The Humax HD Fox-T2 Freeview HD Box
Announcing the first Freeview HD box on the market in the UK - Our look at the HD Fox T2 Freeview HD receiver from Humax
The Humax HD Fox T2 became available in the UK on the 13th of February 2010. Shortly after, we recorded a quick podcast update on this new box. Please take a listen:
Listen to the Frequencycast Update (Humax HD Fox T2) Duration 14 minutes |
Front of the Humax HD Fox T2 box
Rear of the Humax HD Fox T2 box
Humax HD Fox T2 Availability
Available instore at selected John Lewis branches. Also available at:
- Argos.co.uk
- Very.co.uk (cheapest at the time of writing)
- Play.com
Humax HD Fox T2 First Look
Here's a transcript of our podcast review of the Humax HD Fox-T2 launch
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Pete:
HD at last is here. If you remember, Freeview HD launched at the start of December 2009, but there was a problem - can you remember?
Carl:
Yeah, there weren't any boxes.
Pete:
Well the race has been on, and the first box is actually out. The weekend just gone, the 13th and 14th of February, saw the launch of the Humax HD Fox T2 Freeview High Definition box.
Carl:
OK, give me the rundown.
Pete:
First off, for all our podcast listeners, here's a picture of it - look, we're holding it up to the mike now.
Carl:
Isn't it nice? It's black, it's the same sort of shape and size as all your other satellite boxes, and it's got a clock on it, I do believe? - don't they all, and a cursor in the middle with a few other buttons, but basically it's quite buttonless.
Pete:
There you go, I'll certainly give you the rundown on this. This is the first Freeview HD box to hit the market, it is fully compliant with the DVB T2 standard, which is what you need for Freeview HD, so it will get the two Freeview HD channels that are available now, that's BBC HD and ITV1 HD, Channel 4 and Five's HD's services will be coming over the next couple of years, but do bear in mind, at the moment, this is only available in the Granada and the London area.
Carl:
Right, so when do I get one?
Pete:
Are you in the Granada or London area?
Carl:
I could pretend I am.
Pete:
There you go, it'll be available now. So what else does the Fox T2 offer? - it's got an eight day EPG programme guide, Dolby Digital audio out, subtitles, audio descriptions, automatic detection of new channels and services, and, cleverly, it will play media from a connected device, so if you plug in an external hard disc, or a memory stick, through USB, it will play back xVid videos, jpeg photos, mp3 audio.
Carl:
Very good.
Pete:
And it will also support sharing of media files over your PC or NAS through your home networking, which is cool.
Carl:
Fantastic, I'm liking it already.
Pete:
And it has an Ethernet socket for future connectivity, for things like the BBC iPlayer.
Carl:
Good - any more?
Pete:
That's is so far, but this is a pretty capable internet-enabled HD box, which is good.
Carl:
And how many readies do I need to purchase one of these fine devices?
Pete:
Well, this is it - if you go out and buy a standard basic Freeview box in the high street, we're talking about £30. So how much do you reckon for the HD version?
Carl:
£75.
Pete:
£180.
Carl:
Ouch! - that's a little bit more spiteful than I imagined.
Pete:
Yeah, I must admit, I'm a little disappointed with the price, I think all the initial boxes are going to be in the £150 mark. It's kind of what happened when Freesat came out as well, but yeah, not a particularly good price point. It's only available in a very few places at the moment, it launched at the weekend in John Lewis in London, and you can now get it from the Humax website. We've also found it slightly cheaper online at a couple of sites. What we'll do is, on our blog and news site, we will put in some links to where to find it slightly cheaper.
The Humax HD Foxsat T2 is available at: |
Carl:
Excellent, I'll look forward to that. Now, I do understand that we have a load of techies out there, who I don't understand at all, but they'll want to know what's on the back of this device, so can you give me the rundown?
Pete:
Righty-ho, you have an HDMI socket for connection to your HD telly, two SCARTS, one Ethernet RJ45, one USB socket for your external media, an aerial in, an aerial out, it's not a modulated output, which I know will matter to some, stereo/audio phonos, the left and right white and reds, and also one of the yellow composite video outs, as well as an SPDIF digital audio out.
Carl:
Sounds quite well kitted, a bit like a Swiss army knife.
Pete:
I also should mention video formats 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 576p, 576i, power consumption less than one watt in standby, so it's quite green, and it's supplied with an HDMI lead and a remote control. There you go, that is the Humax HD Fox T2 High Definition Freeview box, available now.
Carl:
Make a great post-Valentine's present, won't it?
Useful links:
- Freeview HD Explored
- Other transcripts from Feb 2010 update: Freeview iPhone app ; BT Openzone
Got a question on Freeview HD TV or the Humax HD Fox T2 that we can answer in our next podcast?
Call 020 8133 4567 or send us a message
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