"Freesat G2" Next Gen Features Launch

Apogee

Freetime and updated EPG
http://www.freesat.co.uk/freetime/

The JoinFreesat Blog also has additional info
http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/freesat-launches-new-tv-guide-called-free-time/

Humax G2 Box
http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/humax-first-to-launch-freesat-free-time-box/

brinks_18476

Bought a humax 1tb G1 on line yesterday! What are the chances....

Think i'll be sending it back..
dont think the catch up feature will work in ireland? Maybe only for ITV?

Other features are nice improvements. EPG looks good.

May have initial bugs though, like the existing G1 Humax PVR

mike65

The most of the groovy new features will need a UK IP address or am I wrong?

brinks_18476

Why dont these freesat devices not have RF out to distribute signal around house and allow use of magic eyes?

brinks_18476

mike65 wrote: »

The most of the groovy new features will need a UK IP address or am I wrong?

I guess the same but await the expert opinions on here

Chuck Stone

There'll probably be a lash of good 2nd hand boxes for sale on amazon.co.uk soon. Might pick one up - wouldn't be all that interested in the G2 spec but would like to have the no hassle functionality of a Fressat branded box.

MarkK

brinks_18476 wrote: »

Why dont these freesat devices not have RF out to distribute signal around house and allow use of magic eyes?

Lack of demand, you can buy a Freesat box for a second TV for less than £30 sterling.

If you want to use a magic eye, you can buy a separate Scart to RF converter.

BionicRasher

Looks interesting
http://www.freesat.co.uk/freetime/

I presume we will be able to get this here but maybe not the BBC iPlayer or ITV Player bits - or am I wrong?

brinks_18476

Available to purchase now on ebay UK .

500GB £250
1TB £280

£20 Postage

mike65

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HUMAX-HDR-1000S-SMART-FREETIME-DIGITAL-FREESAT-G2-HD-TV-500GB-RECORDER-/251145405206?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Satellite_TV_Receivers&hash=item3a796ec316

JDxtra

More like a pre-order, than purchase...

brinks_18476

JDxtra wrote: »

More like a pre-order, than purchase...

Shows as in stock for shipping.

Dont know how they are doing it as Humax has not officially launched product?

Reputable ebay seller, check feedback, i have bought from them
before.

Supercell

Foxsat HDR replacement, looks like the current one will be going in the kitchen! - http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/47310/humax-freesat-freetime-pictures-hands-on

Supercell

brinks_18476 wrote: »

dont think the catch up feature will work in ireland? Maybe only for ITV?

4OD too eventually. Would be nice if you could add a proxy address for the others, but i very much doubt its possible.

Pangea

Looks good,but it's complete joke that a box that is being marketed for its internet capabilities doesn't have wifi.

lawhec

Pangea wrote: »

Looks good,but it's complete joke that a box that is being marketed for its internet capabilities doesn't have wifi.

No different than Sky Anytime+ then, though to be fair that's more of a bolt-on to many Sky+ HD receivers that are several years old albeit not the early Thomson models.

I can't think of any STB's that have built-in wifi for any internet capabilities they have - their placement in a setup wouldn't be greatly conductive to receiving a good signal from a router in another room (it's pretty telling that Sky haven't marketed a wifi bridge for Anytime+ in the UK, instead telling subscribers to use Ethernet only), and the use of 2.4GHz networking especially in urban & suburban areas tend to be crowded and subject to interference can bring some problems that many casual users may not identify straight away and give up on it not being reliable. An Ethernet connection eliminates the wifi variables.

Should anyone want to connect Freesat G2 via wifi, the likes of a Vonets WiFi bridge on eBay for around £20 isn't too hard to get.

lawhec

brinks_18476 wrote: »

Why dont these freesat devices not have RF out to distribute signal around house and allow use of magic eyes?

