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Just a reminder that Dixons are still offering the exclusive 10% off Freesat receivers until the end of this month, incase you are considering a purchase soon. The Humax is probably the best buy with only the Grundig HD also in stock. Hopefully the standard-definition receivers will be available before the discount expiries!

Simply visit Dixons Online and enter discount code ‘10DIGI‘ at checkout.

Humax FOXSAT-HD was £149.99, with discount £135.49
Grundig GUFSAT01HD was £149.99, with discount £135.49
Goodmans GFSAT200HD was £119.99, with discount £108.49 (presently out of stock)
Goodmans GFSAT100SD was £49.99, with discount £45.49 (presently out of stock)

These are online exclusives, not available in the shops, but certainly the best prices currently available.

We’ve had quite a number of you suggest that once the price of the Panasonic 42″ drops sub £1,000 you’d buy. Well that time has come, prices have been steadily dropping over the past few weeks and with the help of a discount, Laskys have reached that milestone.

Panasonic TH42PZ81B 42in - was £1,049.99 - now £997.49 (save £52.50)

Enter discount code ‘JULPANA‘ at checkout to apply the 5% discount.

No doubt prices will continue to drop, but for such a high brand high quality unit as this, with the in-built Freesat tuner too, this is certainly a price not to be missed.

We’ve been given an official update on the Humax Freesat PVR. A big thanks to both Humax and Wildfire for this information. Whilst some will see this as nothing more than already knew, its good to atleast have updates and we can fully appreciate that Humax cannot commit to certain promises such as release date.

Humax has assigned one of its top development teams to the Freesat digital television recorder and they have completed the first stages of software integration and finalised the hardware design. Once testing of this stage of development is complete the more advanced features for Freesat will be worked on and tested.

Because of the complex nature of the development of such an advanced recorder product Humax will dedicate an appropriate period to ensuring the good operation and stability of the product before releasing to market. It is currently estimated that the product will be available suitably in advance of the Christmas 2008 season.

The product will be a twin tuner satellite recorder with an appropriately large capacity hard disk, although the exact size has yet to be finalised. The connectivity will be identical to the FOXSAT-HD, but unlike the FOXSAT-HD it will not have an analogue component output.

Atleast now we can be fairly confident of release later this year, and the connectivity will match the FOXSAT-HD.

Humax have said they do not wish to discuss prices, even after launch, as these are determined by the retailer/freesat and to be seen to be given a price indication would give the impression of dictating the market. Fair enough!

Laskys have provided us with a discount code to gain 5% off the whole Panasonic Freesat Plasma range. Laskys are part of the Comet group and already offer some of the very best prices around (see our right column for comparisons). We’ve seen a few of you mention buying once the price drops below £1,000, and whilst this offer falls short by a couple of quid, its got to be worth a purchase.

Please use the links below, entering discount code ‘JULPANA‘ at checkout. This offer ends 3rd August 2008.

Panasonic TH42PZ81B 42in - was £1,054.99 - now £1,002.24 (save £52.75)
Panasonic TH46PZ81B 46in - was £1,394.99 - now £1,325.24 (save £69.75)
Panasonic TH50PZ81B 50in - was £1,699.99 - now £1,614.99 (save £85.00)

We’ve had an official response from Humax on this issue, which we wanted to share with you. The response came through Louise at Wildfire, the PR agency for Humax. The statement itself is from Bob Hannent, Chief Technologist of Humax Electronics Co Ltd.

Humax is aware that some users of the FOXSAT-HD have experienced an issue with lip-sync on Dolby 5.1 broadcasts and we want to reassure our customers that we are working hard to resolve this.

We’ve collected data from the emails and phone calls that we have received from our users and, with the cooperation of Freesat and engineers at the BBC, our engineers are analysing this in order to solve the problem as quickly as possible.

Humax remains committed to providing best in class digital TV products and we welcome constructive feedback from our users to help us better understand any problems. The best way to contact us directly is by emailing the Humax team at freesat@humax-digital.co.uk.

Assuming that Bob Hannent is bob_cat, ex-contributor from DigitalSpy, we’d welcome him sending any news to us (through your PR agency if required) and we’ll post them on here for all to see and discuss.

We’ve somewhat avoided posting regarding this issue in the hope that a fix was only days away, but still we wait. The issue itself is affected most, if not all Humax FOXSAT-HD Freesat Digital Box owners. On channels such as BBC HD, viewers are experiencing a delay between picture and sound, in some cases up to 2 second out; via both HDMI and Optical.

Our poll (to date) suggests that 59% of you have opted for a Humax receiver, so how are you coping with this problem? Do you consider it a major issue, enough of an issue to return the unit, or just waiting in the hope of a fix soon? Do you even regret the decision to buy, and wish you’d have purchased an Alba made box instead?

We asked for an official response from Humax some weeks ago, and have yet to receive a response (disappointing!), we’ve also noticed that their participation on the DigitalSpy forum has stopped, after being subjected to a lot of questions and concerns regarding the issue. The lucky ones that have received responses from Humax have told of mixed answers, from “its not our box but your television” to “yes we are aware of the problem and are working on to resolve”.

We highly recommend that if you are experiencing problems, you email Humax informing them of your television setup, examples of the problem and hopefully if we get a few hundred/thousand responses from here, we’ll be able to help them in taking responsibility and getting fixed as a top priority; for the good of freesat!

Dixons are offering an exclusive 10% off all Freesat boxes for the month of July.

Simply visit Dixons Online and enter discount code ‘10DIGI‘ at checkout.

Humax FOXSAT-HD was £149.99, with discount £134.99
Grundig GUFSAT01HD was £149.99, with discount £134.99
Goodmans GFSAT200HD was £119.99, with discount £107.99
Goodmans GFSAT100SD was £49.99, with discount £44.99

The eagely anticipated software update for the Alba Freesat Digital Boxes (Grundig, Bush and Goodmans) is now live. The latest version is 1.4.33 and includes the ability to add FTA channels not presently available in the Freesat EPG.

The update will automatically be downloaded onto your box via the satellite, or you can manually download if you wish.

If you have an Alba box, do let us know your comments on the update. We are being told its a fantastic update. Great news for all Alba Freesat owners, and a good alternative to the Humax box.

Humax have today released updates for the Humax FOXSAT-HD to improve a few areas of concern. The update is 1.00.10 and went live this morning. Your hummy will receive the update overnight, or alternatively you can manually update by selecting “automatic update” from the ’setup’ menu.

The update is said to improve the lip-sync issue, as well as screen ratio and picture formats, plus others.

A full list of the updates included can be found here, http://www.humaxdigital.com/freesat/support_software.asp

Do let us know how you get on with the new software, whether it cures the problems you’ve encountered.

It has been some time coming, but John Lewis are finally selling Freesat digital boxes online. We always thought that in accordance with their agreement with Freesat, they should have been, so it looks like they’ve finally got there.

No sign of any standard definition Freesat receivers yet, but they are selling the premium high definition models, plus the Panasonic Plasmas with Freesat built-in. If you are a loyal John Lewis customer, then these are their Freesat products available to buy online:

Humax Freesat HD Digital Receiver - £149.00
Grundig GUFSAT HD Freesat Receiver - £149.00
Panasonic Viera TH42PZ81B Plasma, 42in with Built-in freesat - £1299.00
Panasonic Viera TH46PZ81B Plasma, 46in with Built-in freesat - £1699.00

Don’t forget that John Lewis’ Panasonic plasmas come with a 5 year warranty, which explains why they are slightly more expensive. Some have mentioned that Panasonic offer a 5 year warranty free anyway, but note this is only from selected/limited retailers.