Humax 1100s set up, anything to be aware of?

Cherrycola

Just got our new Humax 1100s box, regarding set up, is there anything I need to know before I start? Any advantages/disadvantages to which postcode I choose?
Any tricks I need to know I make certain features work??
Thanks.

Mint Sauce

Cherrycola wrote: »

Just got our new Humax 1100s box, regarding set up, is there anything I need to know before I start? Any advantages/disadvantages to which postcode I choose?
Any tricks I need to know I make certain features work??
Thanks.

Postcode will determine which region of the BBC and ITV will appear in the No101 and 103 slot.

I use a London post code so BBC1 London and ITV London appear there, but all the other BBC regions do appear in the high numbers together.

If you are more interested in NI Ireland programs and News, use a NI postcode.

As for other features, catch up services are blocked as won't be on a UK IP, don't know a way round, but can't be discussed here anyway.

Cherrycola

Yeah I think I'll go with a London postcode, as I know NI channels sometimes broadcast regional programming instead of some prime time stuff I might see advertised on ITV.
Currently using a north west region card in my old sky box anyway so I haven't watched BBC/itv NI in ages.

decor58

I use a London postcode (sw72ap) and I get freetime ITV, ie I can view programmes for the last week on demand. That's the Albert Hall by the way. Great tuner by the way.

Cherrycola

decor58 wrote: »

I use a London postcode (sw72ap) and I get freetime ITV, ie I can view programmes for the last week on demand. That's the Albert Hall by the way. Great tuner by the way.

Yeah I went with Buckingham palace, SW1 1AA! I'd read about itv player working that way, and it does.

It's a great piece of kit, have it up and running, perfect. Delighted with it. Been without Sky for almost a year now and despite several attempts to woo me back I resisted. The only thing I missed was being able to record my soaps to watch when the brats were in bed(I managed with itv +1 and a lot of juggling up to this! Lol) so I'm super excited with this.
And having Netflix at the touch of a button is brilliant! We used chromecast for that previously. Sure delighted with life I am! And hubby has a break from listening to me whining about missing emmerdale!

Booms

I upgraded from a Humax Foxsat, and find the new box is very fast.

There are some things I miss that were available on the old box, but this isn’t the place to go into that.

The good bits (mostly):D

Postcode
I originally used to use BT341AA for the NI postcode.
I then changed to M60 1AA for the NorthWest region.

(I settled on this one, because of the availability of the ITV+1 channel, and at the time Granada had a much better HD picture)

ITV Player
The ITV player works well, unfortunately that means it’s almost continuous Corrie/Emmerdale when the sis is around, and the Netflix (sis again!) is very good.

Search
The search is great – entering just sufficient characters to uniquely identify your search, you can trawl through the listed results and find if any programmes that you’ve missed the beginning of are starting at a later time on a regional channel. I’m thinking of BBC here, NI and Scotland are especially good for having some networked programmes shown later than the majority. While it applies to all the channels, search also shows CH4 progs that’ll be repeated on any of the CH4 spinoff channels.

Also, when searching, you can use the remote's ABC buttons to enter the characters, much quicker than the on-screen table of characters.

Radio
You can select and record radio programmes, RTE radio included.

Text
You can use the text button (top right) on BBC channels, to access the text("red button") pages, the red button will load video access and then state there’s a problem, as it does if you try to run iPlayer. Unless you’re in the UK, of course.

Instant Record
As far as I can remember, pressing the instant record button will record however much of the programme is in the record buffer – you’ll get the full prog recorded if it’s there, and you haven’t changed channel after the prog began. But try it out and see. (Can’t check now, someone’s watching Corrie)

Recording in Progress
To check if recording is in progress, you have to go to Recording and select the most recent tab – It’ll then show recordings in progress with a symbol at the top of the list.

If a series is recording, only the presently recording episode is available, the earlier ones of that series can’t be accessed until the recording is finished.

Non-Freesat
While recording, some options disappear from the box, such as STB mode (for changing to non-Freesat mode)

In non-Freesat mode, recording, even instant recording is not possible.:(

Also in non- Freesat you cannot rearrange the stored channels, only choose to delete them.

Ext USB
If you select Humax and go to Media, you can play/copy audio, video and mpeg files from/to an external USB memory.

