Humax Foxsat HDR or HTPC?

chipperhead

chipperhead

chipperhead

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Joined
7 Feb 2004
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I'm looking at getting something to receive and record digital TV, I'd rather use a satellite dish than an aerial as freeview seems a bit hit and miss around here and I already have an existing dish on the wall.

I'm wondering do I go for a Humax Foxsat HDR or build myself a HTPC, to be honest I'm not exactly sure what a HTPC does as I've searched these forums but most of the posts about HTPC seem to be spec me ones and not they can do.

To me the benefit on the Humax box would be ease of use but I would be interested if I could record to the HTPC and watch in another room, would this be possible?
Also if I could watch files that I have downloaded to my main pc and watch them in the living room through the HTPC?

Infact I've had a quick glance through some spec me posts and none of them mention any kind of tuner card, am I completely wrong regarding what a HTPC is used for?

Aaargh I'm all confused.
 
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The Humax sounded interesting to me until I realised it didn't come with anyway of getting the data off it.

So if you want to copy something off the HDD to keep you're a bit knackered.

It has an ethernet connection on it but as far as I am aware it's only for firmware updates etc., you can't copy any meaningful data from it.

HTPC all the way methinks!
 
TheBigCheese said:
The Humax sounded interesting to me until I realised it didn't come with anyway of getting the data off it.

So if you want to copy something off the HDD to keep you're a bit knackered.

It has an ethernet connection on it but as far as I am aware it's only for firmware updates etc., you can't copy any meaningful data from it.

HTPC all the way methinks!
Click to expand...
Wrong mate
i got the foxsat hdr a few weeks ago and it copies files to a usb stick fine
The HD files from BBC HD are another matter as they are encrypted and wont copy via the box
Have played SD back via media player and on my popcorn hour downstairs :)
 
ANDARIAL said:
Wrong mate
i got the foxsat hdr a few weeks ago and it copies files to a usb stick fine
The HD files from BBC HD are another matter as they are encrypted and wont copy via the box
Have played SD back via media player and on my popcorn hour downstairs :)
Click to expand...

To play them on your popcorn hour do you have to transfer the files to a usb stick then put the stick into the popcorn hour?
 
ANDARIAL said:
Wrong mate
i got the foxsat hdr a few weeks ago and it copies files to a usb stick fine
The HD files from BBC HD are another matter as they are encrypted and wont copy via the box
Have played SD back via media player and on my popcorn hour downstairs :)
Click to expand...

I've never been more pleased to be wrong! :D

I bought a new TV recently and asked in my local electrical retailer (a knowledgeable one, not one of the massive stores) and they said that there was no way of getting anything off it...that's great news and so much easier than DVDs!

Shame about the HD though :(
 
Shame about the HD though :(
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Bit of a disappointment here too,i don`t know if mounting the drive into a windows pc will allow you to extract the files(probably not due to copyright i suppose)
 
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I suppose that nothing that is shown on the HD service is anything that you might want to keep anyway...it's only a mixture of the standard soaps and dramas (which would be on Blu-ray) I suppose.

What format do the SD broadcasts take when they are copied onto another HDD? I've had a hell of a time trying to edit out adverts etc. when I have burnt recorded content on my Sony PVRs before now, and the format seems to be a bit strange and the PC doesn't like it much.
 
Formats on the foxsat are
Transport Stream MPEG-2 ISO/IEC 13818
Transport Stream Specification
Profile Level MPEG-2 MP@ML, MPEG4 HD HP@L4, PAL
Input Rate 15MB/s Max
The file i played with was a TS file only tried to play it on the pc and on the popcorn,not sure how easy it will be to edit this file,maybe convert it to something else and edit that ? :)
The BBC HD nature programs look great but as you have said once you have watched them a few times you don`t want to archive them
 
Iam using a HTPC myself with a hauppauge Nova-HD-S2 ( for freesat sd/hd)
(I also got a nova-T dual freeview tuner) with this combo I can record up to 12 channels at once - g(od forbid that much tv would be on at same time)

I can make HD recordings auto convert them to mkv ( and place markers that define where advert breaks are) and store the video file on a network storage drive
 
DVD Cinema said:
Which one?

Wait until it comes out, as prices will drop.
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Panasonic Freesat Blu Ray recorder for the UK - it's official!
Finally, after months of speculation - Panasonic have finally announced freesat+ blu-ray recorders for the UK

DMR-BS750 – £899 - blu ray
DMR-BS850 – £999 - blu ray

A 500GB drive.
Profile 2.0 compliant.

We get a new programme guide - better than the Foxsat pvr?!

Also, good news for HD archiving. It seems we'll be allowed to archive many of our HD recordings. Broadcasters (well BBC HD i guess!) intend to flag many HD broadcasts as Copy Free.

It includes Panasonic’s Viera Cast internet network, via the Ethernet port, allowing video clips from YouTube to be played (full-screen) and searched. Users can also browse Picassa photo albums and, come the summer launch, have access to Eurosport news and clips.

The hard drive can be used as an audio jukebox.
The recorders have an inbuilt Gracenote database of 350,000 albums.
This can be updated via the recorder’s net connection when required.

An SD card slot playback of hi-res digital images and AVCHD files.
A USB input for media playback
Click to expand...
from another forum:)
 
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