Humax PVR-9300T question

bothyhead

Hi Guys. I'm another Wexford person that needs to upgrade since Preseli switched over.

Some years ago, I bought a Sagem DTT box off the 'net. I could only use it when the the weather conditions were very favourable; more often than not I couldn't get a signal, and eventually stopped using it all together. I plugged it back in over the past few days, and so far, the reception seems quite good (Signal strength 50-60%, Signal quality 92-98%). So, it looks like I'm back in action.

The only thing I'm missing is my PVR. I can get a Phillips DVDR5570H locally, but from what I can make out, it's best to stay clear of it. After more research, it looks like the Humax PVR-9300T may be a winner. I understand that it does not have an MPEG-4 decoder, but what I'm not clear about is if I can use it to record the analogue Irish channels. Could anyone fill me in on this?

Many thanks.

KBR

I have the 9200T in Wexford (not 9300T but I think it's almost the same). Won't receive or record irish DTT. For the UK Freeview service however this box is outstanding. If they bring out an MPEG4 receiving version of this it will be the best solution for Irish DTT. I would definitely recommend it for UK service alone & worth approx €250 asking price

bothyhead

I found a reference on another bulletin board, which mentions that the 9300T does not have an analogue tuner. Still, as per your recommendation, it may be worth getting - thanks for the feedback!

B

mrdtv

bothyhead wrote: »

I found a reference on another bulletin board, which mentions that the 9300T does not have an analogue tuner. Still, as per your recommendation, it may be worth getting - thanks for the feedback!

B

Yes, these are very good boxes. Every time there is a retuning exercise you must do a factory reset and then rescan for channels.

NB Humax have previewed a Freeview HD box and PVR which will be suitable for:
a) UK current Freeview
b) Irish DTT
c) Freeview HD

It will be available sometime next year.

bothyhead

mrdtv wrote: »

NB Humax have previewed a Freeview HD box and PVR which will be suitable for:
a) UK current Freeview
b) Irish DTT
c) Freeview HD

It will be available sometime next year.

Really? That's interesting. AFAIK, Irish DTT won't be coming on stream until 2012. I think I might go for the 9300T in the mean time - it looks like I can get it in the UK, and delivered here for about 210 eur. It's only been 3 days, and I miss my PVR already

mrdtv

bothyhead wrote: »

Really? That's interesting. AFAIK, Irish DTT won't be coming on stream until 2012. I think I might go for the 9300T in the mean time - it looks like I can get it in the UK, and delivered here for about 210 eur. It's only been 3 days, and I miss my PVR already

Good call! Irish DTT has been NINE years in the works, whereas Northern Ireland has had DTT for ELEVEN years. Says it all!. If you buy an MPEG2 PVR box you can shunt it off to the bedroom, then use a Freeview HD box on your main TV when it comes on stream knowing it will work with any future operational Irish DTT service. Personally I think your 2012 Irish DTT launch date is either a) on the money or b) extremely optimistic. Given the 'previous' on Irish DTT it really is buyer beware.

bothyhead

mrdtv wrote: »

Personally I think your 2012 Irish DTT launch date is either a) on the money or b) extremely optimistic. Given the 'previous' on Irish DTT it really is buyer beware.

Tell me about it. I bought the neat little Arcam Solo about 3 years ago, complete with DAB radio, expecting it to be only some months until DAB was rolled out nation-wide ... which of course hasn't happened yet

Anyway, I've made the plunge and ordered the Humax from Amazon. Thanks again for the info guys!

STB

bothyhead wrote: »

Really? That's interesting. AFAIK, Irish DTT won't be coming on stream until 2012. I think I might go for the 9300T in the mean time - it looks like I can get it in the UK, and delivered here for about 210 eur. It's only been 3 days, and I miss my PVR already

Irish DTT is and has been on for the last year. The main TX's are now rolled out. It is still referred to as engineering tests.

The box that MrDTV thinks is in the future is actually available now. Azbox Premium HD you should look at - it even has the freesat 7 day EPG as well as doing Freeview and Irish DTT (infact most MPEG4 Combo boxes will do all this and have been available a long time!)

KBR wrote: »

I have the 9200T in Wexford (not 9300T but I think it's almost the same). Won't receive or record irish DTT. For the UK Freeview service however this box is outstanding. If they bring out an MPEG4 receiving version of this it will be the best solution for Irish DTT. I would definitely recommend it for UK service alone & worth approx €250 asking price

Have you tried a Neotion MPEG4 CAM in the Hummie ?

mrdtv

STB wrote: »

Irish DTT is and has been on for the last year. The main TX's are now rolled out. It is still referred to as engineering tests.

