Freesat PVR recommendations needed

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As per another thread I can't get Virgin Media at my next house and would rather not give Sky/Murdoch any money if I can help it. The house does come with a dish so I thought I'd just get a couple of Freesat PVR's and augment them with some Chromecasts.

I'd like something black (to fit in with the stacks)and between 500Gb and 1Tb. Form factor not important.

There are various Humax's around and I like the timeshift idea.

Anyone got one and if so which one/what's it like to live with?

Thanks

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Thanks all. I also used a Humax (Freeview) PVR before wandering over to Sky (unwillingly) and then Virgin (happily).

Back to Humax it is then.

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blueST said:

Ive got the Humax 1tb Freesat box with timeshift thingy and all that. Can't remember the model number. Personally, for a non subscription service the I think it works great. The guide, on demand etc all function well. The menus can be a little laggy at sometimes but I think that's because they've really tried to make it look slick and perhaps the hardware is maxed out. Even the Showcase thing is good, suggesting good stuff to watch either coming up or on demand.

It has all the usual on demand apps, BBC, YouTube, Netflix, plus one called Wuaki, which lets you spend a couple of quid to watch a streaming film if you want to.

As you can tell I like it!

Good - going to get one of these for the living room - Humax HDR-1100S. Might get the 500Gb one for the second reception. Timeshift sound very useful. I don't watch much TV and usually forget to record the occasional thing I actually want to see.

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Adrian E said:

If the current Humax boxes come with the YouView app it's quite handy - you can select individual programmes or series record anything you forget from a smartphone

Hope so. That's one of things I never got round to configuring on my Virgin set up. Phones and tablets are much better places for EPG's than remote-driven TV ones.

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One think I'd like to be able to do is to record one channel while watching another.

I've read online that you need "two connections" to do this.

The place I'm getting has been cabled for Sky with 2 x coax cables.

Does that constitute one connection or two?

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blueST said:

If you've got two coax cables from you dish, you can record two separate channels on the Humax. You need the Freesat app for your phone to remote record.

Thanks.

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megaphone said:

OP any reason you want Freesat, other than you have a dish? The Humax Youview 'Freeview' boxes are very good, and available on the refurb store at good prices, I've bought 3 now. All you need is an aerial.

I thought the satellite signal was better for some reason reason. Maybe not.

More to the point the new house comes pre-chavved with a dish already fitted and (manky) coaxes routed (badly) to the two reception rooms where I will put the TV's.

Might as well re-use what's there for now. And when I refurb the place tidy up the cable runs.

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AJB88 said:

I've got a Humax 500gb one bought it brand new from Richer Sounds, its not bad but does seem quite slow occasionally switching between menus.

I have found an issue as well where when using C4 on demand it sometimes freezes mid programme and won't let me restart from the beginning again.

Ha! First work problems....

I moved house six days ago and so far I have managed to get the sum total of one TV up and running. I coaxed it into accepting a signal off one of the many mysterious AV cables that sprout from the walls of my new place. It's the smallest TV I've got and it's in the furthest corner of the largest room. And I haven't got my amp and speakers hooked up.

Watching the footie last night was like going back to 1976.

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I've got the main system up and running. The Humax Freesat is doing it's thing just fine. Very happy with it. Fast, easy to use, very good UI. And FREE TV! Happy days.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0130JOR0G/ref...

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wormus said:

AC43 said:

I've got the main system up and running. The Humax Freesat is doing it's thing just fine. Very happy with it. Fast, easy to use, very good UI. And FREE TV! Happy days.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0130JOR0G/ref...

NO! you are not allowed to be happy with it because as you have been told by our community of experts, IT DOES NOT WORK!

Wait until it rains and your whole house falls down.

...after a decade of continuous use in rain, snow and sun, my Freesat dish/3 Humax PVRs haven't given any trouble by the way. Not even once.

I can't ever recall having any signal problems with any of the many terrestial/satellite/cable systems I've used over the years.

Of course now you what'll happen next.

Anyway, the bit I particularly like is the UI. In the last decade I've used an early Humax PVR, Sky, traditional Virgin and Tivo Virgin and I find the user interface on the HDR-1100S to be the slickest.

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Zoon said:

AC43 said:

I can't ever recall having any signal problems with any of the many terrestial/satellite/cable systems I've used over the years.

Of course now you what'll happen next.

Anyway, the bit I particularly like is the UI. In the last decade I've used an early Humax PVR, Sky, traditional Virgin and Tivo Virgin and I find the user interface on the HDR-1100S to be the slickest.

The Virgin Tivo is dreadful, takes ages to do anything. How it ever got past the testing stage is beyond me.

Yes, slow and a bit clunky. Also the graphics on the sky and Virgin systems are relatively crude and blocky compared to the Humax interface. Pleasantly surprised.

And the kids haven'y complained about missing a couple of their channels. I was effectively paying £50/month for the privelge of that as me & the mrs only ever watch BBC 1/2/4 ITV and C4.

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AC43 said:

I can't ever recall having any signal problems with any of the many terrestial/satellite/cable systems I've used over the years.

Of course now you what'll happen next.

Doh. The sinal worked fine with the Freeview tuner in the TV but was too weak for the Humax box.

Now replaced with another Freesat Humax HDR 1100S.

Need to see if any of the sat feeds work in that room/get the electrician back to get one up and running.

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Adrian E said:

AC43 said:

Doh. The sinal worked fine with the Freeview tuner in the TV but was too weak for the Humax box.

Now replaced with another Freesat Humax HDR 1100S.

Need to see if any of the sat feeds work in that room/get the electrician back to get one up and running.

It can depend on the order you daisy chain the devices off your aerial connection - some are amplified and will basically give the signal a small kick on the way through the device, whereas others are entirely passive. I had to experiment a bit (albeit with coax aerials) to find the best combo of connecting 3 devices to the TV through one aerial cable.

Thanks didn't know that.

At the end of the day I'm probably better off going all satellite or all aerial. And I know the sat signal is strong enough. Apart from festooning this place with coax cable the previous owner has provided me with no less that three TV aerials and two satellites. If I go with the working satellite I can get rid of the remaining four devices and all the associated cabling.

Normally I'm not keen on the look of satellites but in this case I can't actually see my own dish so don't mind having it.

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red997 said:

Zoon said:

The Virgin Tivo is dreadful, takes ages to do anything. How it ever got past the testing stage is beyond me.

I do - I did some work for Virgin about 6 years ago - cavalier would be an understatement - I left...

Interesting. I got so used to the Virgin Tivo that I ended up thinking slow was normal.