Freeview/Freesat?

[Chippy_Tea]

I dont have the aerial plugged into the smart tv it goes to the TT box so the TV only shows what's on the TT and Freesat boxs, if the TT box fails i will give the memory stick and smart tv a try.

 

[MashBag]

Splitter!

 

[dad_of_jon]

Hi all

I'm currently waiting on the release of the new Manhattan T4-R Freeview PVR with a view to purchasing but it's been delayed and delayed and further delayed. Hopefully it will still turn up but as a back up plan......

Do any members own or have owned either of the Humax Aura Freeview or the Freesat Arris PVR boxes?
I'm after opinion of how these boxes perform/flaws, you know the usual stuff.
We have a Sky dish on the wall with the lnb from the Sky+ hd system we've now moved on from. From what I've read on the Freesat website, the existing dish/lnb should enable 2 simultaneous recordings if we decided to go down that route.
Thanks in advance for your words of wisdom.

Cheers Tom

We have a Manhattan t3.r it is brilliant. The best we've had since a topfield TF5800PVR . I loaded a number of custom 'taps' on it and had a great experience, unfortunately the psu capacitors 'bulged' (common issue) and I couldn't be rsed to resolder them given HD pvr's were starting to become a thing.

We've had many pvr's on freeview. The digitalstream's touch panel turned out to be particularly naff. At the risk of jinxing myself the Panasonic PVR I bought my old man has lasted for eons. less flashiness more longevity.

 

[soupdragon]

Um..
I just plugged a usb hard drive into the back of my old Samsung smart TV & it just works as a Freeview PVR without having to buy yet another box to power.
Or am I missing something?

The last TV that we saw capable of recording needed to be powered up and on the channel you wanted to record. Only one recording at a time too. Defeats the whole object as far as I'm concerned. Unless they've changed things?

Cheers Tom

 

[soupdragon]

TBH i rarely watch non HD channels as all the channels i prefer to watch have a HD version, SWMBO likes to skip round the shopping channels and has never said they are unwatchable so i am not sure about the HDR feed problem.

Here is my screen shot showing 4HD -

View attachment 94318

Well that's one "issue" to cross off the list
Regarding HD/HDR, from what I understand of it, HD is about resolution and HDR is about colour enhancement or something?

Cheers Tom

 

[soupdragon]

The TV schedule as shown on the TV allows me to either schedule viewing (so it would turn on & change channel) or schedule recording.

Ah, so it seems things have improved since I last looked at that. I timer is no use to us unfortunately. We do sometimes need to record 4 things at once so both our boxes are in constant use

Cheers Tom

 

[chopps]

Was ready to buy the Aura but couldn't find one anywhere before Christmas, apart from scalpers on Amazon.

 

[MashBag]

The last TV that we saw capable of recording needed to be powered up and on the channel you wanted to record.

My Samsung records well, basic when compared to the manhattan but works well.

 

[Old Fart At Play]

Um..
I just plugged a usb hard drive into the back of my old Samsung smart TV & it just works as a Freeview PVR without having to buy yet another box to power.
Or am I missing something?

This is what I did with my Panasonic smart tv. Works well.

 

[Old Fart At Play]

Ah, so it seems things have improved since I last looked at that. I timer is no use to us unfortunately. We do sometimes need to record 4 things at once so both our boxes are in constant use

Cheers Tom

Ah, so it seems things have improved since I last looked at that. I timer is no use to us unfortunately. We do sometimes need to record 4 things at once so both our boxes are in constant use

Cheers Tom

My Panasonic is 7 years old. No need for power on, tv guide is great, but can only record 2 programmes at once - plenty for me, no good for you!
Cheers

 

[Twostage]

My Panasonic is 7 years old.

I win.

I'm using a Humax Foxsat HDR from 2010. Upgraded the hard drive twice, its now 1TB (and as has always been the case its 80% full of stuff I'm never going to watch).

Its running the custom firmware so I can remote control it from my Raspberry Pi based AV system.

 

[Old Fart At Play]

I win.

I'm using a Humax Foxsat HDR from 2010. Upgraded the hard drive twice, its now 1TB (and as has always been the case its 80% full of stuff I'm never going to watch).

