Samsung BD-DT7800 FREEVIEW HD BOX

[wireman]

To me Humax really is the way to go, just for the features, and the firmware and other software updates and utilities that get created. It seems to have a thricing commnunity. It pretty much covers all bases, is easy to use, by all accounts, and one of their recorders can be a hub serving other DLNA clients.

I see where you're coming from, and wouldn't disagree with you in principle... until you consider that for about £100 more, you can buy a full media centre PC which - when running something like XBMC Eden as a front end (which is totally free) - then makes even the Humax look antiquated.

Apart from a Windows/Mac/Linux platform offering proper web-browsing, emailing, and video skype in Hi-Def on your Hi-Def TV, XBMC offers iPlayer, ITV player, 4OD (and hundreds more really usable apps), unrestricted file-format streaming with limitless storage (just keep adding extra GB drives as you need them), non-subscription HD tv, DVD/Blu-Ray player, and even PVR facilities if you feel you really need them (although in reality when you've got all the core On-Demand services, do you really need a PVR anymore?)... again, a thriving community/forum, and a group of developers who continually advance the interface for free simply because they themselves are AV enthusiasts - and it's an interface so slick it makes both the Samsung and (even more so) the Humax look like an old 1980's Amstrad Computer (if you're old enough to remember how rubbish those were).

Samsung's DT7800 seemed to be a first conscious step towards this "media box" direction away from the bog-standard PVR... their soon-to-be-launched DT7900 promises to be a somewhat better implementation (reportedly with a web-browser and full twin-tuner recording/simultaneous streaming). The Humax on the other hand has its' roots firmly in the traditional PVR camp, onto which they're attempting to strap what they can onto the back of it... ultimately (presumably) aiming towards some kind of integrated media centre/youview box (in which I believe they're an active development partner).

At the end of the day, my view was just to cut my losses and endless costly upgrades and just buy what ultimately we'll all end up with either under or in our large Hi-Def screens... something that stems from a computer and not a dedicated/restricted one-trick pony trying to be something it's not.

All just a personal view of course...

 

[kinda]

Yeah, I'm no stranger to XBMC, having modded an XBox original back in 2004 to run it. It is great, and even better when considered free.

However, PCs can require quite a lot of effort, especially for the less technical, and even just putting one together with an XBMC install is going to be daunting for many. For example, I seem to remember a while back there were quite a few issues with the XBMC iPlayer.

Also, and one of the reasons I haven't pursued that route anymore is that the sound and picture that came out of my old XBox weren't as good as that from a Sonos or DVD player with the same files. I think there is something to be said for having hardware that is focused on image / sound quality; I think it could be difficult to achieve the same quality with a standard PC.

For some a PC could be great, and a money saver, but I decided against the effort a while back. I feel things have moved on a bit. I have a Samsung BluRay player that is pretty good on the networked media front and has iPlayer, LoveFilm, etc. I can even write apps for it.

I think tuner recording is still needed. Not everything's on catchup TV, and the time programmes are saved is limited. I sometimes don't have time to watch recorded programs for months.

I do think £300 is a bit steep for the HDR T2, but then in context of other PVRs and their prices it is good value I think, unless you really don't want any of the additional features beyond tuner recording. The ability to unencrypt and stream recordings to DLNA clients is great, as it could save buying recorders for other rooms.

Professor Hat, as regards the exporting on the digital strema I read it, but it just seems complicated and time consuming and needs a Mac.

As a final caveat though, there is a lot happening with Google TV, and YouView, and while I'm not that fussed I wonder if the HDR T2 is due for an update shortly. Currently I only really need to enable single recording and viewing in a second room, and have a spare 500Gb USB drive, so I'm getting a HD FOX T2 for that room, and hanging on for any main PVR update.

 

[wireman]

I'll admit putting together an XBMC fronted PC/MAC is a bit techy and likely beyond some... I certainly needed help with that, but I think it's worth the effort.

It's early days for me, but iPlayer, ITV player and 4OD all seem to be working fine without any hitches whatsoever.

Sound quality through my Denon 5.1 AV receiver appears virtually equal to my dedicated Denon BR player and my Samsung DT7800, which I'm still running side-by-side. There is a version of XBMC with DTS Master Audio and Dolby HD sound formats (which I tried and worked well), but I chose the Live TV edition for which we await the AudioEngine to bring those processing formats to the platform. For now, I'm content streaming ripped blu-rays using a multi-channel feed - DVD's and Music files stream brilliantly without any apparent quality loss, irrespective of the file formats I happened to use when ripping.

