Any Television/Humax Experts Around Here?

[smokeysmoo]

At the moment I'm paying a fortune for Virginmedia, TV, Phone & Broadband and I desperately want to cancel the damned thing.

I don't have a smart TV, and I don't have a terrestrial aerial. I do have a Sky dish with 3 cables coming into the house from before I switched to Virgin, (the 3rd one is for Freesat built into the current TV, Panasonic Viera Plasma around 12 years old).

We do rely on having a recording facility as well. I know about catch up etc, but this facility is non-negotiable I'm afraid.

So, my plan was to get a new TV, eg: THIS ONE and a HUMAX PVR, (I am aware this Humax box is for freeview, but Humax don't do Freesat recorders anymore), however, went into a store today only to be told because I've no terrestrial aerial I would need a Freesat recorder to be able to record, otherwise I need to have an aerial fitted to be able to record Freeview through the Humax.

It's all a tad Greek to me so any help would be appreciated.

T.I.A

 

[Archie_tect]

So why can't you use the third cable plugged into the TV for Freesat like your old tele? If no, then wouldn't it be worth getting an aerial fitted anyway to keep everything as simple as possible?

 

[smokeysmoo]

So why can't you use the third cable plugged into the TV for Freesat like your old tele? If no, then wouldn't it be worth getting an aerial fitted anyway to keep everything as simple as possible?

I don't know about the first bit TBH but it does make sense to my Luddite ears, although the new TV would need to have Freesat and I've not looked into that as yet.

I'm not averse to whacking an aerial up if that's what's needed, I just wanted to double check what the guy was telling me today.

 

[Slioch]

There's two separate systems, each with their own specific hardware.

There's Freeview, which comes through the aerial on top of your house. This plugs into a Freeview box (but see below) beside your telly, and the box is connected to the telly.

Then there's Freesat. This comes through your satellite dish, into a Freesat box beside your telly, and the box is then connected to your telly.

Some tellys come with the equivalent of a Freeview box already built in, so you don't need a separate freeview box. You just plug the cable from the aerial socket straight into the telly. Much rarer are tellys with Freesat built in.

But, it's the Box that also has the capability to record programmes. So even if you get a telly with Freeview/Freesat built-in, you'll still need a "box" of some kind to record stuff on.

It's something like this that you need for Freesat (via your satellite dish) and that records programmes. They can be a bit pricy, so worth searching t'internet.

I'm on Freesat and have had a Humax Recording box for over 15 years, and it's still going strong.

 

[Smudge]

Fit an aerial.
Get a smart TV that has Freeview Play, less likely to lose apps with FP.
Best PVR is currently Manhattan T3-R 1tb, less buggy than the Humax and has catch up apps built in. It also connects to your modem wirelessly, so no having to plug in with cable to get updates.

 

[smokeysmoo]

There's two separate systems, each with their own specific hardware.

There's Freeview, which comes through the aerial on top of your house. This plugs into a Freeview box (but see below) beside your telly, and the box is connected to the telly.

Then there's Freesat. This comes through your satellite dish, into a Freesat box beside your telly, and the box is then connected to your telly.

Some tellys come with the equivalent of a Freeview box already built in, so you don't need a separate freeview box. You just plug the cable from the aerial socket straight into the telly. Much rarer are tellys with Freesat built in.

But, it's the Box that also has the capability to record programmes. So even if you get a telly with Freeview/Freesat built-in, you'll still need a "box" of some kind to record stuff on.

It's something like this that you need for Freesat (via your satellite dish) and that records programmes. They can be a bit pricy, so worth searching t'internet.

I'm on Freesat and have had a Humax Recorording box for over 15 years, and it's still going strong.

The guy today said Humax has stopped doing the Freesat box at the moment, and they are all out of stock at HUMAX which appears to back him up. Which means tracking down a used box or finding some NOS somewhere I suppose.

 

[Slioch]

P.s.

That Humax box you linked to is a Freeview box. It wouldn't work through your satellite dish, but would through an aerial.

Also, the Samsung telly you linked to doesn't say that it's got built in Freeview/Freesat tuner, so you would need a box by the telly. The telly will be able to play either from a Freesat or Freeview box.

