Asking for some insight / recommendations for my Father in Law. I’ve not really got any knowledge as I am fully Sky+ HD at home.

He has two TVs at home. One is on Freeview with a really old failing Humax PVR. In his other room is an old hand me down HD TV on Freesat. (Don’t ask me why he’s got Freeview in one and Freesat in the other).

The old hand down Humax PVR is failing and needs replacing. As far as I can see the UI is awful and not easy to use, the remote isn’t much better. So I’m not a Humax fan.

So F-i-L calls me and says he wants to get rid of the Freeview recorder and get a Freesat recorder instead.

Now I’ve done a bit of googling and as far as I can tell there is a better selection of Freeview recorders compared to Freesat. I don’t mind which I just want to recommend a decent system with a good user experience.

Other options? Maybe get a nice up to date HD TV with built in Freesat – use an external harddrive for recording with the built in tv guide? Experiences?

Any suggestions / recommendations appreciated. I just wanna say ‘splash the cash and get Sky HD+’. It’s easy and it works (tho expensive). I don’t think he can get the PO signed by the Mother in Law 🙁

Grr supposed to be in chat – really sorry.

I have Sky and Freesat HD (as I don’t want to or need the premium channels in the second room) The Humax HDR-1000s is actually pretty good. The UI is at least as good as Sky IMHO.

From the limited amount I’ve seen the Virgin/TiVo UI is probably the best of the bunch, but coverage is limited and I hear their customer service sucks on a world class level.

Looked at BT Vision?

I’m just debating the same however I would not write off Humax as a brand.
The GUI on the latest boxes are a world away from older ones.
I’m just trying to decide between a Youview box or Freesat with Freetime.
Both have similar interfaces and both have catch up TV, for me I’m erring towards the Humax Freesat with Freetime as it can stream media from your home network too(Maybe not relevant for your FIL)its only the fact that you cant get Dave and Quest on Freesat that’s holding me back.

If he’s already a BT Broadband customer it would be worth considering Youview from BT, Freeview HD and PVR, free BT Sport, iplayer, On Demand movies etc.

last generation and currant humaxs are great, very reliable, i sell them

both sat and view, one of only that can record iplayer

Thanks people the old Humax was very old. Maybe it is the way to go…

I always thought my mother-in-laws Humax SD Freeview recorder was as grim as UI’s got (a 9200T I think?).

I then ended up buying a Humax HDR-FOX T2 a couple of years ago and love the bloody thing. I’m getting one for my Dad for Christmas, they have just been superseded by a new model (which doesn’t really have any new compelling feature IMHO) and Humax are selling off refurbs for the pretty attractive price of £139 http://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/product.asp?ProdRef=10104

last generation and currant humaxs are great, very reliable, i sell them

Mine wasn’t. A software bug killed it during an upgrade of my Freesat box. There was no fix from Humax and it was out of warranty by two months. I’ve switched to Samsung and everything about it is better. For example multiple deletions in the Library.

Think my panasonic freeview/hdd/dvd recorder is quality

Been using it for 5+ years

no problems, new model out now with blueray for hd channels

Think my panasonic freeview/hdd/dvd recorder is quality

I don’t know what model it is but my Dad’s one is the absolute worst recorder I’ve every come across (hence getting him the Humax as mentioned above). In usage it’s much more like an old school VCR than a modern DVR, for instance having to put it into a timer mode when you want it to record something.

I got a BT youview box off ebay for £40 delivered. 500GB hard drive and a very easy to use interface.

Works without BT broadband as long as it has the latest version of software.

I have also had a digihome freeview box from tesco, it was fine. The interface was not nearly as good as the BT one and only lasted about 3 weeks longer than the warrantee.