The XBMC Live TV edition, with a TV card, includes the built-in PVR recording/timeshift facility, so you can also both watch TV live and timeshift/record programmes as with any PVR.

I'd suggest XBMC is worth another look - it's moved on significantly in the last year or two. Yes, there are still a few minor flakey bits around the edges, but for me I can't see any real reason to keep either my dedicated Blu-Ray player or Samsung Freeview PVR (my Brother - another XBMC convert - has already ditched his Humax PVR). I guess at the end of the day it really does depend upon what you're looking to do.

 

[professorhat]

Professor Hat, as regards the exporting on the digital strema I read it, but it just seems complicated and time consuming and needs a Mac.

Doesn't need a Mac at all - that method works just as well on a PC. I do it on a Mac because that's what I generally use, but all those screenshots are from my PC because I figured that's what most people would be doing. And it is a bit complicated the first time you do it - you have to boot into Linux basically, so have to download and burn the CD to do this + setup permissions on your PC. However, these tasks only need to be done once and once you've completed the standard process of just copying files across a couple of times, you'll see it's pretty easy. And from this week, the new firmware lets you play recorded programs direct from your Digital Stream through DLNA - it's not something I've tried yet, but I know it's possible. So this will make things even easier.

From what I can tell, the method for actually getting programs off the Humax so they're unencrypted is even more round the houses.

 

[kinda]

Wireman, thanks for the heads up and I wasn't aware the XBMC did HD audio yet. And I suppose with digital signals now it's easier to keep the quality for BluRay etc. To be honest I almost decided to build a PC, but when I started looking at it, power supply, case, motherboard, processor, TV cards, and so on, it soon stacks up, and at the moment it wasn't the right choice.

I've got the Fox-HD T2, £89, which with my other stuff should do me for a bit. The other half now has the SD Sagem Freeview+ box in the back lounge, and I've got the HD-FOX in the front lounge where the projector and a freeview TV are. From the pattern of what I've been watching I thought I may get away without a digibox in there, but then I wanted to be able to see live F1 and Euro 2012 on the projector, and the FOX recording facilities though single tuner may come in handy.

If I was starting out and wanted BluRay, digibox, streaming, and so on, I might well have gone the HTPC route though, and may still at some point just for streaming maybe, or if I progress to a 2 tuner setup that I want to serve files to other clients.

Professorhat, sorry I got the wrong end of the stick with the process and thinking it involved a Mac. Still seems a bit complex though. I think HDR-Fox will serve encrpyted programs to another Humax client without any decrypting, but SD programs automatically decrypt as they move to USB, and the HD ones need to be visited with a utility that sets a flag, then moved back to the HDR which unencrypts them as I understand it.

The digital stream just seems complex in exporting. The Fox boxes allow FTP straight to a PC, or straight to a PC compatible usb file system format. My Sagem also exports to USB in FAT32.

I think my view of the digital stream was it looks good, but at about £70 less than the same disk size Humax that allows easier exporting and decrypting, and already has the streaming and iPlayer it seemed the Humax was better value. And I think the 1TB Humax at £100 more also seems like possibly even better value.

 

[professorhat]

I think my view of the digital stream was it looks good, but at about £70 less than the same disk size Humax that allows easier exporting and decrypting, and already has the streaming and iPlayer it seemed the Humax was better value. And I think the 1TB Humax at £100 more also seems like possibly even better value.

Fair enough - different strokes for different folks - I couldn't get used to having to copy things one way, then back, then back again! I also rarely move things off the DS (I tend to buy the Blu-ray if it's something I want to keep) so perhaps this has something to do with it.

Just so you know, iPlayer is now finally live on the Digital Stream - hurrah!

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry to restart this forum message but have upgraded to the new software and now HD channels don't work properly while watching them they seem to turn off and on. Any ideas, alternatively how can I de-grade the software back to the previous version?

 

[wireman]

The latest firmware is now 1007.1. I don't think you can down-grade to a previous version. I still haven't found any problems with my DT7800 box at all. There were a few slight niggles introduced with an earlier upgrade (1005 I think it was), but Samsung updated the firmware very shortly again thereafter to resolve those. I've not had any problems with 1006 or 1007, and no problems with HD (or any other) channels. Maybe worth trying a re-tune? The channels do seem to have been shifting around quite a bit in recent months as analogue switched off and new relays came on-stream - certainly in my area anyway.