Gadgets & Gizmos

An illuminated power button that changes color and a punchy digital display brighten up the otherwise solid, pedestrian look of the HDR-FOX T2. The no-nonsense/uninteresting design suits the T2, though. It plugs into your TV aerial and instantly offers around 50 Freeview channels including BBC HD, BBC1 HD, 1TV 1 HD and Channel 4 HD. The overall channel count is lower than Freesat, but the number of quality channels – ie not The Horror Channel+1 or “Adult Chat” – is much the same and you get one more HD option and access to Dave. Hi-def quality impresses, although standard-def doesn’t quite match its test rivals.
Dual tuners means you can record two channels at once or watch one and record another. There’s room for 300 hours of SD and 125hours of HD on the 500GB hard drive and you can pause live shows for up to two hours. What sets this box apart from lesser Freeview HD offerings is the new Humax Smart TV portal. It adds web TV-type functionality including BBC iPlayer, Flickr and Wikipedia browsing and internet radio streaming, with Sky Player following shortly;The T2 only includes an ethernet port; to connect to the Portal using Wi-Fi you’ll need to invest in a £29 dongle.
BBC iPlayer’s HD content streams with only minor initial stuttering on our 20MBconnection, but you can’t fast forward or rewind. You can record TV while roaming the Portal. Gifting a good range of sub-free HD shows and online, on-demand content, the T2 is a bargain.