Sky's EPG only allows you to enter the first letter of a programme, which is about as welcome as a Woolworth's gift token.

Humax is rather proud of its 'i-plate' programme information banner which is packed with icons that tell you every detail about the current programme, including the signal quality and strength, picture resolution, presence of Dolby Digital audio, channel number, if audio description is available, if text is available and even the broadcast time and progress. We're surprised they don't include the name of the director's granny.

We haven't had time yet to delve into the media file manager (watch out for a more in-depth review appearing here soon) but first impressions of watching and recording with the Foxsat-HDR are excellent.

The system works almost flawlessly and can deliver top-quality broadcast images and sound. Directly comparing simultaneous broadcasts on Freesat, Freeview and Sky (using my third LNB) show that this system is on a par or sometimes better than its rivals.

Standard definition BBC broadcasts and most other channels look as good on the Humax as they do on Freeview and Sky.

ITV, however, is a problem. Its broadcast bit-rate is often much lower than the BBC's and it frankly looks dire in standard-definition on Freesat. We haven't seen an ITV HD broadcast yet in the few hours since installing the Foxsat-HDR but previous broadcasts viewed on the non-PVR version were superb.

A quick word about Teletext. It's much quicker to load here than on Sky but that's because there are no video streams, just text and images.

To access recordings you press the Media button on the remote. Playback is straightforward with options to fast forward or rewind at 2x , 4x, 8x, 16x, 32x, 64, 1/2x, 1/4x and 1/8x normal speed. You can create bookmarks as you view, which is a handy function not found on Sky+.

Does Freesat+ live up to our hopes and expectations? In terms of ease of use and performance, certainly, which also make it decent value-for-money. However, what Freesat+ desperately needs to make it an unarguable proposition is more HD programming than the rather paltry selection currently on offer.