Humax - Still the go to option?
Discussion
I've just got back from a villa holiday. The villa had a system using a MAG254 box which was brilliant. I did q quick google of it and it uses an IPTV subscription to basically provide every single channel I could think of , and more.
I'm not sure what the full story of this method is but I'd certainly be looking into it as an alternative to anything else I've seen, it really was very good.
I'm not sure what the full story of this method is but I'd certainly be looking into it as an alternative to anything else I've seen, it really was very good.
Is it right that Channel 4 isnt HD anymore on Freesat? You cant fill a 1920x1080 50" plasma with a 720x576 picture!!!
I have a Freesat box that was retired 3yrs ago as there is ONE paid channel we like on sky (GoT....). SKY box worked a lot better than Humax too. But is that worth £400 a year - paying to watch channels we never go near...
I have a Freesat box that was retired 3yrs ago as there is ONE paid channel we like on sky (GoT....). SKY box worked a lot better than Humax too. But is that worth £400 a year - paying to watch channels we never go near...
I've just recently replaced a Youview UHD box with a Humax 5000T. The Humax box is sluggish but has superb features. The Youview UHD is more responsive but lacks the features of the Humax 5000T. TBH, I want the responsiveness of the Youview UHD combined with the interface of the 5000T! Note, the Youview UHD has a better processor than the regular Youview boxes. Our "Normal" HD Youview box upstairs is a lot more sluggish than the 5000T.
If you want all the bells and whistles, the 5000T is the best Freeview HD box around. It can record four things at once while watching a fifth. It has some clever search features, a great interface and everything you could possibly want. It's also updated regularly so hopefully the slightly sluggish interface will be resolved.
If you want a good box that's slick, get one of these off ebay -> https://www.uswitch.com/tv/guides/bt-youview-box-r...
It can't record as many channels at once, it doesn't have as many features but you can get them cheap off ebay and they are slick and easy to use. Only replaced ours as the coax port is on the blink, only working if you hold the cable in place.
If you want all the bells and whistles, the 5000T is the best Freeview HD box around. It can record four things at once while watching a fifth. It has some clever search features, a great interface and everything you could possibly want. It's also updated regularly so hopefully the slightly sluggish interface will be resolved.
If you want a good box that's slick, get one of these off ebay -> https://www.uswitch.com/tv/guides/bt-youview-box-r...
It can't record as many channels at once, it doesn't have as many features but you can get them cheap off ebay and they are slick and easy to use. Only replaced ours as the coax port is on the blink, only working if you hold the cable in place.
zedx19 said:
If you want a good box that's slick, get one of these off ebay -> https://www.uswitch.com/tv/guides/bt-youview-box-r...
I struggle to see how anyone could think the Youview box has an even half-decent UI. It can't even create a custom channel list which is one of the most basci requirements.Can you do that on the 5000T? Hopefully it is possible as the older Humax can but I suppose they might have crippled it in the name of progress.
I recently got one of these https://www.johnlewis.com/panasonic-dmr-hwt150eb-s... on offer it was £130.
Very happy with it.
Very happy with it.
Mr Pointy said:
I struggle to see how anyone could think the Youview box has an even half-decent UI. It can't even create a custom channel list which is one of the most basci requirements.
Can you do that on the 5000T? Hopefully it is possible as the older Humax can but I suppose they might have crippled it in the name of progress.
You can edit channels on the Youview box, hiding ones you don't want to see? I struggle to see why anyone would think it's a bad UI, it's fast on the UHD box and very easy to use?Can you do that on the 5000T? Hopefully it is possible as the older Humax can but I suppose they might have crippled it in the name of progress.
Ken Figenus said:
Is it right that Channel 4 isnt HD anymore on Freesat? You cant fill a 1920x1080 50" plasma with a 720x576 picture!!!
I have a Freesat box that was retired 3yrs ago as there is ONE paid channel we like on sky (GoT....). SKY box worked a lot better than Humax too. But is that worth £400 a year - paying to watch channels we never go near...
Yes, they withdrew CH4 HD a while ago. Even on a 40” TV the picture is pretty poor. I have a Freesat box that was retired 3yrs ago as there is ONE paid channel we like on sky (GoT....). SKY box worked a lot better than Humax too. But is that worth £400 a year - paying to watch channels we never go near...
Motorsport.TV disappeared recently as well.
