Humax HDR-FOX T2 review

What is the Humax HDR-FOX T2?

The Humax HDR-FOX T2 is a Freeview+ HD personal video recorder or PVR for short. It allows you to watch and record digital Freeview TV programmes and importantly provides access to the ever growing number of free HD channels that are available.

OK so you've been able to record TV digitally onto a hard drive for many years now but up to this point I don't believe it's been achieved with such ease and finesse for Freeview terrestrial viewers.

You'll be the envy of all your friends and neighbours with this superb set-top box as not only does it look great, performance is first-class as well.

Quite simply this is probably the best thing to have ever happened to terrestrial TV and 4 years on, this is still one of my all-time favourite gadgets!

Design

The FOX T2 looks extremely slick with a glossy black finish and a minimalist front panel. It's about the same size and shape as a standard DVD player and would sit proudly underneath your TV.

The large centre power button is not a physical button but actually a touch-sensitive button, as are the small channel and volume up/down buttons in the top right, which add to the overall opulence and premium feel of the unit.

To the left of the power button there is an orange display which shows the channel you are tuned into or the name of the programme if you are watching a recording.

The power button is surrounded by a lovely circular light that changes colour depending on what the FOX T2 is doing. It shines Blue when it's on, Orange when in standby and Red when it's recording. It's simple yet very effective.

Rear connections

At the rear you have the all-important HDMI socket for those gorgeous High Definition pictures as well as SCART and Composite sockets for older TV's (although these aren't capable of HD).

There is also a digital optical out socket for those of you with an external speaker setup, an Ethernet socket for connecting to the internet and finally the aerial input socket.

Auto-setup

When everything's hooked up and you turn the power on, you'll be taken through a few simple setup questions such as your preferred language and TV settings.

The FOX T2 will then take care of searching for all channels and radio stations in your area which only takes a few minutes.

Everything is explained clearly from the on-screen messages and once everything has been found and stored you're ready to go.

Remote Control

The remote control is finished in a similar gloss black plastic which looks great but in everyday use makes it tricky to keep clean since you are constantly handling it! A matte finish would have been more practical but you can't deny it looks good.

The overall layout is good with with the most often used functions grouped around the middle of the remote such as the playback controls and navigation buttons.

The number pad takes up most of the top section with the lesser-used buttons grouped at the bottom.

The core buttons (such as Play, Pause, Stop, Fast Forward and Rewind) are a bit on the small side. It's not a major issue but it would have been better if they were a bit bigger considering how often they get used.

You can throw away that universal remote

A great feature is the ability to control 3 other devices using the assignable buttons at the top of the remote.

These are labelled PVR (reserved for the FOX T2 itself), TV, DVD and AUDIO. Using the supplied codes in the user-guide you can control 4 devices with just one remote.

For example, if you have a SONY TV, you look up the SONY TV code, program it into the remote and hey presto, you can now control your TV!

Of course it's not 100% perfect and you may still need your dedicated remote controls for more complex operations but for day to day use it does the job brilliantly and means just one remote control on the coffee table rather than four!