I’ve lived here many years and have always used my brilliant Humax (Freesat) to record anything. It has died and we’ve tried replacing hard drive but that’s not the issue. I’m not really ‘up to date’ anymore with what I should be getting next? Do I replace it with another Humax or should I be looking at something else? Would appreciate any advice!
We replaced our old faithful humax with another, new, swish one. Larger memory, better layout of schedule plus the option to delete an entire recorded series in one go rather than episode by episode. Not expensive.
What’s not to like!
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Humax no longer manufacture Freesat boxes. The latest ones are made by a company called Arris and don’t seem to get very good reviews. You can still buy the Humax version but presumably only until stocks run out.
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We tried to guy a humax a while ago, and they where to expensive, now freesat have brought out a freesat box, not had it long all seems good so far, helpful to be able to set the box to record remotely from an app. Time will tell.
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Ooops, sorry for misleading. Shame - our newish one is good.
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We replaced our old one recently with the same one you have only because I’d read poor user reviews of the Arris one. I notice the Arris version seems to be doing much better in more recent reviews.
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If you check Amazon UK, there are a number of s/h and restored Humax Freesat boxes for sale.
If it were me, I’d go for one of them asap, as they’re still the best imho.
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We have two Arris and four of the last generation Humax boxes. I would have no hesitation in recommending the Arris boxes, but if you want to avail oneself of the it’s features there would be a requirement to change the LNB to a wideband model.
A neighbour of ours has a Humax , a couple of years ago he said to me his had died , I said he could try a master reset that I used to do on the equipment I worked on , and also does reset my Toshiba air con , it worked , perhaps conicidence? Unplug or power off then hold the on switch on / pushed in , then power on or plug in and then unplug or power off .
The head engineer at my company said that it dumped the faults on the rams which accumulate . No idea if thats a fact , but wont cost a lot of time to try
That’s interesting Guy, I have a Humax that I haven’t used for years because it stopped working correctly (can’t remember what exactly) and only have Manhattan, which doesn’t record). Worth a try with what you suggest. 
I suppose Arris is only available from UK so that is out now as far as I am concerned, but there is a Freesat agent in Paris selling internet boxes. No need for a dish but you do need a certain level of download speed.
All the info is here www.freesatinfrance.fr and there is a subscription. But details of various satellite boxes too.
I am sorry David I know nothing at all about Humax boxes 
Nevertheless, it has sat there for a long time doing nothing, how can it hurt to at least try? 
Finally got the Humax to work the other day. Very embarrassing really, I hadn’t connected the wire from the dish. 
So I have managed to record the very late Nordic Noir episodes on Saturday night and, with one small niggle, have watched all but one of them successfully. The niggle was that recording, despite being set to continue for 5 minutes after the end of the programme, actually stopped abruptly 1 and a half minutes beforehand. It didn’t matter as it happens because I had a version from a kind person with more tech knowledge, and perhaps less ‘legal’ commitment 
than me, and nothing of importance occurred in that very short time. Probably more due to BBC punctuality than the Humax so I have now reset it to auto rather than 5 minutes. Hope that helps in future.
But it did set me trying to remember why I stopped using it before. One reason I know was because I found it impossible then to delete saved programmes that I had watched or changed my mind about watching. But that doesn’t explain why this time I only found one episode of QI on the hard drive, and also why it took at least 20 minutes of going round in circles, locking/unlocking, protecting and unprotecting before it finally departed. Couldn’t even watch it while I was pondering either, it was protected or damaged in some way apparently.
But certain aspects do irritate me. The epg screen does not show BBC Scotland at the same time as BBC 1 to 4 for instance. You have to go down one screen for that.
Booking a reminder takes 3 clicks instead of 2 because you have to choose HD then watch rather than record. Not really serious, but it all adds up when booking a whole day and cannot be done in a rush just before a required programme is about to start.
ITV has disappeared entirely apart from a blank line and, if clicked on, says no signal. OK, but why are all the other ITV channels available?
I don’t need to record much, really just very late night programmes, and that normally just means Saturday nights, so I think I will go back to the Manhattan during the week and just use the Humax for recordings. But that does mean I need to keep it connected until I have watched them too, and, at the moment there are no less than 4 hours stretching to 4.30 in the morning for those.
Thanks everybody for all your comments, we’re going to try a secondhand version as my OH is pretty handy with switching the hard drive. I’m also researching IPTV but it’s all very confusing! I just want to switch the telly on and have English tv!
That is the sort of honesty I like.
I have no secrets regarding my lack of techie skills, but that really did take the biscuit. I had twice switched the HDMI from the Manhattan to the Humax and then, realising how stupid that was, switched the tv from the junction of the Manhattan and the Fransat box to the Humax. Or at least I caught myself at the last minute as the real problem dawned. 
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The freesat feature ultra HD so a step forward. They record and contain more features and providers than the old Humax. If you dont need recording, the Manhattan is only £49 from Currys if you have someone who can send it to you.
There are no Freesats made by Humax anymore, someone pointed me to Amazon.de where there were several for sale but I am pretty sure they are not Freesat but perhaps whatever the German equivalent is.
Freesat’s own site features Manhattan and another that I do not know the name of but, they all come from the UK which is a nono for us now. On their site directed at French users they link to a Paris firm that markets these at € 515 each including delivery. 
I have no need of new Manhattans, I already have 2 which work perfectly well apart from not recording.
I have no need of HD either. Try as I might I cannot see any difference between HD and SD, maybe it is my eyes or my brain, but they both seem identical to me.
Having got the Humax to work now, because it has features which I do not like, no ITV, a foreshortened EPG list and a rather longwinded reminder system, I have disconnected it and am now back on Manhattan till next Saturday night, when I need it to record early morning serials. After that it will stay connected for a day or so just long enough for me to see the replays, and then ‘back in the box’ for another week.
Another success is that I managed to get back my French Fransat connection after visiting workmen broke the LNB bracket. Easy to retune with my wife in the room on the phone to me outside and a roll of duck tape to shore up the bracket.
Thank goodness they aren’t on the roof.
Unless you have an HD or higher you wont notice any difference. The upscaling software wont be understood by an SD screen.
Pretty sure one tv is HD and maybe the other too, but the pictures on both are crystal clear with really luxurious colour. Can’t imagine how either could be improved.