Humax: F2-Fox T

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Your responses

Bernard, Sheffield UK on November 12th, 2008
just received the same excuse from Humax re the detailed information issue - one of the main reasons I bought it due to problems with other brands. I will be returning the set and buying a different brand - but which one - any advice, please...!

Hamilton White on September 17th, 2008
Poor picture quality even compared to a £15 box from Argos

Dave, Yeovil, Somerset on September 1st, 2008
The F2 fox T gets rave reviews, and is generally a fair piece of kit, BUT as many others have said, 1. There are memory problems with the EPG that do not allow this unit to display programme information. Humax have no fix for this and nothing planned in the near future. My last dated SW was issued Nov 2005! 2. The unit has to be scanned manually if you live near two transmitters, as it will find the least strong signal as well as the one you probably want and the channel storage is thus not optimised. Although it looks good I cannot understand why the technical press raves about it - only goes to show that you should read customer reviews (I wish I have taken notice of this site's comments)not the paid press. Its obvoisly been released for a long time with known faults - lock up, EPG storage, channel scan errors, frozen remote. How can it be that the last HUMAX SW update was THREE years ago and my other STB's update about every 6 months. Humax are polite on their phone help (3 calls so far to them at premium rates- they dont reply to emails!! ) but clearly have no solutions. I also notice that most major retailers are no longer carrying this product. DO NOT buy this - Humax should have a major recall and sort it out for all the frustrated customers.

Adam, London on August 3rd, 2008
This box has two very common faults (if not inherent to all units), namely that it will crash every 3-5 days and need to be turned off and on again at the mains to get it working again, and also that the TV program information for all channels disappears after the box has been on for a few hours. I have been in touch with Humax and there are aware of these issues, but offer no help in resolving them. Steer well clear of this box, and if you do some further research on web forums you will see there are a great many people experiencing the same problems.

Chris Woodman on June 5th, 2008
I have had the box for several years. It performs very well - good signal and does all it says it should, WITH ONE EXCEPTION. It does not have enough memory and is therefore unable to show "now and next information" unless it has recently been powered-off and powered-on again. Why Humax have not issued a new version of the software which takes the pointless games out of the memory beats me. I am going to have to bin it and get one that works.

Geoff, Felpham Sussex on April 6th, 2008
I've experienced everything that has been written about in this column - plus it doesn't do radio 1, 2, 3 or 4. I can live with an irregular description facility, the way it freezes from time to time, but not its refusal to provide a full range of radio stations. It has so much going for it - but with so many silly little faults, I would never again buy anything made by Humax.

Mel, Newcastle upon Tyne on February 11th, 2008
I bought a Humax F2-FOX T on 20th December 2008 after reading good reports on the web and also one that is recommended for FAST updating of teletext pages on ITV and it also has a TV modulator built in which I wanted, BUT this is sadly let by firmware or hardware in particular losing the Detailed Information after accessing the EPG also with the EPG you can go back 24 hrs which seems a little silly. I have re-installed using the Factory Defaults but the problem comes back and you may have to do this every time you want to access the Detailed Information. I live in the Newcastle upon Tyne area and receive my TV signals from the Fenham Transmitter which is less than TWO miles away with clear line of sight using a NEW outdoor aerial so I would expect a good signal but sadly NO with the signal strength being only 60% or less and on some channels NO signal strength at all unlike my other two ASDA Cheap Digiview boxes which show 100% signal strength on ALL channels. I have emailed Humax about these problems as have so many others since 2005 expecting an OTA or some sort of update but this seems not likely happen, ( SEE HUMAX REPLY BELOW ) which is a pity because I like this freeview box i.e. style, channel numbers, digital clock, 20 timer settings TV modulator and is well built, So until Humax sorts the software / hardware out and also gets rid of those FOUR stupid games ( that would save some memory ) I can NOT recommend this box, I would also recommend that anyone who still owns one of these boxes keeps Demanding from Humax to put the problems right they would have a first class freeview box.

