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Is Humax the best Freesat PVR? Also which would be best model for me? |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,644
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Is Humax the best Freesat PVR? Also which would be best model for me?
Hi there,
We have cancelled our Virgin TV, but have an old Sky+ dish that we can connect up with a dual LNB. We will probably use the Playstation to stream iPlayer etc so we really just need something to watch and record programs. I was wondering if Humax were the best to get and if so which model would be best for us (bearing in mind we will be streaming on the Playstation and not on the box). I think we would need 500gb minimum of space. Just not sure if the newer versions of the Humax boxes are any better and have features that we may use? Thanks, Mark. |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Snowdonia
Posts: 2,725
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Humax are probably considered the best of the Freesat manufacturers but I guess individual opinions will differ.
You have only two choices when it comes to Humax PVRs - the old Foxsat HDR (Freesat Gen 1) and the new HDR-1000S/1010S (Freesat Gen 2). you can read all about their features on http://www.humaxdigital.com/uk/, also http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/new-fre...umax-launches/, as no-one here knows what features you want and are likely to use and what colour you would prefer, and you can use Google to find reviews. But the old model doesn't actually appear on the Humax web site any more so it looks like it's now discontinued. You can find details of all the other Freesat PVRs at http://www.freesat.co.uk/products/fr...d-tv-recorder/ and lowest prices at http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/. |
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#3 |
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Join Date: Mar 2005
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Ok.
Thanks. We will mainly just be using it for watching live TV and recording TV (not too bothered about any other features unless there is one must have feature that is a must have for everyone). Mark. |
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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Redditch Worcs
Posts: 17,287
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Humax have a new single tuner 2nd generation Freesat box (<freetime>). It wil record to a separate usb HDD and is about half the price of the twin tuner HDR1000/1010 models.
http://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/product.asp?ProdRef=10114 |
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#5 |
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Join Date: Feb 2009
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Humax are still selling 320Gb Grade A PVR boxes for £129 with 1yr warranty, although the 500Gb is currently out of stock.
Might still be worth considering. http://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/product.asp?ProdRef=10076 |
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#6 |
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Join Date: Mar 2005
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Quote:
Humax are still selling 320Gb Grade A PVR boxes for £129 with 1yr warranty, although the 500Gb is currently out of stock.
Might still be worth considering. http://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/product.asp?ProdRef=10076 Does anybody know if you can upgrade the hard drive on these boxes? Cheers, Mark. |
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#7 |
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Join Date: Mar 2005
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Quote:
Humax have a new single tuner 2nd generation Freesat box (<freetime>). It wil record to a separate usb HDD and is about half the price of the twin tuner HDR1000/1010 models.
http://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/product.asp?ProdRef=10114 Cheers anyway, Mark. |
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#8 |
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,644
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Just reading that you can connect an external USB hard drive to the Humax boxes to record on for extra space?
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#9 |
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: Redditch Worcs
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Quote:
Just reading that you can connect an external USB hard drive to the Humax boxes to record on for extra space?
So a Foxsat-hdr gives you unlimited recording storage after recording, by copying to an external drive and the capability to watch SD recordings on other kit. (HD as well using Custom Firmware) You cannot export recordings at all on the twin tuner G2 boxes to view on other kit nor on the new box. The new box in effect gives you unlimited storage (by simply using another USB drive), but of course has the limitations of a single tuner and you can only watch these on the box that recorded the content. |
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#10 |
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Join Date: Mar 2005
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Quote:
Only on the new single tuner box I posted before for satellite boxes. You can transfer recordings already recorded to USB using a Foxsat-hdr, you cannot record directly to a usb drive.
So a Foxsat-hdr gives you unlimited recording storage after recording, by copying to an external drive and the capability to watch SD recordings on other kit. (HD as well using Custom Firmware) You cannot export recordings at all on the twin tuner G2 boxes to view on other kit nor on the new box. The new box in effect gives you unlimited storage (by simply using another USB drive), but of course has the limitations of a single tuner and you can only watch these on the box that recorded the content. Thanks for that. |
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#11 |
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Join Date: Mar 2005
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Just wondered if there was much difference in the interface on the newer boxes?
Are they much slicker and faster? One thing I don't like about the Virgin Tivo box is the lag a lot of the time. |
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#12 |
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Join Date: Feb 2009
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Quote:
Does anybody know if you can upgrade the hard drive on these boxes?
Quote:
Just wondered if there was much difference in the interface on the newer boxes?
Are they much slicker and faster? One thing I don't like about the Virgin Tivo box is the lag a lot of the time. |
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#13 |
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Join Date: Mar 2005
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Quote:
Yes you can very easily, up to 1TB. (You can use larger but would have to partition it manually first.)
The interface is a bit different on the new boxes, but the old one still looks very nice indeed. There's no real lag to speak of that I've ever noticed. I think I may get the 320gb older box and then try to get hold of a cheap/free hard drive (I upgraded my Sky+ box a few years ago and still may have the old drive around somewhere (forget what size it is now though). Mark. |
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#14 |
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Perchede, France
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Quote:
Thanks for that.
