Freesat

[Barleyman]

Yes, I know this has been discussed several times, but bear with me. Having searched a few threads here and in avsforums, it seems to me that the freesat box is a bit crap and quite expensive to boot. So would it be a reasonable alternative to buy 2nd hand Humax HDR-1100S box from ebay, from someone accepting returns and some kind of rep? These boxes are probably fairly old but if the HDD breaks, it should be easy enough to swap a new 2TB 2.5" drive in there. I've got LG CX OLED which has single sat input so technically I need no PVR at all, but USB HDD would be then another item on the shopping list.

I've got Sky-Q dish and I'm aware someone needs to climb up and replace the LNB with a quad model, technically dual output would work just fine but quad costs about £15 new so whatever, the antenna guy will probably want a lot more than that. That someone's probably not going to be me, I don't have a suitable ladder and even if I did, it'd be a bit iffy, so that's probably going to add a significant amount of £££ to this escapade.

I've already returned the Sky Q box a good while ago and pretty much just want to be able to watch the freeview channels without having to jump through several different streaming apps and the landlord is too cheap to put up an actual aerial. Being able to actually record shows would be nice too, those apps don't have bestest quality AND I don't enjoy unskippable ads all that much.

The other way to do this would be to get the basic Virgin mix tv, but TBH I'm tired of them and since we've finally got shiny new fiber, I can ditch 'em and come back as a new customer after 18 months or so.

 

[Barleyman]

1st quote was £85 + VAT to swap it. Pretty good money considering the amount of work involved.

 

[spile]

I’ve had a Humax HDR-1100S for many years and it’s great. Last year it stopped working but a £75 repair (Northern Ireland) was quick and it’s fine again. I have no idea what I’d do if I had to replace it as I am still used to watching sat quality tv and making recordings that I can skip adverts with. My streaming device is a FireTv which is of course faster and better that the Humax but I still like Freesat and it’s my main tv source.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Another Humax HDR-1100S user here and I can’t fault it after 6 years of constant daily use.

You already know that you need a Universal LNB to work with the Humax boxes, so that’s good.

I know a bunch of other Brits here in France that have been using the Humax boxes without issue for years.

Most common failure is the HDD which can be replaced with an SSD.

 

[Barry Smalley]

I swapped my own LNB and bought a Vu+ UNO 4K SE box and it’s brilliant. Will cost a bit more than the old humax route though.

 

[alex24]

My Humax HDR-1000s (I think) stopped recognising hard drives and would need a trip to NI as well but I haven’t done it yet as it would cost similar to possible replacements to still get a box that may break again. Not sure what the repair is but if it’s a reflow it would just be a matter of time. I have an LG OLED with a tuner but the guide and recording is unreliable at best. Seems Freesat is on its way out due to streaming I would say.

 

[Flor_Fina]

1st quote was £85 + VAT to swap it. Pretty good money considering the amount of work involved.

I did my own ground install before going down the iptv route (France) and it was pretty difficult to tune the LNB even though I bought a proper meter etc

 

[Barleyman]

I had a real joker, the guy calls me back 8pm on Friday and says it'll be around 99 to 120 quid with tax. Okay I thought, bit steep but he could come do it the next day. Then he calls me next day and says, oh yeah I can be there in about 2 hours, and it'll be £199! Go jump in a lake, mate. Had someone else who said he could do it for £65, lets see if the cost jumps closer to the date as well..

 

[SexyGreyFox]

I swapped my own LNB and bought a Vu+ UNO 4K SE box and it’s brilliant. Will cost a bit more than the old humax route though.

I've had the same VU+ since January 2021 and it's superb.
Sometimes my Mrs can be recording 5 programmes at once while watching another.
We can also access it with 4x Fire Sticks with KODI 19.4 and an Enigma 2 plugin which works brilliantly.
I've also had other VU+'s for years and couldn't believe it when they bought a version out that could record at least 8 channels at once.

