Humax HD

We knew an update to add recording functionality to the Humax HD-FOX T2 was coming since before the Freeview HD receiver was even launched. We were excited about it then, and we remain pretty thrilled about it now. The free, over-the-air update will arrive in early October, allowing owners of the HD-FOX T2 to record TV programmes from the box to a USB storage device of their choice.

The £150 HD-FOX T2 earned our respect and a coveted Editors’ Choice award when we reviewed it back in February. We praised its picture quality, as well as its easy-to-use and graphically pleasing menu systems, and we liked its exterior styling too. The fact that it’s getting the ability to record is just the icing on a cake that’s already pretty tasty.

The HD-FOX T2 is also about £150 cheaper than its older, hard-drive-equipped brother, the HDR-FOX T2, so, if you’re on a budget, this update will probably please you no end. The HDR-FOX T2 does include a 500GB hard drive and a twin tuner, though, which are pretty crucial features for a PVR.

As the HD-FOX T2 is a single-tuner device, you’ll only ever be able to record and watch one thing at a time. For recording a show while you’re out, it’s pretty decent, but it’s not going to cut the mustard if you want to record Deal or No Deal while you watch Neighbours.

It is worth pointing out, though, that the HD-FOX T2 will sometimes be able to record one thing while you watch another. This will work if the two channels are on the same multiplex, but this is really too complicated for most people to get to grips with.

In every other way, the HD-FOX T2 will soon be a fully capable PVR, with all the usual features, including the ability to pause and rewind live TV and track schedule changes.

If you miss the over-the-air update, Humax says you’ll be able to download it from its website and apply it to your machine manually, via USB.

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Humax HD

Any plans for the weekend? Few sherbets with the lads, or getting your hair did with the girls, perhaps. Or you could watch Six Nations rugby, Champions League football and the Winter Olympics in your own home, in glorious high definition — for free. Yes, Freeview HD finally hits living rooms as the Humax HD-Fox T2 goes on sale this weekend.

The T2 is exclusively available, at first, at John Lewis on Oxford Street, for £180. You can also order it from the Humax Web site, if you don’t fancy fighting your way through throngs of trudging tourists. The T2 will be in other shops around the country on Monday 15 February. Once you get the T2 up and running, you’ll be able to watch the usual Freeview standard-definition channels, or flip over to one of the HD channels for eye-rinsing picture quality and ear-tickling sound.

BBC HD and ITV HD began transmitting in December, ready for us to try out the T2. Channel 4 HD and S4C are on the way too. BBC hi-def highlights this weekend include Six Nations, the Olympics, Heroes and Countryfile. ITV is showing FA Cup and Champions League footie, as well as Field of Dreams. If you transmit it, they will watch.

Toshiba is also in on the ground floor with Freeview HD, this week showing us the
HDR5010 Freeview HD recorder and the first Freeview HD televisions, the RV, SL and WL series.

To see if you can receive Freeview HD, head for the Freeview coverage site or text your postcode and house number to 80560.

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Humax HD

Humax has had a pretty good year, growing 70 per cent and now commanding 40 per cent of the Freeview recorder market. It’s also been the leader in freesat PVRs, one of only a handful of companies to offer HD recorders for the satellite service. Now it’s time for the company to dominate the recently announced Freeview HD platform, and it’s just unveiled the mean machines it’s built for the job.

First to launch is the HD-FOX T2 — no, we have no idea what its obsession is with putting FOX in the name of its products. The T2 will be ready in early 2010 to coincide with the marketing launch of Freeview HD and will be an HD receiver first and foremost — but with some cool extra features that are sure to make it very popular.

Humax seems keen to make set-top boxes a little more user-friendly too. A much faster processor built into the HD-FOX T2 means menus are much more responsive than previous boxes from the company, and Humax has redesigned the user interface to make using the machine a real joy. Although the version of the operating system we saw wasn’t final, it was beautiful. Part of the reason for this is that the user interface is rendered in HD now, a major advance over standard-def Freeview boxes, allowing for a much cleaner menu system. The Freeview HD requirement that all boxes output at 1080p50 also means you’ll be able to take full advantage of the real estate offered by full HD screens.

The HD-FOX T2 also has the ability to auto-scan for new channels, which means when Freeview updates are made, the box doesn’t need to be manually retuned and new channels are automatically added. That’s a useful feature for people who aren’t aware that channel line-ups change from time to time, and should prevent people from losing Five from their channel lists in the future.

Humax also says it’s adding a PVR function to this machine later in the year. This will work by recording shows to external USB, which we think this is a fantastic feature.

Also on the cards is the Humax DVB-T2 HD Digital Recorder. This machine will add a 500GB hard drive for HD and SD recordings. It will also be network ready, which will enable it to play certain media from your home network on your TV. It’s due to arrive in the second half of 2010, just in time for the World Cup.

The HD-FOX T2 is set to hit the shops at some point in January 2010, and Humax has promised us we’ll see a review sample early in the new year — we can’t wait.

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