Freeview HD/Freesat HD deals discussion

NewlySingle

If you're near Corby then the Clearance Bargains place had some Panasonic DMR-XS350's for £299.
trustedreviews.com/home-cinema/review/2009/06/28/Panasonic-DMR-XS350---Freesat-DVD---HDD-Recorder/p1
"The DMR-XS350 can record high- and standard-definition programmes from its twin Freesat tuners onto the 250GB hard-disk using the 14Mbps Direct Recording (DR) mode. This captures the digital broadcast bitstream (including 5.1-channel sound, subtitles and Audio Description), which means there's no deterioration in picture quality when you record, unlike most DVD/HDD combis which have to decode the data first."
Came out at a jaw dropping £600 so £299 seems reasonable. There were the odd one or two ex-display/refurbished ones at Richer Sounds for £199 too

everett_psycho

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HUMAX-HD-FOXT2-HD-FV-RECIEVER-BRAND-NEW-SALE-PRICE_W0QQitemZ320612128640QQcategoryZ96964QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m263QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DSIC%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D10%26pmod%3D320610216188%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D4713281659898904803

I got this humax HD-Fox T2 from this company on ebay, comes to £79 delivered which i thought was a cracking deal for this as it's £120 at its cheapest elsewhere. Also if you update the firmware and buy a usb hard drive it becomes a single tuner PVR that is pretty decent all for just over £100. I'm very happy getting my 4 HD channels now

MRGANNET

SavingSteve wrote: »

That's right, sky charge a tenner a month just to keep thr recording.

Over a few years it might be more cost effective to buy a recordable freesat box, cost almost 200 upfront but no monthly fee.

Excuse my ignorance, but how would this work? Would I need to have the sky box connected as well as the standalone freesat recorder or could the recorder be hooked up directly to the skydish?

everett_psycho

MRGANNET wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance, but how would this work? Would I need to have the sky box connected as well as the standalone freesat recorder or could the recorder be hooked up directly to the skydish?

if you replace your sky+ box with a freesat+ box it would receive the free channels and work exactly as your sky+ box does without paying any monthly fee's and you'd get the ITV1 BBC1 and BBC HD channels too. Over a year and a half you'd save money and some of them also receive iplayer through your internet

veronarona

everett_psycho wrote: »

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HUMAX-HD-FOXT2-HD-FV-RECIEVER-BRAND-NEW-SALE-PRICE_W0QQitemZ320612128640QQcategoryZ96964QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m263QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DSIC%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D10%26pmod%3D320610216188%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D4713281659898904803

I got this humax HD-Fox T2 from this company on ebay

Your link isn't working for me, Everett (Yes it is, it's my internet connection that's flaky tonight.)

As for the "update", is this a standard Humax issue or did you have to get a something written by an enthusiast, IYKWIM? (Though I wouldn't have thought that Humax's workings would be open source.)

veronarona

Dan2310

Sorry if this has already been posted but last week I bought the Goodmans freeview HD box from Comet for £49.99. It doesn't beat the price of the tesco refurb boxes (when available) but the quality seems really really good from it. It also has a really clear tv guide and menu on it.

I would totally recommend this box to anyone who wants to experience freeview HD. It is £50 for just four channels (BBC HD, BBC1 HD, ITV HD, C4 HD) but youve got them for life once you have paid that £50, plus you can just update it when more channels become available!
http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/611670/GOODMANS-GDB300HD

veronarona

everett_psycho wrote: »

I got this humax HD-Fox T2 .........if you update the firmware and buy a usb hard drive it becomes a single tuner PVR

(1) Why do you have to update the firmware, Everett?

(2) Should this work with any HD STB?

I have a cheapo Technika HD STB (works fine) and just hadn't thought of trying to record from it, but now that you've mentioned it, it's logical that you can record from them - but I can't get my head around the procedure for recording to an external drive when there will be no "Record" instruction on the box.

'Scuse my ignorance I'd really appreciate being educated - PM me if you don't want to clutter up the thread... if you have time

veronarona

everett_psycho

veronarona wrote: »

Your link isn't working for me, Everett (Yes it is, it's my internet connection that's flaky tonight.)

As for the "update", is this a standard Humax issue or did you have to get a something written by an enthusiast, IYKWIM? (Though I wouldn't have thought that Humax's workings would be open source.)

veronarona

The firmware I'm running is the humax beta one from their website, but as of Wednesday they've pushed a new full one out through and over the air update that will do it, i've just not had time to update to it yet.

veronarona wrote: »

(1) Why do you have to update the firmware, Everett?

(2) Should this work with any HD STB?

I have a cheapo Technika HD STB (works fine) and just hadn't thought of trying to record from it, but now that you've mentioned it, it's logical that you can record from them - but I can't get my head around the procedure for recording to an external drive when there will be no "Record" instruction on the box.

'Scuse my ignorance I'd really appreciate being educated - PM me if you don't want to clutter up the thread... if you have time

veronarona

1) You need to update the firmware as the old one wasn't capable, it's a new feature launched officially this week, if you plug the box in and search for update in the menus it should find one, if not its easily downloadable from the humax website and put on a memory stick to install it from, they supply instruction in the zip file.

2) it's only the humax, it is a humax STB and their firmware, they said it would do this at some point from the launch of it, it's always had a record button on their remote

veronarona

everett_psycho wrote: »

it's only the humax, it is a humax STB and their firmware, they said it would do this at some point from the launch of it, it's always had a record button on their remote

You've reminded me that I still have, hanging around somewhere here, a Wharfedale SD STB which allowed scheduling of recordings - very useful in the old VCR days.

Thanks a lot for all that info

veronarona

BigDaveB

I found this deal. Seems ok and the receiver records Freesat too. Satgear HD Satellite Kit and HD Receiver for under 120.00:T

Its on the satgear website, I have ordered one, so will update everyone on how it goes.