Recommend me a Freeview PVR...?

[bradders]

Hi all, can anyone recommend me a Freeview PVR box? The olds are wanting something that will record for Xmas, and as usual, I have left things pretty much till the last minute.

Their current set (CRT with only Scart to connect) will not be replaced for a good while, so it will need to be Scart supporting as well as HDMI. Also needs to give a decent SD image, even if it is an HD unit. They've ruled out Sky in any form, as my old man "does not want an ugly dish on the front of the house".

What are the best options at the moment, that I can pop to a shop and collect on Monday?

Cheers, Bradders.

[headcase]

Humax 9150T is a very popular unit but not without its problems.

[bradders]

Thanks Headcase. It's looking like shopping day tomorrow - you mention that this one is "not without problems" - is there one that works spot on? What are the problems that this has?

[Roberty]

headcase said:

Humax 9150T is a very popular unit but not without its problems.

I bought one, it came highly recommended.

Never been so dissappointed with an eletrical purchase, utter ste.

Losses channels at random, tells me freeview channels are unavailable or scrambled half way through watching something.

Doesn't always record what you set it to.

20% to 30% of what I record is unwatchable, jumps and stutters, half the programme can be missing.

Have a £40 cheapo unit in the bedroom linked to the same aerial which works fine.

Utter ste, avoid.

[bradders]

Hmm, those sound like more than problems - they sound like it doesn't do what it's supposed to do!

Like buying a car, and finding you need to push it everywhere!

I take it that the cheapo one you bought was not a PVR for £40?

[headcase]

We have quite a few of these out on rental and it seems fairly normal fo them to just freeze for no apparent reason. When they are working they are good unit but until the glitches are fixed they arnt too reliable.
They are very suseptable to reception issues for example if you are in an area where you can pick up from 2 different transmitters then it causes no end of locking up issues. Up until recent software upgrades then never remembered the EPG and had to reload it every time you switched it on.

[drgoatboy]

wow, I'm suprised so many people are having problems with Humax.
I've had 2 now and yes they occasionally give a problem but more often than not glitches are ironed out but the near constant firmware development by humax. There is also a really good forum (hummy.org) for loads of useful support.
I've found my Humax to be better in low reception areas than anything else I have. Currently freeview is at best flakey and at worst unwatchable on my Sony Bravia but pretty much pefect on my Humax...

Admitedly I am on my second box now but the hardrive gave in on my old one after basically 4 years of constant 24hr abuse which I reckon is pretty good going.

[Roberty]

bradders said:

I take it that the cheapo one you bought was not a PVR for £40?

Sorry yes the cheapo unit is just a freeview box not a PVR but it proves the reception is fine so it's the Humax box that's the problem not a weak signal.

Infact the TV the Humax is plugged into has Freeview built in. The menu's aren't as good as the Humax but often we will watch a chanel through the TV's freeview because the same channel on the Humax is unwatchable or just not there at all!

[miniman]

Roberty said:

bradders said:

I take it that the cheapo one you bought was not a PVR for £40?

Sorry yes the cheapo unit is just a freeview box not a PVR but it proves the reception is fine so it's the Humax box that's the problem not a weak signal.

Infact the TV the Humax is plugged into has Freeview built in. The menu's aren't as good as the Humax but often we will watch a chanel through the TV's freeview because the same channel on the Humax is unwatchable or just not there at all!

To be fair, have you tried the Humax box plugged in to the other aerial point? I bought the in laws a Humax box and it was terrible until I removed the aerial faceplate to find that (despite them having an aerial "engineer" round to look at it) the central core of the cable wasn't connected. 3 seconds later and it has been perfect ever since.

[Roberty]

miniman said:

Roberty said:

bradders said:

I take it that the cheapo one you bought was not a PVR for £40?

Sorry yes the cheapo unit is just a freeview box not a PVR but it proves the reception is fine so it's the Humax box that's the problem not a weak signal.

Infact the TV the Humax is plugged into has Freeview built in. The menu's aren't as good as the Humax but often we will watch a chanel through the TV's freeview because the same channel on the Humax is unwatchable or just not there at all!

To be fair, have you tried the Humax box plugged in to the other aerial point? I bought the in laws a Humax box and it was terrible until I removed the aerial faceplate to find that (despite them having an aerial "engineer" round to look at it) the central core of the cable wasn't connected. 3 seconds later and it has been perfect ever since.

It's a fair point but:

"Infact the TV the Humax is plugged into has Freeview built in. The menu's aren't as good as the Humax but often we will watch a chanel through the TV's freeview because the same channel on the Humax is unwatchable or just not there at all!"

The aerial input for the TV's built in Freeview comes via the Humax!

[miniman]

Touché

[telecat]

I run two HUMAX 9200T's and a 9150T. Since the Software update to ".23" none have had problems recording. Yes they were "buggy" but that was due to a Freeview update in 2009 that used a feature that Freeview told all makers they were never going to use. It took Humax 3 months to rewrite the Firmware and make available the FIx and a general OTA update was sent out a month later. That fix has been transmitted at least three times since and also inluded a Storable EPG so that you didn't have to wait for it to appear after switch on. I'd suggest that you have a faulty unit if you are having that many problems.

I can whole heartedly recommend the HUMAX to the extent that the New HD box the FOX-HDR-T2 is pretty much the only reliable HD Freeview box out there.

[Glosphil]

I have a Humax 9300T bought direct from Humax for £120 . It has exhibited no problems in 6 months of use. Is now used mainly for recording as my new tele has Freefree (with HD) tuner.

[bradders]

Thanks to all for your help - ended up getting him the FOX HDR-T2 (the freeview one).

Cheers Bradders.

[Fer]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but can anyone recommend a HD Freeview+ box that will record from an external input? I want to have my Sky box recorded (without resorting to Sky+) and still have all the bits for recording freeview.

The Humax FOX-T2 doesn't do it, and looking around I am told that a Freeview+ box with DVD should be able to record from external scart.

[page3]

Freeview HD box, plus TiVo. Will only record in SD obviously. Still the best PVR out there though.

[Gingerbread Man]

I looked into this for my parents on Christmas and Boxing day. It seems that all HD Freeview PVR's have software issues. I told them to just get a cheap non HD one in the end. Paying a couple of hundred quid and still getting something faulty didn't seem worth the point.

[Fer]

page3 said:

Freeview HD box, plus TiVo. Will only record in SD obviously. Still the best PVR out there though.

Is TiVo still around? I see comments about some tie up with Virgin Media...

[angusc43]

Fer said:

page3 said:

Freeview HD box, plus TiVo. Will only record in SD obviously. Still the best PVR out there though.

Is TiVo still around? I see comments about some tie up with Virgin Media...

Yes - they are building the next gen Virgin box. And they're teaming up with someone else - can't recall who.

IIRC they gave up selling directly in the UK for a while but kept going in the US.

New strategy seems to be teaming up with providers.