Recommend a decent Freeview recorder box?

KraniX · 11 Mar 2020 at 11:29

Hi all,

Looking to dump Sky and just use Freeview but a recorder box would be handy, does anyone have any recommendations?

A lot seem to be cheapo rubbish and I'm concerned about the UI, I don't mind paying a bit more for a decent one which isn't laggy and has a nice interface.

Thanks.

lucid · 11 Mar 2020 at 16:24

I got a Humax HDR1800T for my mother when she dropped Sky. Does the same Live TV Pause/Rewind. EPG is decent. Seems responsive. PQ is decent.

Alternatively, pick up a used Humax Freesat recorder. Seems to be a constant stream of the HD ones available through local classifieds.

Also look in to retaining your current Sky box with recording feature if it's not SkyQ. Apparently this is a low-cost / no-cost option for ex-Sky HD customers.

Andrew_McP · 11 Mar 2020 at 16:42

I paid £39.50 inc delivery for a refurb Humax DTR-T2100 500GB with a 2 year warranty from CEX recently. They seem to be out of stock now. Old box, but I don't have any significant complaints whatsoever. There was a very useful thread on HUKD that I got the recommendation from and it is better, faster and slicker in every way than the Humax 4000T which it replaced. That one had a third tuner, which was handy, but slow and frustrating and I tolerated it for way too long!

Anyway, if you can find a T2100 with a decent warranty, go for it.

Edit for lousy price memory

KraniX · 11 Mar 2020 at 16:46

lucid said:
I got a Humax HDR1800T for.my mother.when she dropped Sky. Does the same Live TV Pause/Rewind. EPG is decent. Seems responsive. PQ is decent.

Alternatively, pick up a used Humax Freesat recorder. Seems to be a constant stream of the HD ones available through local classifieds.

Also look in to retaining your current Sky box with recording feature if it's not SkyQ. Apparently this is a low-cost / no-cost option for ex-Sky HD customers.

Cheers pal, I'm on Sky Q but the cost for not returning the Q box is only £100... cheaper than most recorder boxes.

Any idea if the Q boxes continue to work after you cancel or is it only the old HD ones?

KraniX · 11 Mar 2020 at 16:49

Andrew_McP said:
I paid £39.50 inc delivery for a refurb Humax DTR-T2100 500GB with a 2 year warranty from CEX recently. They seem to be out of stock now. Old box, but I don't have any significant complaints whatsoever. There was a very useful thread on HUKD that I got the recommendation from and it is better, faster and slicker in every way than the Humax 4000T which it replaced. That one had a third tuner, which was handy, but slow and frustrating and I tolerated it for way too long!

Anyway, if you can find a T2100 with a decent warranty, go for it.

Edit for lousy price memory

Cheers, I'll keep a lookout on CEX and eBay, for £40 can't go wrong.

Don't really want to fork out £200 for the Panasonic recorder box I saw, was avoiding Humax as don't know the brand and presumed they'd be a bit rubbish.

Quartz · 11 Mar 2020 at 17:07

KraniX said:
Looking to dump Sky and just use Freeview but a recorder box would be handy, does anyone have any recommendations?

I've had a Panasonic box for many years.

KraniX · 11 Mar 2020 at 17:17

Quartz said:
I've had a Panasonic box for many years.

I presume you're happy with it then, what's the guide and interface like?

My biggest worry is ending up with something like what you get when you stay in a cheap hotel, awful EPG that takes an age to navigate through.

This was the pana box I was looking at initially - https://www.freeview.co.uk/freeview-play/products/panasonic-dmr-hwt250eb

Quartz · 11 Mar 2020 at 18:05

KraniX said:
I presume you're happy with it then, what's the guide and interface like?

They're exactly the same as my Panasonic VT-series plasma HD TV, which tells you its age. I doubt it's available any more which is why I forgot to mention the model: HWT230, clearly the predecessor to the one you mention. The menus and guide are clear and simple and consdistent with my TV. I'm not a great TV watcher so simplicity and consistency are important to me. A minor annoyance is that neither of them auto-update the channel list. I particularly like the +10s and +60s skip buttons, which make skipping adverts or dodgy scenes a breeze. I like mine.

Armageus · 11 Mar 2020 at 18:09

There are also some new generation Freesat boxes available:
https://www.freesat.co.uk/4k-tv-box/

The recording one should be available soon

lucid · 11 Mar 2020 at 18:14

KraniX said:
Cheers pal, I'm on Sky Q but the cost for not returning the Q box is only £100... cheaper than most recorder boxes.

Any idea if the Q boxes continue to work after you cancel or is it only the old HD ones?

Q is different to HD.

With HD, after your first year of contract, ownership of the hardware transferred to you. At that point you were free to do with the box as you pleased. With Q this no longer happens. The gear is never legally yours. It's on perpetual hire for as long as you are a subscriber. Sky retains ownership, and they're allowed to demand the gear back after the contract ends, or ask you to stump up a fee of you've sold the gear on.
(Whether they do that on practise is a different thing.)

The upshot is that once you leave the SkyQ service, your boxes won't work and you're unlikely to persuade Sky to switch them back on as a low-cost Freesat box.

Your LNB on the diswill be different to the Sky HD one as well for.a standard SkyQ installation. The standard SkyQ one doesn't work directly with most ordinary Freesat recorders. A new LNB (under £20) fixes that. Just swap it out and use the same cables for Freesat.