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Post by MikeMusic on Mar 12, 2016 8:13:31 GMT
Pain that Aljazeera have switched to HD only.
My Sony Freeview box, best thing they ever made, doesn't do HD so I'm thinking of getting a Freeview box that does.
Main reason is to feed the Tivo as we don't watch live TV, and for that I probably need a converter to Scart as well.
Any HD freeview box stand out to anyone?
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Post by zippy on Mar 12, 2016 8:34:37 GMT
I switched from SKY to BT Youview a couple of months ago and saved my self a heap of money.
The BT box costs me £7.50 a month (since gone up a little I think) compared to the £50 that SKY was costing, and I get 90% of what I was getting on SKY.
The BT box is made by Humax, and I believe you can buy them without going through BT - it's perfectly good for HD and you can get an uprated version that gives you more storage, and I think a 4K version. It does have a SCART socket too.
Anyway, it does everything I need so happy to recommend either the Humax, or the BT version.
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Post by MartinT on Mar 12, 2016 8:37:32 GMT
Humax is a very good brand, we have one in our auditorium at work.
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Post by dsjr on Mar 12, 2016 9:03:25 GMT
We're in the dark ages, so still have a Panasonic CRT TV with Humax Fox T freeview box, which was equivalent to the excellent Sony box at the time. For all our sins, our ISP was blended into Talk Talk and we have a YouView box sitting in the kitchen awaiting me to drill a hole through the wall so it can connect to the broadband router - I refuse to use the mains-borne router 'plugs' they sent us.
Actually, does this thing NEED to be connected to the internet?
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Post by MartinT on Mar 12, 2016 9:11:24 GMT
Actually, does this thing NEED to be connected to the internet? It does if you want catch-up and all the extras that come down the internet line. |
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Post by daytona600 on Mar 12, 2016 11:48:49 GMT
now tv box great valua at a tennner
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Post by MikeMusic on Mar 12, 2016 12:28:03 GMT
A one off payment is what I'm looking for so perhaps Humax. Our streaming is not good enough to guarantee a good watch. There has been a plus to Aljazeera going HD - I'm watching less TV, playing more music  In the future I'll investigate other options. For now it's Sony Freeview - Tivo - Panasonic CRT |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2016 13:14:10 GMT
Another thumbs up for BT box. I had Virgin and a TIVO which I loved, but my new place isn't covered by cable so I had to go with Sky. They were incompetent on every level and their box was very poor in comparison to Virgin. I binned Sky after 13 days and am very happy with BT. BT service isn't quite as good as Vrgin and I miss the TIVO but still very highly recommended as a freeview box if you can buy the same thing. It's more intuitive than most.
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Post by Slinger on Mar 12, 2016 13:56:22 GMT
We're on our third Humax Freesat box. The first one I upgraded after 2 years from a bog-standard receiver to one with a 500GB disk, and I've just upgraded that one after 5 years. I'd say the quality of the things is pretty good bearing in mind the one we've had for 5 years is still actually working fine. If you've already got a dish (an old Sky dish for instance) then I'd say Freesat is the way to go, not Freeview. [EDIT] Most of the above is useless to you as I've just checked and Freesat are not carrying Al Jazeera HD yet. Humax are good though.  |
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Post by MikeMusic on Mar 12, 2016 14:46:59 GMT
Thanks
You raise a good point as I have an old analogue dish....
I should talk to Alan, the nice man from Woking aerials who did such a good job in 2009 to set us up properly after some Muppets messed us up
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Post by Slinger on Jul 2, 2019 13:02:02 GMT
I "won" the latest Humax box, an HDR-1100s, on eBay, and I'm waiting for it to arrive. I say latest, but I think the model is about 4 years old. I was looking around for something more "modern" but there really doesn't seem to be anything in the class of the Humax. I'm assuming that there have been various firmware upgrades etc. but nothing has superseded the actual model.
Thinking about it, I really can't understand why these can't be a combined, switchable, Freesat HD/Freeview HD box. I suppose that with the amount of TVs these days that have Freeview HD built in it's not worth it.
I have got Al Jazeera though, Mike.
I'll stop rambling now...
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Post by MartinT on Jul 2, 2019 13:05:55 GMT
In the days when you needed an external box, the Humax was the best you could get. Nowadays, every TV comes with Freeview built-in. Mike: consider a NowTV smart stick, runs off the internet and plugs into the HDMI socket. Note, I haven't checked the channel list. www.nowtv.com/smart-tv-stick |
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Post by MikeMusic on Jul 2, 2019 13:23:19 GMT
Aljazeera changed to Channel 235 now and SD
Must do a picture comparison between my Manhattan HD and Sony which has a useful 2 SCART outputs
Will shortly have too much TV to watch with the TdF starting with about a 5 hour session on Saturday, then 3 more weeks !
Now TV looks interesting. Subs to pay from what I saw quickly
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Post by Slinger on Jul 2, 2019 13:27:56 GMT
...Sony which has a useful 2 SCART outputs What's a SCART, Grandad? Is it anything to do with Cathode Ray Tubes?  |
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Post by MikeMusic on Jul 2, 2019 13:31:07 GMT
Works for me young man ! Delivers a good pic too. Reminds me Might try a SCART v's HDMI picture comparison |
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Post by MartinT on Jul 2, 2019 14:50:31 GMT
SD?
SCART?
Yes, NowTV needs subs but it's much, much cheaper than Sky. I'm going to probably jump ship as soon as my Sky Q contract ends.
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Post by MikeMusic on Jul 2, 2019 15:12:37 GMT
I confess my thoughts on TV picture quality are in a similar area to budget hifi. Probably get great VFM from what I have Keep saying it - I want to watch less TV. July excluded of course with the TdF Have left the boss watching Wimbledon and I'm upstairs listening to system no.3, Gerry Rafferty obliging |
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Post by Slinger on Jul 5, 2019 17:17:20 GMT
My new Humax HDR-1100S has arrived and has been installed. Despite the main motivating factors being simply to own the "latest" model, and getting it for a decent price, I'm noticing an improvement in picture quality. Both HD and SD are sharper. Wimbledon, even in SD has a bit of that "3D depth effect" about it that people were claiming with the advent of HD.
All-in-all, it was a good decision, even better than I anticipated in fact.
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Post by MikeMusic on Jul 5, 2019 18:10:41 GMT
Guess the very latest boxes will edge older ones on quality
Some of the completed prices on Ebay really are nice !
You made me look for ITV4 HD (TdF)
Available - if you pay for it
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