Grundig 500GB Freesat+ HD DVR It’s almost a year since we reviewed the Foxsat-HDR from Humax, which was one of the first Freesat+ recorders to appear in the UK. Since then, there’s been more of a steady trickle, rather than a flood of Freesat gear coming on stream. To drum up a bit more interest in the satellite service, Freesat itself had a bit of a …
Based upon the article this does look an excellent box.
Unfortunately with only the BBC HD and ITV HD channels available FTA it does limit the box significantly compared to SKY+HD and Virgin V+.
Where are the other "free" HD channels that are offered on these other platforms - especially C4 HD and E4 HD?
Even terrestrial Freeview HD will offer 4-5 FTA channels including a proper ITV HD.
there's a nice community developing over 'extending' the Humax internal SATA drive into an external SATA HDD, which then allows even exports of the HD recordings. Of course your extenal SATA would need to be linux EXT2 formatted to handle the ginourmous files. I haven't bothered to do this yet, just exporting Humax Freesat SD programs to a 16GB USB stick, where they play nicely with VLC. The Grundig lack of a USB means the addition of SATA cables might be the only export option ? I now have 1TB internal to the Humax, so you should only consider the 500GB Grundig as 320gigs is around a month of family TV archives
...a la Foxsat HDR? I did read the article, and may have missed it, but I can't see mention of an IMO, important feature, does it offer the HD/SD record option of the programme at another time, like the Humax does?
Also, does it allow you to turn what is in the whole buffer, into a recorded programme? (like TiVo does and unfortunately, like the Humax doesn't).
"Prompted HD/SD recording......a la Foxsat HDR? I did read the article, and may have missed it, but I can't see mention of an IMO, important feature, does it offer the HD/SD record option of the programme at another time, like the Humax does?"
Apparently not according to other reviews on the web.
It seems to me that all these HDD recording devices are being used as a dumping ground for hard disks that nobody wants anymore. It should be possible to fit a 1.5 Terabyte drive instead of the 500 Gig for only 30 pounds or so extra, so why not? It was noticeable that back when 320 and 500 Gig were desirable sizes that HDD recorders came with 80 or 120.
The storage needn't be cutting edge. Solid state is unnecessary here as even the standard SATA speeds are more than enough. The 2 Terabyte drives still command a slight premium, but 1 or 1.5 theoretically give the best storage to cost ratio, so there must be a hidden reason for manufacturers not to be using them. The answer has to be that they are getting an even better deal from the drive manufacturers for relieving them of an overstock of drives where only one platter of three passed testing, hence a 1.5Tb drive can only be used as a 0.5.
Latest technology? More like yesterday's technology rescued from landfill.
I've got a Humax box and recently replaced the internal HD with a 2TB disk. I've got mine connected to ethernet for iPlayer which makes a the box very useful.
One feature I'd like to see for internet connected Freesat boxes is the ability to remote record (as offered on Sky+).
If this box offered iPlayer and remote record then I'd definitely switch to it.
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