Humax 9200 - Is it possible to Time Shift two channels at the same time?

[bradavon78]

I've not had a chance to look in the manual properly but is it possible to Time Shift two channels at once?

My Thomson DHD 4000 automatically Time Shifts the current channel and the last I selected. This makes sense as the second tuner isn't doing anything otherwise. The 9200 only seems to time shift the channel you're currently on. That's a wasted opportunity IMO. Obviously when recording it makes sense but otherwise the second tuner doesn't do anything.

I picked my 9200 up earlier today and the first thing that struck me was the picture quality. It's exceptional and is easily the best Freeview picture I've ever seen.

It beats both my previous Philips and Pioneer On Digital boxes (not hard they're ancient). It also beats my Thomson DHD 4000 but it even beats my Pioneer DVR-540HX Hard Disk/DVD Recorder. I even watch Freeview on my Pioneer through Component. The quality is fantastic.

Having owned four PVR's since February: A Digihome DVR80, Digifusion DVT2000, Thomson DHD 4000 and now this. The Thomson DHD 4000 beats those two but it's clear the Humax 9200T is in a class of it's own for quality and features (I've not seen the Topfield 5800 in action). The menus are really well designed (something many PVRs give litle thought to). It also has more features than you can shake a stick at.

You can hear the hard disk fire up when it's first turned on but otherwise it's all but silent. It's definitely quieter than the Pioneer 540. It's not as quiet as my Thomson DHD 4000 which is dead silent, but then my one has had it's fan removed and the hard disk replaced for a 2.5" model.

The Humax 9200 is also fast. It's much speedier than other PVRs I've used at reacting to button presses and navigating menus. The Pioneer 540 is also find in this respect. It's easy to see why 9200 is priced at a premium price point.

It's odd that the EPG isn't already populated when it's turned on. Thankfully it only takes a minute or so too populate but is an odd one. All PVRs and the Pioneer 540 are already populated when you turn them on, probably because it's cached from the last update/change.

The remote control is really big, why? Still the Thomson's remote is tiny so it's definitely the better of the two. On the DHD 4000 there is no Now/Next as such. Instead you can navigate around around any channel using the arrow keys. Up/Down navigates the channel and Left/Right Now/Next but it doesn't stop there you can go forward as far as you like.

I don't see the point in the List button. It does the same thing as the OK button. They should've used the space for one of the buttons under the flap, like Commercial Skip. Obviously all the negatives are just niggles. It's a fantastic PVR.

Thanks.

[nwhitfield]

Nope, you can't timeshift two channels; same as the Topfield (it's actually built around the same core chip, NEC's EMMA2, and I have my suspicions that a lot of the code is the same too).

[bradavon78]

Originally Posted by nwhitfield

Nope, you can't timeshift two channels; same as the Topfield (it's actually built around the same core chip, NEC's EMMA2, and I have my suspicions that a lot of the code is the same too).

Thanks . Ah well I can live with it. All PVRs have differences, some are better and others worse.

Interesting. It would explain why they both get such reviews.

Is Dual Time Shifting rare on PVRs? Maybe it's unique to the Digifusion FTV2000 and it's clones (i.e - Thomson DHD 4000).

p.s - Is there a button to automatically switch to the Live feed? Instead of Fast forwarding until the buffers runs out. Thanks.

[nwhitfield]

Not sure on the Humax; I know on the Toppy you just press Stop if you're timeshifting and you jump to live, with the buffer still intact.

Both boxes have had some common bugs in the past - I suspect that both firms have relied on NEC sample code for core functions, and then enhanced it to add their own unique quirks.

[bradavon78]

Originally Posted by nwhitfield

Not sure on the Humax; I know on the Toppy you just press Stop if you're timeshifting and you jump to live, with the buffer still intact.

It's the same on the Humax 9200 thanks.

[bradavon78]

Originally Posted by bradavon78

I picked my 9200 up earlier today and the first thing that struck me was the picture quality. It's exceptional and is easily the best Freeview picture I've ever seen.

I've noticed there are minor lines on the image (that's not quite right it's hard to explain) when you look at it up close. It looks like the 9200 compensates artificially for the low bitrate some channels use.

It does make it look much better than other Freeview boxes I've seen which just display the blocky image.

[bradavon78]

While still very good the lines are some what annoying. You cannot see them so much when far away but up close it's obvious.