Freesat advice?

AustinByrnes

i am looking for a good freesat twin tuner pvr.

i have finally talked my parents out of paying sky 114Euro per month(they have sky + hd box down stairs and standard sky box in bedroom, they have all channels on in both rooms)

rather then cut there subscription down to basic channels they have decided to go to the same system as myself.

i have saorview box for rte and a technisat freesat pvr box for bbc.itv...etc..etc..


we have got the rte side done this week and saorview is now setup in both rooms.

because there is a sky+ box in main sitting room there is a twin feed there. so looking to use the exsisting connections when sky is cancelled to replace it with a twin tuner freesat.

i know i can use the sky+ box for free to air when the subscription is cancelled but i wont have any recording functions with it.

i dont want to go own the route of these combo boxes because the epg on the sat channels is awful.

i have done a bit of googling and the humax box is the best one that is coming back, but its a bit pricey.

can anyone recommend a decent box for under 250Euro.

paultf

AustinByrnes wrote: »

i have done a bit of googling and the humax box is the best one that is coming back, but its a bit pricey.

can anyone recommend a decent box for under 250Euro.

What about this Humax on Amazon under €250?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Humax-PVR9300T-500GB-Digital-Recorder/dp/B003HJVJSS/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1335526973&sr=8-5

danjo

I would also recommend the Humax Freesat PVR.

p.s. the link in the previous post above is to a Freeview PVR not Freesat.

Sam Russell

I have had the Humax Foxsat HDR for several years and I cannot fault it. It has got regular software updates that have improved quite a bit over the years. I have a iDTV that gets Saorview. Overall, it is great. I have not solved recording Saorview yet, but use a Philips HD/DVD recorder that serves this purpose, but I will replace that in the autumn.

The Humax is the one to go for.

evilivor

Sam Russell wrote: »

I have had the Humax Foxsat HDR for several years and I cannot fault it. It has got regular software updates that have improved quite a bit over the years. I have a iDTV that gets Saorview. Overall, it is great. I have not solved recording Saorview yet, but use a Philips HD/DVD recorder that serves this purpose, but I will replace that in the autumn.

The Humax is the one to go for.

Similar setup - Humax; idTV for Saorview and I got a tv tuner for computer to record Saorview stuff - works great so far.

mollser

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-SMT-S7800-500GB-Freesat-Recorder/dp/B004S5ZUJ4/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1335538152&sr=8-7

As an alternative, I have the Samsung box myself. Does very much the same job as the Humax, it does have a much fresher and modern feel and interface to it though.

There have been a lot of bugs reported, but I've never had a problem with it. Nice box and looks well with the accompanying samsung tele.

It has non-freesat mode but tbh I never use this as I really can't be bothered sorting out the channels on it. Love the freesat interface and ease of use.

paultf

danjo wrote: »

p.s. the link in the previous post above is to a Freeview PVR not Freesat.

Cheers! I didn't really check - looked at the list on Amazon and just assumed all Humax were freesat.

drBill

mollser wrote: »

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-SMT-S7800-500GB-Freesat-Recorder/dp/B004S5ZUJ4/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1335538152&sr=8-7

As an alternative, I have the Samsung box myself. Does very much the same job as the Humax, it does have a much fresher and modern feel and interface to it though.

There have been a lot of bugs reported, but I've never had a problem with it. Nice box and looks well with the accompanying samsung tele.

It has non-freesat mode but tbh I never use this as I really can't be bothered sorting out the channels on it. Love the freesat interface and ease of use.

I've had the Humax for a few years now and I'm still blown away by how brilliant it is. Rock solid and does everything you could want simply and easily. The number of negative reviews for that Samsung on amazon.co.uk would concern me whereas for just £32 more you could have the Humax which gets overwhelmingly positive reviews both on amazon and from the people on here.

Booms

At Joinfreesat there's a panel on rhs - "Freesat Digital Boxes" - that has had very good prices for humax foxsat. At one stage there were refurbished returns available from Humax themselves at a very good price, I think they were called "B grade" boxes.

