Choice of model

MikeSh

MikeSh

Well-Known Member
We've had Humax Freeview boxes for years, but next week at short notice we are moving to a house that has a satellite dish but no working terrestrial aerial. As a quick solution I want to get a Freesat box - and I need it by Tuesday, Wednesday absolute latest.
Never had satellite.
Looking at Humax website I could get an HDR-1100S or an HDR-1010S (refurb), both 1TB. The 1010 is obviously a lot cheaper, but does the 1100 have much in the way of improved features, reliability, etc?
I need to order it tomorrow (Sunday), and I will go with whichever you vote is best (doesn't have to be one of the two above, but I'm not sure what others there are to consider).

I know I could research it more myself, but time is short - told late Friday we need to complete next Thursday, we haven't exchanged contracts yet and it's a 250 mile move. Removals coming in Weds to pack :eek:
 
All run the same software and so unless there are some differences in the remote are similar apart from the obvious features.

1000S
  • black
  • 500GB or 1TB
  • front display
  • Internet connectivity: Ethernet or dongle
  • controls on front of unit
  • Video/Audio Outputs: HDMI, S/PDIF, composite (yellow), Phono (red, white), SCART

1010S
  • white
  • 1TB
  • front display
  • Internet connectivity: Ethernet or inbuilt wifi
  • controls on front of unit
  • Video/Audio Outputs: HDMI, S/PDIF, composite (yellow), Phono (red, white), SCART

1100S
  • black or white
  • 500GB, 1TB or 2TB
  • no front display but has a status light on the underside of unit
  • Internet connectivity: Ethernet or inbuilt wifi
  • controls on top of unit
  • Video/Audio Outputs: HDMI, S/PDIF, composite (yellow), Phono (red, white)
(Edited to add SCART detail after reminder from graham)
 
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Far too early to have any idea as to long term reliability of the 1100S. It's only been available to buy for a very short period.

Not mentioned above is lack of scart socket on 1100S. This may be an issue for anyone who uses RGB to record from to a DVDR or view on a old TV without hdmi.
 
Thanks for that. No obvious advantage for an 1100 so I've ordered a refurbed 1010.

One related snag I might hit is that I don't know what signal cable I'll need to get from (assumed) wall plate to this box. Can anyone suggest what it is likely to be, or more than one if the wall end may be one of several. (All I know is there is a dish in use, not which supplier he uses.) My stepson lives nearby and was a satellite/TV installer for many years, but Murphy's Law has arranged that he's away on holiday for a couple of weeks, so I'm on my own until he gets back :(
 
Thanks for the quick response, guys. I've ordered a 2m one from Kenable (ebay), they are always fast.
(I expect the Humax will now come with one in the box, but there's no way I'd win gambling on that :) ).
 
MikeSh said:
Thanks for the quick response, guys. I've ordered a 2m one from Kenable (ebay), they are always fast.
(I expect the Humax will now come with one in the box, but there's no way I'd win gambling on that :) ).
Click to expand...

You need two for full operation. I take it you have two satellite outlets available ? They won't be in the box. They are simple to make up using quality sat grade cable and screw on f connectors.
 
grahamlthompson said:
You need two for full operation. I take it you have two satellite outlets available ? They won't be in the box. They are simple to make up using quality sat grade cable and screw on f connectors.
Click to expand...
Bugger. I could have ordered a two pack. As I said, earlier - satellite numpty here.
When we visited last month I notice he had a cable going to the back of a box under his TV. Later on in the visit I notice the terrestrial aerial was pointing to the centre of the earth but there was a dish on the wall right next to his TV, so assumed he had the single sat cable. Everything is assumption (except I have been told that terrestrial reception is very tricky round there - his downward aerial is at the top of a looong pole).
The house is 250 miles away and the owner has refused to enter direct communications so everything has to go via the estate agents, hence the lack hard data.

What won't we get using a single cable? Only record one channel?
 
MikeSh said:
Bugger. I could have ordered a two pack. As I said, earlier - satellite numpty here.
When we visited last month I notice he had a cable going to the back of a box under his TV. Later on in the visit I notice the terrestrial aerial was pointing to the centre of the earth but there was a dish on the wall right next to his TV, so assumed he had the single sat cable. Everything is assumption (except I have been told that terrestrial reception is very tricky round there - his downward aerial is at the top of a looong pole).
The house is 250 miles away and the owner has refused to enter direct communications so everything has to go via the estate agents, hence the lack hard data.

