Humax PVR9300T Humax PVR-9300T 320GB Twin Tuner & HDMI upscaling. **NOT FREESAT**
£169.89
- 320Gb Hard Disc Drive Recorder
- Upto 200 hours recording
- Twin Tuner
- HDMI upscaling
- *Subject To Reception Confirmation
Not fit for purpose! - Many problems but the EPG is the killer.1. Slow to populate GUIDE. It is empty everytime you switch it on from standby and takes at least 10 mins to fill. Then for me it only fills BBC channels if tuned to BBC, ITV channels if tuned to ITV. It therefore takes about 30 minutes to switch on and set for a recording.2. Poor picture quality - I had a 3 yr old Matsui HD recorder which was far better quality.3. Poor SCART lead - no pin 21 so won t autoswitch source on your TV to the right AV source.4. No HDMI control - this means it won t auto-switch my brand new Sony TV when using HDMI.Mine went back to the shop the next day!
PVR-9300T - I gave myself a present of the Humax PVR9300T for Christmas. Being a mere woman and slightly wary of new technology (God, its something else to get to grips with) and having in the process disposed of my much loved 18 year old video recorder and gone completely digital I am wondering why I did not buy one of these machines a long time ago. It is very easy to use, maybe I ve not got to grips with all the facilities held therein but the quality of recorded picture and storage facility is great and no more video tapes cluttering up the house. On the question of the fan, yes it is noisy but you get used to it and as I have the tv quite loud anyway it does not really bother me. So its thumbs up for me and I am now comtemplating buying the smaller version for my bedroom. Only drawback I can see is that I am without the facility of recording downstairs and then taking the tape out of the machine and putting in my video recorder to watch when I am in bed.
Still The Best Freeview PVR - The Humax PVR9300T is a Freeview box with two tv tuners and a built in 320GB hard drive, for those not in the know it means you will receive (signal permitting) all Freeview tv and radio channels currently being broadcast (not Top-Up Tv - the additional pay tv channels, these are subscription based) and due to having two tuners and a hard drive capable of storing 200 hours of programmes you can record 2 channels at the same time, watch a recording whilst making those recordings OR depending on the channel you may be able to watch a 3rd channel whilst making those 2 recordings, if this is your idea of tv heaven then welcome to the world of the Humax !I previously owned the Humax PVR9200T and that is one of the best pieces of tech I have ever bought. The only real differences that this model provides is the greater hard drive capacity, an HDMI upscaling connection and it now sports the Freeview Playback badge where a box has to offer a standard set of features.The box is definitely sleeker and better looking than its previous incarnation. Set up is simple, attach your tv aerial into the back of the box, connect the box to your tv using a scart cable and turn on. Initially the Humax will scan for all or any available tv and radio channels being broadcast in your area. You may not get all available channels if the Freeview signal in you area is weak or the aerial you are using is not strong enough. Once the channels are in and you have confirmed you can then adjust various settings to customise your Humax to your content.To record tv programmes the Humax has an 8 day Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) that it downloads via the skys above whenever the box is turned on from standby, you can then go through the days and channels clicking ok to record at your hearts content. I basically get my tv guide on a Saturday then start clicking for the week ahead - real couch potato me ! Be warned though, when the Humax goes to standby it loses the EPG and has to repopulate when it is turned back on. This is a niggle that annoyed many 9200 users and means that you have to wait a few minutes at least for the EPG to fully populate.Those new to the whole PVR thing will enjoy being able to pause live tv. So you are watching tv, the phone rings, door goes...just hit the pause button and the live picture will freeze. In the background the Humax is cleverly recording the programme still to the hard drive. So when you return you can hit play and continue from where you left off, if you want to catch up just hit the FF button. Equally if you want to rewatch a scene or say a goal scored in a football match hit the REW button, the Humax does this as it records the programme to the hard drive temporarily as you watch it ! Clever stuff hey ?Chase Play is another feature many will use. Where you have been recording a programme that is still in operation you can start watching it from the beginning and again using the FF button begin to catch up or chase the recording. If like me you detest adverts then I use this alot to skip them.Another feature to mention is Auto Padding, we all know programmes often start late or overrun. The Humax has options to automatically add so many minutes onto the beginning and end of a recording to ensure you don t miss that dramatic drum roll at the end of Eastenders ?!The Humax does contain a feature where if a programme is running late it should automatically start and end with the programme, however, my understanding is that this only works when the networks send out a signal via Freeview, experience has shown this cannot be relied upon so I use auto padding to be safe.Maintaining the hard drive is easy in terms of deleting unwanted programmes etc.Finally the old noisy fan kerfuffle, Humax have now updated the software to resolve this issue via an over the air update. The box does this automatically, if your box does have a noisy fan do not worry as there will be a repeat of this eventually. By the way the noise of this fan will vary depending on where and how you store your Humax, my noisy fan was not a hinderance at all, maybe it depends on your annoyance gene ?!If you are aware of Top-Up TV, the additional pay channels then there is a slot to enable the receipt of these channels.Well thats pretty much the basics of what the Humax does, but what it does....it does brilliantly, it just sits there and does what you tell it to do, no fuss or bother. If this is your first PVR then you really will see a different way of watching tv with the Humax it is still the best Freeview PVR on the market.
Don t worry about the noise! - I nearly didn t buy this because of all the comments about the noise. I don t understand why so many people are bothered by the very quiet hum. There is no need to have the machine on when you are not watching TV (you can record from standby mode), and when the TV s on you can t hear it. Very easy to use and fantastic features. If you have a non-digital TV then you don t need a set-top box if you have one of these. Only negative is that the electronic programme guide does take a few minutes to load if you ve had the machine off. All this means is that if you are wanting to set it to record a programme it s easier if you ve had the PVR on for a few minutes first. Not a major problem once you re aware of it. Highly recommended!
Best PVR on the market - I d never heard of Humax before, and this made me reticent of buying the brand for such an expensive piece of kit, but after reading the Amazon reviews I made the plunge and bought the kit and I have to say I m very pleased with it. Humax have made a really great piece of kit and there s plenty of support on the various forums on the internet.Firstly, the fan noise. Yes it is bad, you ll not notice it when the TV is switched on and its drowned out by the noise of the TV, but it is annoying when its switched off. While new boxes that you buy won t have the update already it should be re-broadcast periodically over the next few weeks and this will update the box and remove the noise. Mine hasn t updated yet but from the info on the internet I m confident that it will and that the noise won t be a problem.Secondly, the picture quality is great. The HDMI upscaler makes a real difference on my 720p TV and makes normal freeview look much crisper, a real improvement over normal freeview boxes. BTW there s an HDMI cable in the box so need to buy that either.Lastly, I found the interface to be excellent. Flicking through channels is quick, the epg comes up quickly. Pausing live TV works seamlessly. Setting up series record and selecting programs to record is just a case of finding it on the EPG and clicking OK, very simple. I ve been looking for something to do what TiVo my did when I lived in the States and this is the best I could find on the market. I ve still a couple of gripes such as the searching for programs not working very well and the remote not handling the TV s on/off and volume as a Sky remote does, but all in all a great product. You ll not be disappointed.