I think I may get the 320gb older box and then try to get hold of a cheap/free hard drive (I upgraded my Sky+ box a few years ago and still may have the old drive around somewhere (forget what size it is now though). Mark. |
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#15 |
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: North Derbyshire
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Quote:
Just wondered if there was much difference in the interface on the newer boxes?
Are they much slicker and faster? It always appears to me that the Freetime box is what the earlier Humax boxes should have been. |
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#16 |
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: South West
Posts: 3,278
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Quote:
Only on the new single tuner box I posted before for satellite boxes. You can transfer recordings already recorded to USB using a Foxsat-hdr, you cannot record directly to a usb drive.
So a Foxsat-hdr gives you unlimited recording storage after recording, by copying to an external drive and the capability to watch SD recordings on other kit. (HD as well using Custom Firmware) You cannot export recordings at all on the twin tuner G2 boxes to view on other kit nor on the new box. The new box in effect gives you unlimited storage (by simply using another USB drive), but of course has the limitations of a single tuner and you can only watch these on the box that recorded the content. A single tuner used to be very limiting, but I guess that Freetime providing the option to watch programmes broadcast on BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Demand 5 as well as YouTube gives much more flexibility. Two tuners become necessary if you want to record two programmes broadcast on other channels. I only have a Foxsat-HDR, so just have access to BBC and ITV players. I would quite like to have the other options but Humax are unable (or unwilling) to add these to my machine. I appreciate that I have not specifically paid for them! |
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#17 |
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: Redditch Worcs
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Quote:
I only have a Foxsat-HDR, so just have access to BBC and ITV players. I would quite like to have the other options but Humax are unable (or unwilling) to add these to my machine. I appreciate that I have not specifically paid for them!
The new single tuner box is an ideal 2nd box for existing HDR1000/1010 owners as it should be able to view recordings (including HD) made on these boxes remotely using a home network (The necessary DLNA server required is not yet released). It may also be able to play back Foxsat-hdr recordings remotely if the custom firmware is installed. |
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#18 |
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Yorkshire
Posts: 4,391
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Quote:
The interface is a bit different on the new boxes, but the old one still looks very nice indeed. There's no real lag to speak of that I've ever noticed.
I still use mine though. Quote:
A single tuner used to be very limiting, but I guess that Freetime providing the option to watch programmes broadcast on BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Demand 5 as well as YouTube gives much more flexibility. Two tuners become necessary if you want to record two programmes broadcast on other channels.
Quote:
the G2 VOD services use MHEG5 which the Foxsat-hdr does not support.
Quote:
(The necessary DLNA server required is not yet released).
![]() Cheers, David. |
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#19 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,644
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Thanks for all the replies.
I decided to take the plunge today and went for the Humax Foxsat-HDR-G with a 320gb hard drive (prob would have gone for the 500gb if they still had them from here: http://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/product.asp?ProdRef=10076 ). I went for that one in the end after trawling through the reviews on Amazon etc and seeing that quite a few people were reporting problems with the newer models along with them being slow (not so many on the older model). Also we don't really watch that much TV to warrant it (mainly the children with their CBeebies). We will be using the Playstation for the catchup TV and not the box as well. I also read some reviews on the one I bought saying that the remote control was temperamental, but some people have found out that there is a clear sticker in front of the IR sensor on the box that needs to be removed and then it's a lot better. I probably would have gone for the newer model, but money is going to be a bit tight this month. ![]() I may upgrade the hard drive at a later date to a 1TB one (when I can get hold of a free/cheap one) or might just take the 600'ish GB one out of my Playstation as I don't use that space - is it easy to backup your recordings onto an external hard drive to restore once I have upgraded the drive? Thanks, Mark. |
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#20 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Redditch Worcs
Posts: 17,287
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Easiest way to back up your recordings (and transform the box as well) is install the Custom Firmware. Using this you can copy all the recordings to a PC.
http://www.avforums.com/forums/frees...ase-4-0-a.html Without this you need a USB drive formatted EXT3. |
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#21 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Buckingham
Posts: 28,534
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I only have a 320GB models but use a 400GB external USB drive with it to copy overflow recordings (mainly unwatched films) to.
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#22 |
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Join Date: Mar 2005
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Quote:
I only have a 320GB models but use a 400GB external USB drive with it to copy overflow recordings (mainly unwatched films) to.
Like you I may just use a spare external HDD to copy my films to. Cheers. |
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#23 |
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: Redditch Worcs
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Quote:
Ok - thanks for that.
Like you I may just use a spare external HDD to copy my films to. Cheers. FAT32 has a max size of 4GB so films and longer recordings (especially HD) may not be copyable to a FAT32 device. There is no support for NTFS. If you upgrade the internal HDD you can copy (or playback) the original recordings by dropping the original HDD into a USB sata drive cradle. It's a slow process, the fastest way is to copy the data by connecting both drives directly to a PC. |
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#24 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Buckingham
Posts: 28,534
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I used EASEUS Partition Manager to format the external drive as EXT3.
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#25 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,644
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Is EASEUS free software as it looks free?
I was going to download from here if so: http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm Cheers for the replies/info. Mark. |
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