Loading ...Humax FOXSAT-HD
5.98 out of 10 (1,089 votes)
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Humax Freesat HD Digital Box (FOXSAT-HD)
Released: 6th May 2008
Humax FOXSAT-HD Price Comparison (buy online now)
| STORE | PRICE | P+P | DISCOUNT CODE | TOTAL | SHOP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | £124.38 | FREE | - | £124.38 |  |
| Dixons | £124.25 | FREE | - | £124.25 | |
| Laskys | £124.25 | FREE | - | £124.25 | |
| Comet | £129.95 | FREE | - | £129.95 | |
| John Lewis | £129.95 | FREE | - | £129.95 | |
| Maplin | £129.99 | FREE | - | £129.99 | |
| Satbuyer | £125.00 | £7.00 | 2 year warranty | £132.00 | |
| Currys | £149.99 | FREE | - | £149.99 | |
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About the Humax FOXSAT-HD Digital Receiver
The Humax Freesat HD Digital Box (FOXSAT-HD) was the first HD receiver launched for the new Freesat satellite service, on 6th May 2008. Offering excellent quality picture and sound on both HD and SD broadcasts, plus a much improved EPG and menu system over its competition; the Humax HD Box almost instantly became a firm favourite with enthusiasts and general consumers alike. In addition, the Humax receiver offers the ‘add channel’ facility, which allows you to add further FTA channels which are not available via the EPG/TV Guide, plus the option to search for channels from other satellites, with the correct satellite dish setup of course.
High-Definition (HD) TV packs in up to 5 times as much picture detail as standard definition TV, so you get crystal clear images and mind-blowing colours.
Humax FOXSATHD Specification
- Receives HDTV signals (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 and MPEG-2)
- Under 1Watt power consumption in standby
- HDMI digital interface for perfect transmission of picture and sound
- Simultaneous playing of transmissions over HDMI, YPbPr or Scart (2 x Scart sockets)
- Easy installation and operation – automatic tuners and start-up guide
- Resolution format: 1080i, 720p, 576p, 576i
- DVB-S2 and DVB-S compatible
- Ethernet support – for future iPlayer and Kangaroo use
- Full colour, high resolution electronic program guide (EPG)
- Dolby digital optical audio output (S/PDIF)
- Automatic software upgrade via satellite
- Audio description / One touch subtitle
- Dimensions (Width x Height x Depth): 280mm x 45mm x 200mm
- Weight: 1.5kg
Humax FOXSATHD latest software version
1.00.15 (07-Oct-08)
Humax FOXSATHD official website
http://www.humaxdigital.com/freesat/
Humax FOXSATHD manuals
http://www.humaxdigital.com/freesat/FOXSATHD_100GB_040308_onlyref1.pdf (6.72mb – user manual)
http://www.humaxdigital.com/freesat/FOXSAT_100GB_033108.pdf (4.16mb – quick start guide)
Images
Humax FOXSAT-HD Packaging
Humax FOXSAT-HD Front Panel
Humax FOXSAT-HD Rear Panel
Humax FOXSAT-HD EPG
(foxsat-hd, foxsathd, humax hd receiver, humax hd digital box, humax hd digital unit, humax hd digibox, freesat hd box)
November 17th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Do you own or have owned this product? Then why not give us your opinion to help assist potential customers in deciding which Freesat product is right for them. Please stick to opinions/reviews of the specific product on this page. Also, don’t forget to give this product a rating, using the stars at the top!
November 17th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Readers thinking of connecting their Humax Foxstat HD to an AV receiver using S/PDIF might be interested to hear of my experiences.
I recently installed Yamaha RX-V363 AV receiver, and apart from getting an excellent surround sound experience, I discovered to my cost that whilst the sound volume can be controlled by the Humax for most channels, the signal transmitted over the S/PDIF line for BBC HD and LUXE HD is at full volume. This probably applies to any channel giving a 5.1 signal.
On the day I installed the AV receiver I was familiarising myself with the
various controls and options and with the Humax volume set to low and the AV receiver volume set to high, I switched a non-HD channel to BBC HD. The sudden very large burst of sound was sufficient to blow two of my 8 ohm speakers.
Fortunately the AV receiver has a Max Volume setting which I have now set and so I am unlikely to damage the replacement speakers.
I do not know if this is a common feature of digital audio connections, but would certainly advise anyone connecting a Humax Foxsat to an AV receiver or amplifier to investigate the existence of a Max Volume setting first.
November 17th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
I have had this product since Freesat launch and have downloaded all the software updates. Picture quality is excellent on my Samsung TV (series 5), but one thing that still prevails is the lip sync problem. Will give it another 12 months before buying PVR version.
November 17th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I use the Foxsat HD in Holland with a Technisat Multytenne in freesat and non freesat mode. No troubles at all, except for Arte HD. When I push the I (information) button the receiver switches off and on. But overall I consider it to be an excellent receiver.
November 17th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Fantastic receiver. I havent experienced the issue with max volume over the spdif socket however I have found recently that the EPG can become unresponsive at times with seconds worth of delays causing you to press a button more than once to get a response as its so slow. This often results in selecting the wrong program. Be patient with it, it must be doing something in the background.
Cant wait for the pvr.
November 17th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
My first two freesat boxes were bought on price and both returned faulty. My third is the Foxsat HD and it has been excellent, not a single problem. My Yamaha AV is also connected via the S/PDIF and the Foxsat volume control on HD is full volume or nothing. You have to use the AV volume control.
So the saying “that you get what you pay for” is in my expirence true.
November 17th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I have had this product for 2 months now, my rating at this time is 6 out of 10.
The main reason i brought this is because i live in an area where Freview reception is bad and for the HD content..
GOOD POINTS::
1. Perfect reception.
2. HD picture quality stunning .
BAD POINTS ::
1. STILL has lip sync problems with certain HD programs, i find itv the worst .
2. ALL channels that are not HD have slight Pixellation Problem (even though they are unscaled )
3. The channels that are on the Freesat EPG are NOT as good as Freview
IE > Freeview has more choice / better channels..
Even though there are more bad points than good at this present time , i hope that in 6 months time it will be the other way round ..
you have to take in mind Freesat has not been up and running that long ..
THINGS WILL GET BETTER !!!!!
November 17th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Bought this product in September 08. Wanted to try it out and move it between my home and my motorhome after initially being refused by Curry’s without purchasing an installation package.
