Humax F2FoxT Freeview Box Review

A review of the best selling Humax F2FoxT Freeview set top box soon reveals that it offers excellent sensitivity, giving some of the best digital TV reception when tested in poor Freeview signal areas.

Even with analogue TV reception from the same aerial giving a very snowy picture the Humax F2FoxT Freeview box still received all DVB-T multiplexes from the Oxford TV transmitter which highlighted its superb sensitivity. The test was carried out using a set top aerial at my hill top location in Newbury (well outside of the Oxford Freeview coverage area).

Humax F2FoxT Review Conclusion

Overall Rating : Humax F2FoxT Reviews
< Worse	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Better >

Best buy Freeview box, excellent build quality, picture & sensitivity

Not the cheapest Freeview set top box, poor Scart lead supplied

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Humax F2FoxT Reviews

The specification of the Humax F2FoxT set top box is feature rich and the design gives excellent Freeview picture quality. Ease of use is unparalleled with simple and intuitive on screen menus and a logical handset layout.

F2FoxT Specifications

Quick set up from initial power up with an option for manual channel installation
High sensitivity tuner gives best performance in weak Freeview DVB-T signal areas
Best set top box for poor Freeview reception areas under test
UHF loop through and Ch21 to Ch68 modulator with fine RF tuning
Up to 30 Freeview TV channels available
DVB-T and MPEG2 standards compliant
VCR and TV Scart sockets. Click here for a rear panel view of the Humax F2FoxT
TV Scart sockets supports Composite Video CVBS, S-video and RGB standards
A 20 programme recording timer automatically selects Freeview channel to record
5 favourite channel lists
7 day EPG providing detailed programme information
Access to all Freeview digital radio channels
4:3 and 16:9 TV support, including 14:9 letterbox compromise screen format
Optional parental control to restrict under age viewing by Freeview channel
Stereo audio outputs via RCA phono sockets for Hi-Fi system connection
RS232 socket for PC connection (used during software upgrades)
Automatic over the air Freeview box software upgrades
Advanced signal quality and strength indicator (gives 0 - 100% readout)
S/PDIF digital audio connection for external Dolby Digital Decoder (not supplied)
Subtitles and MHEG-5 Digital Teletext support (including BBCi)
No Conditional Access Module (CAM)
Universal remote control (with control codes to control various TV's)

Picture Quality

Quality Scart Cables

Gold Scart Cable
From £16.99

To review the Humax F2FoxT Freeview box picture quality we discarded the poor quality Scart cable supplied and used an individually screened Scart cable from Maplin Electronics. The improvement was immediately evident with picture clarity being much improved over the supplied lead. On our Toshiba 36ZP38 TV, the best picture was obtained using S-Video mode through the TV Scart socket.

UHF Modulator Benefits

When buying a cheap Freeview box it's always worth considering paying slightly more and getting one with a built in UHF modulator in addition to the more normal UHF loop through connections. The UHF modulator on the Humax F2FoxT can be adjusted between UHF channels 21 and 68 in order to feed a distribution amplifier to distribute Freeview TV channels around your home. This modulated signal can be fed to the input of a Sky Digibox (if you own one) with the second RF output of the Sky box then feeding a loft mounted distribution amplifier.

Conditional Access Module

We mentioned earlier in this Humax F2FoxT review, that the unit does not have a Conditional Access Module for Pay TV services (Top Up TV) so this could be a limitation in some cases. There are ways around the problem though, as Top Up TV now offer a pay as you view service on certain Freeview channels to allow access to the more popular pay channels.

Humax F2FoxT Review Conclusions

Following our reviews we recommend the Humax F2FoxT as a 'best buy set top box', especially given its superb performance in weak Freeview signal areas. It may even provide reliable Freeview reception where terrain difficulties or local obstructions result in other Freeview boxes not working.

The Humax F2FoxT gave reasonable results even down to a ridiculously low 32dBuV DVB-T aerial signal on test, so it may work even where other set top boxes fail to acquire a signal. The one downside of high tuner sensitivity is that out of area Freeview channels from other transmitters could be received and inadvertently added into the Humax EPG. When this installation problem occurs, delete all channels from the EPG and do a manual channel re-installation after checking which UHF channel numbers are used for DVB-T multiplexes from your local transmitter. You can check that by clicking here.

Disclaimer

The information contained in this Humax F2FoxT Freeview box review is provided in good faith and is accurate to the best of our ability. Our set top box reviews are not guaranteed for accuracy of information contained.

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