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Freesat’s new service <free time> was announced on Tuesday and whilst the presentation gave us a good idea what the service will do, many questions were left for us all to speculate on. I’ve worked my way through all the comments posted here and on other forums and put the best of them to Freesat.
I did ask to make it somewhat of a quick fire round as I know they are extremely busy yet remain very generous to me with their time, including Emma who was getting on a plane to the IBC trade show at the time!
Freesat have kindly responded with the following which should hopefully cover most of what was asked. Actually impressed with the replies, very positive on the whole and looking forward to the new service:
Q. Will the fancy new EPG run off the satellite signal if no broadband connection available?
A. Yes, although the backward guide, On Demand services and the On Demand recommendations within Showcase would not be available without broadband.
Q. Will the on-demand services/EPG run off broadband when no satellite signal available?
A. The box requires a satellite signal at all times. EPG Updates are obtained via satellite but will switch to broadband if its available.
Q. Is there a HD category in the TV Guide?
A. There is no HD genre, but the short synopsis of programmes asks if viewers would like to view a programme in HD/SD HD filter; there is an automatic HD folder for recordings.
Q. Can you record from the on-demand/Youtube services?
A. Not at launch, but we are looking at this for the future. Boxes are capable of this, but it is dependent on the external services.
Q. Are the on-demand services HTML format so full iPlayer (like on PC)?
A. IPlayer is HTML-5 but ITV player is MHEG5 – for now. The beauty of the UI is that we can switch between our new HTML presentation environment and the MHEG 5 environment seamlessly.
Q. What is the minimum broadband speed recommendation?
A. 2mb per second as defined by the on demand services.
Q. Does the Humax support SRC (one tuner full functionality)?
A. The Humax box has been designed to support SCR, providing the home installation supports it too, but this functionality is not currently available but can be enabled via a future OAD.
Q. Will the HDMI port/cable carry 5.1 Dolby Sound?
A. Yes.
Q. Can recordings be transferred to USB?
A. <free time> does not currently support shifting content off the HDD to USB. However, this is not a hardware limitation and
Q. Is DiSEqC supported? Which version if so?
A. Yes. The product searches DiSEqC automatically and it supports up to DiSEqC 2.0.
Q. Any plans for the included CI slot or that just a Humax addition?
A. CI+ is part of the defined specification. We do plan to offer additional and optional, pay VOD services in the future.
September 6th, 2012 at 5:07 pm
I don’t like the one about USB recordings. I was planning to move my existing Humax box into another room and then buy the new one for my main TV. I was rather hoping to be able to copy programs between the 2 boxes via USB stick from time to time if I wanted to watch something I’d recorded on one STB on the other one.
That depended on the .ts file format remaining unchanged, however the answer to the question here (very helpful these, by the way, well done to all concerned) makes me think that there’s some kind of protection identifying the device it was recorded on and that stuffs up my plans.
I’d still like to know if the Humax has any streaming functionality as that might have the seed of a way around this issue…
Andy ClaytonQuote
September 6th, 2012 at 5:13 pm
Can I just say thank you admin for all the work that you have done this week to keep us all updated. I must say that I’m quite impressed with what I have seen and it’s great to see it launching. Whilst some people are moaning change is inevitable ro protect the viability of the platform. I personally think that should be good for the platform, bringing new viewers and in the end probably more free and paid services to go with it which ultimately should please both the ‘free tv’ and ‘pay tv’ camps.
Mark WhiteQuote
September 6th, 2012 at 5:57 pm
Hi All,
I have to agree with Mark White @post 2 & say thanks to admin for providing us all with info about Freetime/G2 that even satellite professionals cant always get answers about, well done guys !
Mark Aberfan Aerials
Mark Aberfan AerialsQuote
September 6th, 2012 at 6:32 pm
hi, i would like to buy freesat tv’s for kitchen & bedrooms 26 or 32 inch, shame there are not more tv’s with freesat built in. will freetime be possible built in to a tv?
antonyQuote
September 6th, 2012 at 6:38 pm
I can see that this will be down to the software, I wouldn’t expect one to cross over to the other. I bet the Video Converters will soon have a solution though. Good intial info, thanks team.
