Humax Foxsat HDR 320Gb Freesat HD Recorder

The Humax Foxsat HDR is a top of the range digital tv recorder that allows you to watch, record, pause and rewind high-definition television.

Whilst Sky has offered their fantastic Sky+ HD service for some time now, it is only very recently that the same technology has become available under Freesat. The benefits of Freesat are obvious – as the name suggests it costs nothing to receive the service, and despite the higher set up costs in the purchase of the box, the overall costs will be lower over time. Although of course Sky still represents fair value for money, especially if you need to install a satellite dish in the first place. The vast number of channels, and especially sports and movie options, will mean that Sky is always going to be the main choice for some people. However Freesat is now a very viable alternative to Sky, especially since boxes like the Humax Foxsat HDR came along.

The design of the box is very similar to the rest of the Humax range, but with a sleek and cleaner front panel. The front section folds down to allow access to the card slot and essential menu buttons, and the whole unit has a definite air of quality about it. The rear of the Humax Foxsat HDR has two scart sockets which like the Foxsat HD (the non recording version of this box) does seem a little pointless, especially as some HD content may not be viewable over Scart. There is also an optical cable out, composite video and phono audio out, and of course the all important HDMI out. There is also an ethernet port, which Humax state is ‘for future use’.

Like the Humax PVD-9300T Freeview recorder, the Humax Foxsat HDR has a 320Gb hard drive capable of storing 200 hours of standard definition television, but the HDR can also record HD content, but only 80 hours worth because of the increased disk space it uses.

Further product information is available on the Humax website.