It's pretty much a legacy feature these days, introduced with the first Sky Digital receivers in the late 90's when almost all subscribers had only one receiver in the household, Sky had no multiroom offers, and receiving dishes only had one LNB output (at least the official Sky Digital ones anyway). The prevalence nowadays of quad & octo LNBs along with Sky multiroom offers and cheap receivers means fewer people are now using the second RF output from the main receiver. Indeed since around 2007-8 most non-Sky satellite receivers have no RF modulator & loop-through on them. I wouldn't be surprised if the next generation of Sky receivers reduce the amount of RF outputs to one (though still able to power a magic eye) or even eliminate it entirely.

As Markk says, it can be done with an RF modulator taking the output from a composite phono video/audio or scart output and using a TvLink Plus system which allows a "magic eye" to control up to two separate receivers.

Stuck Cone

Hmm, doesnt this put your own freesat box out of date (well technically no but still) not a great ad for freesat - once off payment (until we bring out a new standard)

MarkK

Stuck Cone wrote: »

Hmm, doesnt this put your own freesat box out of date (well technically no but still) not a great ad for freesat - once off payment (until we bring out a new standard)

It does, but technology moves on and it's not as if an old Freesat box will suddenly stop providing anything it currently provides, so no actual need to buy a new box unless you want extra services.

lawhec

Stuck Cone wrote: »

Hmm, doesnt this put your own freesat box out of date (well technically no but still) not a great ad for freesat - once off payment (until we bring out a new standard)

You won't be losing any services with your current Freesat receiver simply because of a new one that'll soon be available on the market. Entirely up to the viewer to decide wherever it's worth upgrading, so no, not out-of-date. Out-of-date would describe the dumping of millions of analogue satellite receivers in Germany back in April.

steveon

brinks_18476 wrote: »

Why dont these freesat devices not have RF out to distribute signal around house and allow use of magic eyes?

as this was a sky inhouse invention I think you can do it urself by use of a triax-trilink....

brinks_18476

steveon wrote: »

as this was a sky inhouse invention I think you can do it urself by use of a triax-trilink....

would i be better ordering a triax tri link to control a G2 Humax from bedroom or would i be better ordering a cheap and nasty STB for bedroom (similar price to triax).

I guess i would be better with triax to control the expensive Humax?

No one would need to watch Humax in sitting room whilst i watch it in bedroom.

steveon

brinks_18476 wrote: »

Have ordered a triax tri link.

Thanks

netime mate.....there great and come with the magic eye included...

givecredit

Pangea wrote: »

Looks good,but it's complete joke that a box that is being marketed for its internet capabilities doesn't have wifi.

A USB Wifi dongle will be available to purchase from Humax for those who wish to use WIFI.

Similar to this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0055GVOCW

RT3070 chipset

evilivor

I must say I like the look of the new EPG - the current one is quite flawed.

I guess the Netflix rumour was just a rumour. Still, I think this might go on my Xmas list.

Apogee

Interview with Emma Scott of Freesat, including future Pay TV services
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/b01mdgpm

Interviewer: Do you see Sky as a key competitor?
Emma Scott: Yes.

galtee boy

Supercell wrote: »

4OD too eventually. Would be nice if you could add a proxy address for the others, but i very much doubt its possible.

Are proxy servers legal and is discussion about them allowed here ? I have one on my laptop and can watch all the tv players from UK, what I would like to know is, can a proxy server be used to get BBC iPlayer on the Humax Foxsat in Ireland ? The Foxsat allows manual input of an ip address, but the proxy I use, changes the ip address every time I log on ( it's a free proxy ). Would a paid for proxy give you a permanent ip address ? If I'm out of order here, apologies to the mods.

rrrr38

Hi Galtee Boy,

I have a Humax Foxsat box (G1 obviously) and I use the <MOD EDIT> DNS service which allows me to avail of full BBC IPlayer and ITV Player services on this box. My understanding is that it is perfectly legal to do this but I don't want to get into a debate with anybody who believes otherwise.