Peter Taylor, Rochester on January 31st, 2008
I bought a Humax F2-FOX T on 14 December 2007. The picture quality using a high quality SCART lead was excellent. However it failed to meet the targets in the Manual, in particular losing the Detailed Information after accessing the EPG. Six times I re-installed using the Factory Defaults and the problem comes back after limited use. In my opinion the product is not either of merchantable or marketable quality. I have contacted Humax by telephone and they accept there is a svere memory problem, which has not yet been resolved by either firmware or software

Dave, Kent on December 11th, 2007
Another box, another disappointment. I bought this box because it was supposed to have good weak signal performance. All the BBC channels work fine but ITV, CH4, CH5 etc suffer from loud clicks and pixellation etc. Although this is less often than with other boxes, it then results in the sound being out of sync with the picture from then onwards. If you've recorded the programme you can't temporarily re-tune to restore the sync. This was the last attempt to get freeview to work, and I'll now have to spend yet more money on sky or virgin equipment. I have already spent £150 on a wideband high gain aerial. I mainly blame ofcom for cramming in too many channels at the expense of a more robust signal.

Rakesh, Warwickshire on December 2nd, 2007
Just looked up this STB to see if anyone else was having the same problems I'm having and it seems I'm not the only one with missing program info and locking issues. Will be returning it next week and replacing it with another. So far tried a small Bush receiver that connects directly to the scart socket. This stopped working after about 12 months. Then tried a Logik box which I returned after 3 days of problems. Though I'd try the Humax as it cost a little more and had an optical out port but the hassle of no program descriptions is a hugely annoying problem. Not sure what to try next

ChrisH, Leics on November 30th, 2007
Good old Eric (Kent)! Had this box about 3 years with only the loss of info as the apparently common problem. A few months ago I discovered that the hand set was frequently locking up, requiring a 'reboot', usually at an annoyingly inconvenient time. Just tried the reverse-batteries trick and Bingo!. Unlocked! Thanks again Eric.

Paul, Stockport on November 20th, 2007
This is a great box - but also very poor! Good build, great picture, quick to change programs, etc. But it has some very annoying and common faults. The lack of program info is pretty terrible. Reboot the box and you get the usual program info, for a few minutes. Then it disappears and all you get is the program title, nothing else. Also, the box freezes every few days. Which means, as it has no off switch, that you have to unplug from the mains. This happens every 3 or 4 days. I've tried everything to cure the above, it's a real pain. We have 3 other Freeview boxes, all cheapo ones (apart from this) and they are all perfect. Never hang, complete EPG always. This is an expensive box and for some reason has decent reviews (I can only assume the reviewers have not tested this box for a decent period of time). An update has been promised to fix these issues, but, after over 2 years of waiting, I don't think it's gonna happen. Unfortunately the faults make this box unbuyable really. I wouldn't but another Humax product I don't think.

John, London on November 19th, 2007
There is a known problem with memory on these sets Cconfirmed by Humax Technical support 19/11/07 I bought one 3 weeks ago and the detailed Pro gramme info is continually being lost. Only resolution is to unplug an replug a mains.

Mike Souter on November 8th, 2007
Now on my third FOX box in two months after loss of memory in one and awful pix in the second. Also remote gave up and was replaced, wish I had known of the fixes in this site. By and large current box is OK, but on reflection I wish I had chosen differently, but the RF modulator was a must for me. Irritations include the switch from favorites when TV/radio button is used, and Film 4 which seems to dissappear until rebooted. The lack of detailed programme guide is my, and seemingly others main gripe.

Chris, York on November 3rd, 2007
I have been having the remote locking up problem. I haven't tried to reprogram it - I just use 2 remotes. I find that when the Humax remote is locked the buttons labelled TV or DTV are not very bright when you press one of the buttons on the remote (e.g. the numbered buttons or the arrow buttons). I then try pressing lots of different buttons. Eventually, the TV or DTV buttons become bright when I press a button. When the TV or DTV LED is bright again the remote will function again. I also tried removing the batteries (for more than 24 hours), but this doesn't seem to help.

Bev Brandon, Rochdale on October 19th, 2007
Excellent build quality and design but remote does lock up on some TV codes. To release handset, remove batteries, short circuit the battery connector in the hand set for a few of seconds, replace batteries, works fine again..

Simon, Weston-Super-Mare on August 18th, 2007
I bought one from e-bay for £50 including delivery and I must say that generally I am very pleased with it, the picture and sound quality is very good. The only thing is the remote likes you to pause for about a second before issuing your next command. (by the way the size and layout of the remote control is superb, especially when you look at the cheaper set top boxes which usually have the most auful plastic small remotes. My advice is if you can get one of these relatively cheap I would buy it.

