Loading ...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!
July 6th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Thanks for starting a thread on this subject.
BBCHD was great for watching Wimbledon, but just impossible to watch an interview. We had to change over to BBC1/BBC2 when the players were being interviewed. Thank goodness “Gentle George”, which was to be shown on BBCHD, has been postponed till next week. It would have been a nightmare to watch a drama on BBCHD.
July 6th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
IT WAS BAD ON THE TENNIS TONIGHT
I SPENT GOOD MONEY FOR WHAT IS MEANT TO BE A TOP QUALITY PRODUCT AND NOW WISH I COULD TAKE IT BACK
AS FOR FREESAT ITSELF,WELL I HOPE IT STARTS TO WARM UP AND START GIVING US SOME IMFORMATION ON WHAT IS HAPPENING.WHY THE SECRETS OF WHEN AND WHAT IS PLANNED IN THE SHORT TERM.
IM SORRY BUT JUST SAYING ITS NEW IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH !
July 6th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
STEVE YOUR RIGHT
WHEN THEY INTERVIEWED TIM HENMAN,FRED PERRYS VOICE CAME OUT !!!!
July 7th, 2008 at 12:09 am
‘we’ve also noticed that their participation on the DigitalSpy forum has stopped, after being subjected to a lot of questions and concerns’
The participation didn’t stop as a result of the questions, it stopped as a result of comments from just a very few posters who were becoming more and more, abusive, aggressive and personal. A great pity as the vast majority of the rest of us were appreciative of the responses we were getting from Humax personnel.
July 7th, 2008 at 7:28 am
Can anybody confirm if this issue only applies to the Humax HD box? I am a Humax fan but are the Alba Group boxes affected? If not is the Grundig HD box a good alternative? I am looking to buy a box very soon….I’ve put my dish up….but issues like this are delaying my box purchase…..Is Grundig the way to go?
July 7th, 2008 at 7:40 am
Great…I’ve just ordered the Humax box, so I hope this gets fixed soon.
July 7th, 2008 at 7:50 am
i keep harping on about this i agree with the wimbledon comments regarding the interviews i too had to turn over but i watched Dan Cruickshank’s Adventures in architechture last night on BBCHD and i didnt notice any lyp syn problems. Could this then be that there is only an issue with live broadcasts? my setup is a LG lcd via HDMI.
July 7th, 2008 at 7:54 am
I bought the Humax HD and as most of the HD content was sport (Euro and Wimbledon) so I put up with the sync issue, until now. After the recent update failed to improve the situation considerably, I’ve decided to return my STB and wait for a fix. Afterall the prices seem to be coming down (see Dixons thread) and there’s going to be a lull in HD content (that I want to see) for a little while anyway.
Overall I’m pretty happy with the quality of the Humax box over it’s competitors but as I’m still within my return window I’m not gonna take the risk of keeping it long term with a fairly serious issue present. I will definately re-purchase once the issue is corrected.
I did email Humax after the most recent update and they replied asking for my TV make and model, then a further reply advised they were looking into the matter.
So for now, for me, as the major buying factor for me is HD content, Humax don’t get my hard earned (yeh right lol) £s
July 7th, 2008 at 8:09 am
Here I am….installed my own dish….waiting…waiting for an HD PVR, waiting for C4HD, waiting for Five, reading about issues such as lip sync….no communication from Freesat about what’s ‘coming soon’……ummm….I hate to say it, and I mean hate to say it, but am really tempted by Sky HD…..God, did I swear then…sorry….but Freesat must start to raise the stakes….it is starting to look like the ‘not for profit’ organisation it is….such a shame
July 7th, 2008 at 8:53 am
digital have you any new news at all about when in july new channels are to arrive
or any news on freesat letting us know when things are going to move on a bit
July 7th, 2008 at 8:55 am
I remember the post that Humax took the hump with, someone posted - “be man enough to admit if you have a problem rather than blame TV manufacturers”. or something very similar. I did not think it was that offensive myself and it seemed Humax were looking for a reason to escape the forums. They like it when getting praise for the product but refuse to admit a problem with the product.
It would be much better if they just said hands up we have a lip sync issue and we will sort it. But instead they blamed the TV manufacturers and only said it effected a small number of people.
It’s a shame when Alba can get it so right and Humax can get it so wrong, maybe Humax should give the Alba tech support team a call
…. I will be interested to see if this delays the Humax PVR
July 7th, 2008 at 9:22 am
It wasn’t just that one post. There had been a few over time where the tone and content left something to be desired. The kind of thing that they wouldn’t say face-to-face but feel safe about when hiding behind a keyboard.
I don’t think Humax were looking for an escape. Not all of their posts were simply ‘technical’. I got the impression they were enjoying the contact with the people who were buying their product.
July 7th, 2008 at 9:24 am
@ adrian. If you have a look at http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=142 you’ll be able to get answers to your questions (so far as there are answers at the moment) there.
July 7th, 2008 at 9:42 am
To answer the original questions of this post, yes, I have the lip sync problem on BBCHD but I also get lips sync issues on my old TU-D5831 Panasonic Sky box. I hope that Humax can correct it with a future update, but overall I’m very happy with the Foxsat box. I’m using it with a new Philips 42″ LCD (1080p) via HDMI. The picture quality on SD channels is better than my Panasonic Sky box. I have no intention of returning my Foxsat - for me it works & from the reviews I think it has the best EPG and the quickest set-up time.