Following advices from this website I simply connected it up to an old Sky dish and started the installation which was more or less fully automatic with regional choices being taken care of by inputting a simple post code.
A single software update has been completed successfully with very little intervention from myself. The quality of the signal through the standard Sky dish is excellent and HD is something else. No problems with reception even through 2 quite bad storms.
I use this box in my motorhome through a 66cm dish on a tripod (Omnistor/Maxwell portable system) with the same high quality output.
The channel choice is improving all the time and will only get better as the digital switchover starts to move from region to region.
I am so impressed with FTA HD content, limited as it is (particularly sport) I have decided to leave the box on the motorhome and purchase a new TV with integrated tuner which I have done (TH-42PZ81 with full HD)
Excellent product both as a static or mobile solution
November 17th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
I have the Humax Foxsat HD connected to a 37″ Panasonic LCD TV. Picture quality is always excellent on the Panasonic no matter what the source, but HD programmes from the Humax box really bring out the best in the Panasonic TV. Watching the Olympics in HD was absolutely amazing. There is one aspect about the Humax Foxsat HD, that really does need addressing by Humax though, (in conjunction with the BBC & ITV if necessary) and that is the ongoing lip synch problems on HD programmes. My only other gripe is the length of time the box takes to boot up from a cold switch on. I’m sure both of these issues can/will be eventually sorted by OTA software updates. Otherwise excellent value for money.
November 17th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
I have had this unit for just over a month. Picture quality is excellent on all the main channels, but somewhat fuzzy on some of the lesser known ones which I have received for the first time via Freesat.
I don’t like the ITV HD system using the redbutton as you can’t use the EPG to confirm programme listing as you can with BBC HD.
When viewing the SD channels via the HDMI lead to my Philips LCD screen I find the quality of the picture to be better than the Freeview signal and somewhere between HD and SD.
I find performance generally very good although the point mentioned above about slow update of EPG is noticed.
A shame that you cannot combine Freesat and non-Freesat channels into a common list for selection of any programmes directly. The procedure for switching between the two is slow and cumbersome.
Will probably purchase a PVR when the market has settled
November 17th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Great picture through the HDMI cable, but choice of channels….Hmmm, not that good and with only one true HD channel (ITV is just farting about)
Main compaint is, it takes too many steps to get the non freesat channels up. It should be just one touch, as there are more intersting channels (films) in non freesat mode.
If you go into guide, it will only take you the channel you are on and not straight to 101, BBC 1 apart fro that, it’s good.
November 17th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
I ditched my old sky digital box because most of the channels I was watching was on freesat. I bought this thinking I was downgrading. From the moment I turned it on I was pleasantly supprised. Easy to setup. Automatically upgrades itself with new software and channels.
Pro’s for me over standard sky box.
1) The standard picture was much better (thanks to HDMI output)
2) High definition channels
3) No subscription costs
4) Faster EPG
Con’s over my previous box
1) Less channels
In summary I have not missed my sky box since swapping for this and I wouldn’t go back.
November 17th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
I’ve had a Humax since June. I also own 2 Bush SD’s.
I have to say generally the box is very good – the general look/feel of the box & EPG/menu is much better than the bush.
The picture quality is excellent on HD (viewed on Panasonic 37″ LCD) – and also very good on the other main channels (BBC/ITV/C4 etc).
I have in the past seen the lip syc problem on BBC HD – it went away with the main fix. Then came back – and went away after BBC alledgedly owned up to a fault. I can’t say I’ve noticed the problem on ITV HD – but then I’ve not watched that much due to the lack of content to date – although it is slowly improving.
As some have suggested – the picture on some channels is soft – but that is the transmission/broadcast quality – the Bush is soft on the same channels.
Firmware updates have always gone smoothly.
EPG updates have always worked well too – although it would be great if it told you the names of the channels it has added/deleted/modified.
Down points – for me the main down point is the non Freesat function (FTA) – the Bush system is by far superior in this regard – having to switch to non freesat mode is just silly – you should be able to just enter the 4 digit channel number 5xxx or something like that.
Also – when you view the guide – it takes a while before it shows the current channel behind it – why?
November 17th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
1. build quality – excellant
2. Ease of use – good nice epg
3. Remote – (better than the bush)
4. Humax support (its been very good so far)
5. Picture quality – good, abit soft now and again (sd mainly)
6. low wattage consumption
7. Hdmi lead in the box as standard
Disappointments
1. No rf out, for piping it round the house, have to buy extra modulator
2. No ci slot for future stuff (however the worlds going ethernet at the moment so this my come).
3. Would have like to add non-freesat epg channels on freesat mode.
Great box, highly reccomend it
November 17th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
The Humax Foxsat HD is a competent receiver.
The remote control could be described as slightly substantial with above average weight and apparent durability.
The receiver itself appears of good build quality and generates a moderate amount of heat during operation. My example has proved to be very reliable with perhaps three or four unexpected re-boots since ownership while using ‘red button’ interractive services.
Picture quality seems well judged with levels of digital ‘artifeact’ on SD pictures less apparent than some receivers due to non over-emphasis or artificial crispening, some might say it appears slightly soft but is probably more realistic technically, HD picture quality is excellent.
Using the analogue audio output through a high quality audio system provides excellent sound quality. I have not used the SPDIF interface so I can’t comment on lip-sync issues.
The receiver appears sensitive compared with some FTA receivers and non 28.2′E services are received well with my example.
Shame there’s no RF loop-through.
Non-Freesat mode is awkward and limited in operation as ‘might’ be expected. Having to input the ‘secret code’ seems unnecessary as it is in fact no secret whatsoever, simply make it an easy function and do away with the daft coloured button pressing scenario. Updating transponder frequencies etc appears to be very limited, operation in non-Freesat mode could be described as just about adequate.
The USB port provided has no apparent function for the user, so why is it there? Otherwise provide a software update to allow channel data downloading for editing on a PC. Otherwise take it away and make the product cheeper, save money and save the planet.
In conclusion, a high quality product in my opinion. has VERY irritating non-Freesat issues but VERY fit for purpose in Freesat mode, its prime purpose!
Steven says: Recommended…..
November 17th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
I have the Humax HD box and have had no trouble at all with it.
Set up was straight forward and easy.
Updates have been the same.
The picture quality is much better than Freeview on all chanels I have compared.