Eric, Kent on June 4th, 2007
Interestingly, I was trying to set the handset up for a Goodmans TVC202TS analogue TV, followed the instructions, and found that one code they suggested for Goodmans - 063 - actually locked the handset up every time. Boy, was my battery reversal trick a life saver! However, I did a small amount of googling and found some stuff that suggested that this TV has a chassis that is a Daewoo. So I tried the Daewoo codes that were listed, and the code 084 gave me some of the facilities on the Goodmans TVC202TS analogue TV (e.g. switch on and off, change channels, change volume, mute). Apart from the very occasional box lock up (requiring a power down), I'm now a happy camper!

Eric, kent on May 25th, 2007
I bought one of these yesterday - a great piece of kit. Within 30 minutes, I had locked the handset by trying to set it up as mt TV remote (Goodmans) - nothing could make it work. Seriously, this remote needs a 'reset' button! I could tell it was the handset that had locked up because normally the TV button went red when you pressed it for more than 3 seconds - well it stopped doing that. I tried all the suggestions, batteries out, press all the buttons, switch off the unit etc - OK, so I wasn't patient enough to wait 24 hours, but who is? I'll tell you how I fixed it, and I would use this again - but you use it at your own peril. I took the batteries out and then put them back in again - the wrong way round :-o After a few seconds, I took them out and put them back in the right way - and it worked straight away. Up to you - but it worked for me. Good luck!

David, Rochdale on May 4th, 2007
>>>>>>> FOR THOSE WITH REMOTES THAT DIE, THIS REVIEW HAS THE FIX!!! <<<<<<< Our remote died on the first day. It turns out, if you enter FOUR numbers instead of THREE when you're trying to set the remote up to work with your TV, the remote locks up!!! Here's the fix, direct from Humax Customer Services: Keep the batteries out of the unit for at least 24 hours and follow the instructions below to set up your remote. >>>>Make sure you never enter 4 digits as this is what locks the RCU up.<<<<< You can control your TV using the Remote control provided by Humax. Note: This function may not work on all TV sets. 1. Turn your TV set on, and find your 3 Digit codes in the manual. 2. Point your remote control towards your television set. 3. Press and hold down the TV button for 4 seconds until the TV button (on the remote) stays RED. 4. While the TV button is RED (still hold in the TV button) type in the 3 digital code for your TV model. 5. If you have entered the correct code then the TV should switch OFF. 6. Release the TV button and it will blink twice.

Rob, London on April 23rd, 2007
I think Humax's late response says it all (still no update yet either): "the information plate issue is a software issue that is under evaluation for a software upgrade which is to be released in the next few months. The reason you have this issue is because it takes the unit up to about 20 minutes to download the Electronic Program Guide (EPG) once this is complete there is insufficient flash memory for the EPG as well as the detailed program information. You are likely to continue to experience this issue until the software has been released."

Mr D Mowat, KW14 7PN/130 on March 16th, 2007
My Philips DTR 1500 gave a lot of trouble-low signal effects. After a new aerial and 12 dB mast-head amplifier we had a year of pixilation and spitting noises until it expired during power dips, which were followed by our telephones, mobile telephones, computer lines going dead for a couple of days. The Humax unit, plus properly screened cable, routed via the back of the house, to avoid car interference, is a vast improvement, but I do have to reboot to regain synopsis data, and occasionally unplug the box for at least 30 minutes if the handset goes dead. Neighbours a hundred yards away in each direction gave up on Freeview, but since my success, close neighbours have installed it, with lower aerial positions than my stack on the apex of the gable end of my semi.

Geoff, Chabdlers Ford on March 7th, 2007
Bought the Humax F2-FOX T for a Christmas present Dec 2006 from John Lewis and have all the problems as detailed earlier. Emails sent to Humax but no response. Web site is out of date with the s/w actually loaded. I also have a Panasonic TU-CT20 that had some problems but at least they have a free phone number to call which works and you can get updates on OTA. I asked them for a re transmission and they duly obliged. Come on Humax get your act together or no more purchases for me. Apart from these little niggles which should be easy to fix it’s quite a good box.

Andrew, Milton Keynes on January 9th, 2007
Decided to try Freeview after week long NTL cable outage. Looked at STB's no one stood out, bought Humax from John Lewis for peace of mind on customer service etc. Connected it to a UNIX 52WB aerial in Loft with PROreception masthead amplifier running at 78% signal strength on all muxes. Was really easy to set up, excellent picture and sound quality in comparison to NTL cable, seen some pixellation now and again but not so much to detract from viewing. Have managed to lock it up a couple of times especially when skipping a lot between channels will learn to avoid that viewing habit, but overall very happy so far.