Anyway the service costs $50 (approx. €35) per year and is well worth it. I assume that if you buy a G2 box and have this service you should be able to use the full functionality of the freetime features once you enter the correct DNS settings. It is very easy to use and very reliable, no messing with changing proxy server addresses every time you log on.

steveon

rrrr38 wrote: »

Hi Galtee Boy,

I have a Humax Foxsat box (G1 obviously) and I use the Unblock US DNS service which allows me to avail of full BBC IPlayer and ITV Player services on this box. My understanding is that it is perfectly legal to do this but I don't want to get into a debate with anybody who believes otherwise.

Anyway the service costs $50 (approx. €35) per year and is well worth it. I assume that if you buy a G2 box and have this service you should be able to use the full functionality of the freetime features once you enter the correct DNS settings. It is very easy to use and very reliable, no messing with changing proxy server addresses every time you log on.

U dont need any dns service for ITV player on the humax only for the BBC player..

rrrr38

steveon wrote: »

U dont need any dns service for ITV player on the humax only for the BBC player..

That used to be the case for me too but when it came off Beta on the Humax I could not longer use it. Not sure exactly why that was but I assumed it was due to the geolock. Once I set up the DNS service I was able to use both BBC Iplayer and ITV player with no issues.

Not sure what will be the set up with 4OD and Demand 5 but both of them work with the DNS service at the moment on my PC so they should work on the G2 Humax in order to be able to use the FreeTime feature. For the cost this service for the full year it is much better using it and having full use of all features than only maybe half of the features on offer.

galtee boy

rrrr38 wrote: »

Hi Galtee Boy,

I have a Humax Foxsat box (G1 obviously) and I use the Unblock US DNS service which allows me to avail of full BBC IPlayer and ITV Player services on this box. My understanding is that it is perfectly legal to do this but I don't want to get into a debate with anybody who believes otherwise.

Anyway the service costs $50 (approx. €35) per year and is well worth it. I assume that if you buy a G2 box and have this service you should be able to use the full functionality of the freetime features once you enter the correct DNS settings. It is very easy to use and very reliable, no messing with changing proxy server addresses every time you log on.

Thanks rrrr38. Can I ask how this <MOD EDIT> DNS service works ? when you subscribe to their service, do they give you a code or some sort of settings that you then manually input into the Humax box ? And does the box then remember these settings, ie you dont have to input something, everytime you use BBC iPlayer through the Humax ? And does all this have any effect on your normal wifi around the house ? Sorry for all the questions, but never used one of the Unblock things before ! If the mods deem this discussion inappropriate, can you PM me with the details please ?

rrrr38

Ok, so the way the service works is unlike a proxy server which hides your IP address to convince all sites that you are based in whatever country your proxy server is set up for eg. UK, US etc.
The DNS service only generally works with the websites that they have set it up for. These can be in the US or the UK or whereever but it is limited to the list (most popular sites are generally included), that is the drawback but the advantage is one set of settings which you do not need to change. Also, for sites not list those websites use your own IP address so for example you can access rte player without reversing the settings.

For my humax box the service I use provides DNS servers addresses which I just inputted into my box in the settings menu. You do not need to change these settings after this. Every now and again you may need to log into the service website to reactivate your account but this only takes two minutes. I have only had to do this a couple of times in about 8 months.

You can input the settings to the box directly and if you do this it will have no effect on anything else connected to the same network. You also have the option of just putting these settings into your wifi router which will allow you to make use of this service for every device connected to this router or else input the settings to a number of individual devicesand not others. The settings can be put into a PC, Iphone, apple TV, smart tv, freesat box etc. You only neeed to to put the settings in once.

I personally, as you may have guessed, have been very impressed with the service but you can try it out yourself as they offer a free trial period and don't require credit card details to start the free trial only your e-mail address.

galtee boy

Sounds excellent. Must give it a go in the next week or so and will report back. If I am in difficulty installing it etc, I'll come back to you. If it works ok, I will be tempted to get the new Freesat Freetime box for Christmas ! Thanks for your help.

galtee boy

rrrr38 wrote: »

Ok, so the way the service works is unlike a proxy server which hides your IP address to convince all sites that you are based in whatever country your proxy server is set up for eg. UK, US etc.
The DNS service only generally works with the websites that they have set it up for. These can be in the US or the UK or whereever but it is limited to the list (most popular sites are generally included), that is the drawback but the advantage is one set of settings which you do not need to change. Also, for sites not list those websites use your own IP address so for example you can access rte player without reversing the settings.