I haven’t been able to copy anything recorded on the hard disk to external memory, only files/programmes that have been previously copied onto the Media disk area.

*************************

This is a lot longer than I intended. Hope it helps.

I know I’m not even using the box to it’s full potential so if any of the above is incorrect, I hope someone will correct me, and will be able to add their own experience here. Cheers!

Cherrycola

Wow, excellent info there, thanks a lot! I was looking for a search option today and couldn't find it! Duh!

Booms

I absolutely hate the navigation, too dynamic for me.

There are buttons, I have to keep reminding myself!

Recordings on top line
Search and TV Guide just over the circular OK button cluster

Pressing List when in TV guide brings up more options including a favourites list.
I Set up a favourites list to clear away most of the unwatched channels, but don't use it very much - I usually forget it's there.

Also, when selecting a programme from the EPG, there is an about option which usually gives more info about the prog/series than you'll get with the information i button.

MBSnr

I've found the 1100s to be fairly good. I came from Sky HD and the menu system on the Sky box as the time (1.5 yrs ago) was much nicer to navigate. But got used to the Humax Freesat interface now and it's easier to use than their older Freeview boxes interface. I bought the 1TB one but have found that it's mostly only 25% full so could have got the 500GB... It's slow to boot up (even with power saver off) which is kinda annoying if you just wanna watch something... I also found pressing record on a show that already has started doesn't seem to prompt to record the entire series that a Sky box does. It's a Freesat implementation of series link that's the issue. Other than that , it's been very reliable. Probably only two failed recordings in 1 year.

The Freesat app on the phone is very handy - not IP geo locked. Can remotely set shows to record and view what is recorded and scheduled to record on your box away from home. Used that a good few times.

I also have all the on demand services working in Ireland... ;-)

digitaldr

Planning to cancel sky today. Is this this currently the best Freesat PVR box?

Atlantic Dawn

digitaldr wrote: »

Planning to cancel sky today. Is this this currently the best Freesat PVR box?

Yes going by reviews I would say so, no other manufacturer has brought out a new Freesat PVR box for a few years. There's a 500GB and 1GB model but I have also seen a few places offering a 2TB version but I think this is done themselves rather than from Humax. If I was getting one I'd push for the 1GB version so you have planty of space to not have to worry about deleting stuff.

digitaldr

Thanks - I guess the market for freesat boxes is small compared to freeview. Sky cancellation line is down due to technical difficulties

NIMAN

Don't forget you can always install your own, bigger, hard drive in one of these units. HDDs are cheap to buy in large capacities like 2TB.

Of course, I wouldn't advise doing it on a brand new box, as it will invalidate your guarantee, but if you buy secondhand its easily done. Always instructions on YouTube videos.

Yellow Dog

Any suggestions on best place to buy this box?

Atlantic Dawn

Yellow Dog wrote: »

Any suggestions on best place to buy this box?

Either a trip in person to one of the Argos stores in NIRL
http://www.argos.co.uk/product/4252476
http://www.argos.co.uk/product/4369046

Freetv.ie
http://www.freetv.ie/humax-hdr-1100s/
http://www.freetv.ie/humax-1100s/

Amazon
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Humax-HDR-1100S-Freesat-Freetime-Recorder/dp/B0104SY71K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484851172&sr=8-1&keywords=humax+freesat
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Set-top-boxes/HUMAX-HDR-1100S-Humax-Set-top-Box/B0130JOR0G/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1484851172&sr=8-3&keywords=humax+freesat

decor58

Yellow Dog wrote:

Any suggestions on best place to buy this box?

Maplins sell them over the counter but I find them a bit pricey, Freetv.ie always give a good service, Imo.

Cherrycola

MBSnr wrote: »

The Freesat app on the phone is very handy - not IP geo locked. Can remotely set shows to record and view what is recorded and scheduled to record on your box away from home. Used that a good few times.

I also have all the on demand services working in Ireland... ;-)

I couldn't find the freesat app in the App Store, how did you get it.

Also MBSnr, feel free to pm me with info on the on demand services please!!!

Cherrycola

decor58 wrote: »

Maplins sell them over the counter but I find them a bit pricey, Freetv.ie always give a good service, Imo.

I bought from Freetv and used the code 'Boards' to get 7.5% discount, that was then the best price available.

