My Humax Forum » Freeview HD » HDR 1800T, 2000T

Humax pass-thru experiment

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  1. grahamlthompson

    grahamlthompson

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    bill63 - 1 hour ago  » 
    Hi Davidwf My set up works for me, these twin TV amps don't boost the signal that much, even with mine its only 83% max signal strength. As Graham said 100% would be to strong. That's why I said its trial and error go for the cheapest option first. But your right it should not be like that, but for me my Humax 2000T is a good reliable box. But if your not happy with yours then I would go for the Panasonic PVR a bit more expensive. But bearing in mind it only as HDMI output only there is no scart connection. But for what I gather it as good reviews.

    The major issue is that as the signal strength increases to a level that clips the signal peaks the indicated signal strength can actually fall. The carrier distortion produced gives highly inaccurate signal strength readings.

    | Mon 28 Mar 2016 11:22:58 #51 |
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    Faust

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    davidwf - 2 hours ago  » 
    Faust : I chose to leave it powered to eliminate the boot up delay, previous and other boxes work OK doing that
    bill63 : We are goiung for the Panny FreeviewPlay box.... yes much dearer but better reviews so far.
    HDMI only isn't a problem....SCART is sooooo 20th century
    Thanks again to all for your replies

    I would read some of the forum reviews regarding the Panny Freeview play. Having already got a Panny PVR I was quite interested in their latest box. However, having read many posts on the product my interest has evaporated.

    Doesn't seem any better than the Humax and in many instances is worse. At the end of the day it is your choice but I would urge you to read up on the product first.

    I still can't understand the bit about the delay even when you leave the box switched on. If I leave my box on then the result is instant when switching to the correct HDMI input.

    | Mon 28 Mar 2016 12:40:32 #52 |
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    davidwf

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    yes, the video is instant but the audio is absent, requiring a re-boot of the box and the lengthy delay that entails
    No, I can't understand why that should / could be either..... maybe the TV is telling the PVR to power down via the HDMI cable but the PVR cannot do so.....

    | Mon 28 Mar 2016 13:13:13 #53 |
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    Faust

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    davidwf - 15 minutes ago  » 
    yes, the video is instant but the audio is absent, requiring a re-boot of the box and the lengthy delay that entails
    No, I can't understand why that should / could be either..... maybe the TV is telling the PVR to power down via the HDMI cable but the PVR cannot do so.....

    I would still bet money on it being a handshake issue - the fault being with the TV hardware.

    From my reading of the Panasonic, Freeview Play has simply been overlaid on the same clunky EPG as we have on our PVR. That revelation alone was enough to put me off taking things any further. It does do what it says on the tin but nothing much appears to have changed over the last ten years - beware.

    | Mon 28 Mar 2016 13:29:13 #54 |
  5. Biggles

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    davidwf - 2 hours ago  » 
    .....
    bill63 : We are goiung for the Panny FreeviewPlay box.... yes much dearer but better reviews so far.
    .....

    A friend has the new Panasonic FreeviewPlay box and I have the previous model (non FreeviewPlay but with a front panel display). Both boxes work very similarly and so far have been rock solid reliable, the user interface isn't as pleasant to use as the 9xx0 boxes though. My box boots very quickly from ordinary STANDBY with no loss of 'pass through', can't say for the FreeviewPlay box though that my friend has. There is a slight delay between pressing a remote button and getting a response from the box but it is a constant delay, not like the problems with the 9200 where the box ignores the remote for a random length of time because its busy doing something else. One annoying 'feature' with the Panasonic is that if you're watching something other than live TV (a recording, timeslip or whatever) and a timed recording starts (or finishes, not sure yet) then you can be tossed back to live TV. Not sure of the details of this yet as it has only happened a couple of times and it's not high on my priority list to check it out. Bottom line is for what I want, basic recorder and timeslip, I have no regrets buying the Panasonic.

    | Mon 28 Mar 2016 13:36:24 #55 |
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    davidwf

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    Thanks for the views / opinions..... pretty much EVERYTHING in our house that can be Panasonic is Panasonic so I could be slightly biased but their products do seem to last better and work as they should do.......I have always been a believer in getting what you pay for but work colleagues swear BY Humax products (not at them) so I thought I would try one......maybe they're just not for me
    I have to say the picture quality of the Humax both live and recorded was excellent

    | Mon 28 Mar 2016 13:57:01 #56 |
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    Faust

