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Foxtel iQ2

By Ty Pendlebury on 05 June 2008

The Foxtel iQ2 is one of the best upgrades currently available for people who've invested in a HD panel, and it will only get better.

Editor's rating:8.5 User rating:6.2

• 

  Dizz gave 6/10 on 21/06/2008 18:28 Report abuse

  Got IQ2 installed today - key points below. Will post again when the HD channels are enabled.

  • Good: The box looks great
    The SD pictures look fine (still waiting for my HD)
  • Bad: IQ2 has NO coax output at all - this means that if you currently have a second TV running off your IQ this will no longer work. I had to get the guy to install the old IQ in the second bedroom (cost of $25 installation & $15/mth).
    There is no Component out from the SCART output so you'll have to bin that SCART to component cable and get a standard component cable.
    HD channels don't appear straight away - the technician reckons it takes up to 24 hours before they're available.
    
• 

  Liz gave 9/10 on 17/06/2008 17:41 Report abuse

  We just upgraded yesterday (from a normal Foxtel box, not IQ). The Foxtel guy got it installed pretty quickly and made sure everything worked before he left. The picture quality is fantastic (even on the old channels)!

  • Good: - Fantastic picture quality
    - Easy to use
    - Piano black finish looks great
  • Bad: - For some reason the picture size won't stick, so there are lot of programmes that are square and won't stretch across the TV.
    - Not many channels HD yet.
• 

  sweep84 gave 6/10 on 15/06/2008 18:09 Report abuse

  Few issues im finding is
  1. Going to x30 quickly stalls the playback and u have to slowly wind up the speed to x30
  2. Fox Sports Active on 501 with a live game wont load
  3. Put AIR on over night and expect to see no picture the next day unless you do a reset
  4. some delayed sounds and or pixleation on FTA channels

  • Good: more hard drive space than IQ1, clearer sound and picture quality
  • Bad: few bugs to be ironed out but overall good
• 

  diggler gave 4/10 on 15/06/2008 14:06 Report abuse

  The iq2 does not support multiroom. Multiroom allows you to have one iq box, but change channels on different TV's in different rooms. Muiltiroom relies on a coaxial cable connection. There is none on iq2.

  • Good: Good picture quality.
  • Bad: Lack of content. Fox Sports is good, but ESPN is sports I have no interest in. If you can't transfer to DVD then this is hopeless.
• 

  20x20 gave 2/10 on 14/06/2008 18:33 Report abuse

  have 3 IQ2's, they are crap. Have to reset the boxes at least twice a day cannot use HDMI on my new Philips full hd tv as the picture blanks out regularly have to use video out and even then the box crashes (and don't get HD !!!!)

  • Good: Can't think of any, just want my old IQ back so I can watch foxtel
  • Bad: Noisy, Remote is finicky, HDMI handshaking problems, reset the box 2-3 times a day, sound out of synch on most channels. DONT GET UNTIL THEY WORK THIS OUT, biggest waste of $600 ever.
• 

  tupham gave 8/10 on 13/06/2008 11:43 Report abuse

  It took half an hour to actually get all the channels to work and then it took a few hrs to identify and iron out all remaining bugs. Quality is awesome and I wonder what the eSata and the ethernet have in store for us.. all it mentions is that they are reserved for future use.

  • Good: - Great Quality
    - Sleek design
  • Bad: - Limited HD content
• 

  spankytheking gave 9/10 on 06/06/2008 21:14 Report abuse

  HD Channels are great. all the other channels look clearer to me. (coming from component connections and going to hdmi) it is as described and can only really get better. Would only really recommend to sports fans for now until more channels kick in.

  • Good: awesome quality on HD channels. seems to improve other stations also. different settings for HD output and SD output (comes in handy if you use a transmitter to a 4:3 tv) Nicer GUI. classy looking unit and remote.
  • Bad: seemed a little buggy at first but had no problems since first day. Worth the money to get the box but may not be worth it for some people to get straight away - needs more HD channels asap!
• 

  dangermac gave 9/10 on 06/06/2008 18:24 Report abuse

  I had 2 IQ2 boxes installed on Tues. - and apart from an issue where only one of the boxes was receiving the HD channels (which Foxtel took a day to resolve) all has been great.
  
  I'm really impressed with the picture and sound quality from the HD channels... only problem is that there is currently a very limited amount of content on the channels - hopefully this will change soon.
  
  The 2 sport channels look amazing and hardly any ads when watching AFL (unlike the FTA channels)! Can't wait to watch EPL in HD.
  
  @macca - PQ hasn't been improved for the other channels, but the 2 you mention (Fox 8 and Showtime, also Showcase etc.) I think look really good, they are a lot better than most of the other channels available on Foxtel and SD FTA.

  • Good: Great picture and sound quality. HDMI. On-Demand HD movies. HD Sport!
  • Bad: Not much content currently available.
• 

  ben gave 3/10 on 06/06/2008 18:18 Report abuse

  Although I would like to get it, Foxtel is just far too expensive. $120 per month for some extra television stations is crazy.

  • Bad: Just as many commercials as commercial televsion
• 

  macca gave 5/10 on 06/06/2008 16:25 Report abuse

  I Have been trying to get answers from Foxtel for a couple of months now. Won't even put my question into their BLOG.
  All I want to know is : Has PQ for normal channels such Showtime and Fox 8 improved with the IQ2? I'm not expecting 1080i/720p, but even 576i/576p/480i/480p would be a huge improvement in PQ over the old box!
  Comparing SD FTA with Foxtel Digital retransmission at the moment really shows foxtel up. Analogue FTA is better than some channels!