Alternative to Humax Freesat

[bwatkins]

I'm on my fourth Humax box in five years. Two Foxsat HDRs and two 1000s. For five years it's been a non-stop rollercoaster of random crashing, corrupt recordings, boot loops...even instant and sudden death. Every day I wonder what is going to do next. I've been patient and I've persevered but now I've had enough. Humax is just a crock of and I'll never touch one of their products again.

So I'm looking for an alternative Freesat HDR. I really liked the programme guide on the 1100s. And the smartphone app that can schedule recordings when I'm out.

Any recommendations?

 

[logiciel]

Any reason for not wanting Freeview?

 

[Rodders53]

Any recommendations?

How to Get Freesat | Freesat is the only option nowadays.

Your experience with Humax is very different to mine, though. My -HDR is working fine and over 9 years old. Only problem I've had was an upgrade to WD 1TB hard drive failure... other than the remotes needing button cleaning from time to time.
M-i-L got a refurbed -T2 that had an out of the box fault and that has since been faultless, too.

 

[Galaxy]

In much the same position here, always had Freesat Humax boxes but the last one we have had for the past four years over the last two years has kept throwing up an error message saying the hard drive needs formatting, a bug as I read somewhere as turning off and on again cures it but it’s getting more frequent now so we are looking for an alternative (I actually had no idea Humax had stopped making freesat boxes), free view is a complete no, no here, we have no terrestrial signal at all where we are so Freesat the only option.

 

[bwatkins]

Any reason for not wanting Freeview?

No signal where I live.

 

[Basinguy]

Enigma Satellite Receiver?

 

[bwatkins]

How to Get Freesat | Freesat is the only option nowadays.

Your experience with Humax is very different to mine, though. My -HDR is working fine and over 9 years old. Only problem I've had was an upgrade to WD 1TB hard drive failure... other than the remotes needing button cleaning from time to time.
M-i-L got a refurbed -T2 that had an out of the box fault and that has since been faultless, too.

I meant to say I'm happy to consider buying a used box. So if there is a good Humax alternative that went out of production in the last 5 years or so I'd consider it.

I've read through so many articles and posts from other people who have had all the same problems I have had I am quite certain that that a Humax box that stays fully functioning for more than a couple of years is the exception to the norm. I'm not willing to take the risk again. Been burnt four times.

 

[Rodders53]

I meant to say I'm happy to consider buying a used box. So if there is a good Humax alternative that went out of production in the last 5 years or so I'd consider it.

No - you've owned all of them I'd guess. Taking a punt on the new box is - other than non freesat-branded-approved Linux Enigma boxes - your only option.

Enigma may be worth investigating if you have a technical 'bent'; they're not as simple as something made to an exacting specification - including the user interface - like the new freesat boxes.

I keep across most technical forums and your experience is at odds with the norm. Humax 'loss of HDD' which they repaired out of warranty for £26-ish was the only common fail that I know of, apart from the remote control cleaning.

Remember though very few will post of good experiences with anything. Forums therefore seem full of problems.

I own three old reliable Humax pvrs (two -HDR and one -T2) and disposed of a working 9200T to charity.

 

[Galaxy]

Does the “loss of HDD” include the message that the hard drive need reformatting as it’s not formatted correctly every week or so?
Mines been doing this for years now, a complete power off (at the mains) always cures it but it’s still a PITA.

 

[REPASSAC]

Does the “loss of HDD” include the message that the hard drive need reformatting as it’s not formatted correctly every week or so?
Mines been doing this for years now, a complete power off (at the mains) always cures it but it’s still a PITA.

Main symptom of the HDD problem is it is unable to see the HDD and asks you to connect one, so no to your question. I have seen the not formatted message twice since I had a unit, a very long time ago. I suspect that it is caused by a error being returned in response to a HDD command, possibly caused by a defective sector (physical or hopefully just logical) sector. Reformatting the disk might solve it if it is a logic defect.

 

[Galaxy]

When it first happened I did reformat, twice in a couple of weeks.....then hunted for a common problem and found it, answer was to power off and on, it works.....the error message ONLY ever appears just after turning the machine on from stand-by.

 

[REPASSAC]

There is an intermittent known bug that reports no recordings that also occasionally occurs just after power-on and then entering recordings. I have also suspected that the linux settop app starts multiple processes and that these problems show only when they have not all completed their start-up tasks. It is now several years since I saw this problem as I now never go into recordings immediately after start-up.

One suggestion I have is to always place unit in standby before power cycling the unit as it nearly always is writing to the disk buffer file, however this may not be the case with your problem.

 

[Galaxy]

No, mine just says “hard disc needs formatting”.....always happens at start up before any other commands have been asked of it, as it’s starting up basically......unit is always left in standby until the power on/off is needed for this fault.

Its an issue we can live with for now, until it gets too often or terminal of course, which is the reason for looking for another solution to Humax Freesat unit.

 

[dmpoole]

VU+
Had mine for around 20 years without a problem.