The box that MrDTV thinks is in the future is actually available now. Azbox Premium HD you should look at - it even has the freesat 7 day EPG as well as doing Freeview and Irish DTT (infact most MPEG4 Combo boxes will do all this and have been available a long time!)



Have you tried a Neotion MPEG4 CAM in the Hummie ?

Said box is not future proof: it won't do DVB-T2. RTE has yet to make a commitment to the commercial rollout of DTT in Ireland: if and when that happens there will be certainty. Meantime the broadcasts from Irish DTT cannot be viewed as a reliable service as a) parameters are being changed b) transmitters are on and off and c) it is not being marketed.

STB

mrdtv wrote: »

Said box is not future proof: it won't do DVB-T2.
RTE has yet to make a commitment to the commercial rollout of DTT in Ireland: if and when that happens there will be certainty. Meantime the broadcasts from Irish DTT cannot be viewed as a reliable service as a) parameters are being changed b) transmitters are on and off and c) it is not being marketed.

Nonsense.

Said Box uses plug and play tuners! DVB-T2 is ONLY for HD Terrestrial Channels from the UK. Not that these HD terrestrial channels actually exist! SAID BOX has a Satellite tuner for the HD & SD Channels anyhow - which are currently ON - you dont have to wait for those 1 or 2 HD channels to be switched on the UK terrestrial service ! And by the way when those 1 or 2 UK HD terrestrial channels are switched on - a SD service will operate in parallel for years to come!

RTE is charged with the responsibility for the roll out of Public Service DTT NOT Commercial (and regardless of). RTE NL has actually rolled out the main tx's - the main PSB multiplex is ON.

No parameters have been changed within the AGREED spec advertised 1 and a half years ago.

Irish DTT Transmitters are most certainly ON and available to a large portion of the country.

mrdtv

STB wrote: »

Nonsense.

Said Box uses plug and play tuners! DVB-T2 is ONLY for HD Terrestrial Channels from the UK. Not that these HD terrestrial channels actually exist! SAID BOX has a Satellite tuner for the HD & SD Channels anyhow - which are currently ON - you dont have to wait for those 1 or 2 HD channels to be switched on the UK terrestrial service ! And by the way when those 1 or 2 UK HD terrestrial channels are switched on - a SD service will operate in parallel for years to come!

RTE is charged with the responsibility for the roll out of Public Service DTT NOT Commercial (and regardless of). RTE NL has actually rolled out the main tx's - the main PSB multiplex is ON.

No parameters have been changed within the AGREED spec advertised 1 and a half years ago.

Irish DTT Transmitters are most certainly ON and available to a large portion of the country.

Under no circumstances should the test transmissions be considered an operational service.

From: www.rtenl.ie/dtt.htm

STB

And ?

KBR

STB wrote: »

Irish DTT is and has been on for the last year. The main TX's are now rolled out. It is still referred to as engineering tests.

The box that MrDTV thinks is in the future is actually available now. Azbox Premium HD you should look at - it even has the freesat 7 day EPG as well as doing Freeview and Irish DTT (infact most MPEG4 Combo boxes will do all this and have been available a long time!)



Have you tried a Neotion MPEG4 CAM in the Hummie ?

No I didn't. I had a look at this & emailed a guy selling them. Can't say I fully understood his answer but it appeared to me that yes the CAM would convert the MPEG4 signal to MPEG2 so I could watch the new irish DTT through the box - no real benefit to me as I get these channels with aerial anyway. I assume then I would be able to record them - which I considered buying this CAM for, but one of the really important features of the humax box is the 7 day EPG and series link. I wasn't convinced I'd have either of these things by using the said CAM so I think I'll wait until Humax bring out an MPEG4 vesion of this box which they are bound to do in the future.

GiftGrub100

Have a Humax 9300 installed and running in Rosslare for the last month, a great investment for the now perfect Freeview signal. You can only record UK channels on it so i also have a Philips HDD still connected for Irish Channels and SKY, however the series link feature and the big capacity hard drive are excellent as well as the picture quality from recordings, the picture is as good as the live broadcast.

Bought it from Amazon for 200 euro delivered incl VAT (probably cheaper now with free delivery) well worth the money if you have the signal.

