Recently, I reviewed the Humax Freesat HD, but then I thought: what if I don't want a satellite fitted - what if I really want the plug and play functionality and ease of not waiting for the professionals come around and hook you up?
So I took a good look at the market for these bad-boys and found that you can actually get a Freeview HD (DVB-T2) box pretty cheap from your local, Argos or from Amazon. So, off I trotted looking for the best deal, and eventually deciding that I could not be bothered with any hassle, so I nipped into Argos and parted with £149.99 of my hard earned cash, all in exchange for the HUMAX HD-FOX T2 HD receiver.
Pricing
Like I said, the kind woman at Argos said they don’t accept haggling and that it would definitely cost me £149.99, which is a bit steep for an STB with no HDD and recording capability. Manufacturers seem to be very keen to charge extra for T2 boxes, despite the fact that there is negligible difference in component cost to them. HD is just another tick box, which in turn allows them to raise the price.
What do you get?
Well, it's very similar to the other boxes, with a remote and batteries as standard, the documents needed just in case it dies, so that I can have it repaired as long as it dies within the year. However there is no HDMI cable included, which isn't a problem for most of us, although it is no help to the average consumer, who will end up watching "HD television", in SD, because they are completely unaware that they need a separate cable.
Set-up/installation
This was easy, even a technophobe could hook it up with ease. In short, I unpackaged it, whacked it onto the AV rack, plugged in the power, plugged in the antenna cable as per normal. Plugged in my new (separately bought) Belkin HDMI, in the STB and TV. Then switched the beast on, tuned the channels and sat back to enjoy glorious HD-ness.
So is it actually any good?
I reckon so, there may not be many channels right now, but the ones that do exist, look pretty good, generally. The box itself is small and looks pretty cool too; the remote simple and easy to use. But the main factor, the quality, when in HD is amazing. Even SD content looks better than usual. The UI is pretty simple, theres only really a guide, and I’m not too bothered about it, but I do like it more than the standard LG or Panasonic EPGs, that came with my TVs. Overall, I think its a fabulous piece of kit.
Ollie Ford:
Great stuff, but check out some of Pat's other Humax reviews, to see if something else is an even better boat floatation device.
