Humax Foxsat HDR PVR

[mike]

Few companies can rightfully be considered peerless, but PVR specialists Humax come pretty close so its army of loyal fans will be delighted to hear about the appearance of a Freesat HD PVR at IFA 2008 to join the FOXSAT-HD Freesat Receiver we looked at not all that long ago.

Despite being an eminently exciting development, there was very little fanfare - just a little section of stand in the outer reaches of the Berlin Messe. Nonetheless this is big news. If you want to watch HD broadcasts without paying Rupert Murdoch Freesat is your only hope, but who wants to sacrifice their viewing flexibility for Freesat, when you can keep it?

Ostensibly very similar to Humax's current Freeview boxes, the FOXSAT-HDR simply places dual Freesat tuners in the place of Freeview ones. Capable of displaying resolutions up to 1080i it can receive TV signals in MPEG-4 AVC, h.264 and MPEG-2 and has all the usual trimmings, such as an Ethernet port, a capacious 320GB hard drive, HDMI and optical audio out. It will also upscale standard definition broadcasts to your desired resolution.

Humax reps were coy about pricing - suggesting it could retail for as much as twice that of FOXSAT-HD - but did confirm this little beauty will be hitting the UK before Christmas. So, if you do have to endure the Christmas broadcasting, you can at least do it in high definition. Hooray!
Full Spec Sheet

[gomezz]

Originally Posted by mike

the FOXSAT-HDR ... has all the usual trimmings, such as an Ethernet port, ...

Really? I would quibble that this counts as a usual trimming given that it is not at all common on consumer equipment including any of Humax's existing Freeview recorders but more to the point what can and will the port be used for?

[Barry]

Originally Posted by gomezz

but more to the point what can and will the port be used for?

iptv - BBC iplayer, as announced at the startup of freesat.

Plus

Other goodies that Humax are keeping to themselves for the time being.


Edit:

Another source of information:

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08...t_hd_dvr_plan/

However none of these photos do the unit justice, you need to see it switched on, with the obligatory blue light shining through the smoked perspex front flap.

[premiump]

This is what I have been waiting for, a Freesat HD PVR!

Surely they'll need to hit the £200 price-point to make people sit up and take notice though?

[Barry]

Originally Posted by premiump

This is what I have been waiting for, a Freesat HD PVR!

Surely they'll need to hit the £200 price-point to make people sit up and take notice though?

No chance of it meeting that price point.....I've not seen a dual tuner HD PVR available anywhere for £200.


There are some screenshots, and tentative info available:

http://www.pvrjunction.co.uk/freesat/

[mantari]

Hi everyone - I'm trying to play catch up...

can I ask some (probably) blindingly obvious questions to those in the know

1) The Freesat HD-ready DVR is basically the same as my PVR-9200TB but with 2 freesat HD tuners instead?

2) What is DVB-T2?
a) Would I need to upgrade a Freesat DVR or a HD ready TV with this format
b)Is it a new format replacing the current HD thingy (I’m lost with this one!!)

3) What is the difference between 1080i and 1080p?
a) Does one work better with a Humax DVR
b) which is best - looking forward

I'm not an electronics whizz so please try not to blind me with science

Thanks

[markcav2001]

Originally Posted by mantari

Hi everyone - I'm trying to play catch up...

can I ask some (probably) blindingly obvious questions to those in the know

1) The Freesat HD-ready DVR is basically the same as my PVR-9200TB but with 2 freesat HD tuners instead?

2) What is DVB-T2?
a) Would I need to upgrade a Freesat DVR or a HD ready TV with this format
b)Is it a new format replacing the current HD thingy (I’m lost with this one!!)

3) What is the difference between 1080i and 1080p?
a) Does one work better with a Humax DVR
b) which is best - looking forward

I'm not an electronics whizz so please try not to blind me with science

Thanks

i think you need to google or wiki for yourself http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

1. you could say that, but of course you need a dish rather than aerial
2. ??
3. i (Interlaced) p (Progressive scan) - p is better

[gomezz]

Originally Posted by markcav2001

you could say that, but of course you need a dish rather than aerial

<Pedant Mode>A dish *is* an aerial</PM>

[monder]

Anyone know if it has a USB slot that one will be able to plug a stick into to watch Div/Xvid's?

[nvingo]

Originally Posted by mantari

Hi everyone - I'm trying to play catch up...

can I ask some (probably) blindingly obvious questions to those in the know

You can, that's where these forums come into their own

Originally Posted by mantari

1) The Freesat HD-ready DVR is basically the same as my PVR-9200TB but with 2 freesat HD tuners instead?

Basically, more like a PVR9300T I would expect. It will need two feeds from a satellite antenna (dish )to function (best) unlike the Freeview PVRs which use a terrestrial TV antenna (rooftop aerial ).

Originally Posted by mantari

2) What is DVB-T2?

DVB-T2 is the second generation digital broadcasting technology for ground-based transmitters (terrestrrial TV/Freeview) to be introduced simultaneously with High Definition digital terrestrial services. Currently standard-definition digital terrestrial TV is carried on DVB-T (read DVB-T1) broadcasts. There are roughly similar satellite equivalents, these are naturally called DVB-S and DVB-S2

Originally Posted by mantari

a) Would I need to upgrade a Freesat DVR or a HD ready TV with this format

No. A Freesat HD PVR as discussed here will have the required format (DVB-S2) built-in.

Originally Posted by mantari

b)Is it a new format replacing the current HD thingy (I’m lost with this one!!)

No. DVB-S2 is a prerequisite to HD on satellite broadcasting and available now, DVB-T2 is a prerquisite to HD terrestrial broadcasting, available as or once analogue transmissions cease.

Originally Posted by mantari

3) What is the difference between 1080i and 1080p?

i and p means interlaced and progressive. In the 1080p example, the displayed image is made of 1080 lines which are all transmitted to the screen in order, for every frame, just like when you read words from a page. With interlaced, there are two fields (half-frames) per frame, but these are not top-half and bottom-half which would result in a strange flashing effect, they are alternate scan lines, so one field contains the 540 even lines, followed by a field containing the 540 odd lines, which slot in between those in the previous field. This tricks the eye into seeing 1080 lines of detail and 50 frames (instead of 25) of movement, with half the data required to be stored/transmitted/processed.

Originally Posted by mantari

a) Does one work better with a Humax DVR

From the specs posted above, the Humax PVR has a maximum of 1080i on the output. That doesn't mean broadcasters will offer 1080i, just that the PVR can connect to the TV at that, but not the higher 1080p.

Originally Posted by mantari

b) which is best - looking forward

1080p would be superior when connected to a display with 1080 lines/pixel resolution.Since broadcasts are likely to be 720i/720p, the 720p option would be better for TVs which are other than 1080 lines resolution.

Originally Posted by mantari

I'm not an electronics whizz so please try not to blind me with science

Oops, sorry

Regards, Norman.