Steve MackieQuote
September 6th, 2012 at 6:52 pm
In the future, it’s possible, yes, though not sure there will be smaller ones. In the immediate future? No.
MuzerQuote
September 6th, 2012 at 8:08 pm
Hi Antony,
I’ve been banging on about this for some years now ! If Argos can sell a sd box with its own case psu scart lead packaging etc for £27 then why the hell cant Vestel / beko etc supply a smaller kitchen/bedroom tv with a freesat daughterboard fitted which would not require a case packaging scart lead psu etc for a reasonable price ?
I cant see any reason why, other than the manufacturers are trying to force us all to buy premium grade kit if we want freesat, G2 kit will cost more but why a manufacturer cant get approval for a Freesat daughter board which could then be fitted accross a whole range of tv’s of different sizes & specs is beyond me
Mark Aberfan Aerials
Mark Aberfan AerialsQuote
September 6th, 2012 at 8:11 pm
But would you really want a Argos (Bush) board of any kind made up of used parts!!!!
adminQuote
September 6th, 2012 at 11:36 pm
Hi Admin,
For the asking price I think they are a fair offer ! but what I would really like is more choice !
Mark Aberfan Aerials
Mark Aberfan AerialsQuote
September 6th, 2012 at 11:39 pm
Most average people just buy any box as long its cheap as chips certainly in these tough economic times regardless if its any good or not
steve 1Quote
September 7th, 2012 at 7:34 am
will the remote from the Humax HDR work the box, have pre-ordered the box from Currys, i have my present Humax HDR in the front room and also have AEI DX2000 5.8GHz DigiSender connected to it and then in the back room tv, so i can watch recordings when i am at my PC in another room, i purchased a second original Humax HDR Remote so i didnt have to keep takin it from room to room, so am hoping with it being Humax it will work with the box
Mark DyerQuote
September 7th, 2012 at 7:39 am
Agreed, some of them are priced extremely low so customers buy them, but with the Bush/Goodmans/Grundig receivers having a return/failure rate of 80%, and all new boxes sold are re-builds of faulty bits, I’m surprised anyone bothers. Wouldn’t buy one even if it was free!!!!!!!!!!
adminQuote
September 7th, 2012 at 7:44 am
Probably not, different coding but you could ask Humax. Pre-ordered from Currys? They’ll release at the rrp; you could probably save £30 buying from an independent like Satbuyer.
adminQuote
September 7th, 2012 at 9:27 am
I thought people would say its a snobbish comment but it true.if you are not into your gadgets I am afraid people will be buying these boxes.
steve 1Quote
September 7th, 2012 at 9:40 am
I know I am a hate figure on this site(over the top comment)now I am on freeview but I still think freesat is a great platform. I was a former user I have a humax t2 freeview hd 1tb pvr now and you can buy a WiFi dongle but only for freeview humax.good idea but why alienate freesat? If you got hspda super 3g on your mobile is it good enough to run the humax dongle? On my HTC Desire s you can turn it into a wi fi hot spot could I run the humax off it?
steve 1Quote
September 7th, 2012 at 9:54 am
Hi Mark could you shed any light on my questions @ no.15 thanks
steve 1Quote
September 7th, 2012 at 10:28 am
Its a shame that for those of us that dont have broadband speeds of 2Mb that there isnt an option to download the ondemand content onto the HDD in the humax box to watch once downloaded rather than it being streamed. A bit like what BBC Iplayer have just released for mobile devices like the ipad etc.
Oh well, maybe in the G3 spec…….
CraigQuote
September 7th, 2012 at 11:52 am
yeah i will ask them and see what they say and also i saved £10 from currys with a discount code and free delivery and also got cashback from topcashback so all in all not a bad deal…..
