Mighty Gadget Blog: The latest technology news & reviews in the UK

Ok so we said before about Freeview HD, when it was coming etc. Now Some masts are pumping out the signal, why aren’t there any set top boxes out there to pick this free HD signal up. Well I can’t personally explain that but what I can say is that the first set top boxes are outed and will be released next year.

Humax HD-FOX T2 should be out in Q1  next year. Firstly it’ll tune its self with its auto-tune facility, it’ll quite gladly receive the 720p yes that’s right 720p signal(not too futuristic yet) but this box will upscale to 1080p at 50Hz. It will play media from a USB drive or HDD. We don’t have the full details on file format support but one clever thing is you can record onto a USB drive to save buying the full PVR.

If you’re after a PVR version then the DVB-T2 HD has a 500GB HDD inside to store your favourite shows in HD and SD. It also keeps the 1080p upscaling, wireless network capability via UPnP and again the USB connectivity.

No prices are available yet or exact release dates but its believed the lower end HD-FOX T2 will retail at around £170

Freesat has been around for a few months now, and while it may of arrived to a  slightly lukewarm reception it does appear to be gaining momentum. One of the major downfalls of it was that it lacked the recording functions of Sky+ or DVB solutions such as the Humax and Topfield.

I am glad to see Humax has fitted the device with a heft 320GB hard disk so there is plenty of room to record all your favourite shows.

I was personally a bit anti Freesat when it released, however I have just ditched Sky in favour of a Humax PVR9150T (DVB recorder) as I just don't watch any of the exclusive sky channels. One of the reasons I didn’t try out Freesat was the lack of recording so I think I could be swayed to trying out one of these new boxes in the near future.

Full specification continued.

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