New generation Freesat STB - Arris

[Seniorshot]

Does anyone have any "insider" information on the release date of the next generation of Freesat boxes manufactured by Arris.?
This project was announced way back in September 2018, with a date in 2019 for release. Here we are more than 12 months on and still no news of a release date.
My recent email to Freesat only got the standard replay that it's coming but no dates were given - so it could be well into 2020. The Humax products are now very much "long in the tooth" and replacement products are long overdue.

 

[Clem_Dye]

No, nothing. Humax was supposed to have exited the Freesat market last month. Nothing about that either, that I recall. The platform needs a decent PVR solution so that it remains viable. Just relying on certain LG and Samsung TVs to provide a “watch only” service is not acceptable.

Clem

 

[Seniorshot]

Yes, I quite agree. Freesat are in danger of losing existing customers and potential new customers without a viable STB product.

 

[TJT1]

But as 'customers' do not pay for Freesat, why should they give a toss,providing they are fulfilling their obligation to 'fill in' the weak terrestrial coverage.

 

[Clem_Dye]

True, and I suspect that that’s the reason for the Arris box delay/no show. It does seem to play to Sky’s advantage though, if you want recording capabilities. Personally, I doubt if the Arris box will see the light of day. As much as I think that Freesat is an important service, the loss of C4HD and the associated catch-up services has done a lot of damage in many people’s eyes, especially when compared to Freeview.

I hope that I’m wrong about the Arris box, but with the rapid movement to streaming I think that linear TV, be it delivered via DSAT or DTT, has a finite existence now.

Clem

 

[pedro2000uk]

No, nothing. Humax was supposed to have exited the Freesat market last month. Nothing about that either, that I recall. The platform needs a decent PVR solution so that it remains viable. Just relying on certain LG and Samsung TVs to provide a “watch only” service is not acceptable.

Clem

You've been told LG TVs & Samsung TVS with Freesat record?
They record direct or off the EPG plus you can unplug usb flashdrives/HDDs & plug them in other devices / TVs in other rooms (or hotel ) & in up to 4k/UHD .. that's now already not waiting for another box and quality can be better too direct from a TVs tuner / processors

 

[Clem_Dye]

... and LG told me that their 2019 TVs will NOT record when placed into standby! I can post the email response if you like. If that's correct, it's pretty limiting. I'm in the process of sourcing a device so that I can try for myself, given your previous comments, with my preference for a decently fast USB flash drive. However, even if it does work, on a single tuner TV you're pretty limited in terms of recording capability.

Clem

 

[TJT1]

And the record facilities on my Sammy are dire to say the least compared with my HDR T2
The LG is better. But still limited.

 

[pedro2000uk]

... and LG told me that their 2019 TVs will NOT record when placed into standby! I can post the email response if you like. If that's correct, it's pretty limiting. I'm in the process of sourcing a device so that I can try for myself, given your previous comments, with my preference for a decently fast USB flash drive. However, even if it does work, on a single tuner TV you're pretty limited in terms of recording capability.

Clem

What comes across is a bias agenda against Freesat. Misleading infirmation

It's bad enough with certain blatant relentless Sky shill/troll behaviour going on.

 

[Clem_Dye]

@pedro2000uk: Utter twaddle! I need DSAT/Freesat to get BBC4HD next year when the COM7/8 muxes eventually disappear from Freeview. But you can’t deny the fact that support for the platform is diminishing, and I’m frustrated by the lack of available kit that does support it. As for misleading information, I can only report what LG told me about recording capabilities on their 2019 hardware, and I’m in the process of investigating, based on your comments about the fact that recordings do work when LG TVs are in standby. Although it won’t be an ideal solution, having any recording capability for Freesat will be helpful until such time as the Arris box surfaces, if it ever does. Reports last year suggested that it would be available by now, yet I can’t seem to be able to buy any new Arris hardware, can you? No. As for trolling, really? If anything, I would suggest that you are perhaps a bit too much of a Freesat zealot, unprepared to face the reality that the platform holds little interest for many of the major hardware manufacturers. If it did, we’d still be able to buy Panasonic TVs with Freesat on board, and Panasonic would still offer Freesat PVRs in their range; Sony would still support it too, as would Humax, which has made its intentions clear. Similarly, the likes of Hisense would offer Freesat capability, but instead it offers just a generic DSAT solution, as now do Panasonic, Sony, etc. Am I wrong? No, I didn’t think so. You seem to be confusing negatively with the reporting of facts. Ho-hum.

Clem

 

[Clem_Dye]

LG clarified the position for me regarding recording in the standby, but it still doesn't quite make sense. They told me that if the TV has a single tuner then it has to be powered-up for the recording to take place. My TV is dual tuner -- Freeview and Freesat, so do they mean dual Freesat tuners? As far as I'm aware, no LG tV has dual Freesat tuners. Hmmm. I still think that I'll try a USB stick and see what happens.

Clem

 

[chalk40]

Afternoon all, many months back there was noise about this new box but since? Nothing of any substance that I'm aware of.

Curious if anyone knows anything formally or informally?

Thanks

 

[dts]

Been lots of talk but nothing has happened yet...I think humax ends its freesat deal for making boxes at the end of November but of course I could be wrong.

