FTA Freeview via Dish

Many may not realise this - 95% of satellite receivers we have supplied in the last 5 years locally do record.

They have a USB port, where when you plug in a memory stick or external hard drive, you then get time shift and timer record options. This is for locally supplied and warranted equipment. They do not generally get the 7 day program guide (current information, now & next), but do record and you can set timer / multiple timers / daily / weekly etc - and only need a single cable feed.

Worth checking your existing model as sometimes people do not realise this. There are twin tuner models available, however if you just want to record something when out or in bed, a single tuner recording model should be fine.


Paul
http://www.televisiontechnology.eu
966783944

The issue I have is that these 'cheap & nasty' boxes tend to have a very poor user interface and the remote controls are often very poorly designed as well.
When 'er indoors has to keep asking me how to get the program she wants on the screen then it's not up to scratch as far as I'm concerned. Hence the reason why I prefer the Humax Freesat boxes, they have a very intuitive user interface and well laid-out remote controls.

Pete.

PeteKnight wrote:The issue I have is that these 'cheap & nasty' boxes tend to have a very poor user interface and the remote controls are often very poorly designed as well.
When 'er indoors has to keep asking me how to get the program she wants on the screen then it's not up to scratch as far as I'm concerned. Hence the reason why I prefer the Humax Freesat boxes, they have a very intuitive user interface and well laid-out remote controls.

Pete.

I'm on my 3rd remote with the Humax box. Some buttons just refuse to work after a while.

The issue I have is that these 'cheap & nasty' boxes tend to have a very poor user interface and the remote controls are often very poorly designed as well.
When 'er indoors has to keep asking me how to get the program she wants on the screen then it's not up to scratch as far as I'm concerned. Hence the reason why I prefer the Humax Freesat boxes, they have a very intuitive user interface and well laid-out remote controls.

We stay away from the very cheap boxes as concur with your findings & feel it not appropriate to put in the cheapest equipment that can be installed, as there can be functionality issues and not pleasant to use.

Issue mainly with the Freesat boxes is that they are UK only, so if you have an issue, you won't get it fixed or warranted here. They boot up on a single data epg frequency that must be at 50% and if that's weak or disappears, box won't boot up at all. We have visited a few clients with this issue, fortunately more than often a retune can bring it back, but some locations odd issue.

Also on community systems have to be a little careful, lots of amplifiers in circuit and certainly a few times seen issues with the needed frequency not being on the system - chances are unlikely this will happen, but it has a few times. There are a few 'unknowns' - such as what if they change this Freesat program data frequency or bump across to another satellite, these things do happen - so just a little cautious in 100% recommended approach. They do work, but can be no guarantee.

Generic satellite receivers do not rely on 1 frequency to boot up, so if signal a little weaker, you may be missing a channel or two and will have something to watch, rather than not booting up at all.

Not saying don't get a Humax, just a couple of points you need to be aware of. Answer, possibly keep a spare generic box - but not the cheap China stuff, which I do agree, not as good - cheap is cheap!

There is of course the 'full fat' and available alternative of a sky box and appropriate subscription, but that will add further to the cost with the monthly subs.

Paul
http://www.televisiontechnology.eu

You can use a Stacker,De stacker to send 2 Satellite feeds on 1 cable,,,
PM me for more info !
Steve

Listening to all the advice and reading up on google / YouTube - I have ordered a Humax freesat box hb-1000s (which doesn't record) for £79 new from Richer Sounds (a refurb one from Humax direct was £69) and a portable hard drive which I got for £15.99 and according to YouTube videos that should give me everything I need

Interestingly Richer Sounds talked me into their warranty deal (which I never usually do) which must be based on "most people will forget".

The deal is a 6 year "cover all" warranty for £9.99 and if you don't claim they will refund the £9.99 to you within one month of the 6th year anniversary date on production of the warranty receipt which they e mail to you - now there's a challenge