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    davidwf - 51 minutes ago  » 
    Thanks for the views / opinions..... pretty much EVERYTHING in our house that can be Panasonic is Panasonic so I could be slightly biased but their products do seem to last better and work as they should do.......I have always been a believer in getting what you pay for but work colleagues swear BY Humax products (not at them) so I thought I would try one......maybe they're just not for me
    I have to say the picture quality of the Humax both live and recorded was excellent

    Most of what we have is also Panasonic. However, that adage of you get what you pay for now no longer holds good I'm afraid. You may or may not be aware that for cheaper products Panasonic are using badge engineering i.e. the products are made by the Turkish budget manufacturer Vestel who put the Panasonic badge on the products.

    You may find the Panasonic to your liking. We have ours as a backup in another part of the property. I wouldn't however like to use it as our everyday main PVR, it would drive me mad. Example, if using iPlayer on the Panasonic and a recording is due to start then the machine throws you out of iPlayer in order to record the programme.

    Reliable - absolutely, user friendly, not really.

    | Mon 28 Mar 2016 14:54:55 #57 |
  8. Biggles

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    davidwf - 43 minutes ago  » 
    Thanks for the views / opinions..... pretty much EVERYTHING in our house that can be Panasonic is Panasonic so I could be slightly biased but their products do seem to last better and work as they should do.......I have always been a believer in getting what you pay for but work colleagues swear BY Humax products (not at them) so I thought I would try one......maybe they're just not for me
    I have to say the picture quality of the Humax both live and recorded was excellent

    You sound like me, not too keen on the vacuum cleaner though, my previous Hoover (and I mean Hoover) was better by far.

    When I came across Humax back in the early years of this century it seemed to me that they were head and shoulders above the rest so I started with the F2-FOX T set top box. My last Humax was the 9200 which Humax have to be congratulated for, they kept improving the software so the box still works today albeit with some problems but mine is still in daily use. Their latest 'meat pie' offering I really don't like so it doesn't matter to me how well it works or otherwise, I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.

    | Mon 28 Mar 2016 14:57:13 #58 |
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    Faust

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    Biggles - 7 minutes ago  » 

    davidwf - 43 minutes ago  » 
    Thanks for the views / opinions..... pretty much EVERYTHING in our house that can be Panasonic is Panasonic so I could be slightly biased but their products do seem to last better and work as they should do.......I have always been a believer in getting what you pay for but work colleagues swear BY Humax products (not at them) so I thought I would try one......maybe they're just not for me
    I have to say the picture quality of the Humax both live and recorded was excellent

    You sound like me, not too keen on the vacuum cleaner though, my previous Hoover (and I mean Hoover) was better by far.
    When I came across Humax back in the early years of this century it seemed to me that they were head and shoulders above the rest so I started with the F2-FOX T set top box. My last Humax was the 9200 which Humax have to be congratulated for, they kept improving the software so the box still works today albeit with some problems but mine is still in daily use. Their latest 'meat pie' offering I really don't like so it doesn't matter to me how well it works or otherwise, I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.

    I think one of the real issues with many tech products today is the profit margins are razor thin. Many manufacturers are getting out of the sector altogether or as said in my previous post using other cheaper companies to manufacture for them. Humax in common with everyone else are shaving every penny off production costs so the consumer ultimately ends up with a product that has been stripped of features.

    One wonders with the advent if IPTV how long products such as PVRs will continue to be made.

    | Mon 28 Mar 2016 15:09:10 #59 |
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    bill63

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    Hi grahamlthompson Yes that's right to. but a lot of problems with pixelation can also be due to electrical interference as well as the weather or trees, this can cause the signal to peak, also the area you live in as well. And if you test different devices on your aerial sometime they can also give different signal strengths as well.
    Just because your set up or my set up works for us, don't mean it will work for others, we can only advise.
    Basically as I have said its just trial and error starting with the cheapest option first.

    | Mon 28 Mar 2016 21:41:56 #60 |

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