Humax HDR-Fox T2 Freeview+ HD Recorder

Don’t be mistaken by the very similar name to Humax’s other HD receiver, the HD-Fox T2 , the Humax HDR-Fox T2 (note the R in HDR) builds on the success of arguably the most reliable and solidly built Freeview HD Receiver, adding a hard drive recorder in their first Freeview+HD device.

Humax HDR-Fox T2 Cheapest Price & Stock Check:

Humax HDR-Fox T2 Freeview+HD Features & Review

The first point to note about this device is that it is a Freeview HD Recorder, not just a receiver. It has twin Freeview HD tuners built in, allowing you to watch one Freeview HD channel and record another Freeview HD channel at the same time (both tuners also receive standard definition Freeview channels so you could watch an HD channel and record an SD channel at the same time, or vice versa).

300 Hours recording capacity

The built in hard drive is 500Gb, giving enough storage for up to 300 hours of standard definition recordings or 125 hours of HD recordings. They always say size is everything and it seems people are becoming obsessed with the capacity of the hard drive  -300 hours is equivalent to 12.5 days of continuous television. Who could ever want to keep that much TV? Lets face it, with most programs, if you haven’t watched it in 12 days then you will have missed the latest episode. This aside, it is useful if you are going away for a couple of weeks and couldn’t bare the thought of missing 2 weeks worth of Coronation Street and Homes Under the Hammer.

Series Link and Recommended Recording

As a Freeview+ certified device, it does all the usual things including pause, rewind and record live TV, series link and has an 8-day electronic on-screen program guide. It will also recommend what programs you may like to watch/record based on the programmes you have already recorded. How intelligent this feature is is yet to be seen, but it can’t be any worse than some of the suggestions other people make as to what I should watch.

Home Media Player, Internet TV and Radio

Apart from the obvious ability to view and record Freeview HD channels (currently BBC HD, ITV HD and Channel 4 HD), perhaps some of the fanciest features of this device are in the ‘media player’ department. Long gone are the days when a Freeview Recorder simply plays and records TV programmes. This device can also play music either from a USB hard drive or via your home network. Now strangely this device doesn’t offer WiFi compatibility, but it does have an ethernet port on the reverse of the box. When connected, it can retrieve and play media content (mp3, jpeg, xvid files) from your computer and play them through your television. Needless to say, the Humax is fully DLNA compliant (the new standard for home media sharing).

The second part to this is the internet catchup / BBC iPlayer functionality. At launch, this is not accessible on the HDR-Fox T2, however Humax plan to release it via  a free-of-charge OTA (Over the Air) update. When it is released, it is expected to add SkyPlayer, BBC iPlayer and other content, possibly to include LoveFilm etc.

Overall Summary

Humax was a little late in bringing this to the market – other manufacturers have been selling similar devices since June or July this year. However, judging by the customer comments so far, Humax have got this absolutely right – with the best (internet connectivity) still to come. Menus are great, responsive programme guide and quality you would expect from Humax. Stock is limited right now, and as this device just won the What Hi-Fi Sound & Vision 5 star award in October 2010, if you see stock, buy one while you can!

Humax HDR-Fox T2 rear panel specifications

Humax HDR-Fox T2 Freeview+HD Recorder Best Price:

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Humax HD-Fox T2 HD Digital Terrestrial Television Receiver

Humax have done it – they have released the first Freeview HD set-top box in the UK. This is the first device to enable you to watch subscription-free High Definition content from the BBC and ITV – so long as you can receive Freeview HD over a standard TV aerial (use the coverage checker here).

Humax HD-Fox T2 Freeview Set-top-box Best Price

Humax HD-Fox T2 Freeview HD Box review

The much-anticipated device is a definite improvement on the previous Freeview boxes from Humax in the looks department. The all-black unit has a semi-reflective front panel with centrally located circular control and will look great underneath your HD TV. The dimensions are similar to a conventional Sky+ box or digital TV receiver – 28cm wide, 4.5cm high and 20cm deep.

As the first device on the market, there is no real surprise that this is a Freeview HD Receiver – not recorder. So at present, there is no way of recording HD content to be played at a later date (these devices are expected in the summer of 2010 from Humax and a whole host of other manufacturers).

That aside, it seems Humax have certainly done their homework and listened to feedback based on customer experience of their previous Freeview boxes.

Humax HD-Fox T2 Specifications

• Tuner: 1 x DVB-T2 Freeview HD (UK) Terrestrial
• Receive BBC HD and ITV HD as well as any other upcoming HD channels and all existing radio and TV  standard definition Freeview channels
• 8-day on screen Electronic Programme Guide
• Dolby Digital + Audio output
• HDMI output (required to output signal to HD TV)
• Auto-detect new TV channels – no need to retune
• Uses less than 1 Watt power during standby
• Compatible resolution: 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 576p, 576i
• USB port to allow playback of externally stored content on external USB hard drive or other USB storage device.

Humax HD-Fox T2 Freeview HD Price Comparison

This price comparison regularly checks the price of this Humax Freeview HD box at trusted UK stockists to find you the best price to buy online.