HD Picture is great.
Issues about ITV HD red button access are nothing to do with Humax, thats a Freesat/ITV issue. (Get used to it)
I can record from the Humax via Scart to my Freeview PVR, should I need to.
Sound quality via SPDIF and HDMI through my Meridian surround system is great.
My Philips LCDTV wont pass HDMI audio from the Humax to the SPDIF audio out on SD Chanels, but it will with BBC HD. (Curious fault, I would expect it to be the other way around)
Advice; 1, Get a decent HDMI Cable, you dont need to spend a fortune and a quick Google of “HDMI Cables in the uk” will lead you to plenty of sources.
2. Get a good TV and set it up properly, dont rely on out of the box settings.
3. Dont blame Humax for problems caused by not following my advice 1 and 2. Ha Ha
Its a great little box and I would recomend it to anyone.
Cheers, Chris
November 18th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Overrall very pleased with this equipment although I’d agree with the reviews about SD picture quality not great, certainly poorer than freeview but only when freeview signal strong enough mind!
Shame that one can not make the EPG appear based on a favourites list thus having the channels in a nice logical order and without deleting unwanted channels completely.
Quantity of HD content availble on freesat continues to be dissappointing especially from ITV least hopefully BBC may show F1 races in HD next year?
November 18th, 2008 at 8:42 am
I run my box on a Panasonic 32″ LCD and am highly delighted with the HD aspects. However, I am on my second box and they both have had the habit of both the remote control and box controls freezing. The only way out of the situation has been to unplug at the mains and restart. I would be pleased to hear if other users or the manufacturer have heard of anyone else with the same problem.
November 18th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Pros:
* Good HD picture (albeit dependent on broadcaster)
* DiSEqC 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 and USALS support (via hidden menu)
* Reasonable GUI and EPG
* Moderately fast scanning of transponder frequencies (far better than the Goodmans SD Freesat box)
* Fast loading of BBCi services (compared to both Sky and Freeview)
Cons:
* If left in Standby overnight, the receiver can sometimes ‘forget’ where the USALS-controlled dish was pointing (reboot required)
* Slightly ‘soft’ SD picture (compared to Dreambox 7025 receiver)
* Tuner could be more sensitive (again, compared to DM 7025)
* Occasional lip-sync issues on HD services (though this has been greatly improved and may now be an intermittent problem with broadcasters)
Overall, the pros outweigh the cons.
November 18th, 2008 at 9:47 am
I have had my Humax HD box for two months and have nothing but great things to say about it. The box itself is tiny and unobtrusive and very much looks the part in with my other A/V equipment. Set-up is simple thanks to the joys of HDMI and the auto install feature and the on-going update process is a nice touch that ensures you get the new channels as soon as they come on stream.
However, the key point is the image quality which is simply amazing! Notable standouts were the football coverage on ITV HD and Britain from Above on BBC HD – both simply awesome and even my wife noticed the clarity of the image.
Also worth noting was the improvements I felt the box gave SD images as well. I know other people have had differing opinions on this but I think the Humax box image quality looks much better than my Virgin cable and built in Freeview reception….
All in all, this box is well worth the sub-£130 I paid for it. The HD content, although sparse, is awesome and once events like the Six Nations, Wimbledon etc. come around it will be even better. Hopefully more channels will come on to the Freesat platform in HD before too long making the purchase of this device even more of a no-brainer than it already is!
My advice – buy it!
November 18th, 2008 at 10:52 am
I have had this product since the freesat launch.
I have experienced no problems with lip synch or any other errors a handfull of people have reported.
The only issue i have had with mine is the led display on the box has “lost” a couple of lines of light.
Great product with great picture quality. Now we just wait for the PVR…..
November 18th, 2008 at 11:01 am
I have had a Humax Foxsat-HD box for about a three months now. Although other channels are available such as film24 and the +1 versions of movies4men etc they can go onto the non-free-sat listings but the channels are easily movable into groups of your choice. Having played with the system for a little while now, I find the program guide far better then Skys (who I was with for 20 years). The search engine is without fault and the now and next banner is a dream to use; whilst scanning to any channel and time of the day while still watching a program, the information about that program becomes available, Skys will only give info on the current visible program despite the position of the banner.
The quality of the picture in non-HD is very clear as it is up-scaled slightly so the picture is sharper then some other platforms. However what makes the system outdo sky is free HD on BBC and ITV and other channels are to follow also the optical output for 5.1 sound on HD channels makes a real difference
The only real problem I find is that new channels keep appearing so I have to keep rearranging my viewing schedule.
November 18th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
My only grip is with the EPG.
When I press the Guide button and it takes about 25 seconds for the sound and a picture to come through beneath the EPG. Most annoying
November 22nd, 2008 at 1:47 pm
I have had this Humax for about a month now. I find it really super apart from the occasional lipsynch which other people have referrred to. It is connected to a Panasonic 42″ plasma tv and most of my family and friends do not know waht I am complaining about as it is such a slight delay. Its the old story, once you see it you start looking for it. Overall though I am very happy with it.
November 26th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
I’ve had mine a few days now and its fab. To be honest I only had it in case theres anything in HD on ITV I might want to see but I found it a remarkably good receiver. I’ve had Sky HD (and pay the full whack) since it began, however, even though there is only BBC in HD on freesat I find the picture far superior to that on my Thomson Sky HD receiver. The sound is stunning on ALL channels from the Humax coming through my Philips ambisound soundbar. The Sky receiver goes quieter through it . I was shocked to be honest. If channel 4 hd and just a few other channels like Discovery HD and Hallmark (in SD) became available on freesat I would definately end my subscription to Sky altogether and get the FoxsatPVR.
November 28th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Being a complete plank as far as things technical I have a question about setting up my Freesat HD. I have just got my box. At the moment I have a Sky dish with a single cable to the Sky box. I wish to keep Sky for Discovery etc but to use Freesat HD for the BBC HD programs. Do I need to get a 2nd cable run from my dish to the Freesat box or can I use some form of splitter to do this and will that affect the quality of both Sky & Freesat ?
November 28th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Steve you will need a new LNB with either 2 or 4 outputs, each box needs its own
satbuyer £9.99 for a quad.
