I'm looking at ditching Sky as the vast majority of what we watch is available on Freeview or Freesat so looking at a PVR box. A few years ago when I last looked into this Humax seemed to be the only game in town and both my dad and a mate had one, and I wasn't really impressed. It seemed a bit clunky compared with Sky, the delay between pressing a button and something actually happening drove me potty and it just didn't feel as good or slick as Sky, though i'm sure the spec sheet has similar features and capabilities.
So 5 or so years on, have things improved? Is Humax still the one to go for and how do the Panasonic ones compare (my TV is Panasonic so it might be beneficial to go Panasonic).
Having a quick browse round most of the models seem to be Freeview (Panasonic only seem to do Freeview), where I would prefer to go freesat.
What's the collectives opinions? Cheers.
I'll jump in with Mythtv.
It won't be for you though, unless you are a geek. I've used it as a basis for a home media network for maybe five years with a lot of satisfaction. Even the wife loves it.
Assuming you're sticking with satellite Humax is still the only real option off the shelf. New model has a much better interface. I'm currently on SKy+ after 3 years of Hunax. Think I'll miss it when I get to the end of my good deal. Still not as nice to use as my Old TiVo though.
If figital terrestrial rather than satellite YouView is pretty slick.
If you do go freeview, very happy with my Panasonic. Much better than the humax it replaced.