Humax Freeview HD hardware announced
Humax's Freeview HD set-top box
With Freeview HD now officially launched as of last week, Humax has announced a pair of set-top boxes to help you take advantage come the new year.
First up is the HD-FOX T2, expected to land in Q1 for around £170. It features auto channel detection and 1080p upscaling at 50Hz. It’ll also hook up to your home network wirelessly, plus there’s an ethernet port around the back for potential firmware upgrades.
There’s so storage on board, but a USB port at least gives you the option of recording to an external hard drive or USB key.
If you do want to record straight to the machine, you want the DVB-T2 HD PVR, which throws a 500GB hard drive into the deal. You’re in for a longer wait, however, with the DVB-T2 only expected in the second quarter next year, though there’s no information of pricing as yet.
Freeview HD was officially launched a week ago, though with no hardware yet on the market it’s still effectively in testing phase.
User comments (5)
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Kelly Brandon11 December 2009
I am infuriated to learn that I and all those others who have just been out and bought new Freeview equipment will not have to go and buy more to receive HD channels! I think it is a disgrace myself. I was considering a Freeview+ box with a Hard Drive for Christmas, but this had made me think "What a waste". I hope everyone else realises before they make the same mistake I nearly did! Can anyone at the Gadget Show advise if there will be a way to convert TV's or boxes that can only currenly receive Freeview?
Report as inappropriatePaul Neale15 December 2009
Sorry to Kelly and others who didn't know it, but it was announced years ago that receiving high-def freeview is not compatible with standard-def freeview. Unfortunately it's just not technically possible to "squeeze" the more detailed HD pictures into the system that currently broadcasts freeview channels, so they had to invent a new system. So you're right, we will need a new box to get Freeview HD, but one of the benefits is that we won't have to pay Sky, Virgin or BT £50 each month to enjoy our favourite freeview shows in HD, or bolt a satellite to the side of the house! (They'll be less that £100 before too long anyway...)
Report as inappropriaterob 16 May 2010
i was dubious about paying that much for the humax box and if it was up to the reports they gave i wasnt disapointed the upscaling of ordinary channels is great,and the hd as few as they are at the time are brilliant the remote is very classy and the guide to programs is a joy to use and hardly any lag in button press to program on screen i think for the money and if your not a comp geek and just want to watch a great picture with great sound then have no doughts you will love it go for it rob and lyn
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Rob29 March 2011
Please be aware that the Humax HDR Fox T2 suffers from HDMI synchronisation problems. This means that it is often not detected by the TV when it is switched on. Humax technical support are particularly unhelpful, and give conflicting advice of when the next firmware operating system version will be available. One e-mail I received said that it would be April 2011, and the I received 2 more e-mails saying that they had no confirmed release date. This would be a good product apart from the buggy software releases and the unhelpful technical support.
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