 

[BoldonLad]

I cannot recall the exact date, but, all recent TV's sold in UK have Freeview built in. Some TVs (smart and non-smart) have Satellite receiver (Free-Sat) built in.

Some (Smart) TVs have a record (to USB device) built in, but, most only allow you to record channel you are watching (pointless, IMHO).

PVRs are available with Freesat built in.

I have recently bought Smart TV, on behalf of my brother-in-law, I bought via Richersounds (the have highstreet outlets, and online). I found them helpful, with competitive prices. I am not in anyway connected to them Richer Sounds.

 

[the_mikey]

At the moment I'm paying a fortune for Virginmedia, TV, Phone & Broadband and I desperately want to cancel the damned thing.

I don't have a smart TV, and I don't have a terrestrial aerial. I do have a Sky dish with 3 cables coming into the house from before I switched to Virgin, (the 3rd one is for Freesat built into the current TV, Panasonic Viera Plasma around 12 years old).

We do rely on having a recording facility as well. I know about catch up etc, but this facility is non-negotiable I'm afraid.

So, my plan was to get a new TV, eg: THIS ONE and a HUMAX PVR, however, went into a store today only to be told because I've no terrestrial aerial I would need a Freesat recorder to be able to record, otherwise I need to have an aerial fitted to be able to record Freeview through the Humax.

It's all a tad Greek to me so any help would be appreciated.

T.I.A

Simply Freeview is not freesat, the Humax PVR you linked to is a "freeview" PVR which receives programmes via the terrestrial television system, ideally using a tv antenna on your roof, you could purchase a "freesat" PVR which would require two coaxial cables from the satellite dish to receive the freesat service.

There are some differences between the services, and some channels available on freeview are not necessarily availalble on freesat.

 

[smokeysmoo]

PVRs are available with Freesat built in.

I can have a few aerials fitted for the price those burglars want!

When RS were selling Freesat recorders they were nowhere near this price, looks like it's going to be an aerial then.

 

[Fab Foodie]

We plugged our £200 Humax box into our Sky satellite dish, plugged into the telly and off we went. Approx 2 years ago.

 

[Slioch]

You'll probably need an outside aerial to get the best reception, and getting one of those fitted doesn't come cheap.

I've got a small telly in the kitchen which is run off a Freeview box and a portable aerial that sits on top of the cupboards. The quality isn't great and the aerial needs constant fettling to get a picture.

That Freesat box I linked to upthread was £186 from Argos, and as FF says, you just plug it in and off you go.

But, and there's always a but, do you have two coax cables coming into the house from your satellite dish, or only one? You need two to enable you to watch one channel whilst recording on another.

 

[keithmac]

Worth noting you need one "tuner" per channel, so if you want to record 2 programs simultaneously you need a PVR with 2 tuners.

Our Toshiba can record Freeview, but with only one tuner you have to watch what you record!.

 

[netman]

At the moment I'm paying a fortune for Virginmedia, TV, Phone & Broadband and I desperately want to cancel the damned thing.

I don't have a smart TV, and I don't have a terrestrial aerial. I do have a Sky dish with 3 cables coming into the house from before I switched to Virgin, (the 3rd one is for Freesat built into the current TV, Panasonic Viera Plasma around 12 years old).

We do rely on having a recording facility as well. I know about catch up etc, but this facility is non-negotiable I'm afraid.

So, my plan was to get a new TV, eg: THIS ONE and a HUMAX PVR, (I am aware this Humax box is for freeview, but Humax don't do Freesat recorders anymore), however, went into a store today only to be told because I've no terrestrial aerial I would need a Freesat recorder to be able to record, otherwise I need to have an aerial fitted to be able to record Freeview through the Humax.

It's all a tad Greek to me so any help would be appreciated.

T.I.A

Have you thought about switching to something like TalkTalk? You get all the freeview channels and the option of adding others as well as your broadband and phone - £26.95 per month for 2 years... you get a router for your broadband and a TV box that connects to that - it can record, pause live TV etc.

 

[BoldonLad]

Have you thought about switching to something like TalkTalk? You get all the freeview channels and the option of adding others as well as your broadband and phone - £26.95 per month for 2 years... you get a router for your broadband and a TV box that connects to that - it can record, pause live TV etc.

I have this, at moment, you need an aerial.