MBSnr

^^^
I bought my 1TB 1100s from this guy (via Parcel Wizard in NI I think - Exchange rates were way diff back in 2015... Looks to be the same price here now).
http://stores.ebay.ie/tps1996/_i.html?_nkw=1100s&submit=Search&_sid=63563359

All good.

MBSnr

Cherrycola wrote: »

I couldn't find the freesat app in the App Store, how did you get it.

Also MBSnr, feel free to pm me with info on the on demand services please!!!

Should be listed for Android anyhow - else http://www.freesat.co.uk/app

Sent PM.

uck51js9zml2yt

Can I ask what people are doing with regard to Saorview channels?
Thanks

Cherrycola

Uriah Calm Tourniquet wrote: »

Can I ask what people are doing with regard to Saorview channels?
Thanks

Doing without at the moment, we have a small saorview enabled tv but no aerial on the roof so havent bothered to set it up.

I use the RTÉ player and tv3 player to watch anything I have any interest in, which on RTÉ is not much to be honest.

Dave..M

Uriah Calm Tourniquet wrote: »

Can I ask what people are doing with regard to Saorview channels?
Thanks

For me, saorview TV & freesat box, saorview TV with freesat built in (Samsung TV), a combo Saorview & FTA sat TV and lastly older Saorview TV with an AA2 (TV has no PVR).

Personally I rarely watch either these days, rugby & gaa only (have a couple of legit streaming services that I use)

**Wife watches soaps on UK and faircity only on RTE and UK reality Channel (urgh), kids watch Netflix or the odd UK kids Channel. Saorview really doesn't get much use in my house....

Atlantic Dawn

Uriah Calm Tourniquet wrote: »

Can I ask what people are doing with regard to Saorview channels?
Thanks

One of these http://powercity.ie/?par=10-23-WP6500 and a crappy indoor aeriel which works perfect, you might get one second of distortion every 3 or 4 hours, grand.

Dave..M

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

One of these http://powercity.ie/?par=10-23-WP6500 and a crappy indoor aeriel which works perfect, you might get one second of distortion every 3 or 4 hours, grand.

I also use crappy indoor aerials from powercity (actually best one I found !!) I hook it up to the back of my TVs if possible to make it less visible ( maybe I'm lucky to be in a relatively strong signal area)

MBSnr

Uriah Calm Tourniquet wrote: »

Can I ask what people are doing with regard to Saorview channels?
Thanks

The Walker PVR as posted above. We hardly watch any Irish channels bar the RTE news and sport. Same as most other people I know these days....

uck51js9zml2yt

Why would you want to be using 2 boxes? A humax and a saorview box.

Have an ariva 252..just waiting for wednesday for discovery to part ways with sky!

decor58

Uriah Calm Tourniquet wrote:

Can I ask what people are doing with regard to Saorview channels? Thanks

Saorview tv's, small roof aerial, split 4 ways, got one of those walker recorders for 50e on adverts recently, works fine and then humax boxes and sky boxes for freesat, one remote on each set.

Dave..M

Uriah Calm Tourniquet wrote: »

Why would you want to be using 2 boxes? A humax and a saorview box.

Have an ariva 252..just waiting for wednesday for discovery to part ways with sky!

I rely on TVs for Saorview but the convenience of freesat (EPG and retunes) for the people in my house far outweighs any inconvenience as Saorview is now rarely used, it was born out of the Astra changes mostly over the previous years. I do have an AA2 in one room but if it ever died I'd just replace it with a freesat box now to be honest

uck51js9zml2yt

It's a fair point about the Irish Channels. Just dawning on me that I don't watch them a lot!

I have prime and now TV movies. Getting nowtv entertainment sorts my sky channels.

_Kaiser_

So I'm on the verge of pulling the trigger on one of these, as I find myself watching less and less stuff on Sky these days. Few quick questions:

- Are there any "big" channels on FTA that aren't in the Freesat EPG? I know you can switch the box to non-Freesat mode but this apparently disables the recording and EPG as well
- I know the BBC iPlayer won't work. Does ITV or the others work without needing to mess with DNS settings?
- How stable/fast are these compared to Sky? I read there were a lot of issues with the previous models
- Oh and speaking of the older model... how does the HDR-1000s compare assuming the software issues have since been resolved?

Are there any equivalent boxes I should consider? I don't mind some configuration etc if there's more flexible alternatives out there.

Cheers!