for catchup. If I wished to go that route I could simply have mirrored the channels from my iPad or my Mac to Apple TV. I can't see why you think it may struggle. Freesat's target audience are ex Sky people like myself who weigh up paying a one off charge for the box and are then quids in with no more subs.

Then why have a <FreeTime> box yourself when a twin tuner, +1 Channels and repeats will suffice ?