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Geoff_T – 1 hour ago »
My impression so far is that the 1100s is potentially a great bit of kit let down badly by ill thought out and buggy firmware.
It’s been buggy since day one and it is still buggy now and I’ve never been keen on the UI but mines still going after many years and it is pretty dam reliable so I’m not bothered about a few unusual characteristics. (But the reboots need fixing soon)
It certainly isn’t perfect and the remote record app was a disappointment too but it isn’t that bad a PVR honest.
(I have the older 1000s with 2tb HDD)
I have a gen 1 Panasonic Freesat TV and deleting channels is a breeze but getting to favourite channels take a few button presses (guide/up/select). Not that I use the guide on the TV much.
I’m disappointed in it but my problem is there aren’t too many alternatives. I don’t want to go back to paying a subscription to Sky, and the IP streaming based alternatives seem a bit too new to be reliable and I’m not sure how wife friendly they would be either. So I might have to just grin and bear it and hope I get used to it’s quirks. I just wish gadget software/firmware was better quality. I’m battling with a Windows 10 laptop that has the apparantly common “battery not charging” bug that keeps clearing then re-appearing, I don’t need a buggy PVR as well!
My Humax HDR1100s has now gone back and I have been refunded. I’ve plugged my Sky box back in for now as I still have a week or so left until my contract expires. Going back to smoothness of operation of the Sky box just re-iterates how poor the Humax/Freesat box operation and reliability was. I have ordered a HDHOMERUN box to see how well that works as I already use Plex to stream my media so maybe that can provide the PVR solution too. If not I will have to swallow my pride and pay Sky £10 a month just to use their box as a PVR.
If Humax and/or Freesat senior managers do read this forum please take note. I was fed up with paying Sky for a lot of channels I dont watch and was extremely keen for the Humax 1100s to be the ideal Sky replacement. I went into the purchase full of positivity, but it was a huge disappointment. Sort out the software (whoever’s it is that is causing the problems) and the reliability and you would genuinely have a winner, as it is it feels like you are expecting the end user to do beta testing for you.
Geoff_T – 35 minutes ago »
My Humax HDR1100s has now gone back and I have been refunded. I’ve plugged my Sky box back in for now as I still have a week or so left until my contract expires. Going back to smoothness of operation of the Sky box just re-iterates how poor the Humax/Freesat box operation and reliability was. I have ordered a HDHOMERUN box to see how well that works as I already use Plex to stream my media so maybe that can provide the PVR solution too. If not I will have to swallow my pride and pay Sky £10 a month just to use their box as a PVR.
If Humax and/or Freesat senior managers do read this forum please take note. I was fed up with paying Sky for a lot of channels I dont watch and was extremely keen for the Humax 1100s to be the ideal Sky replacement. I went into the purchase full of positivity, but it was a huge disappointment. Sort out the software (whoever’s it is that is causing the problems) and the reliability and you would genuinely have a winner, as it is it feels like you are expecting the end user to do beta testing for you.
I’m not trying to insult you but I really don’t think you have been prepared to give the Humax a fair crack of the whip. This in effect has been unfair to Humax and yourself.
We had two Sky boxes and both were regularly plagued with faults throughout the time I used them – over a decade.
What’s with all the angst over favourites? I have never used them, as after only a few weeks use I could remember most of the channels I watch from memory. Not difficult when I only had to remember the main five plus a few extra.
It’s actually rather good to use your grey matter than always taking the easy route – remember use it or lose it.I have had my 1000s almost since release date, not sure if that is 3 or 4 years now. In all that time it has rarely let me down and still works remarkably well.
I wish you well in going back to Sky. At least you have the added pleasure of knowing you are helping keep the Murdoch family in the manner to which they are accustomed.
The favourites was only a very small part of it. It’s the freezes, re-boots, failed recording and glitches in the recordings generally that were the deal breaker for me. I had to make a decision within the refund period so maybe I was hasty, but from reading other posts on here I don’t think so.
I have no experience of the older boxes, only the 1100s so it is specifically that box I am talking about.
Regards Murdoch, that is one of the reasons I was (and still am) trying to find an alternative to Sky!
OK guys I need help please! My search for a replacement for my Sky HD box goes on. I have now tried and rejected 2 different network based PVRs, the Silicone Dust HDHOMERUN and the VBox XTi 3340. Both worked to a point, but really struggled over my network to be usable enough for normal use. In fact the Android TV app for the VBox, doesn’t actually seem to work at all.
Anyway, I now have less than a week left before my Sky contract ends and I have to decide whether to swallow my pride and continue paying them or find a reliable alternative.
Obviously I have ruled out the 1100s, but some on here have said that they have older models that have been very reliable and I’m wondering now if it might be worth looking at one of those.
I have a good terrestrial signal here and 4 satellite feeds, so I can go down either route for input, and I just want a reliable PVR with a sensible user interface and the minimum of annoying “quirks”. Ideally I would like more than 2 tuners, as we have had occasions where it would be useful, and DLNA features would be nice too, but reliability and user friendliness are key really.
