Humax taken back for refund

[imigix]

After the first day of enthusiasm at having HD at last, I began to notice not all was well.
As you will know there are two HD channels to view on the Humax Lux and BBC.
Lux was spot on but the BBC was a little dark ( SD channels all ok )and on another tv and dish same effect also.
I placed a post yesterday asking if anyone else had the same problem but no replys so I must have a faulty box.
I then thought the BBC only put out at the moment four hours of progs. a day in HD all of the other channels that are worth a view or also on Freeview
Lux only puts out promo films, its not worth the exspence for the time being.
I was offered an exchange unit but I took the brass instead.
I shall now wait and let the dust settle for a time and any bugs to be ironed out.

 

[JonnyGoon]

Im tempted to do the same, was willing to put up with limited HD for the wow factor on the basis the SD stuff upscaling gave me better general viewing, the freeview in the TV is better so its some what redundant really. Tempted to use that as the reason for return when it falsely claims 'improves SDTV on a HDTV LCD' on the box.

 

[Waveform]

Im tempted to do the same, was willing to put up with limited HD for the wow factor on the basis the SD stuff upscaling gave me better general viewing, the freeview in the TV is better so its some what redundant really. Tempted to use that as the reason for return when it falsely claims 'improves SDTV on a HDTV LCD' on the box.

my very first reaction when I installed the new humax and compared the upscaled sd picture to freeview was the same - rather underwhelmed. However after some more careful comparisons I think the freesat picture is superior.

My TV is a Tosh 42x3030d (IDTV) and I think tosh have done a very good job of optimising the settings for freeview input - I grant you on initial viewing the freeview looks sharper but there is a hell of a lot more noise in the picture. Watching Doctor Who tonight which had a fair amount of dark scenes there was no competition - the freesat was far better although somewhat "softer" with default settings.

The tosh probably has the better upscaler as well. Don't dismiss it straight away, abit of effort with the settings and you'll see what I mean.

You could also consider outputing 576i from the humax on sd broadcasts and letting the tv's upscaler do the work.

 

[JonnyGoon]

I have a LE40M86 TV. I have tried 576i (through component it doesnt accept it over HDMI) and its alot softer, seems to have more noise aswell

I think ill swap between the two on casulty as thats generally a very good picture.

 

[menz83]

There have been a few moans about the quality of the SD broadcasts and from what I have read over at DS, Humax Support are investigating the matter.

One Big Weekend is on BBC HD now. Surely no one can have complaints with that!

 

[fastfocus]

One Big Weekend is on BBC HD now. Surely no one can have complaints with that! Today 9:17 PM

too true..... The Humax picture tonight on BBC HD

BBC HD is stunning tonight and Dolby digital surround sound is absolutely awesome!

 

[JonnyGoon]

One Big Weekend is on BBC HD now. Surely no one can have complaints with that!

Well no, but Im feeling it doesn't really warrent £150 at the moment when I have no idea when BBC will start more schedule programme on HD, let alone the other channels actually starting HD. In this forum someone has asked about the champions league final and if its on ITV HD, surely its more a case of whats ITV HD. I think people are assumming its out now or pretty soon.

Heroes is exactly what BBC HD should be about.

Casualty deffo has more noise, the 'mosquito noise' suddenly was obvious why its called that with square blocks of textured ward walls jumping around the screen. On IDTV the texture is there but its static.

 

[menz83]

Is it the FA cup final next weekend? If so, its on BBC HD. Sorry, dont follow English football, but will be tuning in next weekend.

Have a look at the bug list thread over at Digitalspy. Humax seem hard at work fixing all the issues mentioned. I have just emailed Humax my bug list now so will hopefully get a response soon.

I think the reality is, when you are an early adopter, you will get a flawed product. Its not so great when you splash out £150, but from what i understand of the Freesat specifications, the Humax box will be capable of ironing out all the major issues. When I splashed out £1k on my Onkyo 875, I was devastated to find out that the scaler made SD images worse by adding a judder in any motion every few seconds. With time though, Onkyo recognised the problem, sent a courier to my door, gave me a free replacement with new firmware and extended my warranty. From what I have seen of Humax, I am confident that we will get the same level of support and that all the issues will be ironed out!

 

[C225]

One Big Weekend is on BBC HD now. Surely no one can have complaints with that!

I can nearly all the music is rubbish!

Picture is great though

 

[menz83]

I can nearly all the music is rubbish!

Picture is great though

Madge's bingo wings were most impressive

 

[ash]

I can nearly all the music is rubbish!

Picture is great though

The music nearly great sounds in 5.1 wish I.

 

[nwhitfield]

Well no, but Im feeling it doesn't really warrent £150 at the moment when I have no idea when BBC will start more schedule programme on HD.

The service description for the channel envisages that it will be up to 9 hours a day by the end of 2009.

 

[reghorse]

my very first reaction when I installed the new humax and compared the upscaled sd picture to freeview was the same - rather underwhelmed. However after some more careful comparisons I think the freesat picture is superior.

My TV is a Tosh 42x3030d (IDTV) and I think tosh have done a very good job of optimising the settings for freeview input - I grant you on initial viewing the freeview looks sharper but there is a hell of a lot more noise in the picture. Watching Doctor Who tonight which had a fair amount of dark scenes there was no competition - the freesat was far better although somewhat "softer" with default settings.

The tosh probably has the better upscaler as well. Don't dismiss it straight away, abit of effort with the settings and you'll see what I mean.

You could also consider outputing 576i from the humax on sd broadcasts and letting the tv's upscaler do the work.

Waveform. I found SD quality to be inferior to Freeview and emailed Humax support for advice.Their helpfull advice:- At the moment please set the remote V-Format button to the resolution displayed by each channel on the left hand side of the information bar ( bottom left) ie SD 576i, HD 1080i and let the tv upscaler do the work (supposedly it is better than the box).They hope to bring out an update shortly so that the box automatically selects 'Original' over HDMI, this should rectify the the SD picture problem.
Reghorse.