Need a terrestrial pvr - HDR-FOX-T2 any good?

haaammit

haaammit

haaammit

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I've owned and still have a Humax PVR800.

I've owned and now no longer own

Humax PVR9200T (hard drive went faulty :( )
BT VISION box (God awful piece of crap - may it's diodes forever burn in hell)

I need a new pvr. Cable and satellite are not options here, so I'll have to rely on DVB.

Is there anything better than the HDR FOX T2? Picture wise or feature wise? I like the idea of on demand catchup (the FOX does this via ethernet, yes?), but aren't overly bothered. Auto padding and decent series link are very important. I'm familiar with the Humax interface. HD recording/playback/watching is also important.

Good picture and decent S/PDIF out are paramount, as is not being **** (like the BT Vision box - that was so crap I set it on fire).

Many thanks :)
 
Presumably you mean DVB-T(2), i.e. Freeview (HD) because DVB also includes DVB-C (cable via Virgin Media) and DVB-S(2) (satellite via Sky/Freesat).

The HDR-Fox-T2 is still, AFAIK, the best Freeview+ HD box around. I don't think you can go wrong with it.
 
DragonQ said:
Presumably you mean DVB-T(2), i.e. Freeview (HD) because DVB also includes DVB-C (cable via Virgin Media) and DVB-S(2) (satellite via Sky/Freesat).
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Presumably you can't read....

Quink said:
Cable and satellite are not options here, so I'll have to rely on DVB.
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Thanks for your help though :rolleyes:.

DragonQ said:
The HDR-Fox-T2 is still, AFAIK, the best Freeview+ HD box around. I don't think you can go wrong with it.
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Ta :)
 
I have a HDR-FOX T2 with the latest fireware upgrade and a few addition to the normal system stuff by way of a hacked fireware. This adds almost complete web access control to the PVR box. Its really is a nice piece of kit. I can stream content from the HDR downstairs to my PC upstairs via ethernet using VLC so dont have to even be in the same room. The box can have some issue if you are like me in the middle of two possible transmitters becuase it will pick up all possible chanels and does get some twice which can then throw the auto recording stuff offline but this is quite easily solved with manual tuning of the box and you can also pad recordings anyway. If there is anything you want to know or want me to test I can have a look for you on my box but all in all the HDR-FOX T2 deffo comes alive with the hacked firmware rather than just the lastest one from humax.
 
Slade2 said:
I have a HDR-FOX T2 with the latest fireware upgrade and a few addition to the normal system stuff by way of a hacked fireware. This adds almost complete web access control to the PVR box. Its really is a nice piece of kit. I can stream content from the HDR downstairs to my PC upstairs via ethernet using VLC so dont have to even be in the same room. The box can have some issue if you are like me in the middle of two possible transmitters becuase it will pick up all possible chanels and does get some twice which can then throw the auto recording stuff offline but this is quite easily solved with manual tuning of the box and you can also pad recordings anyway. If there is anything you want to know or want me to test I can have a look for you on my box but all in all the HDR-FOX T2 deffo comes alive with the hacked firmware rather than just the lastest one from humax.
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I'm also looking at buying this box - where did you get the hacked firmware from and does it spoil any of the standard features at all? Or is it a win win?
 
If you want to fanny about with firmwares you might be better looking at a Topfield box. They have an open API so there is shedloads of community development for them.

Assuming the feature set is close enough to the Humax, it might be a better bet.
 
I have the HD-FOX-T2 which is essentially a single tuner HDR (you can even plug a USB drive in the back and record to it). I've tried the hacked firmware and failed on getting any HD recordings pulled off it, but quickly gave up as I have a MythTV setup with 3 satellite tuners so get access to auntie Beebs FTA HD broadcasts on a PC anyway.

Nice bit of kit - the EPG could be better (doesn't display the full program info for the program your on without a second button push) but can nicely slice and dice the channels so you can create your own fav. list without having to browse through the 70 channels of dross. It's fast and hasn't missed a beat so far and also has bookable recordings on trailers which is nice.
 
MrSix said:
I'm also looking at buying this box - where did you get the hacked firmware from and does it spoil any of the standard features at all? Or is it a win win?
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Head over to hummy.tv/forum

They have a complete Wiki for the hacked firmware and you get a really nice web control system for it now. Some of the features of the hackfirm ware I couldnt live without now (for example I had lots and lots of random kids shows saved to a kids directory and it will use the EPG to rename them all to episode name and then store all the duplicates read for you to delete) and you can remove it quite simply and go back to the defaults. Also the forum is really usefull and most of the stuff is still fully supported. Another new feature is you can now play files from it from the web interface so its possible to play them in another room if have the box networked. All in all I really cant recommend this box enough and its now a bit cheaper than it was when it was released.

In response to the post above the HDR will apply some DRM stuff to all HD recordings but I believe there are some options provided by the hacked fireware to help with that.
 
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Slade2 said:
In response to the post above the HDR will apply some DRM stuff to all HD recordings but I believe there are some options provided by the hacked fireware to help with that.
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Yes, it does. But I couldn't (in my 15 minute try - and I'm normally pretty good with this sort of stuff) how to get them off unencrypted. As I said, I have 3 sat tuners around the house, all controlled by a MythTV system, so I just record stuff from a web interface anyway so I didn't persevere. I'm sure it is possible to get them off - other seem to have - but it's certainly not as easy as CTRL-C and CTRL-V ;) :D
 
probedb said:
A quick 5 minute look in the Wiki will sort it...I believe.

http://wiki.hummy.tv/wiki/Custom_Firmware_Package_Notes#Auto-Unprotect
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Yes, that's where I was looking ;) Just seemed too much of a faff to actually get it off the drive when when it didn't just work first time. In the 10 minutes I played with it, I couldn't export it in a format that played on anything I have here. I know people have, but it didn't seem to "just work" (as you have to decrypt it as the file is copied off the drive).

As I said, I have 3 x DVB-S2 tuners in PCs around here, and they have access to exactly the same HD content in an unencrypted form and I can just move them around my network very easily. Recording is via MythTV...
 
Well I bought a brand new one for £217 and I'm mightily impressed. The iplayer interface is a bit slow/clunky but I don't really use that too much, so that shouldn't be too much of an issue. A real nice, quality bit of kit. It's the 500gb one - plenty big enough for us, and we can always add a drive if we need to.

Cheers :)
 
Quink said:
Well I bought a brand new one for £217 and I'm mightily impressed. The iplayer interface is a bit slow/clunky but I don't really use that too much, so that shouldn't be too much of an issue. A real nice, quality bit of kit. It's the 500gb one - plenty big enough for us, and we can always add a drive if we need to.

Cheers :)
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Glad you are happy with you purchase Quink, try out the custom portal on the custom/hacked firmware it seems a bit more responsive then the one that it comes with :)
 
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