November 29th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Many Thanks Matt
Steve
December 16th, 2008 at 7:25 am
Regarding prices, I have just bought a Humax FoxsatHD from a very good seller on EBay for £99!!! with next day delivery for £13. He has a good stock of these and his Buy It Now price is always in this region. Kinda makes the high street and major online store prices look a bit steep!
December 16th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
The USB port?? Humax describe this as for factory service use only. Given the flexibility of the hardware and software (it’s only a PC with a tuner after all) wouldn’t it be nice if we could plug in an external hard disk with a software upgrade to allow the recording and playback of programs? I guess they won’t do it as it could damage sales of the HDR box. Not really as we wouldn’t have two tuners – only leaving us able to record and watch one channel at a time. I think this would be a splendid upgrade!
December 18th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I have owned my Freesat box for 4 months now and have had problems with the screen/box freezing since day 1. Unfortunately I have lost the receipt and so not sure what to do. The installation company have checked the signal and say it’s perfect and so must be the box, but mysteriously when the scaffolding on the building site near us moves the problem seems to get worse? At the moment I haven’t been able to use mine for 3 days, it just freezes as soon as it’s on and sometimes doesn’t even get to tuning into a channel before it does. So unfuriating as it’s our only TV in the house.
December 19th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Just purchased from Dixons online after phoning their sales department to check if they come with a Sky FreeSat card or if I have to buy one seperatly (stupidly thinking you could put a £20 Sky card in to get further programmes) – no you have to purchase it seperatly the helpfull sales assistant told me.
Now I have it, I see there is NO slot to put a Sky card in (or am I missing something?
December 20th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Having a problem with Foxsat-HD when trying to view subtitles on BBC HD. System crashes after a few seconds. OK when subtitles switched off but very frustrating as me and spouse both hard of hearing and rely a great deal on subtitles. Is this a common problem??
December 20th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Peter – you have been misadvised, Freesat from the BBC/ITV is a different service than Freesat from Sky. Freesat (BBC/ITV) doesn’t use viewing cards or Sky cards.
December 23rd, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Taking back 2nd Foxsad HD. First was dead out of the box, no signal from the dish, after a few cross checks I confirmed that the unit was at fault and returned the next day to Curries, got a replacement straight away. 2nd unit started ignoring the remote after 2 weeks of use, a power cycle of the mains would recover, but it has now reached the point where the remote is no longer operating the unit, the remote is working fine, so it must be the box again. The unit is now past 28days, so it’s waiting a month for repair. Not impressed, with the quality. BBC HD is good, you have to take care with the dish positioning or ITV HD will break-up. Is it worth the money over Freeserve for the HD? No. If you have good digital I would plough cash elsewhere, Blu-Ray, up-scaling DVD or media player, but not this. If your digital is no good, then it’s good when it works.
January 2nd, 2009 at 4:07 pm
hello I have just purchased a humax foxsat hd and am generally delighted with it except the instruction booklet (although its probably me !!) , which i find vague in a few areas. can anyone advise –
1.what is the function of the ‘Auto’ page in the favorites menu and how do you add or delete items from this page ?
2. Is it possble to add Fiver and Five US to the non freesat channels and if so how ?
3. Is it possible to generally add Sky free to air channels ?
If anyone can help it would be much appreciated
regards
Steve Hall
January 5th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Generally I’ve been pleased with my Humax FOXSAT-HD box, but was miss advised at Maplin on purchase. Was told that the USB port could be used to connect a HHD to allow for PVR function – but that’s not true.
Bought the box to dump the expensive $ky basic package and to ensure I can get the new HD services as they come on stream.
Set up was a breeze – swapped the old $ky box out and connected the Humax, pressed a few buttons; bish, bash bosh – all done! Spoofed the auto system to get the London BBC local channel rather than the rubbish version for Kent. Just needed a London postal code rather than my real one.
Quality of the HD broadcasts from BBC have been fabulous and once I’d realised that the ITV HD was on the red button, have been pleased with this too.
Can’t wait for more to come on-stream.
January 7th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
My box has just started locking and freezing only way to solve is to turn power off. Is this a know fault (Box i week old)
January 11th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
I purchased the Freesat HD box July last year. Around October a problem arose as follows:
Signal appears to become encrypted. At first it was intermittent. Then it became more permanent. The sound is fine. Text is fine. HD is fine (Including red button ITV).
I switched over to an old Sky box using same connection and dish and all of the same stations work fine (No HD, obviously).
I have emailed Humax via their webpage and am still awaiting a reply (What’s the point of having an e-mail contact if you are not going to reply?). I can’t return the box because it was bought for me and I don’t have the receipt. I am now using my old Sky box full-time again. Would like to purchase the Humax PVR, but …..
Any advice.
January 11th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Posted a question No 36 a week ago no reply from ‘admin’ I spend the time to ask a question then it is not unreasonable to expect a reply within a week is it ?
This situation makes this blog pretty useless !!!!
January 11th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Steve, have you tried emailing us or possibly asking Humax customer service? We receive thousands of new comments on many pages, we can’t expect to see them all unfortunately. You cannot add Fiver and Five US, they remain encrypted accessible via Sky only. You can add any other FTA channel such as Sky News, you just need to go into non-freesat mode and find the frequencies and add them.
January 11th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Thank you for your response No I have not contacted Humax cust service as my expectation in enrolling onto this blog was to enjoy mutual discussion threads in order to understand the product better and share the knowledge. I am sure my questions are valid as the instruction booklet for the Humax is somewhat lacking in clarity. All I need to understand now from my original post, is how the ‘Auto favorite’ selection works (re question 36) and all of my questions have been answered.
January 11th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Hi Steve, sorry, but we are unsure of the auto favourite menu, maybe one of our many contributors in this section will be able to answer for you, or certainly Humax CS will be able to.
January 13th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Hi All
just got humax hd box,how does one get itv hd…newbie.on this stuff
thanks
January 13th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Hi Jimbo, just press the red button on ITV1 when an appropriate programme also broadcast in HD is on. See the schedule here:
http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/index.php/freesat-channels/itv-hd-schedule
January 13th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Box still resetting , (no 38) My box is still reseting / restarting and locking up , worse during evening happens every 10 – 20 mins and only a full power off will unlock it. Any one else had this poroblem or know a fix ? (Humax Foxsat HD) Only had the box 2 weeks looking at going back to SKY Arghhh
Connected to a Sony IS100 and then to Samsung 1080p. Is it a software upgrade ? Auto upgrade says no new upgrade found
January 14th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Hi All, just getting to grips with this now,can anybody tell me if you can add a fta channel to anyone of the freesat menus,as i dont really want to scroll through all of the fta channels , & briefly how to do it.
thanks
jimbo.