I know there is a HD service coming, but it will be a while before those boxes become reasonably priced so will upgrade in a few years for the HD box and put this one in another room .

mrdtv

GiftGrub100 wrote: »

Have a Humax 9300 installed and running in Rosslare for the last month, a great investment for the now perfect Freeview signal. You can only record UK channels on it so i also have a Philips HDD still connected for Irish Channels and SKY, however the series link feature and the big capacity hard drive are excellent as well as the picture quality from recordings, the picture is as good as the live broadcast.

Bought it from Amazon for 200 euro delivered incl VAT (probably cheaper now with free delivery) well worth the money if you have the signal.

I know there is a HD service coming, but it will be a while before those boxes become reasonably priced so will upgrade in a few years for the HD box and put this one in another room .

Excellent. What type of antenna are you using? Next summer they are bringing out a DVB-T2 version (pricey) which will also do Irish DTT, as will the cheapo Sagem box for viewing only. As you say can march the SD Humax box off into another room, but I won't be surprised if World Cup volumes drive down prices...

GiftGrub100

Not sure of the antenna type, we had it put up in 1997 when we moved to the house, it is aimed at Preseli (unobstructed view) and we always had good analogue reception except during high pressure and low pressure when we had ghosting and interference, the signal splits through a labgear distributor to four other tvs and has RTE and Sky joining it on the way to the TV and it still manages to get the Freeview signal to the Humax box and the integrated Sony TV digital tuner.

We may get the antenna replaced with one optimised for Digital in the future but at the moment there is no need.

mrdtv

GiftGrub100 wrote: »

Not sure of the antenna type, we had it put up in 1997 when we moved to the house, it is aimed at Preseli (unobstructed view) and we always had good analogue reception except during high pressure and low pressure when we had ghosting and interference, the signal splits through a labgear distributor to four other tvs and has RTE and Sky joining it on the way to the TV and it still manages to get the Freeview signal to the Humax box and the integrated Sony TV digital tuner.

We may get the antenna replaced with one optimised for Digital in the future but at the moment there is no need.

Why would you bother if it works out of the box?

bothyhead

GiftGrub100 wrote: »

Have a Humax 9300 installed and running in Rosslare for the last month, a great investment for the now perfect Freeview signal. You can only record UK channels on it so i also have a Philips HDD still connected for Irish Channels and SKY, however the series link feature and the big capacity hard drive are excellent as well as the picture quality from recordings, the picture is as good as the live broadcast.

Bought it from Amazon for 200 euro delivered incl VAT (probably cheaper now with free delivery) well worth the money if you have the signal.

I know there is a HD service coming, but it will be a while before those boxes become reasonably priced so will upgrade in a few years for the HD box and put this one in another room .

Yup, I bought it from Amazon as well, for more or less the same price. It has crashed (frozen) on me a couple of times when I was quickly hopping between channels, and there are some things on the remote control that I would change (the rewind and forward buttons hidden below the bottom flap - this functionality should more accessible). Despite these glitches, I still love the machine.

Eamonn950

hi
this is my first tread on hear
do u know if there is any way i can receive irish chanels on humax 9300t
thank you

jujamax

Not possible. Humax box gets UK tv via dish. To get Irish TV need an aerial and digital tuner/tv.

Peter Rhea

jujamax wrote: »

. . . Humax box gets UK tv via dish.

No, it doesn't use a dish but as it's an mpeg2 receiver, it's no good for Saorview.

Eamonn950

Peter Rhea wrote: »

No, it doesn't use a dish but as it's an mpeg2 receiver, it's no good for Saorview.

hi again
can it be converted to get irish channels now before switch over next year
thank you

Peter Rhea

It can't be converted, if you want to receive Irish & UK terrestrial on one receiver get a Freeview HD box or tv (DVB-T2 mpeg4 decoder).

Freiheit

I've got a satellite dish and sky box,receive digital free to air channels. Can I receive saor view without upgrade? the tv is about 7/8 years old?.

Sam Russell

Freiheit wrote: »

I've got a satellite dish and sky box,receive digital free to air channels. Can I receive saor view without upgrade? the tv is about 7/8 years old?.

A 7/8 TV is unlikely to have a digital tuner, and certain not to have MPEG4. You need a STB. You might be better off getting a new TV, as a TV that old is probably a CRT 4/3 aspect ratio. You will get a much better picture, with HD, and save yourself the cost of the STB.