Hi Guys im after a bit of help. Im a tech "expert" lol BUT ive not watched or recorded a TV program in a decade or more! Because im not 70 years old. However my parents ARE and they have asked me to help them with a new setup after a humax freesat box went up the pole.
So i confidently tell them, that as a tech expert, i will buy them a nice new UHD TV with built in DVR, catch up and on demand, no sweat, easy, i mean im the owner of £6k worth of OLED LG Tvs, home cinema kit, a loaded plex server i mean this is EASY! Right?
Well then they drop the bombshell! The POS humax freesat box let them record 2 shows AT THE SAME TIME!! and apparently this is vital! Ive explained its all on catch up but that isnt helping sadly.
Whats the solution? I was looking at a 55" LG nanocell as the TV and DVR recording to a 256Gb memory stick but now im not sure, quick googling says "no sir you cant record 2 things at once you are clearly a psychopath"
All advice welcomed, budget is £750 atm to include a 47-55" tv wallmount and accessories
Help me! They are old, could die any day, i need to get their wrinkly little faces smiling.*
TIA
*I am of course joking they are in fantastic health and will be recording crappy tv for many years to come
You're probably getting the message loud and clear that the answer is to replace the box. You don't need another voice telling you the same thing, I'm sure. But I will add a little detail about the current product choices because Humax is now out of the Freesat game.
Freesat is a specific subset of satellite TV. There are TVs and boxes that have a satellite tuner, some of which are very cheap, but only certain brands are licenced to use the Freesat EPG. This filters out all the channels that don’t fit within the UKs digital TV platform – e.g. foreign channels or those from Sky that are only watchable with a Sky subscription – and then puts the rest in the familiar order; BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV, Ch 4, Ch 5 etc. It also helps with the selection of regionalised channels such as the Welsh and Scottish BBC services and the local service ITV channels. This is what the Freesat electronic programme guide (EPG) does. The channel listings on boxes and TVs that just have satellite reception look chaotic by comparison.
Firms that are licenced to make Freesat receivers used to include Humax. They were the main PVR manufacturer, but that’s no longer the case.
Their licencing deal ended in the last quarter of 2019. This coincided with the move to the third generation of Freesat receiver. The generations thing breaks down like this: 1st gen’ devices simply receive/record SD and HD Freesat-grouped signals. This is the typical Manhattan Freesat receiver for £50. Second generation boxes added Freesat’s version of catch-up TV called Freetime. These are the last of the Humax branded Freesat recorders such as the HDR-1100S.
The 3rd generation machines mark an important step change in the technology. The boxes are capable of receiving 4K UHD broadcasts when they arrive. They also include 4K UHD streaming services. The other major change is that they’re now compatible with the same kind of wideband LNB as Sky Q.
All the sat’ TV receivers we had in the UK before Sky Q arrived needed one signal cable per tuner. In order then to record a channel whilst watching another, the box or TV had to have two sat tuners each with its own signal feed from a multiple-output LNB.
Wideband LNBs work differently. They send all horizontally polarised channels down one cable, and all the vertically polarised down another. There are still two signal connections then, but the box can host multiple tuners rather than one tuner per cable. The main Sky Q box uses a twin wideband feed to supply something like 12 internal tuners in the higher-spec Q box.
A French firm called Arris won the contract to produce Gen’ 3 boxes for Freesat. They are marketed as Freesat 4K rather than Arris.
The recorder boxes are compatible with the same standard LNB your parents have for their Humax box. With that feed the box will do the same
watch-one-whilst-recording-another thing that their Humax did. However, if the LNB is changed for a wideband LNB then the same two signal cables will carry H-polarised and V-polarised signals. This then allows the box to make more simultaneous recordings. I think it’s up to four simultaneous recordings on the Arris box.
The current state of play is that Manhattan makes Gen’ 1 boxes Freesat boxes, and that Arris makes Gen’ 3. TTBOMK, no one makes Gen’ 2 devices, not even Manhattan. My guess is that’s a licencing restriction. Gen’ 2 is probably too close in spec to Gen’ 3 that it would threaten sales for Arris. TVs with Freesat are effectively Gen' 1 devices, but the TV's own catch-up facilities makes it look like a Gen' 2 product.
Unless someone stumbles across a forgotten pallet of new Humax boxes in a warehouse somewhere, then any Gen’ 2 PVR stock available is almost certainly refurb stuff . We’re a good 18 months after Humax stopped production. Any existing Humax stock in warehouses and on retailer’s shelves has sold through long ago. The bulk of any warranty replacements has been done, and so when you check the Humaxdirect web site for official refurb stock then you’ll not find much if anything on Freesat gear. Any stock for sale from other sources is basically second-hand gear given a bit of a clean-up.