January 19th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Great interface, set up fine, good picture. But lip sync via my Denon AV amp on optical interconnect (all channels), and HDMI on some channels to my plasma TV make it unusable. My old sony sky box had perfect TV and AV sych in the same system. So it’s going back…
Do all of the the freesat boxes have the same issue?
Daren
January 19th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
[...] no such issue with Humax’s HD Freesat box (FOXSAT-HD), they are still available everywhere, but the PVR version (FOXSAT-HDR) remains in very short [...]
January 20th, 2009 at 11:16 am
I posted at 39 above about a week ago, but unlike Steve I didn’t expect Admin to respond. I had hoped that other posters would reply with some help or advice. It didn’t happen. I find it curious that admin asked/advised Steve to e-mail Admin and Humax directly. I e-mailed Admin and Humax directly some time ago and didn’t received a reply from either. That makes that advice pretty useless. I still have a Humax HD box that appears to have been a waste of money but find it hard to resist the temptation of the Humax PVR. What to do?
January 20th, 2009 at 11:23 am
McGuffin, sorry that Humax have not replied, maybe give their customer service number a call, you’d at least get a immediate response then? We have not received any email from you. Having a look back at your original request, your detail is a little confusing, you suggest that the signal is encrypted? In what way, are you not getting any channel or specific channels, as you say text and ITV HD is fine?
January 20th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Thanks Admin. I know it sounds confusing, but it is as stated. I have all of the stations as if the picture is scrambled/encrypted. The only exception is BBC HD and ITV HD via the red button. Sound is fine, BBC text is fine, menus etc are fine. I don’t understand it. I have done factory reset; everything I can think of. Originally this was an intermittent fault then it became more permanent. I can do everything except receive an unscrambled picture. Sometimes (Not always) when I check it out, as I do now and then, the picture starts as perfect then it scrambles within seconds. As I said I have reverted back to using an old Sky box (I had hoped to replace with the Humax) with all of the same stations perfect. Good ad for Sky boxes, but not Humax. Your confused, so am I. My intention was always to upgrade to the Humax PVR when it came out. Now …..
January 20th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Sounds like it’s as straight forward as a faulty digibox. It might be worth getting replaced under warranty. Appreciate you say it was bought for you and you don’t have a receipt but if you find where it was purchased from, take it back and they should replace for you, especially if they check the serial number against it being from them, alternatively, give Humax a call and see what they suggest.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:05 am
Can I suggest to all the above thay are experiencing picture breakup/locking up / intermittent & encrypted signals etc that they junk their old 60cm mesh Sky dishes & LNB’s & upgrade to a High Quality 80cm dish & State of Art LNB designed for HD & check for precise Satellite alignment.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Installed HD Pvr in place of Sky SD box using the one cable transmission. My question is (until the LNB is replaced) if i disconnected from LNB1 & connected to LNB2 would i receive any programmes.
February 8th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
[...] 0.00 out of 10 (0 votes) Humax FOXSAT-HDR Freesat+ PVR Digital Box [...]
February 10th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Quite a good picture, interface is colourful amd useable, but could be improved. I love the ability to be able to search the EPG for a given program to find out when a certain programme is going to be broadcast. Nice overall design and black colour looks cool.
The remote is very hard to use, and the box doesn’t respond very fast to button pressing. If Humax fixed this, it would be an excellent product.
February 12th, 2009 at 7:47 am
have had this box now for a couple of weeks (from humax direct £97.50 inc delivery ).a big improvment on my old sky digibox-both picture and sound wise,and a good looking bit of kit compared to my old thomson digibox -i voted 10 out of 10
February 13th, 2009 at 2:32 am
SatNav suggests “Can I suggest to all the above thay are experiencing picture breakup/locking up / intermittent & encrypted signals etc that they junk their old 60cm mesh Sky dishes & LNB’s & upgrade to a High Quality 80cm dish & State of Art LNB designed for HD & check for precise Satellite alignment.”
Can I humbly ask if this comes as standard if one choses installation with a FreeSat box?
Many thanks
February 13th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Yes, AFAIK all Freesat installations are with the 80cm dish.
February 13th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
To clarify, this is not true, Freesat installations are carried out with 60cm zone 2 Raven or Triax dishes, not 80cm.
February 13th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Hi
I have just bought the Humax FoxSat HD box and connected it to my Sky dish.
Any idea if I can get some of the foreign TV channels, usually found on Channels 800+ on the SKY EPG?
Example (some of the channel numbers have changfed recently), channels such as
781 B4U Music
785 PCNE Chinese
786 Bangla TV
787 mta-muslim tv
792 PTV Prime
793 MATV National
796 Abu Dhabi TV
801 Record TV
802 DM Digital
804 ARY QTV
805 DM Gold
806 ARY The Musik
807 Venus TV
812 PTV Global
813 Islam Channel
814 Channel ‘S’
815 GEO UK
817 Aapna Channel
818 Mana Telugu
822 Noor TV
823 Peace TV
824 AAG
825 GEO News
826 Channel S NTV
827 Channel S ATN
828 Channel Punjab
829 Iqra TV
832 DD-News
833 DD-India
Thanks
February 13th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Terry GO in to the MENU find Non- Freesat Mode do a Channel search and you will get all the free to air Channels . Then you will have to go to non-freesat to watch them .
Or put a Quad LNB on your Dish run a new cable & keep your Digibox going .
February 13th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Thanks Matt
I just have standard Sky Digibox with no subscription – and want to get rid of the sky box.
So ideally, i just want 1 box – no quad/dual lnb on dish
Should I be OK?
February 14th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Picked up the Humax foxsat-hd last night, while disappointed at the lack of HD content at the moment the STB its self works flawlessly. EPG is superb far better than any I have used in the past and the scaling\clean-up of digital satellite is excellent especially over HDMI when compared to SKY\Freesat over SCART.
February 15th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Have a Foxsat HD i was very impressed with it good quality but now just out of warrenty it seems to be packing up? I am getting pixalation of video on all channels and freezing on the HD chanelss.
I changed out the LNB as it was quiet old but this has not improved the signal i went for a better qaulity one quad output thought id put the Fox sat system with each TV..
