Freeview HD PVR - Suggestions please!

[Rob_B]

Hi folks,

I'm looking to ditch Sky and so will be in need of an alternative. I've read around a little but usually there is nothing better than getting opinions! I have a PS3 so have a lot of catchup TV and also have Netflix which I'll be keeping so I'm after a PVR for the other stuff.

To clarify, I'm after:

Freeview
PVR twin tuner functionality
Decent interface
HD is a bonus but not needed
Online/catchup services built in would be nice but not needed
~£150 budget

Any suggestions are appreciated!

Rob

[Smudger]

I was going to say Humax, but I'm not sure you can get one for under £200...

Edit: Actually, looks like they're £186 on Amazon...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Humax-HDR-FO...pd_cp_rec-ht_1

Or this one's SD, and under budget...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Humax-PVR930...ords=humax+pvr

[b0redom]

+1 for Humax. I've not seen anything else that even comes close to it.

[davey_bob]

I'd also plump for Humax - you can in fact find a Refurb'd FOX T2 direct from Humax for 135 [inc delivery]

http://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/prodCat...ory&type=hdstb

[aramil]

+1 for the Humax.

And if you like a good tweak/extra functions head over to hummy.tv and flash a custom firmware :thumbup:

[Saracen]

Another +1 for Humax. Got one and while not perfect, it's pretty damn good, and much better than most. It wasn't within that budget though.

As for the imperfection, one is the remote. It's capable enough, but too keep it small, it's got LOTS of very small, identically-sized buttons making it hard to use reliably by touch alone. It's the opposite of the tactile style of the Sky+ remote .... if a lot more versatile.

[b0redom]

Ah, I don't use the remote. I have a Harmony One. I reckon this is THE best gadget I've ever bought.

[Rob_B]

I guess I should look at a Humax then?!

Any opinions on HDD space? That link davey_bob provided (thanks!) has a 1TB for £30 more than a 500GB, I'm currently on a bog standard Sky HD box @ average 40% free and I'm pretty sure they're 500GB with reserved space for Anytime so I should be ok with the cheaper option?

How about Freesat though? Humax have a Foxsat-HDR/500-G for £129 and I already have the dish.
According to this http://www.ukfree.tv/allchannels.php

All I'd miss out on is a few channels (Dave...nooo!) but I'd get a lot more in return, plus pic quality is better/more reliable over Freesat? Any tweaking of the dish required?

[Saracen]

Ah, I don't use the remote. I have a Harmony One. I reckon this is THE best gadget I've ever bought.

It's not the only issue.

It has a habit, from time to time, of not responding properly to the remote. You press a button, like up or down on the menu, and it goes beserk. You can then spend 5 minutes trying to select 1 option.

The only way I've found to sort it is to power it down to standby for a while. I fet a similar effect if the batteries are low, but sometimes, when it does this, even using brand-knew Duracelks or feshly charged NiMHs makes no difference.

It does NOT do this a lot. Maybe twice in a week, then not for a couple of months. But it's irritating as hell when it does it. But if I send it back, they could have it on test 24/7 for a month and not see it.

There are other niggles, but by and large, it's a superb box, and certainly leauges ahead of tbe Sky + box I have which, in my opinion, is unmitigated garbage and why (or largely but only why) I'm ditching Sky. At least the Humax doesn't periodically decide it can't get a signal at all, only resolvable by physically turning off for 20 mins +, give me regular sound drop-outs (and I mean several per hour, pretty much every hour) like the Sky box, and the Humax, unlike Sky, has a search system thst actually finds stuff which Sky, a LOT of the time, does not.

The Humax has some irritants. The Sky box makes me want to 'reprogram' it with a sledgehammer.

[Saracen]

I guess I should look at a Humax then?!

Any opinions on HDD space? That link davey_bob provided (thanks!) has a 1TB for £30 more than a 500GB, I'm currently on a bog standard Sky HD box @ average 40% free and I'm pretty sure they're 500GB with reserved space for Anytime so I should be ok with the cheaper option?

How about Freesat though? Humax have a Foxsat-HDR/500-G for £129 and I already have the dish.
According to this http://www.ukfree.tv/allchannels.php

All I'd miss out on is a few channels (Dave...nooo!) but I'd get a lot more in return, plus pic quality is better/more reliable over Freesat? Any tweaking of the dish required?

Got 500GB, and never needed more. But then, I don't record in HD.

It depends ENTIRELY on how much stuff you'll record in relation to how fast you watch what you've recorded. It can mount up quickly.

Personally, for HD use, I'd go for the 1TB.

[DavidM]

You can always get an external drive for recordings you want to keep for longer.

[Rob_B]

I'm thinking 500GB would suffice, it looks like the Sky HD boxes are 500GB with only 250B available to the user, as ours sits around 40% free I think even with HD recordings we'll be fine.

Just something I want to clarify, I'm leaning towards getting Freesat and maybe looking at one with Freetime (Freesat+ boxes?)
Am I reading this right:

Freeview = TV over aerial
Youview = Freesat + Online catchup services
Freesat = TV over satellite, more channels than freeview
Freesat + Freetime = Freesat + Online Catchup services

For an extra few quid I might go for Freetime but seeing as I have the PS3 I won't spend too much extra on it.

So unless anyone has any other suggestions I'm looking at a Humax Freesat box, now to find one cheap enough!

[Smudger]

I thought YouView was Freeview based? The box is almost exactly the same as the Humax Fox-t2...

And you can get the catch-up stuff on the normal Humax boxes as well, from what I can see. Haven't rigged up my folks' box the the interweb yet, but there seems to be a portal which would have that sort of thing.

[Rob_B]

I think it is, and Freetime is the same as Youview but for freesat (?)

[MrJim]

How about Freesat though? Humax have a Foxsat-HDR/500-G for £129 and I already have the dish.

If you've already got the dish, it makes sense going for Freesat, as I believe there are a few more HD channels & slightly higher bitrate over Freeview HD.

[Rob_B]

So I picked up a Foxsat HDR, the EPG isn't as good as Sky+, any suggestions for improvements?

What remotes are people using? The stock one isn't as user friendly as it could be, Sky was always centered around playback whereas this one seems as though it was an afterthought.