Mark, Shropshire on January 8th, 2007
Bought one as an upgrade to an old Thompson box. EPG doesnt work properly - see others below. Major problem is that on auto-tune it picks up the first available station and saves it. This means that if you are in an area that has two signals, 1 very strong and the other just workable, it will use the weak signal if it comes to it first. The only way around this is to manualy tune it using MUX info off web sites - It took me 2 hours to set this piece of rubbish up. The only reason I knew what was wrong with the thing is that our Topfield box works beauitifully and gave us the choice of which signals to tune to. Am sending straight back to supplier. Would rather chuck this thing in the bin a buy another than carry on using it.

James, Newcastle on January 4th, 2007
My F2-FOXT worked fine for a day, then the remote stopped working (seems to be a common problem) now I can only change channels manually, which is very annoying.

Bob, Cambridge on Jan 1st 2007 on January 2nd, 2007
Bought a Humax F2-Fox T to connect to my projector and Denon amp. Beautiful picture, great sound, easy set up, great reception for my area which is 'outside' of the expected reception area. I did use a booster on the feed. No problems to report so far - but hey, its just a few days. AS long as it stays stable, it will be excellent.

Stuart MacPherson, Aylesbury on December 30th, 2006
I bought the F2-Fox back in July '05 from John Lewis who said it was the best available in its class. Since then I have experienced all of the problems described above and have had no response from Humax support. I went back to John Lewis yesterday and got a replacement F2-Fox under the 2 year warranty only to find that the replacement has the same issues. Now that I know I am not alone with this piece of rubbish it's going straight back for the Humax upgrade ... a Sony! Never again will I buy Humax.

Andrew, London on December 13th, 2006
Just purchased one of these. In general I find it very good especially on text and picture quality. A couple of points which the forum might be able to advise on: 1) I can't programme the remote to alter the volume. The user guide is a bit ambiguous - I've tried various ways. Any 'foolproof' instructions? 2) I can't seem to programme favourite channels. I set it up, as per the user guide but it doesn't seem to store. I have had to delete channels that I don't watch as I'm too impatient to scroll through them all if going from say UKTV History (12) to Sky Sports News (83). Again any advice? Thanks.

Andy, Fife on November 7th, 2006
Re: Software Update - in April 2006 Alastair Clark of Salisbury posted a message saying: "We are still awaiting the release of the software that will compress both the detailed information and Program guide into the memory [...] I cannot give an official release date for this software until briefed by our software developers. The software will need tested in the UK as well. After this we would need to get a date from the BBC on their Over the Air Schedule." I phoned Humax today to see where this update has got to and was told that they "believe" it is ready and that they are "awaiting a broadcast slot". They anticipate it to be available "by the end of the year". However I did not get a satisfactory reason why the update is not already on their support website, and so I'm not holding my breath.

Chris, High Wycombe on October 31st, 2006
The problem with the programme descriptions not working is well documented above. But twice recently I have had the date spontaneously changing and I have lost recordings. On going to the screen to reset the time, I was perplexed to find that one press reset it to one date, and the next press reset it to another, and then alternate results with each press. I bought it because it was the only one I could find at that time that displayed the currently selected channel on the front. Never again a Humax.

Andy, Derbyshire on October 26th, 2006
The good:

o Even though I live somewhere where I shouldn't get any Freeview MUXes at all, I get 4 reliably and 2 occasionally. That's better than the Setpal that it replaced (and a Ferguson FD2550), that could get 3 reliably, 2 occasionally and 1 never.

o You can manually scan for a particular MUX without losing others that "may not be there at the moment" - essential if you live in a poor signal area.

o My Toshiba HDD recorder can drive the channel changer.

o It's never actually "locked", (but does need the occasional turnitoffandonagain to fix the "losing channels" problem - see below.

The bad:

o Lipsynch problems referred to by other people above. For me it only seems to happen on channels where there's poor reception. It's actually rarely noticeable.

o Program descriptions contain only the program name. There's supposed to be more there - there just "isn't". This applies across the board regardless of MUX signal strength.

o Sometimes it "loses" a particular channel - switch to it and you get a black screen. Switch somewhere else, and that other channel is fine. Sometimes it "forgets how to do MHEG" when I'm trying to get to the news summary on 303 via CBeebies (I've no MUX 1 here , so that's the only way there). Powering off, waiting a bit and powering on does fix this but is obviously frustrating. Doesn't happen too often though - maybe once a fortnight?