I still have my sky system so i swapped the cables over and still it breaks up Signal 90%+ Quality 95%+ i have reset the system and completed an update.
Any clues anyone thimking about looking for a different system as this is quiet new not something you would expect
February 16th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Buttsy , are you saying that the picture breaks up still now you have it back on sky. If so, as you have a new LNB, it only leaves the cable . It could have got water in it, or some other damage. Try running a new cable from a spare on the Quad through a window first to see if this solves the problem.
Years a go I had the same kind of fault, it was a fast growing conifer in the way, but only on windy nights.
February 16th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
I bought one of these to replace a Grundig that I bought a few days earlier. I went for the Grundig as I wanted the ariel loop through (says it does not work in nthe instructions but it does!). However the system kept crashing so I switched to this.
What an improvement. The menu system is so much better amd more intuitive. It looks like a finished product where as the Grundig just felt ‘clunky’. The picture and sound are, in my opinion, better and the remote more responsive and far less directional – the Grundig had to be milimeter perfect before it would work!
The only problem I have is when switching sources. If I am on Freesat through HMI then switch to another HDMI source, when I go back to freesat I just get snow and have to soft reboot the system. Not sure why, but it is a small problem.
February 16th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
i moved the cable from the sky system(it points in the same direction) so i can only conclude i have a problem with the humax..I have two setups sky at the front and freesat at the back..thanks any ideas welcome
February 17th, 2009 at 9:17 am
A lot of HUMAX products come with a TWO year Warranty, but this depends on where you bought it. ( Argos 1 year prob )
Other wise get on to Humax and ask for an exchange as its only a year old. You will get a Grade A ( refur ) back.
February 26th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
is it possible to record material from VCR onto the foxsat HDR?
any help would be appreciated on how this can be done. I have some family vids that would be great for archive onto the recorder.
February 26th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
are prices expected to go up on humax boxes too as ive been waiting to buy but notice they have increased. satbuyer appears to cheapest at the moment, even with delivery added http://www.satbuyer.co.uk/humax-foxsat-hd-freesat-hd-digital-box-p15.html
March 7th, 2009 at 9:30 am
After being with SKY for a number of years we decided to sack them last month; sick of the excalating costs. The £10 extra per month for HD on top of the existing £40 that I was already paying was the final straw… greedy.
We decided that we wanted the benefits of recording (sky+) as well as HD. As a result I opted for a Freeview plus box for the conservatory and the Humax HD receiver to feed a 50″ plasma in the main living room. I did consider the PVR but cannot, as yet, justify almost £300, especially as I got the freeview recorder for around £100. If there had been more HD channel choice I would have gone for the PVR. For under £250, I now have the best of both, Freeview and FreeSat.
As for the Humax receiver… no complaints at all, very impressed with the picture quality and after around 18 months of owning a large screen HD TV, I’m now seeing some of the benefits, the picture quality on the HD channel is exceptional, very impressive and the surround sound also seems better. The standard channels are also clearer than the SKY receiver was but I suspect this might be due to the HDMI lead now in use instead of scart.
My understanding is that channel choice on FreeSat will eventually improve / increase, not sure when? I hope this will also apply to HD choice, it really does make a difference.
Great product, highly recommended!
March 12th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Had the Humax HDR delivered a couple of weeks ago and go satellite installed a couple of days later – all by courtesy of John Lewis.- all went well.
Really impressed with the Humax, does all it says – but must agree with previous comments re SD resolution. Watching SD is good but not quite as sharp as when viewing via “Freeview” (I don’t believe this is the fault of Humax but a transmission problem) – but watching HD via the Humax is excellent – as good as watching “Blue-ray”. The only slight grumble I have, which again has been commented on previous reviews is that the going to and selecting via the EPG is long winded. Unless your recording something the minute you go to the “guide” you loose the picture and then go through the Genre front page to get to the EPG. The picture does come back after about 30 seconds. It’s a pity that it does not operate like most freeview TV’s. in that you don’t loose the picture when you go to the guide, but the picture just goes smaller whilst you are looking at the guide. Often you are watching a program and you just wish to look whats on later and not loose what you are currently watching – which you can not do with the Humax. I wonder if they could do a software upgrade to fix this ? – other than this I am totally happy with the Humax.
March 12th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
@Alan I am running on the Humax HD box – no PVR yet. I find the SD output delivered via the HDMI lead to be of excellent quality. The definition is better than my standard Freeview provides, somewhere between Freeview and full HD.
I only use freeview for recording (I have a Sony Hard Disc PVR with built in Freeview) or to access those channels not on Freesat
March 13th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
A quick and simple question: Is anyone aware of a retailer who would dispatch a Humax HD box to a French address??
March 15th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Hi MikeP, you might check ebay.fr for retailers shipping into France. I got mine shipped to Belgium.
March 16th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Alan @74 About the HDR Firstly you can disable the Genre page in the Menu. Secondly if you access the EPG via the Schedule button then press RED it will not update, so you will not lose the sound/picture. Also this stops the Buffer from being reset and makes the remote commands more responsive.
April 14th, 2009 at 7:37 am
I have had the HD box since June last year. I used my old Sky dish and fitted a twin lLNB to run another cable for a Goodmans SD box. The HD box is hooked up to my LG TV using the HDMI connection and on the whole the picture quality is fantastic. I have three kids who all love their music; all bar the asian music channels on the HD box are unwatchable, or just say no signal / picture scrambled. If they are watched on the Goodmans on my trusty old 20″ Toshiba via a Scart cable all the music channels are available. I have swapped the connections on the LNB to route the cables to the opposite box and the problem persists. The HD box is far superior to the SD box and I dont want to have to swap them round. Has anyone else come accross this problem?
April 14th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
[...] far most votes have been for the Humax FOXSAT-HDR with 661, giving an average of 8.16 out of 10. The highest current product rating is the Humax [...]
April 30th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Just got my Humax HD Box. Seems very good so far – no issues to report. However I also have a PC running Vista and Media Centre – is there anyway of connecting the Humax in order run everything through Media Centre?
May 2nd, 2009 at 11:55 pm
I’d like to see the Humax Foxsat range communicating over that currently redundant Ethernet port. Record on the HDR in the living room, watch the recording on the HD in the bedroom. Or use several HDRs round the house and pool the recordings together – any program, from any HDR, on any HD or HDR. I reckon that feature would kill the competition stone dead.