Mark DyerQuote
September 7th, 2012 at 1:58 pm
Hi Steve 1
Re@15, I don’t see why not as long as you have decent reception & speed, I use my galaxy note as a hotspot regularly & stream tv using its broadband. I haven’t used it exactly as yoou describe as I no longer have a Humax, but streaming tv is a similar use.
Mark Aberfan Aerials
Mark Aberfan AerialsQuote
September 7th, 2012 at 2:02 pm
Ok thanks mark
steve 1Quote
September 7th, 2012 at 4:39 pm
New ‘bells and whistles’ – an interesting way to move backwards and forwards through the SAME content.
Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for some new HD content now that the summer of sport is nearly over.
Keith CobbyQuote
September 7th, 2012 at 6:37 pm
Emailed humax and received reply as below.
We cannot confirm at present until we have further details sent over to us from management.
Mark DyerQuote
September 7th, 2012 at 6:53 pm
I emailed humax and they say it won’t work I am confused as you can stream you tube etc.and I have WiFi hotspot on my phone and I do have 3g at home
steve 1Quote
September 7th, 2012 at 9:09 pm
I too would like to thank admin for the great work they put in to bring us all the updates available on freesat I would recommend this site to anyone who was interested in buying freesat once again thanks
MartinQuote
September 8th, 2012 at 11:24 am
Yes thanks for the great work this week admin.
BTW 3 more BBC1 HD’s coming soon. See update scan.
Richard CrichtonQuote
September 8th, 2012 at 12:41 pm
can i ask 1 further question, as i am upgrading to the box i have recordings on my humax hdr is there any way i can transfer them to usb pen, some are in HD and therefore will possibly exceed 4.1GB…..
Mark DyerQuote
September 8th, 2012 at 5:05 pm
HD? Definitely not. SD? Perhaps, but quite possibly not.
MuzerQuote
September 8th, 2012 at 9:34 pm
Hi Steve,
I dont know why they have said that, It’s possible that customer service did not understand the question.
As far as I know a hotspot or wifi router is just a hotspot or wifi router, it does not matter if 3g /4g / wimax/cable/fiber optic supplys the broadband internet service, the way it comunicates with dongles tablets etc is std wifi & that is pretty universal.
Mark Aberfan Aerials
Mark Aberfan AerialsQuote
September 9th, 2012 at 12:49 am
I think they was airing on the side of caution they might of meant a landline will work more smoothly and a mobile network (3g) is asking a lot to run a faultless connection
steve 1Quote
September 9th, 2012 at 12:52 am
I do have the fastest 3g (hspa)
steve 1Quote
September 9th, 2012 at 9:10 am
USB 3.0 would have been nice considering there are lots of drives that now support it.
Also, I think PTV services are a bad idea. Slippery slope to Sky Mark II and good bye free channels.
Al (Original)Quote
September 10th, 2012 at 4:46 pm
steve 1 – I have had good results with iPlayer etc in the past using a 3 HSPA+ Mifi device (E586). In our rural village it would reach 6mbit/s quite happily. Mileage will of course vary.
This was not a freetime box, but I cannot see the requirements differing greatly.
dombQuote
September 10th, 2012 at 6:12 pm
Hi what do you mean by not a freetime box?I just want to be clear.also living in a rural area are you on 3 mobile by any chance?
steve 1Quote
September 10th, 2012 at 6:14 pm
Sorry you did say 3
steve 1Quote
September 10th, 2012 at 8:15 pm
I did live out in the country and 3 was the only network to have 3g hspa at my old home address
steve 1Quote
September 11th, 2012 at 6:39 pm
BTW, just noticed there was never a story about The Deal Channel launching (replacing Ideal & More) – ah well.
