JollySingh
Standard Member
This is my first post. Apologies in advance for such a long mail. I hope this makes sense.
My Mum spends a lot of time at home as she is physically disabled and her only pleasure is her TV and the many shows which she likes to watch over again.
I got my parents (who are both retired) Virgin Media cable TV installed around 6 months ago, as with the Virgin Media cable, my Mum can get the premium indian channels ie Zee TV, Sony Entertainment Asia, Star Plus etc at a fraction of the cost we were paying to Sky, and these same channels are broadcast through to another box for my Dad (who is her carer but doesn't like to watch the same shows as my Mum!) at the same price (except for the extra £5.50 for the additional box), unlike with Sky that also requires additional individual subscriptions.
I set their old Sky box as a freesat box and connected this to a VCR, but this has infuriated my Mum and has really upset her that she cannot record her programmes (received on Sky freesat but not on the Virgin Media cable) the same way as with the Sky subscription.
I was about to purchase a Humax Foxsat HDR 1TB in order for my Mum to record the non-premium indian channels that the old sky box (currently being used as the freesat box) has, but which I believe the Humax Foxsat HDR would term as the free to air channels.
I would be comfortable manually tuning in these channels, however, i became confused when i realised that these FTA programmes could only be recorded by manually pressing record (or possibly setting a timer) which my Mum has difficultly doing. (P.S. I apologise I am not too good when it comes to both hardware's and software's but i am learning!)
I was really hoping for a freesat/free to air system which would allow recording of these programmes like the old sky system that she was happy to use and is upset with me that she cannot record her programmes that way.
While googling, I came across posts here and on Digitalspy and the link for the "Media & File Server Bundle for the Foxsat HDR - Release 4,0", and I became excited that if i followed the instructions, the firmware would allow recording of the FTA channels the same way the freesat ones can be recorded through the EPG ie scheduled recording and series link.
Have i understood this posted link correctly or have i confused myself ((and probably you too)) even further!?
I really wanted to avoid paying Sky to allow the Sky+ functionality as my parents had many problems with Sky and their customer services in the past which created a lot of stress for my parents.
However, I am unsure that the only way to make my Mum happy, would be for me to also re-subscribe to Sky, along with subscribing to Virgin Media, so that the FTA non-premium indian channels that show up in the Sky EPG can be easily recorded by my Mum.
in summary (!):
1. should I purchase the Humax Foxsat HDR and would this fulfil my Mum's requirements (with the additional software)?; or
2. would re-subsricption to the Sky service to enable the record functionality (ie sky+) of the free to air channels be the best option?
I am very sorry to pester and especially with such a long message. If anyone does manage to find some time to advise me I would be extremely grateful and this would help me to make the best decision and most importantly, this advice would contribute to my Mum's happiness!
I hope that you all had a Merry Christmas, and I wish you all a Very Happy New Year for 2012!
Many thanks and best regards,
jolly
My Mum spends a lot of time at home as she is physically disabled and her only pleasure is her TV and the many shows which she likes to watch over again.
I got my parents (who are both retired) Virgin Media cable TV installed around 6 months ago, as with the Virgin Media cable, my Mum can get the premium indian channels ie Zee TV, Sony Entertainment Asia, Star Plus etc at a fraction of the cost we were paying to Sky, and these same channels are broadcast through to another box for my Dad (who is her carer but doesn't like to watch the same shows as my Mum!) at the same price (except for the extra £5.50 for the additional box), unlike with Sky that also requires additional individual subscriptions.
I set their old Sky box as a freesat box and connected this to a VCR, but this has infuriated my Mum and has really upset her that she cannot record her programmes (received on Sky freesat but not on the Virgin Media cable) the same way as with the Sky subscription.
I was about to purchase a Humax Foxsat HDR 1TB in order for my Mum to record the non-premium indian channels that the old sky box (currently being used as the freesat box) has, but which I believe the Humax Foxsat HDR would term as the free to air channels.
I would be comfortable manually tuning in these channels, however, i became confused when i realised that these FTA programmes could only be recorded by manually pressing record (or possibly setting a timer) which my Mum has difficultly doing. (P.S. I apologise I am not too good when it comes to both hardware's and software's but i am learning!)
I was really hoping for a freesat/free to air system which would allow recording of these programmes like the old sky system that she was happy to use and is upset with me that she cannot record her programmes that way.
While googling, I came across posts here and on Digitalspy and the link for the "Media & File Server Bundle for the Foxsat HDR - Release 4,0", and I became excited that if i followed the instructions, the firmware would allow recording of the FTA channels the same way the freesat ones can be recorded through the EPG ie scheduled recording and series link.
Have i understood this posted link correctly or have i confused myself ((and probably you too)) even further!?
I really wanted to avoid paying Sky to allow the Sky+ functionality as my parents had many problems with Sky and their customer services in the past which created a lot of stress for my parents.
However, I am unsure that the only way to make my Mum happy, would be for me to also re-subscribe to Sky, along with subscribing to Virgin Media, so that the FTA non-premium indian channels that show up in the Sky EPG can be easily recorded by my Mum.
in summary (!):
1. should I purchase the Humax Foxsat HDR and would this fulfil my Mum's requirements (with the additional software)?; or
2. would re-subsricption to the Sky service to enable the record functionality (ie sky+) of the free to air channels be the best option?
I am very sorry to pester and especially with such a long message. If anyone does manage to find some time to advise me I would be extremely grateful and this would help me to make the best decision and most importantly, this advice would contribute to my Mum's happiness!
I hope that you all had a Merry Christmas, and I wish you all a Very Happy New Year for 2012!
Many thanks and best regards,
jolly