recommend freesat pvr

winalot2

could anyone recommend a good freesat pvr? i am looking to get a dish installed and was thinking of the new humax but have read that it has a lot of bugs. i don't need hd or stuff like 4od and bbc player (though youtube would be good) but need a player that doesn't stall or miss recordings and crash - any recommendation would be great.

scotsbob

http://www.freesat.co.uk/products/freesat-box-range

Every model will have its devotees. I would suggest you look at the user forums for the models you are interested in and see what people are discussing, especially any bugs/issues/complaints people have. That is as good a guide as you will get.

almillar

I would say unless you're going to research the other boxes to find out their quirks, stick with the Humax Foxsat HDR, or if you want the fancier stuff, the new Humax Freetime box. Humax are good about squishing bugs with updates.

terrierlady

another vote for humax so easy to operate too

macman

The Humax Foxsat comes with HD as standard anyway, as the 4 HD channels are part of the normal Freesat line up.
It's the only one worth considering.

winalot2

thanks guys - is the 1000s less buggy than the foxsat would you say?

macman

I have a Foxsat and have never found it buggy. I prefer the Humax Freeview interface overall, and I find the time that the Foxsat takes to delete recordings is irritating. You can only do one at a time. Otherwise it's fine.

GlynD

Humax works fine for me and was the choice of the BBC when issuing Freeview boxes to the needy during the switchover.

almillar

winalot2 - the Humax Foxsat HDR is not considered to be buggy - is your box completely up to date?
macman - I guess you're looking for a tick-box, then delete system - can't helf there, but you do know that you can press that rarely used OPT+ button whilst in Media, which will then allow you to delete entire folders at a time...

winalot2

hi almillar i don't have anything yet - including a dish - i have a quote to install one for £110 so am totally new to this.
is there any advantage to these "amiko alien" boxes - or is this horribly complicated? my concerns are getting/recording a maximum amount of channels bug free and i have no need for hd or catch up services.

i've previously used topfield and digifusion pvrs which have worked quite well (until they haven't!) so am hoping for a similar functionality. my topfield is all over the place at the moment (i've had the caps fixed) but keeps rebooting/stopping midway and as i would need to get an aerial in new property anyway to get decent reception think i will take the leap into satellite.

good to hear the old foxsat isn't buggy...i understand the new one (1000s) is pretty bad?

almillar

That amiko alien thing is just a generic satellite tuner, and I would say it's really for satellite geeks who want to point their dish at different satellites to get foreign streams. Foxsat HDR is part of the Freesat platform bringing the stability and user friendliness you seem to want. They would certainly be on a par (if not quite as geeky/customisable) as a Topfield, which are always held in high regard.
I would say this 1000 one may have some bugs now, but they would get ironed out, but then someone has said there's a hardware problem, and that's more tricky. I've only got experience of the Foxsat HDR though so can't really comment on others.