Humax FOXSATHDR and Sony Smartlink
BOAC,
I'm also interested in the Humax Foxsat HDR to use in junction with my Sony KDL TV. Today I contacted the Sony shop that supplied our TV and asked about your Humax Smartlink query. They also sell Humax equipment, and said that the Foxsats that they have sold so far do not have Smartlink functionality.
Going back to your JVC/Sony issue, for comparison it may be worth mentioning the following. I'm using a Sony DVD Recorder, and as expected its Smartlink features all work fine. However, the DVD and TV handbooks are very specific about connections and set-up. In my case the scart lead must connect line 1 (scart socket) on the DVD to scart socket 2 on the TV. The Scart lead itself must also have the full 21 pins (not all do) for the smartlink to work. There are also other set-up requirements but they may not be the same as your JVC T-V Link.
To be honest, the Smartlink features are all very clever, but I don't use them very often! In fact sometimes the technology is too "smart", and does what I don't want. For example, if I press instant record on the DVD, it records what's on the TV, and locks the TV to that channel, when I may prefer it to record from its own receiver, whilst I watch something else!