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Freesat, the downside?
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For me, the only shortcoming with the Humax FreeSat-HDR is the 320 GB size of its hard drive. Humax describes that as "huge"; we found it limiting.
To get the best out of one, you need to upgrade its hard drive to 1 TB (I used a Western Digital) and then attach another 1 TB external hard drive to its rear USB port.
Lord knows how people manage with the 160 GB drive supplied in a Sky HD box.
Don't laugh at banana republics. :rotfl:
As a result of how you voted in the last three General Elections,
you'd now be better off living in one.
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For me, the only shortcoming with the Humax FreeSat-HDR is the 320 GB size of its hard drive. Humax describes that as "huge"; we found it limiting.
To get the best out of one, you need to upgrade its hard drive to 1 TB (I used a Western Digital) and then attach another 1 TB external hard drive to its rear USB port.
Lord knows how people manage with the 160 GB drive supplied in a Sky HD box.
Personally I don't store a lot of stuff but I do agree that it is a pretty small drive, but the lack of space has not caused me any problems - yet!0 -
My Pace Twin (AFAIK the first freeview recorder) came with a 20gb drive!
Anyway - Jake's Gran - you want to be able to record TV and you're not bothered about the channel lineup. You want to be able to record. With a decent aerial, you can get a Freeview recorder for less than £100, or with a dish installed, you can have a FreesatHD recorder for £243. Sky won't be good value as you'll be paying for channels you're not using.0 -
For me, the only shortcoming with the Humax FreeSat-HDR is the 320 GB size of its hard drive. Humax describes that as "huge"; we found it limiting.
To get the best out of one, you need to upgrade its hard drive to 1 TB (I used a Western Digital) and then attach another 1 TB external hard drive to its rear USB port.
Lord knows how people manage with the 160 GB drive supplied in a Sky HD box.
Goodgod you'd be better of just copying the stuff off the box and setting up a media server0 -
For me, the only shortcoming with the Humax FreeSat-HDR is the 320 GB size of its hard drive. Humax describes that as "huge"; we found it limiting.
To get the best out of one, you need to upgrade its hard drive to 1 TB (I used a Western Digital) and then attach another 1 TB external hard drive to its rear USB port.
Lord knows how people manage with the 160 GB drive supplied in a Sky HD box.
160GB is more than what you get with a V+ box, well its the same but it dont feel alot0 -
For me, the only shortcoming with the Humax FreeSat-HDR is the 320 GB size of its hard drive. Humax describes that as "huge"; we found it limiting.
To get the best out of one, you need to upgrade its hard drive to 1 TB (I used a Western Digital) and then attach another 1 TB external hard drive to its rear USB port.
Lord knows how people manage with the 160 GB drive supplied in a Sky HD box.
If the HD was "limiting" what were you using it for? I'm astonished that this thread grew so much but it has helped me decide; I will have a DVD recorder.That will be more useful to me.. And then.....my SIL said yesterday that it won't be long before DVDs are obsolete and we will all be watching TV via our computer screens!.0 -
Jake'sGran wrote: »If the HD was "limiting" what were you using it for? I'm astonished that this thread grew so much but it has helped me decide; I will have a DVD recorder.That will be more useful to me.. And then.....my SIL said yesterday that it won't be long before DVDs are obsolete and we will all be watching TV via our computer screens!.
And there was me watching "The Thick of It "on iplayer this very day.....
On my PC as opposed to on the TV through the Wii or PS30 -
Jake'sGran,Jake'sGran wrote: »
If the HD was "limiting" what were you using it for? I'm astonished that this thread grew so much but it has helped me decide; I will have a DVD recorder.That will be more useful to me.. And then.....my SIL said yesterday that it won't be long before DVDs are obsolete and we will all be watching TV via our computer screens!.
It wasn't the HD (High Definition) that was limiting, it was the size of the HDD (hard disc drive). High Definition television, when recorded, creates much larger files than Standard Definition television and a 320 GB hard drive starts to run out of space quite quickly.