Possible mitigating factor:

o I haven't touched the software (Mgftf 1.00.13) that came with the box (and it'll never do it itself as it can't see MUX 1 most of the time), so it is possible that an update would fix some of these. To summarise, it's "good" for me mainly because I'm in a poor signal area. If you're not, it would probably be only "average" or "poor".

John, London on September 22nd, 2006
I think the majority of complaints about Set-Top Boxes relate to issues of poor quality control in manufacture and to intermittant faults caused by defective components, bad soldering and loose internal connections. But there can also be fundamental problems of faulty design, of equipment on public sale which cannot possibly work properly, never could and never will. It is in this category that I place the Humax F2-Fox T. These fundamental problems are well-known: 1. The programme synopses dissappear after a short period of time. 2. The receiver is too susceptible even to small degradations of signal quality due, for example, to multipath reflections from nearby aircraft. Hence the picture is likely to freeze or dissappear from time-to-time. I am horrified that this Freeview box is still being sold by major retail outlets like Comet, Currys and John Lewis. They are surely aware of the problems and are therefore culpable of off-loading this defective product onto a trusting public.

Jeremy, Berkhamsted on September 11th, 2006
This is the worst DTV box I have used: Worse sensitivity than Goodmans GDB3, Frequent crashes requiring the power cable to be pulled, Frequent sound synchronisation problems, Program guide is slow to navigate, Signal quality can only be seen via a system menu,

George Robb, south of Glasgow on September 4th, 2006
Blackhill transmitter. In reply to John, Stockport. The software version 1.00.13 was loaded into manufactured boxes to try and overcome a problem with very strong signal strength. Apart from that it is the same as version 1.00.13 according to Humax.

Nick, Surrey on August 30th, 2006
At first had problems with this box, but it was taken back by Humax and repaired and upgraded. The couriers called at the door and the turnaround was swift. As with many other areas, it takes patience to get through to someone in the know, but once that happened, the service was excellent. Picture quality is good but "her inside" says it is not as clear as that from a now defunct Nokia 221T. Some lip sync problems recently but as mast head amplifier got water damage I think that is more likely the cause, as with the variable amount of information from the EPG, where full details are not always available. Our signal strength is between 70% and 78% and according to the postcode guides we should not be able to get Freeview at all. A good box.

Steve O'Connor, London on July 27th, 2006
We have had this about a year, using it much more now. Very unreliable, crashes regularly, no reset button requiring plug out. Digital corruption on some channels, lipsink is appalling on others. on the plus side picture quality good, channel change ok. I would pay extra for a more reliable system, now film4 is free.

Austin, Warwickshire on July 27th, 2006
This Box is average at best. There is no top up slot. It tends to lock, and the only way to move on is to unplug and reboot. I find that the sound gets out of sync with the picture. Software updates are extremely rare. Put simply, this box is clumsy. FilmFour is free! Hoorah, the Fox can't seem to find it though! PANTS!

John, Stockport on July 11th, 2006
I like this box so much that I've now bought a second one. Confusingly this has software 1.00.13 (SEP 2005) rather than 1.00.12 (APR 2005)which the first one still has and is the latest on the Humax website. The new STB still has the games and the same hardware revision. Presumably the great "software update" has still not happened. My gripe is different from the previous ones - I don't need the EPG - at least not a simple EPG - as I have the Radio Times! My gripe is that, when the Freeview channels change, the STB does not get updated automatically as does my NTL Cable box and (another) Freeview box from Goodmans (DB3). I now know to Default the Installation and then put back those Preferences that I set up. Can I also say that this is an odd forum - no-one seems to answer anyone elses queries. So, Al Paton of Leeds, your problem is probably that, when you program the remote to control the TV, you need to to use the DTV button on the remote to get back to controlling the STB. Hope this helps.

Russell, Watford on June 30th, 2006
My F2-FOXT has now been replaced with a Wharfedale DV832B. See my comments in the review listings there. It is a great pity that the FOX has not been better supported by better technical assistance from Humax, and more frequent and reliable software updates. It is a good product let down by infuriating design deficiencies. For details of these deficiencies, just scroll up the list and read.