 

[chalk40]

Been lots of talk but nothing has happened yet...I think humax ends its freesat deal for making boxes at the end of November but of course I could be wrong.

Would be nice if some noise came from some party. Always suprises me why companies make such grand annoucments then maintain radio silence when surely they must have an awareness of a buying public. Same with the Virgin West Coast contact end Dec 8th .... surely some trailers or teasers for either product would be good for Joe Public?

 

[Clem_Dye]

I've sent Freesat an email to see if they have anything to say.

Clem

 

[Clem_Dye]

... and here's the reply that I just received:

"Dear Clem Dye,

Thank you for your email.

We’re excited to say that our new set top box is coming soon, but we can’t reveal a specific date just yet.

Rest assured that as soon as we have some news we’ll be sharing it with our customers via email, so make sure that you’re signed up to receive our emails to ensure that you’re one of the first to know! You can sign-up using the ‘Subscribe’ link at the bottom of our website homepage – www.freesat.co.uk

If you have any other questions or queries then please feel free to get back in touch with us via phone, email or web chat available on www.freesat.co.uk/help and we would be more than happy to continue to assist you further.

Kind regards

Freesat Customer Team

[email protected]

T 0345 099 0990"

Well, that's good news, I think.

Clem

 

[TJT1]

Now don't go holding your breath will you Clem, else you might Dye? Where's that groan emoticon?

 

[Clockwork Orange]

Hi all, just signed up as seen you all posting about the New Arris box that's supposed to arrive soon. Here's hoping anyway as was gonna get one of the few Humax 1100s HDR boxes but as this could be happening and this old unit is still retailing for £189 on Curry's site, am going to grin and bear it and wait, even if its a few months. I suspect it will come, but they always seem to drag these things out when new stuff from certain markets are taking over an established area as was from Humax. We just binning Sky as of this Saturday, and what a relief to get off the Sky Rip Off Gravy Train, so as we only watch about 8 to 12 channels in total on Sky, seemed stupid as well to pay so much, we where on the lowest package as well, so now we going to NOWTV, lol, owned by Sky, but all the channels we watch on Sky are ALL on their monthly Entertainment Pack, so happy days, we can stream and catch up on all our favs, plus catch up of ITV etc demand stuff. We have a Roku Box to stream it all through, so all's great, and only for £8.99 a month, and can cancel anytime. Also, even better, the likes of Curry's and Argos are selling the Entertainment Pack cards for £10 for 2 months of viewing, even better value. But we still want the hopefully new Arris box to do all our usual recording of certain programmes on the on the likes of BBC1, ITV CH5 etc.
Also, you can still get CH4 on Freesat, apparently it's still there but you have to do a workaround, i found it on youtube the other day, guy showed how to do it on a Humax 1100s box. It's a bit of a faff switching from CH4 back to Freesat from the way he shows how it's done, but i suppose if you really want it you can do that workaround, though i think catch up is out the question. OK, long 1st post, and hope we get some news soon on the new Arris box.

 

[Clockwork Orange]

How do i bookmark this or any other thread fellas?

 

[depot]

How do i bookmark this or any other thread fellas?

you can “watch” the thread by clicking the watch, just above the first post.
I’ve had now tv before when I cancelled it, it was offered for about £3 , worth a try when you have used your vouchers.

 

[Clockwork Orange]

Thanks, may do that on the Nowtv thing. Also it just says 'Unwatch' , so appears ive subscribed and or bookmarked it without realising, but when i log out then back in, it doesn't go to this thread, so still a bit bemused as to get to this page or others quickly, can see nowt in my settings

 

[grahamlthompson]

Channel 4 is on all Freesat boxes. It's Channel 4-HD that's missing together with all 4. Fortunately Channel 4-HD is on all Freeview Transmitters including relays.

Channel 4-HD can be added using non freesat mode, but can't be recorded using the Humax G2 boxes. Owners of the Foxsat-HDR with the Custom Firmware can record non freesat using manual timers and thanks to the Channel editor package it can be viewed and recorded without leaving Freesat mode.

 

[HeadBanger]

I’m also interested in the new gen 3 boxes but information is extremely scarce.

Will the gen 3 PVR allow recoding of more than 2 channels (assuming correct LNB)?

Will they output native frame rates for streaming content - e.g. 23.976 for film content via Netflix?

TIA

HB

 

[grahamlthompson]

No one knows. Re the frame rate a 4K firestick using Kodi or Plex supports native framerate but only for Amazon Prime content. Netflix still insists on 60Hz pulldown. So until and if Netflix makes the same changes as Amazon I doubt it. I have a plex media server set up on my laptop and it flawlessly plays back 23.976 fps 1080p content to my fire stick which is connected to a 4K denon AV receiver and a 55" 2019 LG OLED TV.

Hopefully it will have iplayer 4K support. iplayer has One planet in superb 4K HDR quality and it looks amazing on the LG OLED iplayer app.

The original press release stated multiple tuners,

The most info I can find is a thread on digital spy with a post from a beta tester.

 

[PC57]

Just looked on Arris' site - SFA!
I need a new box - 4k - so it'll have to be a Linux-type thingy.