AJB88 said:
I've got a Freesat Humax HD box bought about 3 years ago, its not great, menus are slow etc. Had to have remote replaced twice.
I bought one when I got rid of Sky some years ago and it too wasn't very gopd; stupidly slow to boot and the menus were so laggy they were useless. Plus it would randomly just not record things and when I checked the planner the things I'd set were not there.But I bought a new one at Christmas and it's way better. It's still a bit slow to boot but the menus are much faster and it's much more modern (as you would like to hope of course).
SpudLink said:
Ken Figenus said:
Is it right that Channel 4 isnt HD anymore on Freesat? You cant fill a 1920x1080 50" plasma with a 720x576 picture!!!
I have a Freesat box that was retired 3yrs ago as there is ONE paid channel we like on sky (GoT....). SKY box worked a lot better than Humax too. But is that worth £400 a year - paying to watch channels we never go near...
Yes, they withdrew CH4 HD a while ago. Even on a 40” TV the picture is pretty poor. I have a Freesat box that was retired 3yrs ago as there is ONE paid channel we like on sky (GoT....). SKY box worked a lot better than Humax too. But is that worth £400 a year - paying to watch channels we never go near...
Motorsport.TV disappeared recently as well.
Bit of a faff - but I just followed this guide and managed to get it. Doesn't look like you can record though.
https://www.satandpcguy.com/2018/02/20/how-to-add-...
https://www.satandpcguy.com/2018/02/20/how-to-add-...
cobra kid said:
I'm in the process of ditching Virgin Media and looking at alternatives. We only have the basic TV package and I was wondering if a decent Humax box is still the recommended option for recording boxes?
We've done just this. Virgin switched off on Saturday.We went with the 5000T as above. Make sure you get 'Freeview Play' as opposed to the 'Freeview HD' as it has more features/is more like the V6 - such as the ability to scroll back through time and play on demand programmes straight from the EPG rather that having to find it in iplayer etc. Video on it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CyszrwCbCU
Still getting to grips with the UI but only because it is new to me - I can't for the life of me figure out how to get simple programme information on the programme I'm watching.
The menus are slow/laggy compared to the V6 (you can see it real time in the above video link), so it isn't slick, but it looks better than Virgin. It also defaults to the HD versions of channels as well which is good and there is a 'netflix' button on the remote which is really handy, along with the 'on demand' button.
Overall I'm impressed. Just need a little more practise with it, but to be fair I generally watch netflix & prime.
Edited by ben5575 on Tuesday 25th September 23:26
Mr Pointy said:
I struggle to see how anyone could think the Youview box has an even half-decent UI. It can't even create a custom channel list which is one of the most basci requirements.
Can you do that on the 5000T? Hopefully it is possible as the older Humax can but I suppose they might have crippled it in the name of progress.
Yes you can.Can you do that on the 5000T? Hopefully it is possible as the older Humax can but I suppose they might have crippled it in the name of progress.
AJB88 said:
I've got a Freesat Humax HD box bought about 3 years ago, its not great, menus are slow etc. Had to have remote replaced twice.
I usually just use my FireTV box and use catchup these days.
Same here. Mine likes to eat the hard drive every few months. Pretends it can't read it and and forces a reformat, which of course wipes anything recorded.I usually just use my FireTV box and use catchup these days.
Apparently this is (or was) a known issue with them and is something to do with the hard drive controller chip on the motherboard.
It's really slow to boot up and I don't find the menu as intuitive as my previous Sky one. Other than that it has been OK.
got one of these https://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/satellite-and... with 4 tuners and 1gb drive. very good bit of kit and acts as an iptv server as well so anything that runs kodi can receive tv from it. bit of a faf to set up but plenty of info on the web.
AJB88 said:
I've got a Freesat Humax HD box bought about 3 years ago, its not great, menus are slow etc. Had to have remote replaced twice.
I usually just use my FireTV box and use catchup these days.
It would be running through a Smart TV so plenty of catch up option son there. More for recording films really. I usually just use my FireTV box and use catchup these days.
This is the trouble with these Humax boxes... I have had 2 and they were never as good as the SKY+ boxes that were effectively 'free' (or cheap) with the initial package deal. Its the reason I upgraded to the latest one (now redundant) a couple of years ago - to get more responsiveness and not total silence and ignoring button presses should you want the on screen menu! I'm sure they are better now but do I go for a third and make that a £600 spend!? Thats a lot of Discovery Turbo 
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