PVRs (at least decent ones) can be a bit pricey, so what are the odds that HUMAX will release a combined Freeview/FreesatHD PVR at some point? For me, this would be an instant no-brainer purchase.

Should Freesat really take off, then I'd have a really good unit capable of receiving all the free HD channels. If it didn't take off, I'd still be left with a brilliant Freeview PVR. There would be no real risk for the buyer as I wouldn't have to choose between them.

If I were to buy a HUMAX unit in the summer I'd be stumped as to which to buy. The Freesat player gives me HD and a bit of future-proofing, but it’s high risk, and it'll also give me less channels. The freeview player on the other hand would give me more channels initially, but should Freesat take off, I’d only receive a fraction of the available channels.

I can't help thinking that a combined unit - which would share a lot of the tech (hdmi, decoders etc) would be a very attractive proposition to the buyer. Hell, it'd even get a Freesat box into a great many homes that only want Freeview for now. Add a few channels to the Freesat service, and they can simply plug a dish in to upgrade and experience them.

The main reason for launching Freesat is to serve customers who can't get Freeview, so I'd say the odds are "slim-to-none".

Seems pointless because they will both be transmitting the same progs at the same time

I think it would be a great idea. As long as any additional cost of having a combined unit was not too great.

There are combined digital satellite (DVB-S) and digital terrestrial (DVB-T) set-top-boxes with the capability to record to an external USB memory device.
That was, one tuner of each type, basically a satellite receiver/recorder with terrestrial tuner added. (Maplins did have some, about £100 then add your own HDD).
So it's fundamentally possible and I'm sure they'll eventually be manufactured, but maybe it would still be for a niche market.

Surely the point about Freesat is that the greatly increased bandwidth will enable more HD channels to be transmitted, and, eventually, a wider range of free channels. It must be the hope of BBC and ITV that Freesat will ultimately replace Freeview.
Robin

I still don't see the point, one is terrestrial the other is satellite, why would you need both?, you would surely pick one or the other. As for more channels, I would prefer less channels with better quality programming than a thousand containing the present rubbish.

I have seen nothing to indicate any such 'hope'.

Possible objections are:[LIST=1][*]Personal preference[*]Local regulation[*]Geographical orientation (e.g. north facing properties)[*]Indoor or semi-mobile reception in strong signal areas[*]Legacy systems[*]Redundancy in case of system failure[/LIST]

dont think it would be a good thing personally(im getting a foxsat hd later in the year and hopefully if one apears a humax freeview hd pvr -i prefer seperate boxes)

FOX is the Humax designation of non HDD STBs ...

yeah i know,i want to replace my sky digibox with a foxsat to get hd now(not too bothered about a freesat pvr)and get a new hd freeview pvr(unless freeview hd is a non starter) to replace my top up tv box

I can't see the point.

Freeview isn't likely to have any more channels than Freesat, so what would the buyer gain from it? It would just make for a confusing and unintuitive box.

Apart from;

TV: five, Fiver, five US, UKTV History, Dave, Virgin 1, Sky Three, Sky Sports News, Sky News, The Hits, TMF, Channel 4+1, E4+1
Radio: The Hits, Smash Hits, Kiss, Heat, Magic Q, Smooth, Mojo, Kerrang, Talksport, Virgin, Heart

Some of these channels may eventually turn up on Freesat (and the Sky ones will probably disappear from Freeview), but at the current point combined Freeview/Freesat looks to have benefits to me. (i.e. Freeview + HD channels)