I know there are plenty of people here with lots of experience of the different Humax models, and maybe other brands too, what would anyone recommend?
If you don’t want catch up the HDR-FOX-T2 is a very good box, add the Custom Firmware it becomes excellent (I have two). Again no good for catch up but the Foxsat-HDR (again with Custom firmware), the picture via hdmi is a bit soft, easily fixed with the CF by streaming recordings to another box (HDR1000S in my case). Only the FVP4000T has more than two tuners but currently appears to be a tad troublesome. Catch up these days is easy to get eg A Amazon Fire TV stick or a NOW TV box(cheapest option) for instance.
Incidentally re your Vbox the best pvr client is the Kodi addon or the firefox add on for a PC.
I have Kodi on my android phone and Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 both work fine with the VBox and fortunately my LG bluray player works fine with the Vbox TV Gateway.
In a test I managed to record 4HD streams at once on the Vbox. Not bad for a USB2.0 interface.
A pair of home plugs should sort out your network issues. I have same box
Thanks Graham. Blimey, is there any bit of AV kit you don’t have?!!
I’ll look into those options. I must admit I was wondering about the Foxsat HDR as so many people seem to rate it even though it’s a bit old.
It’s always difficult moving from one platform to another, even old humax to new humax.
If it were me, I’d keep the sky box, assuming you own it or an older one, cancel the subscription and get the free FTA viewing card. My understanding is that freesat are responsible for a lot of the issues which I don’t notice as I mainly use freeview.
Buy a refurb’d fvp4000t which is likely to pay for itself over 3 months of no sky and if after 3 months you can’t live with it then go back to sky.
Alternatively, within a year a refurb’d fvp4000t and 1100s, even if you don’t want one, are likely to have paid for themselves and by that time you’ll have made your mind up as to which works best for you.
The older humaxes as GLT mentions are excellent with CF, but not the way forward
I need to check with Sky but I think it is £10 ish a month just to keep using the box (which is mine) as an HD PVR. But I think in the short term I will probably end up doing that. Of the current models it is the fvp4000t that appeals most, but it does seem to suffer the same sort of reliability issues as my 1100s, worryingly. I do like the custom firmware possibility with the foxsat models, and they do seem to be more reliable than the newer ones.
Decisions, decisions! Why can’t someone make a good, reliable, user friendly PVR with 3/4 tuners, catchup TV, integrated DLNA player & server?! Having typed that I guess the FVP4000T ticks the most boxes, I just worry that it will be as flaky as my 1100s was.
From recollection sky are obliged to offer FTA, but you’re right, you’ll lose access to HD recordings without paying afaik.
Not too sure when the freesat problems will be sorted.
The fvp4000t is reliable, still has the problems when coming out of standby despite the recent update the other day. I think mine only rebooted once and that had something to do with catchup one time last year. The UI is awful (personal opinion obviously) and slow and forget DLNA unless you live in an SD world for streaming from the fvp4000t. I find myself using the fvp4000t more and more and that’s down to catchup mainly and so that I can record tons of rubbish on the off chance it may be interesting, for normal usage though I take the FoxT2 everytime. Some people will always have problems, my brother for example, I’m sure I could find a toaster that’d confuse him
I don’t think it’s possible to make the pvr that we all want. The pace of change is too great. Channel 5 introduce a new advert on catchup and it breaks the box, stray on to a pay to view channel with the old humax and it reboots, it’s a minefield.
If you take the view that these boxes could pay for themselves within a matter of months then it’s a no brainer really
Geoff_T – 2 hours ago »
Thanks Graham. Blimey, is there any bit of AV kit you don’t have?!!
I’ll look into those options. I must admit I was wondering about the Foxsat HDR as so many people seem to rate it even though it’s a bit old.
Plenty
Not upgraded to Kodi15 yet, I am told that with this version that CRID controlled Freeview series recordings work properly on the Vbox.
Bullet bitten – I’ve just bought a HDR-FOX T2 500Gb off flea bay for less than I’ve been paying Sky per month. Looking at videos on YouTube the menu system looks much better than the 1100s and with the option of custom firmware I hope to be able to get it how I want. If not, at least it can be used in the spare room as a backup PVR. Thanks to everyone for their input and I’m sure I’ll be asking Graham’s advice over on the relevant forum when it arrives.
Geoff_T – 12 minutes ago »
Bullet bitten – I’ve just bought a HDR-FOX T2 500Gb off flea bay for less than I’ve been paying Sky per month. Looking at videos on YouTube the menu system looks much better than the 1100s and with the option of custom firmware I hope to be able to get it how I want. If not, at least it can be used in the spare room as a backup PVR. Thanks to everyone for their input and I’m sure I’ll be asking Graham’s advice over on the relevant forum when it arrives.
Install the CF and run the Hard Disk check and repair utility. At least you will know how good the hard disk is. If you can get a second they can view each others recordings (HD and SD) even without the CF. That will give you your four tuner recording
Will do. I didn’t realise that about cross-viewing recordings with a second one, that sounds good
If it gets SHMBO’s approval for ease of use when it arrives I’ll definitely get a second one. At that sort of price it’s got to be worth it.
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