For my humax box the service I use provides DNS servers addresses which I just inputted into my box in the settings menu. You do not need to change these settings after this. Every now and again you may need to log into the service website to reactivate your account but this only takes two minutes. I have only had to do this a couple of times in about 8 months.

Ok, I signed up today for the weeks free trial from Unblock US DNS. Everything working fine on the PC, BBC iPlayer etc. But cant get it to work on the Humax. The PC downloaded and installed the DNS numbers virtually by itself, so no problems there. I can use a computer no problem, but dont go asking me to mess about with settings etc ! I presume the two DNS numbers they gave me, must be manually inputted into the Humax box ? I tried this but failed. Any advice would be appreciated, in fact a step by step guide and I would be forever grateful ! Will you PM me, if the mods dont approve, although from what I have read, this system is not illegal.

rrrr38

Only change the DNS number on the humax box, don't change any other settings or numbers. Only enter one of the DNS numbers supplied, not sure it makes a difference but I use the primary set of numbers.
Plug out your router and humax box, wait 30 seconds and plug in again and turn on. Turn on ur pc and go to Unblock US website and click the check service link on top right of screen. Assuming it confirms ur service on pc is running ok and ur account is active, you are now ready to use iplayer on your humax box.
Note: you must have the service active on at least one pc or iPhone etc to be able to use it on your humax box. This does not mean you need to have that device turned on at the same time, so it is not too inconvenient.
You should only need to follow this process once. Every other time you should be able to access iplayer etc straight away. The odd time you might need to go to the website and reactive ur account by clicking the check service link but that is all.

Any further issues let me know.

galtee boy

rrrr38 wrote: »

Only change the DNS number on the humax box, don't change any other settings or numbers. Only enter one of the DNS numbers supplied, not sure it makes a difference but I use the primary set of numbers.
Plug out your router and humax box, wait 30 seconds and plug in again and turn on. Turn on ur pc and go to <MOD EDIT> website and click the check service link on top right of screen. Assuming it confirms ur service on pc is running ok and ur account is active, you are now ready to use iplayer on your humax box.
Note: you must have the service active on at least one pc or iPhone etc to be able to use it on your humax box. This does not mean you need to have that device turned on at the same time, so it is not too inconvenient.
You should only need to follow this process once. Every other time you should be able to access iplayer etc straight away. The odd time you might need to go to the website and reactive ur account by clicking the check service link but
that is all.






Any further issues let me know.

Well, I did as you said and it works - sort of ! When I go into BBC iPlayer on the Humax, sometimes the programme I select, plays straight away, but more often than not, I get the " This content is currently not available, try again later etc ". If I keep pressing back and then pressing play again, it will work or sometimes if I exit back to main menu and start again, it works. With perseverance, I have eventually got the selected programme to play, but it's a pain the ass. I thought it might be my broadband connection, but ITV Player works perfectly first go each time, so I guess my broadband is ok. While UnBlock US works fine on the laptop etc, it's really for the Humax I wanted it, so unless you can advise as to why it's behaving the way it is, I won't be subscribing when the free trial ends. Pity, because it would be well worth 5 dollars a month. Thanks for all you help.

rrrr38

I just checked and I am having the same issue as you. Not sure if it is the DNS service or a freesat iplayer issue. I haven't had this issue before. Hopefully it will get sorted out either way in the next day or so. I guess your timing is a bit unlucky!!

If I find out what the issue is I'll let you know.

icdg

Okay guys, we DON'T discuss ways of circumventing regional restrictions here. I'm closing the thread as its gone way off topic but if people want to set up a new thread on the original topic then feel free to do so.