Remember that it needs an external USB hard drive if you want to record anything .....

Sorry but seems kind of pricey for a basic viewing only box, especially considering you can get 500GB Youview boxes for £50 and often under on eBay. Sure Freesat commands a premium in general, but i'd still say a basic STB is of limited use these days....

For the past couple of months this has the regular price at both Currys and Tesco (I know because I had been price checking before I purchased a refurb from Humax for £40something)

Why are the freesat boxes dearer than the freeview boxes. Been looking for a freeview box under £100 from humax, don't mind the old type

Had one for a couple of years. With a 1tb hard drive I can record and watch the very small amount of stuff that is worth watching. There is also an app to control it. What more do you really need?

Yes, youview does need an aerial to work so rules it out for some. I have nothing against Freesat, in fact I prefer it to Freeview as I like music and it has a lot more music channels, though sadly still no HD ones (they look very pixelly on a big TV). I use Freesat myself with a Humax HDR1000S 2TB PVR I got on eBay for little over £100, lovely easy to use box with great PQ. Admittedly they rarely come up that cheap but it goes to show what you can get with shopping around (and maybe a bit of luck)....

Looking for free sat but just not prepared to pay 80 quid for a basic box, not worth it I don't think.
The Manhattan box is 50 but waiting for a sale to get it cheaper.

If you wanted to, you can get a refurbished version from Humax Direct for £49 plus delivery.

Its a good box but they are prone to crashing every so often. Once, mine crashed so frequently that I was going to get a Manhattan instead but the issue went away

Also I have a BT youview box 500GB I want to get rid of, like new, still with sticker on face plate if anyone is interested. Should I post on classified's?

Yes I've owned PVR's for 12 years now, had the humax one 6 years ago but sold it. I've had almost every make/model including the vestels. Think I've owned 16 so far and currently own 6 humax Pvrs but they are all freeview. I have 2 lnbs and would prefer a recorder but would depend on price. I don't want a tv with freesat would rather a seperate box.

The main advantage for a TV with it built-in is that generally the TV's these days have decent processor's so menu navigation is very quick, I've compared my TV apps menu with this humax box and the TV is much faster. However, what is really annoying is that the built in apps for on-demand players is really varied. So the TV has iPlayer, Netflix and Amazon, whilst the Humax box has all the terrestial TV on demand players and netflix. The apps also behave differently so it all adds clutter which the wife hates. I do prefer Freesat to Freeview, picture quality seems better to me.

You can get manufacturers refurbs for £49.99 (might be p&p on top). https://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/refurbished.html.

Also of note DVB-S2 satellite tuners are built into a lot of TVs these days from vendors like Hisense. You won't get the smart stuff on offer with these boxes but you will get all the channels and be able to use your satellite dish if you have abandoned Sky like I have. Hope this helps someone.

Cant justify a new tv as just bought 3 new ones including a Sony that cost 800 so hoping for a bargain in the new year, we shall see.

Try this URL https://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/refurbished/hb-1000s-94e552.html

Got a Hisense coming tomorrow from Richer sounds but its for my sons bedroom so I wont be watching it. It has freesat on it but we wont be using it. Handy to have though I guess.

99p cheaper from Humax themselves with free standard next day delivery :stuck_out_tongue:

I commented on the remotes the other day (not sure if this applies to the Freesat box, but worth a go) http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/humax-hdr-1800t-320gb-freeview-hd-digital-tv-recorder-refurbished-86-humax-direct-2570672?p=29457299

I had the very first Humax PVR and loved it (PVR-8000T I think)? After that, a Sharp (cheap and nasty, died on me after a year!) and a Topfield that was total pain and kept crashing, even with custom software and hours of reading on the Toppy forums for help.

Thanks, I'll try that but I got the feeling that it's the lack of grunt rather than the remote being laggy, still this doesn't resolve the incredibly stiff buttons on the remote.

An Enigma2 based box would be a much better buy.

I have the hdr-1000s 1tb white box

It's a great box, especially the Freetime, element which makes things even more user friendly.

For those who want to use Wifi here's a dongle that is confirmed to work: http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/LED-light-Mini-150M-USB-2-0-Ralink-RT3070-WiFi-Wireless-LAN-802-11-n-g-b-Adapter-/151318342704y

This seems to be standard price at Currys - I've bought two at this price over the last few months - so consistently cheaper than elsewhere.

Cheeky Humax charging £7 delivery for refurbed items but free delivery for new items....