My Humax HDR-FOX T2 has been unboxed, setup and firmware upgraded. Time to have a play.
I’ve spent £300 on a new Humax HDR-FOX T2 and all I got was this poxy remote.
The TiVo remote is iconic. Throw it in the pile of other remotes and you’ll still be able to find it. It falls nicely in your hand, coming to rest so that the commonly used buttons are in easy reach of your thumb. Perfectly designed and totally functional.
Drop the Humax’s remote in a pile with the rest of your remotes and it blends in chameleon-like. In fact, the Humax’s remote is the same colour, shape and size as that of my TV remote. I’m starting to get fed up with sitting down with the wrong remote. I’m getting old. Help me out here. Make the remote stand out.
The remote isn’t too bad to use in the light of day. Close the curtains and turn out the lights to watch a movie and its another matter. The commonly used buttons are scattered around and of similar shape. I don’t want to remember that the pause button is one button down from and one to the right of the round TV portal button. The skip forward button is to the far right of the fast forward button which is one down from the pause button.
Things become even more annoying when trying to do some repetitive tasks such as moving a set of recordings to a new folder. The opt+ is down the bottom left of the remote, the navigate buttons in the middle and the red button used to ok the move is up to the left. Try hitting them all in the right order with our thumb when moving multiple recordings. Part UI issue, part remote design issue. At first you live with it but over time it just becomes annoying.
One nice feature is that the remote can be programmed to control other devices. Just like the TiVo remote, you can enter predefined codes for known devices. The instruction manual lists codes for a host of devices, even my old Scan 2000 DVD player. The remote works find with my DVD player for general usage. The instruction manual lists my TV (Blue-H) but the code didn’t work. A universal remote was a nice idea but goes no way to redeem such an outdated design.
Half of the buttons are really not needed. A decent UI would make most of them obsolete and the commonly used buttons should really be placed in a more easily reached position and easily identifiable in the dark.
I feel a bit cheated. I’d expect more from a £300 purchase. I think I’m going to buy some glow in the dark paint and pimp my remote. Something has to be done before I end up throwing the remote at a wall.
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