Its running the custom firmware so I can remote control it from my Raspberry Pi based AV system.

That is excellent, but I wasn't trying to get points for the age of my system. Just pointing out that, even with a fairly old TV, you can schedule and record multiple TV programmes without a separate box! Mind you, it can't do 4 programmes at once, nor can I remotely control it!

What it does do however, just like yours, is record a load of stuff I am never going to watch <g>

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Upgraded the hard drive twice, its now 1TB (and as has always been the case its 80% full of stuff I'm never going to watch

just like yours, is record a load of stuff I am never going to watch

I think we are all guilty of doing that, i went for the 1 TB version this time so i can not watch even more stuff than i did before

 

[soupdragon]

Anyone have the Humax Aura? It's not had an update since June 2021 so that's either a sign that it's the perfect machine or Humax have given up on it.
The Arris Freesat last had an update in March 2023 so looks to be better supported. There are still reports of random rebooting, missed recordings and "clunky" UI but at the moment the Freesat is winning. That's presuming the Manhattan box fails to materialize.
The Manhattan is still favourite, even though the T4-R will still have a few issues at launch, the fact it's a new model would indicate that there will be some ongoing support for it. With the older T3-R being discontinued around April last year they still released an update for it in May.

How long to leave it before I decide? That is the question......

Cheers. Tom

 

[MashBag]

Tom, tell me again what is up with your T3-R?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

There are still reports of random rebooting, missed recordings and "clunky" UI but at the moment the Freesat is winning.

No missed recordings here and the UI is fine maybe a little slower than the Humax but i am used to it now, I did say "no niggles or wish list for improvements" in my reply to you last night but when i fired the box up later i was reminded of one thing i do occasionally see (see picture below)

I am glad you started the thread as i have now found out why i do not see it all the time, apparently when you have it set to *Power saving mode it can take up to 45 secs from full standby to fully working when its been shut down a while.

*i dont use the app to set recordings so have it set to power saving.

 

[Twostage]

Anyone have the Humax Aura? It's not had an update since June 2021 so that's either a sign that it's the perfect machine or Humax have given up on it.
The Arris Freesat last had an update in March 2023 so looks to be better supported. There are still reports of random rebooting, missed recordings and "clunky" UI but at the moment the Freesat is winning. That's presuming the Manhattan box fails to materialize.
The Manhattan is still favourite, even though the T4-R will still have a few issues at launch, the fact it's a new model would indicate that there will be some ongoing support for it. With the older T3-R being discontinued around April last year they still released an update for it in May.

How long to leave it before I decide? That is the question......

Cheers. Tom

Talking of update updates.

A few months after I got the Foxsat I emailed Humax and said it would be really good if you were half way through watching something and decided to go to bed (or whatever) when you pressed record it would include what you'd already watched in the recording as the first half would already be in the rewind buffer so it would be easy to copy that to a file and then record from then on. They replied with 'thanks, but we have no plans to develop that functionality'. A few years later I bought a more modern Humax box and guess what ? When you press record half way through watching something the recording included the whole programme from the start. Wonder where they got that idea ?

 

[soupdragon]

Tom, tell me again what is up with your T3-R?

Nothing at all, it's a cracking box The new box is a replacement for an old Vestel box that's still working. We use both boxes regularly

Cheers Tom

 

[soupdragon]

No missed recordings here and the UI is fine maybe a little slower than the Humax but i am used to it now, I did say "no niggles or wish list for improvements" in my reply to you last night but when i fired the box up later i was reminded of one thing i do occasionally see (see picture below)

I am glad you started the thread as i have now found out why i do not see it all the time, apparently when you have it set to *Power saving mode it can take up to 45 secs from full standby to fully working when its been shut down a while.

*i dont use the app to set recordings so have it set to power saving.


View attachment 94353

One thing I can't get my head around is why some users (yourself included) seem to have a relatively trouble free time with the Freesat box and others have a nightmare....
I can understand if it was Freeview as there can be issues with different transmitters but it really shouldn't make any difference at all with Freesat. The only thing I can think of is the lnb?

Cheers Tom

 

[Rodcx500z]

I checked out our tv LG with webos it has a built in freesat, we have an unused sky dish with 3 lnbs on it, i may do some home work on what connectors i need for the coax