Humax HDR Vs

BigFish75

Hi all,

Thinking of getting a Freesat HD box in time to watch the World Cup but don't know too much about the kit options.

The two boxes which seems to be top of the league are the Humax HDR (http://www.richersounds.ie/asp/product.asp?ObjectID=930&Mode=0&productid=840&Results=true&keys=Humax) and the Sagem DTR94500 (https://www.richersounds.ie/asp/product.asp?ObjectID=930&Mode=0&productid=1046&Results=true&keys=sagem).

Can anyone tell me if one is better than the other in terms of functionality and user friendliness? (I know one has a 320G hard drive and the other a 500G hard drive)

Appreciate your feedback.

Fish

homer911

There are reviews here:

http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/index.php/digital-boxes/sagem-dtr94500s

http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/index.php/digital-boxes/humax-foxsat-hdr

The Sagem is described as "noisy"

KeRbDoG

I only have the Humax HDR one and I have to say the interface and recording features are intuitive (at least i think so) and quick. The woman loves it

BigFish75

I've searched and searched and can't find a side by side comparison between these two boxes. Has anyone got any experience?

From what I've read the advantages of Humax seem to be:-

• It's a better made machine in terms of build quality
• It's around a while so any bugs etc are well ironed out
• It's got a nicer user interface than the Sagem
• The LED display on the Humax box itself displays channel name rather than just the channel number on the Sagem
• It's got a nicer remote control that the Sagem which is much cheaper feeling
• It's quiet. Some people have reported that when the Sagem is running a little while it starts to buzz VERY loudly.

The advantages of the Sagem DTR 94500 over the Humax seem to be:-

• It's cheaper by about €50
• It's got a 500G hard drive rather than 320G
• The Sagem has the possibility of Picture in Picture
• The Sagem can play the BBc iPlayer if you can find a work around to mask your Irish IP address.

If the above is a fair comparison then the Humax still seems to be the clear choice even though its more expensive and has a smaller hard drive!!

I'd really appreciate peoples thoughts on this.

Fish

Sam Russell

If you get the Humax, reformat the HDD to remove reserved space for photos. Also, the Humax will get BBC iPlayer, if you have a UK web connection.

I have a Humax and am generally happy with it.

blueser

I have the Humax and haven't had any problem with it, other than the issue of not being able to transfer any file over 4GB from the internal hard drive to an external unit. Which is a shame (any long-ish programme recorded off a HD channel, a film or a football match for example will be over 4GB). Never used a Sagem, so I can't really offer an opinion on it.

Martin_F

The Sagem does iPlayer afaik. Very few people will be able to comment on which is better - the sagem is only recently available.

BenEadir

The Sagem does have the iPlayer but it won't work with an Irish IP addresss. Apparently there is some workaround which allows you to fool iPlayer into thinking you have a UK IP address but I don't know what it is. Sounds beyond my capability.

Ben

evilivor

blueser wrote: »

I have the Humax and haven't had any problem with it, other than the issue of not being able to transfer any file over 4GB from the internal hard drive to an external unit. Which is a shame (any long-ish programme recorded off a HD channel, a film or a football match for example will be over 4GB). Never used a Sagem, so I can't really offer an opinion on it.

Just reformat the external drive as EXT3 and you'll have no such size issues any more. Surprisingly easy I found.

slegs

BenEadir wrote: »

The Sagem does have the iPlayer but it won't work with an Irish IP addresss. Apparently there is some workaround which allows you to fool iPlayer into thinking you have a UK IP address but I don't know what it is. Sounds beyond my capability.

Ben

Any workarounf uisng proxies or whatever for the Humax will also work for the Sagem as the workaround is implemented outside the box

dnme

Can anyone tell me ...

1. what format the recordings are in?
2. Can I copy recordings onto say a usb device and play em on laptop?

Many thanks

evilivor

dnme wrote: »

Can anyone tell me ...

1. what format the recordings are in?
2. Can I copy recordings onto say a usb device and play em on laptop?

Many thanks

1 .ts
2. Yes - you can use an app VLC to watch 'em straight away, or you can use something like iSquint if you want to convert them to watch on an iPod say.

dnme

Many thnaks

Wonder when will we reach a standard such as Divx wrapped in avi or mpeg4. Avi/Divx is so universal now that I dont understand why these manufacturers donat adopt it.

evilivor

dnme wrote: »

Many thnaks

Wonder when will we reach a standard such as Divx wrapped in avi or mpeg4. Avi/Divx is so universal now that I dont understand why these manufacturers donat adopt it.

The announced next-gen Humax will support DivX.