What won't we get using a single cable? Only record one channel?
Click to expand...

You can record two channels and watch a third using a single cable, there is of course some restrictions on 2nd channel recording compared to full two cable working.

Further information here :

https://myhumax.org/forum/topic/what-can-i-record-and-watch-using-1-or-2-cables

The thread refers to the Foxsat-hdr but applies equally to freetime units other than the following :

1 The 2nd tuner link is automatically internally enabled when a single cable is detected on set up (You have to use a short loop cable on a Foxsat-hdr)

2 A third channel you can view can be recorded from the time shift buffer (in it's entirety if watched from the beginning), after one of the two current recordings completes.

Is the dish at your new property visible on Google Street View ?
 
Thanks Graham.
grahamlthompson said:
Is the dish at your new property visible on Google Street View ?
Click to expand...
No it isn't. It's round the corner from the road, and behind a tree I think (tree is to the north of it).

Unfortunately due to our very short notice move we probably won't get a phone/adsl connection for a week or two, so from Weds eve (19th) I may be absent from here until we are connected again. Please don't be offended at my silence in the meantime - I'll be back! Probably with lots more questions :)
 
And I'm back :)
Well, it turns out we do have a working terrestrial aerial - it's just a really odd design. It has an amp at the bottom of the downlead and powers our two Freeview boxes through a splitter with no problems. The satellite dish also has two F connections out of the wall, so we have a working Freesat box too.

I guess that means we can record six programmes and watch a seventh :confused:
 
MikeSh said:
And I'm back :)
Well, it turns out we do have a working terrestrial aerial - it's just a really odd design. It has an amp at the bottom of the downlead and powers our two Freeview boxes through a splitter with no problems. The satellite dish also has two F connections out of the wall, so we have a working Freesat box too.

I guess that means we can record six programmes and watch a seventh :confused:
Click to expand...

What does the aerial look like ?
 
grahamlthompson said:
What does the aerial look like ?
Click to expand...
I've had a little Google and apparently it's a "Horizontally polarised "Grid" aerial", according to A.T.V.
Looks much like this ...
wp7c2ee4b6_01_1a.jpg

... except I don't think it has the black (plastic?) cap/spacers at the outer ends of the reflector elements.
 
Actually put the 1010 Freesat into service today (was waiting on an extra HDMI cable) and while familiarising I noticed there is no Youtube in the Humax Portal. The instruction book shows it, alone with iPlayer and a couple of others, and the Freeview boxes have it.
Is this a glitch, or is it really not available on the Freesat system?
 
MikeSh said:
Actually put the 1010 Freesat into service today (was waiting on an extra HDMI cable) and while familiarising I noticed there is no Youtube in the Humax Portal. The instruction book shows it, alone with iPlayer and a couple of others, and the Freeview boxes have it.
Is this a glitch, or is it really not available on the Freesat system?
Click to expand...

YouTube should be in your On Demand section - Home - On Demand - OK

Current list

BBC Iplayer, ITV Player, All4 on Freesat, Demand 5, YouTube, Curzon Home Cinema, Hopster, BBC SPORT and BBC News. Netflix rumoured to be available shortly.

If you have a smartphone/tablet with Youtube on and you use that to find content, then clicking the small TV icon and selecting the 1010S then that will boot up youtube on the HDR1010s and playback your selected content.
 
Thanks Graham. I was looking in the Humax bit of the menu - hadn't twigged the On Demand bit.
Yes, that list looks pretty much like what I have.
 
Am I right in believing that there is no Custom Firmware (eg. such as FOXSAT-HDR Customised Firmware) that will run on these boxes?
I do miss some of the oh-so-simple 'extras' available, like changing what displays on the front while watching a recording. As standard this thing has virtually no adjustments at all.
 
We're now using this box more (we've gravitated into the luxury of a Freeview box each for me and her with the Freesat for programmes we both want).
But this is very different to the FOX T2s.
Even without the custom firmware the T2 has far more customisation available, and a folder structure for recordings. This has almost nothing you can change.
Also the remote is annoyingly different with many buttons (pause, skip, etc) laid out differently. Most irritating is the FF/Skip buttons in the epg. On the T2 (and 9200 before IIRC) the FF jumps a 'page' in time, the Skip jumps 24 hours. On the 1010 they are the other way round - Skip for a page, FF for 24 hours. Hasn't anyone at Humax thought about brand consistency? Or are satellite viewers supposed to be differently brained to terrestrial? :eek:

Just a little rant.
 
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