Looking for a STB box to attach to an old 720p LCD tv that can't receive freeview. TV has HDMI, Component and a usb port which will read DivX and I'd preferably like the box to read H264 and MKV too. PVR capability would be nice but not critical. Wireless streaming would be a bonus.

Recommendations?

job jobbed

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Awesome

My Freeview box is on the blink at the moment, so I'm on the lookout for a replacement.

Main criteria is that it can export recordings via USB in a format I can easily edit - so I can record and keep the Essential Mixes.

At the moment, I'm very interested to see what the forthcoming EchoStar HDT 610R is like as it looks amazing:

Super-slim:

Updated May 13, 2012 at 9:45 AM

What Andy said. The Humax is the dogs danglies. You can FTP to it, stream from it. It's a great PVR.

Put a £12 wireless dongle on the back if you need it to be wireless (it's what I've done)

It can also stream stuff from other media players you have around the house too, as well as play from USB stick.

And it has BBC iplayer built in ( and Youtube)

Updated May 13, 2012 at 11:11 AM

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Ampera • Women • Car Trade

exiges said...

What Andy said. The Humax is the dogs danglies. You can FTP to it, stream from it. It's a great PVR.

Put a £12 wireless dongle on the back if you need it to be wireless (it's what I've done)

It can also stream stuff from other media players you have around the house too, as well as play from USB stick.

And it has BBC iplayer built in ( and Youtube)

Interesting...

Are you able to copy recordings off via FTP? And if so, do you know what format they're in?

Thanks

Also, what's that Humax like for noise? Is if fan-less etc?

Actually, David, if you could find the time, would you mind recording a radio programme (BBC radio) on your Humax, extract the file (I think they're just TS files? - transport stream) and upload it somewhere?

I can then download it and make sure I can edit and convert to MP3 - if so, I'll probably just get the Humax as they're so well supported.

I'd really appreciate it if you could find the time for this so I can prove to myself if it'll work for me.

Thanks...

PugRallye2 said...

exiges said...

What Andy said. The Humax is the dogs danglies. You can FTP to it, stream from it. It's a great PVR.

Put a £12 wireless dongle on the back if you need it to be wireless (it's what I've done)

It can also stream stuff from other media players you have around the house too, as well as play from USB stick.

And it has BBC iplayer built in ( and Youtube)

Interesting...

Are you able to copy recordings off via FTP? And if so, do you know what format they're in?

Thanks

Yes, the humax has a inbuilt FTP client. It also allows you to copy them to a fat32 formatted usb device.

There are various tools to help you backup HD efforts as well.

If you get into it there are also modified firmwares out there ..

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GiraffeIT.com / Installations / Support / Training
Renault 5 GT Turbo and Renault R26

Thanks Andy, don't suppose you know the format in which the transferred files are exported do you?

.ts or .mt2ts formats.

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GiraffeIT.com / Installations / Support / Training
Renault 5 GT Turbo and Renault R26

PugRallye2 said...

Are you able to copy recordings off via FTP? And if so, do you know what format they're in?

HD recordings are encrypted so can't be played out of the device, but SD recordings can be played fine. Cant remember the file format, could be .3g or something. I renamed them to .avi and they played fine.

There maybe a fan but I don't recall it kicking in or hearing it, and I've discarded 3 PVRs before due to excessive fan/HDD noise.

Edit. Andy is right, they're .ts format.

Updated May 13, 2012 at 6:37 PM

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Ampera • Women • Car Trade

exiges said...

Edit. Andy is right, they're .ts format.

The bit that DB mentioned about the HD being encoded is again true. However there are tools to decrypt it - such as foxy

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GiraffeIT.com / Installations / Support / Training
Renault 5 GT Turbo and Renault R26

Thanks again...

I'm not so interested in the HD content, but I can't be without my beloved Essential Mixes

Much appreciated.

I can't live without his Essential Mixes either!

My Humax seems to have given up the ghost after something like 5 years good service. It starts up but keeps freezing.

No PVR meant no freeview and no recordings back home at the weekend - ended up watching 4 films I've had for years.

andybond said...

there are tools to decrypt it - such as foxy

Does she do it by hand? Does Cal mind?

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All retch and no vomit

Thanks for the suggestions, that Humax looks the goods, but costs nearly as much as my car!

They do sell Humax recons cheaper here

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GiraffeIT.com / Installations / Support / Training
Renault 5 GT Turbo and Renault R26

I picked up a Humax HDR-FOX-T2 myself last week (to replace my ancient Humax 9150)

It is indeed the dogs b*ll*x, and that's before the custom firmware was added.

ilmostro said...

I picked up a Humax HDR-FOX-T2 myself last week (to replace my ancient Humax 9150)

It is indeed the dogs b*ll*x, and that's before the custom firmware was added.

A few niggles* aside, I think they're good too. Something I learned recently though, is that if you want to extract recordings to store/play/edit etc elsewhere, then you can only do this via the USB transfer and not via the FTP method.

When you "export" to USB, the Humax actually converts the files as it exports them, they're then usable. If you do it via FTP, you get the raw files and these can't be used.

As for the niggles:

- the remote seems quite poorly designed. Buttons that get a lot of use, for example "play/pause" etc are very small and fiddly
- the on-screen menus are nice and clear, but you don't get much on the screen - for example, the EPG and list of your recordings - you can only see 5 recordings on the screen at any one time, so paging through them is a bit of a PITA