MuzerQuote
September 11th, 2012 at 7:18 pm
Fashion One has been announced as launching on Freesat and Sky. It is currently testing off-EPG on the FS home TP.
http://www.fashionone.com/press/2012/07/28/fashion-one-london-correspondent-search/
MuzerQuote
September 11th, 2012 at 7:40 pm
Lets hope they get the aspect ratio sorted out prior to launch on either platform
RoscoQuote
September 12th, 2012 at 5:02 pm
If you format the USB device as ext3 rather than FAT then you’ll be able to transfer files onto it that are greater than 4GB. The HD ones will only play back on the device you recorded the program originally though. I doubt you’ll have many SD files over 4.1GB…
John HQuote
September 13th, 2012 at 10:06 pm
Cheers for that i shall endeavour to try that out…. so even tho i transfer them to USB they wont play on anythin but the humax it was recorded on, will i not b able to transfer it to my new freetime box when it arrives…
Mark DyerQuote
September 14th, 2012 at 9:47 am
I can certainly play SD files from my Humax HDR on other devices – and also play them back on the same Humax machine when they have been returned to the hard drive. Whether they will play back on the new freetime box, that is the question.
I have never managed to play back HD files on other devices, so I think that it’s very doubtful that these could be transferred.
That said, moving files on and off these boxes is painfully slow, so even if it was possible to transfer them to the new freetime box, it might be more trouble than it is worth….
lawrence PearceQuote
September 14th, 2012 at 2:17 pm
You’d probably only transfer them once on to the USB drive. Once they’re on the drive you can play them back without transferring them on to the box. That’s how I archive my stuff anyway; bung it onto an old drive in a USB enclosure and then plug it back in when I want to watch anything on it. This works for HD broadcasts as well as I’m playing back on the machine I recorded it on. I imagine (for SD) that would work on the new box as well. It does take time to copy files on to the drive though. If it’s a few movies and a series of stuff then I leave it overnight. I can’t remember even copying stuff *back* onto the Humax box though; it’s never seemed necessary…
John HQuote
September 17th, 2012 at 9:14 am
does any1 know the exact release date for the freetime box yet, have had mine on order for almost 2 weeks… impatient i know but cant wait to check it out
Mark DyerQuote
September 18th, 2012 at 6:26 pm
seems i got my answer, received email from Currys today stating been delay and they not receiving stock till week commencing 8th august… may have to cancel and get refund and see if can source it cheaper elsewhere…. think some1 mentioned another place earlier in this thread will look back
Mark DyerQuote
September 19th, 2012 at 10:33 am
Hope it’s not August as stated above thats 11 mts away
And on another quick point why is it on SKY freesat they have sony and pick tv and on our freesat we don’t
Dave wQuote
September 20th, 2012 at 10:49 am
oops typo mant October lol
have cancelled order with Currys and have re-ordered via Satbuyer…and they have also informed me release is week commencing 8th October, but i do believe it will be cheaper than i had it pre-ordered with Currys
, and yes i always wondered y freesat dont have pick tv, freeview have it but the sky basic box has pick tv and +1
Mark DyerQuote
September 29th, 2012 at 8:02 pm
Cello, the UK TV manufacturer is planning a range of small-screen satellite-receiving TVs, not sure they will be formally Freesat. http://www.celloelectronics.com/news/details/23/Not_all_TVs_travel_this_well
AndrewQuote
October 15th, 2012 at 1:11 pm
Hi,
Will freetime work on a box that is based outside of the UK? Obviously computers outside the UK cant use BBC iplayer etc…..
Just want to know if anyone knows the answer to this?
JeffQuote
October 23rd, 2012 at 9:13 am
No wifi built-in for the 1TB version.
adminQuote
November 13th, 2012 at 3:22 pm
I have panasonic Freesat tv. tx32lzd81, what do i need so i can receive Freetime
regards S. Wood.
Stephen WoodQuote
December 29th, 2012 at 3:14 pm
can i use a samsung freesat smt s7800 in spain with my 1.9 metre dish
daveQuote
January 9th, 2013 at 5:46 pm
A couple of years ago there was a wide range of Tv,s in various sizes made by at least 2 manufacturers with Freesat built in i should know i bought an LG 32″ with Freesat(!Bush?never seen one).They were available from all the major high street retailers including Argos,obviously some corporate bright spark realised that they weren’t maximizing profit by selling Tv’s with Freesat built in and far more profit could be made by making Joe Public go out and buy a seperate box.
The voice of reason.Quote