 

[Barleyman]

I've had the same VU+ since January 2021 and it's superb.
Sometimes my Mrs can be recording 5 programmes at once while watching another.
We can also access it with 4x Fire Sticks with KODI 19.4 and an Enigma 2 plugin which works brilliantly.
I've also had other VU+'s for years and couldn't believe it when they bought a version out that could record at least 8 channels at once.

I've seen comments about Enigma that it's a Linux device with all that it entails, it can pretty much do whatever but it takes a lot of tweaking and isn't very polished to use.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Anyone fancying replacing their own LNBs which would involve being on a roof or up a ladder should take a tin of wasp spray.

I changed a really old LNB the other day that had failed because the front cap had cracked and wasps had made a nest inside. They were not happy to see me. Old LNB got yeeted into nearby bushes as I was not in any position to run away squealing like a little girl.

 

[SexyGreyFox]

I've seen comments about Enigma that it's a Linux device with all that it entails, it can pretty much do whatever but it takes a lot of tweaking and isn't very polished to use.

There's a 65 year old woman in the other room that uses it virtually 24/7, she never has a problem.
I never programme it.

If you decided to have one I could send you my image which has been working flawlessly since 2022, I did have problems with another well known image but this Blackhole one has been brilliant.
You put it on a USB stick, turn VU+ on and it just transfers the image to the new machine.

 

[sHo0sH]

People still watch live TV?

 

[Terminal_Boy]

People still watch live TV?

Not very often, but a Freesat box is very handy for recording U.K. TV if you live somewhere that would require a VPN to watch catch-up TV.

 

[SexyGreyFox]

Anyone fancying replacing their own LNBs which would involve being on a roof or up a ladder should take a tin of wasp spray.

I changed a really old LNB the other day that had failed because the front cap had cracked and wasps had made a nest inside. They were not happy to see me. Old LNB got yeeted into nearby bushes as I was not in any position to run away squealing like a little girl.

Many years ago I put my new dish on the side of my garage (I went from 1.2 metre to 60cm because I only need 28.2E now.).

 

[SexyGreyFox]

People still watch live TV?

We always get one, so sad mate - ooh look at me aren't I special.
The only thing we watch live is the News and my football for your information, everything is recorded so we can pretend we're streaming from Netflix but don't pay a fortune.

 

[Flor_Fina]

Plus re-runs on Dave

 

[Barleyman]

We always get one, so sad mate - ooh look at me aren't I special.
The only thing we watch live is the News and my football for your information, everything is recorded so we can pretend we're streaming from Netflix but don't pay a fortune.

And you get to skip ads for free, don't forget about that one!

I had a guy come over on Monday, he did the job for £65 including tax, plus the LNB cost. It took him literally 20min from the time he rang the doorbell to him taking steps back, so someone asking £199 for that was a nice try.

Now I do get freesat on LG as expected but the Humax will take a day or 2 more, hopefully no need to have a dispute on Ebay with a busted one.. Paid £99 for 500GB version from a returns accepted business seller which should help at least a bit in case there's a problem..

 

[SexyGreyFox]

And you get to skip ads for free, don't forget about that one!

Back in 1980/81 I was one of the very first to have a video recorder and one fellow worker really took the pee out of me "Don't you watch enough tele?" but I bided my time.
Over the next 2 weeks I listened to him talk about stuff he had watched on TV and how he didn't go the pub a couple of nights because he wanted to watch something.
It was then I told him I could go out at any time I wanted and watch it at any time, about 6 months later he had one
Those people now say "Do you still watch live TV?"

 

[Barleyman]

Hmm. So I can't reorder the channels? TV guide always goes to all channels and you have to pick favourites yourself? Not exactly the best PVR I've used.. Sky Q box is much nicer but then again, it comes with a monthly payment. They don't hand those out anymore I think, everyone's streaming and enjoying unskippable ads.. Unless you pay £5/month extra, of course!

"If you're not watching the ads, you're stealing TV. .