Both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video decoders are packed into the HDCI-2000. Although you'll get the real benefits out of this box with an HD television, it will happily output to SD.
HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) with HDCP (High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) output means that the Humax will sync with Intel's DRM (Digital Rights Management) hobgoblin. The HDCP system is designed to thwart pirates, and will downsample HD content to SD on non-HDCP compliant devices. This all adds up to a wonderfully confusing situation where you may find you're watching an SD signal instead of an HD one because a piece of hardware in your home entertainment system is not HDCP compatible.
TV programmes on the Humax may be sorted numerically, alphabetically, by TV or radio, satellite group or FTA (free-to-air). The obligatory parental lock option will let you prevent your child from watching any channels that may be unsuitable.
A 2-slot DVB CI (Common Interface) allows for the addition of pay-TV cards, as these become available. Particularly enterprising hackers will discover that they can watch Sky using these slots and an existing Sky card. This, however, relies on getting hold of a third-party device called a CAM (Conditional Access Module) which acts as a bridge between the Sky card and the HDCI-2000's CI slot.
Users report mixed results with this option and we would advise using the Humax in addition to your current Sky box, rather than a replacement for it.
Performance
Initially we intended to set up our own dish for use with the Humax, but after an hour of fruitless malhackery on the roof, we established that the advanced level of mathematical ability required to calculate the elevation of the relevant satellites, and thus the orientation of our dish, was beyond us.
Resorting to more conventional methods, we tested the HDCI-2000 with a pre-configured dish installation. Humax provided us with a firmware update (HDXSCI 1.00.04) for our review model which allowed it to receive the new free-to-air BBC HD service just in time for the World Cup. Users will probably find it useful to note that you tune into the BBC's HD channel by searching 10.847 Vertical, sr 22000, fec 5/6. The hardcore may also find it interesting to observe that it's possible to physically turn the dish on their roof round to the satellite known as 36E and tune in ART on 11057H. This satellite broadcasts the World Cup matches the BBC aren't covering.
Reception quality was exceptionally good. The HD signal provided by the UK's geostationary satellites is very clear indeed, putting digital terrestrial Freeview to shame. If you have an HD television, you'll be aching to put it through its paces, and the HDCI-2000 certainly does that.
It's hard to predict how HD free-to-air satellite will evolve right now, but there's some serious clout behind the BBC trials. If you're an HD enthusiast disillusioned by the cost of Sky, the Humax makes an extremely attractive proposition. If you like to tinker, you'll be right at home here. Those for whom more instantaneous entertainment is a priority might be better off with Sky.
Edited by Mary Lojkine
Additional editing by Kate Macefield
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Marco hdtv 24 July 2007
Good: Scan FTA only option,
Bad: Slow scan, Low quality mpeg decoding, solarisation, audio bugs
Comment: Don't be fooled by the HD MPEG4 and DVB-S2 capabilites of the device ! The quality of the picutre of the HUMAX HDCI2000 is much lower than what should be expected.
Broadcast professionals know: "HDTV means not only millions of pixels but sharpness, color depth and artifact- free pictures." and any good photographer will tell you, color depth is a key feature of a good picture. Humax 2000 is sharp but has reduced color depth and render the tv signal with the ugliest mpeg artefacts it is possible to do.
And it is a shame when thinking that today BBCHD, PRO7 or other HD channels are finally delivering content with deeper color depth and higher definition (allowed by the use of a greater bandwidth and more advanced compression algorithmes).
You may think that, by buying these new devices, you going to get the best of today technology. Well be carefull ! After the first minutes of wonder in front of the millions moving pixels, you will notice a strange thing: the picture out of the Humax HDCI-2000 is solarised (yes, like on those first bad plasma screens that were released in the market a few years ago!).
Despite having a nice gradient in shades, you got 2-3 color areas with noisy shaky hedges (for instance in skies, face skin, or blurry backgrounds which are very difficult to render because of the high number of color they require to appear realisticly). The overall picture is flat and tones slightly wrong because they are approximated to the nearest color the receiver can handle.
When watching medium-low bitrate TV programs (almost all SD signals) things go even worse: macroblocks of the mpeg highly compressed picture appear much more visible than from any other DVB receiver I tested so far. It's a pity I can't attach a picture to show you the whole disaster.
And of course, once you've noticed the problem, you will see only that. I've tested the Humax on 2 Sony Full HD Bravia LCD screens, a Sony professional reference monitor using the RGB, S-video, Component and HDMI output of the Humax and a end consumer Philips Matchline CRT TV. Same solarisation everywhere.
I made a history diagram of the picture: millions of beautiful colors at the source are heavily reduced to a few hundreds at the output of the Humax.
Other quite annoying problems I noticed are:
(1) if audio left or right is selected (usefull for dual-mono languages broadcasts), after a few minutes the receiver switch back to stereo.
(2) Audio and video are freezing from time to time, mosty when using the common interface (viaccess).
To conclude: I would recommend to wait for competitors such as PACE before making the move to High[er] Quality & High[er] Definition experience at home.
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