May 6th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Check out cheapest Humax foxsat-hd on the market at humaxdirect £89.00 grade A a big saving, Alan M
May 7th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Already on my THIRD. These have all been £89 Grade A boxes and between them have not yet lasted a month!!
One last chance on this !!
The courier who has been twice now, says that on each delivery to me he had another 4 or 5 replacement boxes!!!!!!
I can’t fault Humax Direct for their immediate response – within 24 hrs delivery-but it must be that they are so practised at it!!
At this rate a full Freeview service will be available here negating the need for Freesat.
Fingers crossed!!
June 16th, 2009 at 11:27 am
@ Nik Carter
The reason you cannot change the volume for the digital output is because the signal going to the AV Receiver cannot be modified.
It is different for the SD channels because, although they use the digital connection, the signal can be modified to change the volume.
It would be better if the Humax had separate discrete analogue outputs (Left, Right, Centre, Surround L/R & Sub), but it doesn’t.
The best way to manage the system, then, is to use ONLY the volume on the AV Receiver, and set the analogue (SD audio) output on the Humax to 70% of full volume (to avoid possible clipping) and leave it there – or closely match the audio volume of the Sd and HD channels, so that you aren’t surprised.
Keep in mind that analogue audio has an average volume for the material being played, whereas digital audio has a much greater dynamic range – making loud bits louder and quiet bits quieter. Thus the digital signal, while initially sounding quite quiet can suddenly bounce up to a much higher volume when something noisy happens in the programme. Therefore digial audio is often misunderstood and can easily blow speakers.
June 16th, 2009 at 11:33 am
@ Jonathan W
Free to air satellite and freeview are complementary, not exclusive. You’ll find that some channels you can only get on FTA satellite are not on Freeview, and vice versa.
As, apart from initial equipment purchase costs, they’re both free services, it’s worth having both, if you can.
My computer has both DVB-S(2) (satellite) and DVB-T Freeview cards and I’m jolly glad to be able to include both.
June 20th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Hi
We have a FOXSAT HD. picture quality is great. Could someone tell us which is the best way to connect 2 tv to it?
Thanks
July 21st, 2009 at 12:14 am
Pete (post 21) – I had the very same problem. The LED segments on my box started to disappear one by one over time until the display was illegible. Took it back to John Lewis (where I bought it from) as it was 10 months old and within 12 months guarantee. They sent it away and, one week later, supplied me with a replacement box (refurb of a similar age I think). Now I’m worried it might happen again. Anyone else had this problem?
July 24th, 2009 at 10:30 am
Heah!! 1 only available here for £89!! http://www.tmchomecinema.co.uk/product_details.asp?ProductID=420
I’m holding out for the pvr version but for someone looking for a non pvr hd box this is a steal. The list at the top suggests dixons is currently cheapest at £116 so a potential saving of £27 here!!
July 24th, 2009 at 10:43 am
@Phil
That’s a very low price, far below the trade value. Just asking readers to consider this first.
August 1st, 2009 at 9:00 pm
I install satellite t.v in portugal and have to buy and try all sorts of receivers the Humax hd and the pvr version are in another league to any other freesat receiver and give excellent performance in the Algarve area with a 1.4 dish
August 16th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
The prices above are all out of date. Dixons and John Lewis are charging £149.99 which seems to be the standard price. Comet is the cheapest I have found at £126.75 with store collection.
August 17th, 2009 at 9:14 am
I have tried to load a topuptv card via the common interface slot on my Humax Fox-HDR it will recognise the topupcard but will not load the software. Topuptv have said it is compatible with the box. Has anybody got any ideas. Had the Humax since December very happy with the box. No problems yet so far.
August 17th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Topuptv is a Freeview pay service isn’t it? Therefore won’t have a chance of working. If they told you otherwise, it may be they are mixing up the Humax Freeview and Freesat receivers.
August 19th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
[...] that a few days ago some of the major retailers decided to increase their retail price of the Humax FOXSAT-HD from £119.99 to £149.99. The retailers involved in the price hike include Dixons, Argos and [...]
August 28th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
The price of the Foxsat has reduced in Argos to £129.99. The Foxsat HDR has also reduced to £249.99
September 8th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Hey,
I`m from germany and i want to buy 2 of this receivers. Which Receiver should i buy for receiving HD television?
Best wishes,
KeV
September 16th, 2009 at 10:17 am
Can anyone help please.
On Costa Blanca in Spain and having previously been OK, on freesat tune, box will not recognise any UK postcode.
Works fine on manual tune.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.
November 18th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
re TVheaven, what size dish are you using?
thanks
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:32 am
Very disappointed to hear that Humax have no plans to add PVR functionality to this non PVR box, unlike their competitors at TechniSat. For the extra few quid for the Technisat box this is well worth it and would recommend the TechniSat for that reason – People will still pay a premium for a full PVR, but for those of us who dont need or want it, its way too pricey. For those of us who only ever would like to record the odd program, this would be perfect. We will wait to see how the market responds…
December 2nd, 2009 at 12:36 pm
My Humax Foxsat receiver gives a blank green screen if I switch back to it from TV’s or my Sony HDR995’s receiver. It started to happen after the last update. I hope this new update will cure it. Because it is really annoying.
Has anyone else got similar problem?
December 4th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
I bought this box 2 months ago and love it! I replaced a Sky box for this one to get HD which is just amazing. Can’t believe how easy it was to swap it over and set up was easy. Had a bit of an issue with my terrestrial areal which was via the sky box and the FOXSAT HD does not have this connection. I have a SONY PVR which works fine with this box and changes the channel via an external IR. EPG is good too. What is really annoying is the volume is controlled on the box not on the TV, unlike SKY which is preset on the box and the remote changes the TV volume, and you can’t use another remote to control FOXSAT, unless its a self learning one. Still its a great bit of kit 8/10.
December 10th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
[...] Humax FOXSAT-HD2 single tuner Freesat HD digital box will replace the existing FOXSAT-HD and include additional features such as PVR functionality via USB storage device (similar to how [...]
