Humax Foxsat-HDR user reviews
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User reviews8
Oldsirhippy 22 March 2013
Good: One off cost for box - no subscription required
Bad: Will not always record correctly.
Comment: Comments below are incorrect - factory reset is required to get 2 channels working correctly.
Oldsirhippy 22 March 2013
Good: One off cost for box - no subscriptions required
Bad: Cannot record any 2 channels
Comment: This unit is great as a single LNB channel machine. It will not allow you to record any 2 chosen channels. Once a channel is selected for recording it will only allow certain other channels to be viewed or recorded, it 'blanks' them out. So guess work is required as to which channel can be recorded while wanting to watch another channel. With 2 LNBs it would be correct to assume that it had 2 separate and independent channels - but that is not the case!
little em 7 May 2011
Good: I could tell Sky to go and poke it! HD channels are awesome
Bad: Nothing
Comment: Yippee. Over 140 channels does everything that a sky box does but its FREE and no rude horrid SKY people to have to call anymore. Although cancelling SKY took nearly 6 months. Was worth it in the end.
I love the fact there are separate buttons on the remote for the "Guide" and "Media" (Stuff you've recorded), instead of having to go through the same menu.
Can't believe that after having the box now 2 months we have already saved the cost of it, what we were paying to SKY.
Easy installation just plugged in to the old SKY cables.
Easy to watch iplayer and Channel4 on demand.
How did we manage with out it xxxxxxx
I love the fact the channel plays in the background when you are checking your guide.
The time line, when you are watching something that is recorded or paused, is brilliant.
Controller is sleek and easy to use.
JacobHunt 17 March 2011
Good: 1.Outstanding picture quality, in both HD and SD 2.Simple to set up 3.remote is nice & robust
Bad: 1.The box takes a good 15-20 seconds to wake up from stand-by
Comment: FANTASTIC! I had two Sky Boxes and two Panasonic Hard Drive Recorders and this one box has replaced them all. Where as many, many times Sky did not switch on to record, the Humax has not failed once since I bought it.
I am running the box through a Sony full H.D. 52" t.v. and even the non H.D. channels are clear in fact close to 3D. Far superior too to the Sky + system.
One failing, it does not have a grouping for favourite channels. On the other hand you can enter a name of a program and it will search the next 7 days to find it for you. There is a display on the front of the box so you can see what you are watching, not just the channel but the program too.
The added extra is that EVERYTHING is free after you have bought the box unlike Sky who even charge you for channels with endless adverts. This is a must buy. I have even contacted Humax for some help and they were incredibly polite and helpful.
No need to telephone them, they answer 'personally' by e mail, no costly calls, again unlike Sky. If you want a fantastic product at a great price then this is it. Oh and by the way, you get 200 hours of standard recordings or 80 hours of H.D. recordings and the H.D. quality is unbelievable.
Well done Humax, BBC and ITV for such an innovation and for once you are thinking of the viewing public's pleasure not just what money you can get out of us!
*** P.S. If you will buy this Humax FOXSAT-HDR Freesat+ I suggest you at: amazon.co.uk/dp/B001L5YU36/?tag=reviews.cnet.co.uk-21
LutonFan 28 November 2009
Good: The overall ease of use
Bad: Nothing
Comment: Overall, an excellent machine. Initially, the user was unable to delete a recorded programme whilst the box was recording another. This has been rectified by a recent firmware update. Not sure if this is my imagination, but the boot up time seems to have improved.
The aforemention update also included a parental control facility and the machine now allows you to prevent accidental erasure of recorded content.
To sum up, an almost perfect 'bit of kit'. Would recommend this to anyone.
watcha 4 July 2009
Good: No subscription and excellent recording
Bad: Too complicated
Comment: This is a great bit of kit. Some features far better than than either Sky Plus or Virgin's equivalent, such as programmes that run late are still recorded.
But other featuress are missing, like there's no indication whether you've watched (or part watched) a particular episode/show or not.
However, my main gripe, also reflected by others I've talked to, is it's not user friendly. Unlike it's competitors, it works like a computer. EG, when you record a series, it creates a folder. When you want to delete a watched programme, you are asked to delete a file.
Whose granny will know what all that means? To delete one of those aforementioned folders (ie a series) there's convoluted steps to be taken involving going into a 'file manager' and up pops two columns both showing the same list of recorded programmes.
What that's all about I still have to discover. It takes time to delete the same programme from both of these columns. Equally, I have also to work out what the red letter G means after some recordings, and other symbols not explained anywhere in the manual.
For all my grousing, I wouldn't be without it. It gets used every day and I'm slowly mastering its quirky ways. I just wish I could find a website that goes into more detail about how to get the best out of it.
SevenoakBoy 16 February 2009
Good: Quality Build, Delivers good Picture & Sound in SD and HD, Easy to use
Bad: HDD Capacity too small, Switching from FreeSat Channels to Free-to-Air Channels should be via a single button and not via Menu Options, Boot (from sleep) could be faster, Can't Delete a recorded program while recording another program
Comment: Appears to be well made and looks good. Is easy to install and set up although I did have a problem that is described below. Its very easy to use straight out of the box, but to get the most from it you need to read the User Guide.
Picture and Sound quality is excellent, I was concerned when I saw the thin HDMI cable supplied with the box, but it performs well.
The hard disk could or rather should have had a larger capacity, I haven't tried connecting an external drive yet, hopefully this will resolve the issue.
Booting the box could be a little faster, but the box is really quiet.
If you want to switch between the FreeSat Channels and the Free-to-Air Channels you need to go through Menu Options, ideally there should be a quicker way to do this, perhaps by assigning control to a single button on the remote control. Also, you can only delete a single channel at a time from the Free-to-Air channel list, this is very slow, what is wanted is an easy way to "Flag" channels for deletion so that one "Deletion" can delete multiple channels.
Now for the problem I experienced, but first I must clarify that I only had this problem connecting the box to my Phillips 42PFL7603D TV, everything was fine when the box was connected to various Sony and Samsung TV's. The Problem > changing from a program broadcast in Standard Definition (SD) to one broadcast in High Definition (HD) the sound volume increased by about 200%, both Philips and Humax said there was nothing wrong with their equipment. I eventually found a workaround which was to set the volume on the Humax box to maximum and leave it set there and control the volume using the TV remote control only. I believe that the problem comes from the different signal types, for SD its MGEG and for HD its Dolby Digital.
JohnWooding 11 February 2009
Good: Quality of recorded HD and SD programmes, ease of use generally, overlay design
Bad: cannot delete while recording, deletion process,
Comment: Recording quality is excellent for SD programmes, and very good for HD, both pciture and sound. The control screens are easy to navigate. It may be that freesat transmits schedule slippage information, because the box tracks actual not scheduled transmission times, and unlike my earlier Humax Freeview 9200, hasn't missed the end of any programme yet. The box is very quiet in operation.
The remote is robust and well laid out, but must be more precisely directed at the receiver to have any effect. I quickly became used to this.
A luxury I could not possibly do without.