Published: Monday 1st September, 2008 | Author: Parm Mann
Companies: Humax (All Humax content), Freesat (All Freesat content)
printer friendly layout 
discuss in the forums 
email to a friendBack in May, the BBC and ITV launched Freesat, the UK's free-to-view high-definition service. Back then, Humax - a leading provider of set-top boxes - unveiled FOXSAT-HD, its all-black Freesat-ready receiver.
Despite the promise of free-to-view HD channels, various consumers and HEXUS.community members have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of a receiver with built-in PVR functionality. Having become accustomed to the likes of PVR Freeview boxes and Sky+, recording functionality is simply a must.
Fortunately, Humax was on hand at IFA '08 to tease its FOXSAT-HDR. The upcoming receiver will provide PVR functionality to Freesat viewers, and allow for ample recording on its 320GB hard drive.
The receiver features dual-Freesat tuners - allowing users to record one channel whilst viewing another. As with the existing PVR-less FOXSAT-HD receiver, it'll support resolutions of up to 1080i and is DVB-S2 and DVB-S compatible. It'll support broadcasts in MPEG-2, MPEG-4 H.264, and features HDMI, Ethernet and optical audio connectivity.
According to reports, the FOXSAT-HDR will arrive in time for Christmas, but Humax is yet to divulge pricing.
Copyright © 1998 - 2009, HEXUS.net. All rights reserved. Terms, conditions and privacy information.
HEXUS® is a registered trademark of HEXUS Limited.
High Def......
IE7 Search
Firefox 2 Search
HEXUS.community :: your right2reply
What do you reckon the price will be? I think £300 which is a bit ouchy for me at the moment... £200 and I would definitely look twice but I really can't see it being that cheap.
I reckon it will be £300, it could even be £350, for the simple reason that there will be plenty of people willing to pay that sort of money. A standard def Humax or Topfield terestral box costs over £200, and they sell plenty. You would expect an HD satellite box to be more. Remember that the price of hardware from Sky is subsidized, and will not bear much relation to how much the hardware costs Sky.
Or put it another way. If I wanted to buy an HD satellite box this Christmas, then I would consider the Humax one (after first checking that Topfield don't have one in the works), and if the reviews where positive I would consider £300 a fair price.
Is this not via USB though?
The one on the Terestral Humax box is, and is fairly slow by all accounts. I am assuming that the new satellite box will transfer recordings over Ethernet, but I don't know. Franky I can't think of any other good reason to include an Ethernet port on a satellite receiver. Even if they added a web browser or suchlike, then it would be much more sensible to connect over WiFi, as it will be easer to setup in most households, and these days the chipsets will cost virtually the same. The only advantage wired Ethernet brings is speed, and the only application that would benefit from such speed is transferring files to or from a computer.
If for some perverse reason the box does not support file transfer, or only does so over slow USB, then the enthusiast community has reverse engineered the disc format used by Humax, and there are a number of tools and mods out there that will enable you to read recordings off the hard drive, and even add hardware inside the case to do it remotely. I doubt Humax will have changed the disc format, so all those mods should still work on the new box.Quote
Ethernet is included in the Freesat specs so firmware updates can be downloaded and interactive services can be truely interactive. Wireless would be a good idea, but would probably add significantly to the costs. Bill of materials would increase, complexity of the hardware, complexity of the software, support issues, and changing standard would all impact the cost of the unit.Quote
The only advantage wired Ethernet brings is speed, and the only application that would benefit from such speed is transferring files to or from a computer.
if this is a box capable of streaming files and is aimed at the HD user, the ethernet port would be a must to stream HD avis and the like from PCs as the speed limits of wifi fall short of the data speeds of HD encoded programsQuote
Prices and more details please Humax!Quote
My understanding is that, in order to be FreeSat approved (and get the FreeSat logo & access to the FreeSat EPG), boxes are required to have an ethernet port.
This is in order to allow interactive services feed back user input and allow "future" support for IPTV (e.g. BBC iPlayer / Kangaroo).
Have URLs but is 1st post :-(
-TimQuote
Reply