December 13th, 2009 at 9:31 am
Hi Folks – im just about to dump my SKY+ box and go for this Humax one. One question though – I have 2 LNB cables feeding into my SKY box and, as far as I can see, there is only one connector on the Humax – can I assume that I just connect the one cable leaving the other one free? Thanks
December 15th, 2009 at 7:15 am
Hi Stu
Yes, just connect one of the LNB cables into the box. Keep the other one though, as when you update to “twin tuner” versions, you will need the additional LNB to allow you to record one channel whilst watching another
December 15th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
As I thought !!! Thanks so much for the reply
Cheers
Stu
December 16th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
I bought this receiver a few days ago and I’m very happy with it.
Great picture (SD or HD), good sound and cool TV services and very simple to use ! However, there are not so many HD channels but I think more will come in 2010 or 2011.
I also got more FTA channels (True Entertainement, Sky News,…) just by going to ‘manual mode’ to find them. Then I switch to Freesat/non-Freesat channels with ‘menu’, ‘settings’ and ‘STB mode’ !
Et voilà !
December 18th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
[...] will give those with a Humax Freesat HD or Humax Freesat+ receiver the opportunity to test out the service over the Christmas period [...]
January 15th, 2010 at 6:25 pm
[...] range of Freesat HD single tuner receivers against each other, including the TechniSat HDFS, Humax FOXSAT-HD, Sagem DSI86HD and Metronic SATHD100, with the TechniSat winning by some margin, though not really [...]
January 20th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Have one these Humax boxes since its first launch. No problems whatsoever. Excellent picture. I have purchsed a second device with the record option – forced by Sky trying their trick of selling replacement freeview cards. I used to run four skyboxes on freeview – have now binned them all for two Humax boxes and two freeview to aerial. Freesat is indeed free although could do with some more HD channels. It should be noted that all satellite HD channels are broadcast on 720p, not 1080p – this includes Sky, thus if you do not use BluRay a cheaper 1080i TV still will give comparable results.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:35 am
Gary,
All Freesat HD Broadcasts are in 1080i not 720p from my experience & your not going to find any cheap 1080i TV’s for sale now. But you can still buy a cheaper 720p TV that supports 1080i.
February 7th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Does anyone know if its possible to run this on my sky dish whilst keeping the Sky? The dish has a quad LNB in which 2 are in use for the Sky+. I want the freesat for my sons bedroom. Will we be able to watch Sky (downstairs) and freesat at the same time. Thanks in advance
February 9th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
Ryan,
Yes you can do that with out any problems.
February 18th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
just got a humax foxsat hd G refurbished. works like a charm great images easy to use non freesat mode. would like to be able to exclude all the scrambled channels automatically???? any suggestions please???
so far can not see any of the issues discussed in this list of comments..
February 22nd, 2010 at 2:48 pm
I have just purchased the Humax Foxsat for my place in Portugal but before I take it over I want to try it here in the UK. I presume I just key my postcode in here but ask, if I,ve used the quick set up scan will the box be automatically set up for Portugal. Thanks for any replies
February 22nd, 2010 at 10:59 pm
Tim,
Yes that should work fine, as long as you get a good enough signal the box will not know it has been moved.
February 27th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Does anybody know how to permanently re-order channels on the Humax Foxsat box? Its straight forward on Freview boxes to swap channel number positions, but I can’t find any easy way to do it with my Freesat box. I live in Wales so a normal channel scan always ends up with channel 4 on channel number 120 on Freesat and channel 8 on Freeview (as we have S4C on position 104 or 4). Hence I want to swap channel 4 from position 120 to 104. Thanks.
March 30th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
John Lewis gives a free two year guarantee
April 4th, 2010 at 11:28 pm
Hi
I’m moving into a flat with an existing sky satellite dish, previous tenants did not have sky up and running (so no sky box / card available) – from reading the above it sounds like I might be able to simply hook up this humax box to the existing satellite cable and away we go – is it really that simple?
Thanks
Mark
April 5th, 2010 at 9:45 am
@Mark
Yes, if the satellite dish is in working condition and aligned correctly, you can just plug a Humax HD Freesat receiver in.
May 11th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
I’m considering replacing my Sky Boxes which only show free to air channels that I use while down in Costa Del Sol. I’m looking to change as they have started causing problems since card change from Sky.
Currently on a 1.5m dish and will be upgrading shortly to 2m dish.
Does anyone have any experiance with this Humax box down there? Can I expect as good as quality as I got with Sky. Previuosly I have been told only Pace boxes work this far south satisfactorily.
Any comments will be helpful.
May 16th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
I apologise in advance for asking such an ignorant question but can I replace the freeview box I use for my Sony non-HDI TV with a freesat box? Also, I have a Hitachi HD ready TV wih an internal freeview tuner: can I front-end it by a freesat box?
May 23rd, 2010 at 7:31 pm
@Osters
Just installed Humax box with 1.3 mtr dish in Benalmadena after problems with my Sky box, really great reception! I miss Sky news though…………
June 3rd, 2010 at 3:21 pm
I now have two freesat boxes, one with HD and the other standard. I also have sky boxes in two rooms. I have tried using a splitter to connect the cables into both the sky boxes and the freesat boxes. The Freesat are connected via HMDI to the TV and the sky by SKART. All my efforts to get signals to EITHER box in this way have failed !..Its not that I dont wish to pay for a quad LMB just that I hate so many cables dangling off the roof. Any ideas ???
June 3rd, 2010 at 3:26 pm
You cannot split a satellite cable, you’ll need a larger capacity LNB so you can independently run cables to each receiver input.
June 3rd, 2010 at 4:12 pm
Thanks for the swift response – so the people selling the ‘splitter’ switches are not selling something that will work for running seperate boxes ? I guess I will have to get a quad LMB now – I already have cables from two though and they are very hard to hide.
June 3rd, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Depends on the kind of splitter switch; some work, but only to control one of the receivers at a time; Quad LNB is always the best way to go on a single dwelling home.
June 6th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Good quality box. Have previously tried a Grundig SD box (poor software, rubbish quality remote) which worked but couldn’t play BBC multistreams and also a Bush HD box (poor software, rubbish quality remote) which had a faulty HDMI connection (picture and sound kept cutting out) and had to return it so decided to go for quality over cheapness and have to say… this is great. Good software, quality remote, much better menu system. Not cheap, but you get what you pay for. Recommended.
June 7th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
I have non HD satellite which is not sky but the free transmission, for some time. I would like to go HD, will replacing receiving box with a freesat HD box give me the HD. Will I need to re direct my dish, at present I believe it is directed to Astra 2A.