Freeview+ vs Freesat

ruggedtoast

mrylandb wrote: »

This is a very topical for us as we have just given our notice in to SKY.

We were thinking of getting a freesat HDR box and I think there is a HUMAX one which is around £250 (depending on where you look)
Are there any thoughts on what is good hardware wise? We will have the dual feeds, so from a satellite dish perspective, we are covered.

Thanks

The Humax is ok. They are pretty dire with software updates though. Currently the EPG takes about 5 minutes to populate, there doesnt seem to be a better alternative and after the Freeview box I had I vowed never to buy Humax again but there isnt much else.

macman

Which software version are you running? I had that problem with the Humax 9300T initially, it was fixed well over a year ago by an OTA revision and is now not an issue-the EPG is cached to the hard drive.
The other early Hummy problem was excessive fan noise, also solved by an earlier OTA update.

almillar

You can get them for less than £250 these days, and there are different HDD sizes available. Will plug straight into where your Sky+ or SkyHD+ box was.
My EPG does NOT take 5 mins to load/populate. Do you unplug yours every night?

macman

almillar wrote: »

You can get them for less than £250 these days, and there are different HDD sizes available. Will plug straight into where your Sky+ or SkyHD+ box was.
My EPG does NOT take 5 mins to load/populate. Do you unplug yours every night?

if you do, then you won't get the OTA updates-it needs to be left in standby overnight (the wattage used is tiny).

ruggedtoast

macman wrote: »

Which software version are you running? I had that problem with the Humax 9300T initially, it was fixed well over a year ago by an OTA revision and is now not an issue-the EPG is cached to the hard drive.
The other early Hummy problem was excessive fan noise, also solved by an earlier OTA update.

It was fixed a year ago, after about 6 months of being completely broken!

Latest software version on this Humax HDR, but slow EPG seems to affect everyone according to the digitalspy forums.

I prefer Freeview tbh but we've just moved and the signal is too weak here so we have Freesat instead.

macman

I can only say that my Humax has had no such problem since the upgrade.

almillar

Sorry macman - I asked a question without indicating the correct answer, which you provided, box should be left in standby, otherwise you won't get any updates, or of course, record anything in the middle of the night!
My question was because of the EPG slowness - from a cold start the box will inevitably take a while to load all that information from the satellite - same on a Sky box or any Freesat or Freeview box.
My Humax does NOT load the EPG slowly - 7 days ahead.