News - Humax shows off FOXSAT-HDR, its HD-ready Freesat PVR

[HEXUS]

Humax quietly showed off its Freesat HD PVR at IFA 2008, is this the Freesat receiver you've been waiting for?

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[3dcandy]

excellent, something I've been waiting for....

[Skinleech]

Any information on whether you can transfer recordings off the unit via ethernet?

[chrestomanci]

Any information on whether you can transfer recordings off the unit via ethernet?

The current Humax teresteral DVB-T PVR allows you to transfer recordings from the box to your PC, and it is a major selling point on the fan forums, so unless Humax has been heavily pressured not to by media interests I would assume that the same will be possible with this box.

Obviously this is all conjecture, but I know that I would not buy a HD PVR unless I could transfer recordings to my PC, and there must be loads of other people with the same view, so Humax especially would be fools to produce a box that does not allow recordings to be exported.

[Bluecube]

What do you reckon the price will be? I think £300 which is a bit ouchy for me at the moment... £200 and I would definitely look twice but I really can't see it being that cheap.

[capt_cornflake]

Any information on whether you can transfer recordings off the unit via ethernet?

The current Humax teresteral DVB-T PVR allows you to transfer recordings from the box to your PC, and it is a major selling point on the fan forums, so unless Humax has been heavily pressured not to by media interests I would assume that the same will be possible with this box.

Is this not via USB though?

[Trash Man]

I've got an older Humax PVR and this is great news as I've been thinking about upgrading it for a while now. Just hope it's not to pricey

For freesat do you need a dish or it is the same as at the moment with just a normal aerial? I do have Sky dish on the side of the house.

[chrestomanci]

What do you reckon the price will be? I think £300 which is a bit ouchy for me at the moment... £200 and I would definitely look twice but I really can't see it being that cheap.

I reckon it will be £300, it could even be £350, for the simple reason that there will be plenty of people willing to pay that sort of money. A standard def Humax or Topfield terestral box costs over £200, and they sell plenty. You would expect an HD satellite box to be more. Remember that the price of hardware from Sky is subsidized, and will not bear much relation to how much the hardware costs Sky.

Or put it another way. If I wanted to buy an HD satellite box this Christmas, then I would consider the Humax one (after first checking that Topfield don't have one in the works), and if the reviews where positive I would consider £300 a fair price.

Is this not via USB though?

The one on the Terestral Humax box is, and is fairly slow by all accounts. I am assuming that the new satellite box will transfer recordings over Ethernet, but I don't know. Franky I can't think of any other good reason to include an Ethernet port on a satellite receiver. Even if they added a web browser or suchlike, then it would be much more sensible to connect over WiFi, as it will be easer to setup in most households, and these days the chipsets will cost virtually the same. The only advantage wired Ethernet brings is speed, and the only application that would benefit from such speed is transferring files to or from a computer.

If for some perverse reason the box does not support file transfer, or only does so over slow USB, then the enthusiast community has reverse engineered the disc format used by Humax, and there are a number of tools and mods out there that will enable you to read recordings off the hard drive, and even add hardware inside the case to do it remotely. I doubt Humax will have changed the disc format, so all those mods should still work on the new box.

[Funkstar]

[QUOTE=chrestomanci;1511387The one on the Terestral Humax box is, and is fairly slow by all accounts. I am assuming that the new satellite box will transfer recordings over Ethernet, but I don't know. Franky I can't think of any other good reason to include an Ethernet port on a satellite receiver. Even if they added a web browser or suchlike, then it would be much more sensible to connect over WiFi, as it will be easer to setup in most households, and these days the chipsets will cost virtually the same. The only advantage wired Ethernet brings is speed, and the only application that would benefit from such speed is transferring files to or from a computer.[/QUOTE]
Ethernet is included in the Freesat specs so firmware updates can be downloaded and interactive services can be truely interactive. Wireless would be a good idea, but would probably add significantly to the costs. Bill of materials would increase, complexity of the hardware, complexity of the software, support issues, and changing standard would all impact the cost of the unit.

[Tunnah]

The only advantage wired Ethernet brings is speed, and the only application that would benefit from such speed is transferring files to or from a computer.

if this is a box capable of streaming files and is aimed at the HD user, the ethernet port would be a must to stream HD avis and the like from PCs as the speed limits of wifi fall short of the data speeds of HD encoded programs

[Skinleech]

Pretty interested in this I must say. I was going to go down the route of a card in my PC, but I've only got a wee mobo and no free slots, so that's ruled out. USB was the other option, but if this does to an ethernet or USB transfer I'd be happy.

Prices and more details please Humax!

[tipsytim]

[QUOTE=chrestomanci;1511387] Franky I can't think of any other good reason to include an Ethernet port on a satellite receiver.

My understanding is that, in order to be FreeSat approved (and get the FreeSat logo & access to the FreeSat EPG), boxes are required to have an ethernet port.

This is in order to allow interactive services feed back user input and allow "future" support for IPTV (e.g. BBC iPlayer / Kangaroo).

Have URLs but is 1st post :-(

-Tim