Humax Foxsat HDR 500GB Freesat HD Digital TV Recorder (Requires Satellite Dish) (Old model)

Had this unit for around 8 weeks now to give it a fair trial before reviewing. If you don't want to read any further I will get to the point now - it's really a very, very good unit, not perfect (what is?) but buy it, you won't be disappointed.For those who want more comment - Before I bought I read all the reviews on here and I can confirm that all the 5 star comments are correct. I wanted to ditch my Sky subscription as I wasn't getting value for money, this will pay for itself in 7 months. The picture is easily as good as the Sky box if not better and the HD is excellent (when the broadcast is actually shot in HD, rather than some of the so called HD pushed out by some channels).As described in other reviews, installation is easy, you need two feeds from the Sky sat dish to be able to record two separate programs at the same time. The unit will work with one, but you will not get full functionality. The recordings are as good as the live broadcast both HD and non HD. Recording with the "Auto" start time setting has never missed a program yet, really easy to set a recording.The program guide has a slight delay in reacting to the remote keypress, but no worse than many freeview digital TV's guides I've used. I was getting a similar delay often with Sky's guide, so no difference there.Some reviews complain that they loose the picture when the guide is called up, yes you do, but a way round this if you just want to view the guide (or select a program to record from it) is to press "Schedule" on the remote (2nd up from bottom of remote on LHS) then press the "Red" button to see the guide with the program sound and picture behind. Also if you want to you can tune in "Free to air" (eg Sky News) channels as well as "Freesat" and switch between the two anytime via "Menu - Settings - STB Mode", but BE WARNED, if you stay on "Free to air" STB Mode, any future programmed recordings on "Freesat" will not be recorded, so remember to return to the "Freesat" STB Mode ASAP.There is a learning curve to using this unit, but read the user manual and just play around with the remote, make your own notes when you find a useful function and you will be amazed what this unit will do! The remote appears complicated at first, but it is actually really well laid out once you get to know it. The longer I use this unit the more impressed I become.The "not perfect" bit - You end up with two volume controls (you can program the remote to work your TV, DVD, VCR & Audio units using dozens of provided codes) and you need to keep switching between the "PVR" and "TV" selection buttons at the top of the remote to change between your TV volume or the Humax (PVR) volume. I recommend setting the Humax volume to full and just adjusting the TV volume via the "TV" selection button. Or use the Humax remote only for the Humax unit and use your TV remote for TV volume etc. So come on Humax, lets have a software update to give us the option to fix the PVR volume to full all the time so it can't be accidently turned down, then we'll have as near perfection as possible. Buy it, you won't regret it and Amazon delivery was also excellent as usual.PS. A tip for sport fanatics, Freesat has very little sport content other than that put out by the BBC, ITV or ITV4, so if sport is your thing look at the channels you get on each package carefully, you may just have to continue paying Sky's inflated charges.

Firstly, the good and very good points. The picture is superb, simply superb - David Attenborough and Africa, you can count the lion's whiskers and the grains of Saharan desert sand - amazing; HD really is better than SD (and to be fair to my previous set-up, and that HDMI is better than scart helps). The non-HD channels are almost as crisp, thanks to the SD upscaling. The remote and the software which it calls upon work well, with most functions being very intuitive. As other reviewers have reported, the system is clever enough to prompt if you are asking recording options which clash, even to suggestiing recording one of the progammes you have requested via the "+1" channel, and if available you are asked if you want to record in HD or SD. If you book two overlapping recordings, and during the overlap try to watch a third live channel, or start to watch a live programe that will not finish until after you enter the period of overlapping of booked recordings, the options to resolve the dillema are clearly given to you. The view/record options are easy to access, and the recordings filing sytem is helpful and easy to negotiate with recordings of series put into folders to reduce the number of pages that need to be scrolled.Now the niggles. The box does everything it says on the tin, but the information on the tin lets it down. It is always difficult to strike the balance between simplicity and over technicality, but, for me, a few important pieces of information were either missing or not fully explained by the instruction manual. For 300 quid, I expected more than a skimpy pretty booklet with too many pictures of DI Lewis and his sgt., reducing the space left for information that might be required. A couple of examples. The booklet says that if you are watching a programme and decide you want to record it, all you have to do is press the red record button. Well, yes, and no. If you have been watching it from the beginning, then yes. If you started to watch after the beginning, then recording starts from that point. If time and non-pictorial printing space in the booklet had been taken to explain that the system works on a recording a buffer that starts when you start watching, all would become clear and intuitive, and would also explain how the pause of live viewing works. Which raises another point. Yes, it's great to be able to paise to answer the phone, but when you restart, you are the length of your phone call behind real time. The booklet doesn't tell you how to catch up. >> works in a fashion, speeding up till you get to "now". >>] works better. Obvious when you think about it, but a sentence would save the bother of having to find out the hard way. When I installed the Humax, I had had to install a multiple LNB on the dish and run a second cable from the dish to the system, in order to watch one, record another. I was naturally keen to be sure that both sources were working. The "system information" / "signal info" option results are not explained in the booklet. The tuner strength and quality bars only refer to the tuner(s) that are drawing a signal form the dish. If you are watching live but not simulataneously recording, only the tuner in use will show the level/quality of signal, the other will show "NO SIGNAL". Likewise, if you are watching a recording rather than live channel, and not recordong, both tuners will show "NO SIGNAL". Only when you are simultanaeuosly viewing one and recording another will both tuner levels be shown. Pedantry maybe, but a few words (rather than pictures) wouls have saved me several days of doubt (which I resolved finally by installing a new dish).

I just love this piece of equipment. It is so easy to set up and use. We already had an old Sky satellite dish and the cable coming into the house and I just connected that cable into it, connected the HDMI lead to the TV, plugged into the mains and followed the instructions on screen. Really very easy to set up. The picture is fantastic and the HD channels are great. I have seen in other reviews people complaining about the remote being slow. The user manual doesn't mention this, and they are very hard to see, especially for someone like me, mid sixties but there are two plastic films, one on the outside of the front cover and another covering the glass panel and controls on the front of the box. Once these are removed the remote works perfectly. When I first bought this unit and pressed the "Guide" button on the remote the unit would freeze and I had to turn it off and on again at the wall socket to get it to work. Obviously I was very disappointed but I checked the internet and found that this is a problem with the software and although I had only bought this unit in July 2012 the software version was HPRSFCI 1.00.17 dated September 2011. I went to the Humax website and downloaded version HPRSFCI 1.00.20 dated 10th March 2012. This resolved that problem completely. Also last night it updated itself automatically to version HPRSFCI 1.00.21 and everything works perfectly. This unit is so easy to use, no monthly payments, wonderful picture quality and on HD channels its even better, it also looks good. I thoroughly recommend it. The user manual isn't very good at all but fortunately there is loads of information and tips online for this product.