It's not surprising that this thread attracted much comment; its title is somewhat provocative. Those who like FreeSat were bound to defend it, those who pay a lot of money to Sky, instead, like to re-assure themselves that doing so is worthwhile and those in ignorance or denial of FreeSat HD's picture quality like to bolster their prejudice against buying one.
The most important thing is that it has produced enough discussion to enable you to make an informed decision.
cyberbob,Goodgod you'd be better of just copying the stuff off the box and setting up a media server
FreeSat HD works in a way of which you may, perhaps, be unaware.
The BBC does not encrypt its HD signal but it does flag it. A Humax FoxSat-HDR box, when in FeeSat mode (as opposed to Set-Top Box mode) spots the flag and (unlike SD signals) encrypts any HD signal before recording it on its internal hard drive.
You can only watch these encrypted recordings from the internal hard drive. Unlike SD recordings, if you archive them off (through the USB port) to an external hard drive and then try to play them back from there, they are unwatchable: you would have to copy them back on to the internal hard drive before the Humax box would let you view them. (This is for HD copyright reasons.)
So, in practice, you archive-off your SD recordings (via the USB port) on to a conventional external hard drive and watch them from there. This leaves the internal hard drive free to store HD recordings.
There are two ways round this. If you switch the Humax box to Set-Top Box mode (instead of FreeSat mode), then switch it off and re-boot it, it will start up in pure Set-Top Box mode. That enables you to make an unencrypted HD recording, manually, on to the internal hard drive. Such an unencrypted HD recording can then be archived-off, via the USB port, to an external hard drive and be played back from there. It's a useful measure if there's something you particularly want to record unencrypted, but it's a crude, hands-on process and, all the while, the FreeSat facilities are switched off (so, there's no EPG and nothing that you may have programmed into its memory will be recorded until you switch the box back into FreeSat mode).
The second solution is to disconnect the internal hard drive itself, drill a hole through the back of the box, extend the leads that previously connected to the internal hard drive, run these out through the hole in the back of the box and than connect them to a docking device which enables you to swap hard drives at will: the Humax box will think they are the internal drive and make HD recordings on them.
The latter is the more satisfactory solution but I'm not going to do that to my own FoxSat-HDR box until its warranty expires, next January!
I did investigate putting an even larger (1.5 TB or 2 TB) into the thing as its internal drive but, as far as I can ascertain, the box itself will not address or work with a drive of greater capacity than 1 TB (at least with the current firmware).
I hope that clarifies things!
Don't laugh at banana republics. :rotfl:
As a result of how you voted in the last three General Elections,
you'd now be better off living in one.
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^^^^
"It's not surprising that this thread attracted much comment; its title is somewhat provocative. Those who like FreeSat were bound to defend it, those who pay a lot of money to Sky, instead, like to re-assure themselves that doing so is worthwhile and those in ignorance or denial of FreeSat HD's picture quality like to bolster their prejudice against buying one."
Not sure why you continue to use the provocative and demeaning language about those who do not use Freesat?
The Sky platform offers the largest number of channels both in HD and SD - should you wish to avail yourself of these then there is a ongoing subscription cost.
Freesat involves a one off capital cost and a very small number of HD channels. The number of HD channels is expected to increase.
Freeview involves a one off capital cost and no HD channels (as yet generally available) and a different line up of channels than Freesat
There is also the cable (Virgin) option should it be available to anyone
FreesatfromSky is another optionbut only carries SD
Personally the programmes I choose to watch are not available to me on any platform other than Sky, so the choice is pay or not watch. I choose to pay.
Some money - not a lot.
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With respect, I think you're seeing fire where none exists.
My comment which you quote was a studiously neutral observation, entirely devoid of any provocative and/or demeaning language.
Perceiving it otherwise smacks of paranoia.
Don't laugh at banana republics. :rotfl:
As a result of how you voted in the last three General Elections,
you'd now be better off living in one.
0
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