July 7th, 2008 at 11:21 am
The problem seems to be with 5.1 sound, if its in stereo its mostly fine. Note, they still leave the 5.1 flags on even if its stereo for some reason, so your amp tells you its 5.1 when its not. you can tell these programs as they have better synch.
Im sure they will sort it out im willing to wait but not forever. They also have said that they are going to update the firmware on the scaler chip set, to give a better picture. I think this is great news as im getting a great picture allready to hear its going to get even better is brill.
July 7th, 2008 at 11:28 am
ref sound i have a sony tv but cannot get very good sound from my humex fresat box i have to turn the tv sound right up
July 7th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Gordon i know this is probably a stupid thing to say, but the humax has its own volume. have you checked its turned right up, the volume is on the remote.
July 7th, 2008 at 11:43 am
As i said on another thread, Comets, were happy to exchange box for grundig. At the end of the day I only want the box for HD & 5.1 sound, and that’s fine with Grundig
July 7th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Humax HD box + Tosh Regza 32″ + Rotel AV amp.
I hadn’t noticed any synch problems until Wimbledon yesterday (the interviews). I’m sure I would have noticed before if there’d been problems with Later/Glasto/Coldplay etc. and some of that was live, so it might not just be outside broadcasts. Yesterday I just switched over to the (Pace) freesatfromsky box, but I’ll have a play tonight with the TV and the amp’s stereo/ProLogic/DTS settings, if there is any suitable material.
July 7th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I know that we should expect teething problems, but, why did they not let PACE or any of the other manufacturers, who have experience in building hi-spec., digital and analogue receivers with EPG etc, over many years, build a box !
July 7th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
steve george gentle is on bbc hd tomorrow night
July 7th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Interesting what you say there about the Pace box Simon.
A retailer local to me - Williams at Woodseats in Sheffield has a Pace box in the window (the Freesat Official Website doesn’t list Pace as a manufacturer)
sat on top of a BBC Freesat logo’d Freesat display plinth and advertised as a BBC Freesat box!
Its right here:
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/5550/freesathi9.jpg
And yet….. BBC Freesat then say there’s no confusion in allowing names to be shared!
Seems that even the retailers are confused….
…Nevermind those poor customers who’ve posted elsewhere about having bought Freesat boxes only to find they bought Sky Freesat and not BBC Freesat as they thought they were doing!
This whole launch and future development plan (which doesn’t plan to compete with anyone or even offer the same main channels as Freeview) is becoming so Laurel and Hardy in its aims its laughable (in my opinion).
I was Freesat’s biggest supporter pre launch but I won’t buy in until its all sorted and there’s a clear committment to provide a service that mirrors all of Freeviews main channels and competes on an equal, if sometimes equivolent basis, with Sky’s flagship channels, and promises a total HD service in the near future.
Another mediocre public service holds no attraction to me, I’ll stick with the 5 I’ve got until someone at Freesat wakes up or they go bust, whichever is the sooner!
July 7th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
The Humax is the only box which sents 5.1 through the HDMI, the other only do stereo and 5.1 through the optical out. If you watch BBC HD through the scart it is perfectly in sync but Luxe Hd is still a mile out.
July 7th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Admin why has my earlier post failed to appear?
If i click resubmit it tells me that its already been posted but it doesn’t show on here. We’re not being sensored for giving feedback about Freesats failings now are we?
July 7th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Al - definatly no sensorship of your posts going on. Found it in the spam folder, maybe because of the url code included, now showing above.
July 7th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
OK Thanks. Picture works too.
July 7th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Thanks Gordon for letting me know that George Gentle is on tomorrow night on BBCHD
July 8th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
I emailed Humax as you suggested and received the following reply
Dear customer,
We are currently investigating the lip-sync issue that some users are reporting and intend to release a software update with the necessary changes so that the issue can be resolved for all of those that are experiencing it
Kind regards
Humax freesat Support
Tel: 0844 669 8800
July 9th, 2008 at 9:16 am
Other problems with humax foxsat box, teletext not working even when the information bar is displaying that it is available, this goes for the red button too, also picture quality on most channels bad compared to digi box, on HD channel not great can be a bit grainy, and no i am not using the free HDMI cable that was supply’ed, also can not change picture format i.e 14:9, 16:9, Anamorphic. O and finally the lip-sync issue this was ment to be resolved with the last update but from where i’m sitting nothing has changed. Can anyone confirm same problems…?
July 19th, 2008 at 11:25 am
I bought a Humax freesat HD box. The pictures were excellent, but I found that the lip-synch problems were un-bearable to watch. I ended-up taking it back to Currys and demanded a full refund, which I had, and took my money next door to Argos instead, and bought the Goodmans HD box instead. Although in my view the Humax picture had that extra sparkle, the lip synch problems have totally disappeared on the BBC-HD channel, however watching Harley Street on ITV-HD last night I found there was a slight synch problem. I am also getting lip-synch on Channel 4’s channels including film 4 for some reason. It appears that all make of HD boxes suffer the same faults, but I found the Goodmans box to be the most stable.