Sam Russell

Humax have manager specials here.
http://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/prodCat.asp?cat=factory&type=sat

but it is possible they may not ship to Ireland. Best check first.

Yamanoto

There's the Echostar for €232.00 - slightly odd styling but a good reputation.

Your folks may not utilise the sling function but it's a handy add-on.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/EchoStar-HDS-600RS-SlingLoaded-Anywhere-recorder/dp/B004S9OT92/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335568023&sr=8-1

talkabout

Decent deal at play.com, €249.99 & free shipping

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/9159265/Humax-FoxSat-HDR-Freesat-320GB-HDD-DTR-HD-Recorder/Product.html?searchstring=humax&searchsource=0&searchtype=allproducts&urlrefer=search

I tried to order off Humax Direct but they would not ship to Ireland but that may have changed now.

mike65

If you want another option wait a few weeks for the new Manhattan HD PVR

http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/digital-boxes/manhattan-plaza-hdr-s

homer911

Also note that the 2nd generation Freesat boxes should be out before too long (not sure of the dates)

Edit: June apparently, but they will cost significantly more..

danjo

homer911 wrote: »

Also note that the 2nd generation Freesat boxes should be out before too long (not sure of the dates)

Edit: June apparently, but they will cost significantly more..

Hopefully it will cause a price drop in the existing offerings!

NIMAN

homer911 wrote: »

Also note that the 2nd generation Freesat boxes should be out before too long (not sure of the dates)

Edit: June apparently, but they will cost significantly more..

why?

How are they going to be better? What extra features will they have?

mike65

here's a snippet

Sagemcom & Humax Lead Next Generation of Freesat Boxes

The next generation of Freesat boxes are due to be launched in early 2012 and Freesat has announced that Sagemcom will be the first to produce them, closely followed by Humax.

Emma Scott, managing director of Freesat, said, “Freesat has worked closely with both Sagemcom and Humax in the past and we are pleased to be partnering with them again on our exciting next stage of product development. We have now hit the two million sales mark, beating our original projections and adding more homes each quarter than any other TV platform. An important part of our success to date has been the quality of our technology and the manufacturing partners we work with.”

These second generation receivers will include DiSEqC, single cable routing and core support for iPlayer-style hybrid TV services. It’s also been designed around faster, broadband-ready digital TV chipsets coming onto the market this year.

NIMAN

As someone who uses a Humax just for normal watching of TV and recording (i.e. make no use of DiSEqC, don't know what single cable routing means, and don't use iPlayer type services) it sounds like these new boxes may not really be worth upgrading to?

dodzy

NIMAN wrote: »

As someone who uses a Humax just for normal watching of TV and recording (i.e. make no use of DiSEqC, don't know what single cable routing means, and don't use iPlayer type services) it sounds like these new boxes may not really be worth upgrading to?

Not foy you obviously, but others will have an interest for sure

NIMAN

dodzy wrote: »

Not foy you obviously, but others will have an interest for sure

True, but remember that 99% of owners are like me, use them for the simple stuff.

I like my Humax but I would like to see a more user-friendly interface, more like Sky's. I am sure the newer models will be better.

Sam Russell

I think the Humax could do with more horse-power in the processor and presumably the newer version will have that. However, since users in Ireland are geo-blocked, most of the new features will not be available.

Also, once the new boxes are launched, the old version will disappear after a while. I would proberbly update, but dependes.

evilivor

Sam Russell wrote: »

I think the Humax could do with more horse-power in the processor and presumably the newer version will have that. However, since users in Ireland are geo-blocked, most of the new features will not be available.

Also, once the new boxes are launched, the old version will disappear after a while. I would proberbly update, but dependes.

ITV isn't geo-blocked at present so hopefully C4 won't be. BBC will be, naturally.

Sam Russell

evilivor wrote: »

ITV isn't geo-blocked at present so hopefully C4 won't be. BBC will be, naturally.

I do not think I want to use my broadband for TV. So I have no interest in that kind of extension of the service. What Freesat do now is fantastic but I do not need more, except more channels maybe. Could they use the new connectivity to extend geo-blocking to include broadcast channels?