# Humax Freesat HD and TIVO



## brettparker (Feb 14, 2001)

Couple of quick questions:
I see this box is now supported by Tivo and it seems like some of the firmware teething problems are resolved so thinking about binning sky and taking the jump...

I assume I'd want to connect the box via HDMI to the TV. Whilst I'm doing this what happens to SCART feed for TIVO? In particular, can I watch a program in HD on the TV whilst "taping" it on Tivo via the Scart, or is it one output at a time?

Any other thoughts or peculiarities I should know about before I splash out?

Thanks in advance!


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## Maclynn (Oct 6, 2000)

It outputs on both, so watching and recording is not a problem.
Dont buy one if your TV is not HD ready.


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## brettparker (Feb 14, 2001)

Maclynn said:


> It outputs on both, so watching and recording is not a problem.
> Dont buy one if your TV is not HD ready.


It's HD ready and don't want to upgrade sky for HD which is the point of getting it.

Do the codes for TIVO work ok now, any problems I should know or would you go for it? (assuming you've got one!)


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## OzSat (Feb 15, 2001)

it works fine.

you can watch and hd programme on your tv and record a sd version of it at the same time on tivo.


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## brettparker (Feb 14, 2001)

Thanks. Think I will give it a go and cut the stream of money from my bank account to Mr Murdoch's...


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## swarrans (Jan 7, 2003)

Which Humax box is this - it sounds interesting! Could I literally just unplug my Sky box and plug this one in?

Simon


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## brettparker (Feb 14, 2001)

It's the HUMAX FOXSAT-HD, understand all you need to do is swap cables, rerun TIVO guided setup with the new box and you're away. Only picks up Freesat EPG and FTA Sat channels, but includes BBC and ITV HD.


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## OzSat (Feb 15, 2001)

That's it - but ITVHD not a full time channel and doesn't appear on TiVo.


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## DX30 (May 22, 2005)

Just a cautionary note on quality when recording HD channels in SD on a TiVo. Currently on the Humax Freesat BBC HD will only output on the scart using composite, not RGB. The resulting TiVo recordings image quality is worse than you get with recording the SD channels.


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## brettparker (Feb 14, 2001)

Got it up and running, have to say I'm impressed by the HD functions - makes the football immesurably better to watch. Would be nice if you didn't have to switch between Freesat and non-Freesat to watch the rest of the channels, e.g. Sky News.


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## 6022tivo (Oct 29, 2002)

Waiting for the Freesat HD with the hard drive included coming in a couple of months..

Then sadly it may be bye bye tivo..


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

swarrans said:


> Which Humax box is this - it sounds interesting! Could I literally just unplug my Sky box and plug this one in?


Yes you could just swap them over but beware that that Freesat cannot receive Five, Five US, FIVER or Sky Three as these are FTV and need a Sky viewing card in a Sky box to decrypt them. Also quite a few FTA channels available on a Sky box like Sky News, CNN and Bloomberg are not in the Freesat EPG. This means you have to change to non Freesat EPG mode (back to standard Euro sat box EPG with only now and next) to watch those channels. I understand that this is in practice a bit of a pain in the neck.

I see that Sky are now marketing their cheaper Sky Pay Once Watch Forever Freesat deal on the www.freesatfromsky.co.uk website at £75 rather than the regular £150 deal. I wonder how much longer before Sky also offer a Freesat From Sky HD box deal? I can't see this being a Sky+ enabled PVR though due to potential loss of premium Sky HD subscribers.


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## OzSat (Feb 15, 2001)

6022tivo said:


> Waiting for the Freesat HD with the hard drive included coming in a couple of months..
> 
> Then sadly it may be bye bye tivo..


If your local ITV1 channel is Tyne Tees - you may not get than!

Some ITV1 regions are current encrypted - which means no Freesat.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

ozsat said:


> If your local ITV1 channel is Tyne Tees - you may not get than!
> 
> Some ITV1 regions are current encrypted - which means no Freesat.


Bound to be the smallest regions for viewers I assume?

Presumably ITV must be working on sorting this out in the coming months?


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## brettparker (Feb 14, 2001)

ozsat said:


> If your local ITV1 channel is Tyne Tees - you may not get than!
> 
> Some ITV1 regions are current encrypted - which means no Freesat.


Further oddity is that I'm in the North-West but get BBC London along with Granada!


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## DX30 (May 22, 2005)

The postcode database that decides on which regional channels you get is currently rather sparsely populated - most people end up with the defaults of BBC London and ITV Central. Freesat have said they will be rolling out more regions this month.

If you really want your local regional TV use the Humax in non-freesat mode, but getting the channel number right is then a PITA.


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## brettparker (Feb 14, 2001)

Any news as to when there may be any further HD stations available, e.g. C4, or ITV for more than just Euro 2008?


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## mccg (Jun 18, 2002)

DX30 said:


> The postcode database that decides on which regional channels you get is currently rather sparsely populated - most people end up with the defaults of BBC London and ITV Central. Freesat have said they will be rolling out more regions this month.


As far as I know, there are no regions available yet - everyone gets London.
And they have had to delay the rollout of regions due to "problems with the software"
See many posts on Digital Spy Freesat forum for more info...
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=142


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## OzSat (Feb 15, 2001)

There are 3-4 ITV1 regions available - we get Central West.


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## DX30 (May 22, 2005)

mccg said:


> As far as I know, there are no regions available yet - everyone gets London.


Some are, there is a list here

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=799831


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## mccg (Jun 18, 2002)

DX30 said:


> Some are, there is a list here
> 
> http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=799831


My apologies!
I'm hoping to get a Freesat PVR (mainly to get some HD), so have been keeping an eye on that forum, but somehow missed that (or mis-remembered!)


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## smiffy (Mar 6, 2002)

If you've got one of these boxes then whats the Ethernet port used for?

Also does anyone have any idea when we might see a PCI version of a HD tuner?


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## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

PCI HD tuners exist.

For example:

http://shop.blackgold.tv/product/3540.html

Not sure about ITV HD support.


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## AENG (Dec 20, 2000)

My Foxsat HD box was powered up early June and has only now, for the first time, needed a re-boot. This was to restore its HDMI output.

BTW, has anyone been able to stop it accepting updates when unattended? I've only lost one recording, but that was one too many.


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## nickf (Oct 12, 2001)

No I don't believe it's possible to stop it being updated overnight.


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## srhill (Sep 7, 2004)

Pete77 said:


> Yes you could just swap them over but beware that that Freesat cannot receive Five, Five US, FIVER or Sky Three as these are FTV and need a Sky viewing card in a Sky box to decrypt them. .


They may not be on freesat - but you do not need a sky box/card to decrypt them as they are readily available on freeview.


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## nickf (Oct 12, 2001)

Five is now FTA rather than FTV, and goes live on the Freesat EPG on 18th Nov. Fiver and FiveUS are unlikely to come to Freesat soon, due to satellite footprint / space issues.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

nickf said:


> Five is now FTA rather than FTV, and goes live on the Freesat EPG on 18th Nov. Fiver and FiveUS are unlikely to come to Freesat soon, due to satellite footprint / space issues.


At www.freesat.co.uk/index.php?page=products.Main it now says the Freesat PVR is due for launch in mid November. So only another week to go?

However there are still more channels available to view on a Sky Freesat box than an BBC/C4/ITV/Five Freesat box at the present time so the only reason to go this route is obviouly to get the FTA HD channels.


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