TV Recorder Box
Author
Discussion

Ubiquitous2024

Original Poster:

602 posts

21 months

Saturday 18th April
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I have been a Humax lover for 2 decades and our current Youview box is still going after 11 years heavy use - I can tell it is about go pop any time now. They don't make em like they used to though and despite looking I can't find an obvious replacement. The Humax Aura has dodgy reviews.

We only need a set top box that records TV from the aerial, we use Netflix and Prime other apps so no other TV services needed. Currently we have an ethernet cable plugged into the box which is good for interactive searching, tile graphics on the interface and general connectivity. Wifi would also work but ours is too old to have that, only a wires connection.

What is the latest go to model?

Doofus

33,454 posts

198 months

Saturday 18th April
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I have an Aura and, TBH it's the best Humax I've had (I've had 4). Granted "The best Humax" is a pretty low bar, but I'm happy, and the app allowing me to watch stuff on other devices is good.

Mr Pointy

12,951 posts

184 months

Saturday 18th April
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I really like my Humax as well. Why do you think it is failing? I'm looking at putting a new HDD in mine as I think it could be on it's way out:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-ST1000VM002-Pipel...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=st1000vm&am...

Bluevanman

9,513 posts

218 months

Saturday 18th April
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Get a BT/EE tv box pro off eBay

Mr Pointy

12,951 posts

184 months

Saturday 18th April
quotequote all
Bluevanman said:
Get a BT/EE tv box pro off eBay
Compared to the Humax the UI on those boxes is very poor. You can't even create a proper custom channel list.

Bluevanman

9,513 posts

218 months

Saturday 18th April
quotequote all
Mr Pointy said:
Compared to the Humax the UI on those boxes is very poor. You can't even create a proper custom channel list.
Why would you need to ?
Can the Humax record 3 channels whilst watching a fourth ?

Doofus

33,454 posts

198 months

Saturday 18th April
quotequote all
Bluevanman said:
Mr Pointy said:
Compared to the Humax the UI on those boxes is very poor. You can't even create a proper custom channel list.
Why would you need to ?
Can the Humax record 3 channels whilst watching a fourth ?
There isn't that much on telly worth watching. wink

It can record two things whilst watching a third, and with the nunber of +1 and catch-up channels around, it's never caused me a problem.

Bluevanman

9,513 posts

218 months

Saturday 18th April
quotequote all
The Humax is a lot more expensive than the BT/EE one as well, I paid £80 for mine bnib.

fooman

1,088 posts

89 months

Saturday 18th April
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I still have a Topfield as my main box it's so quick and easy compared to streaming but I know one day it'll die so I'm interested in the next best solution.

droopsnoot

14,269 posts

267 months

Saturday 18th April
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I'm using a couple of BT Youview boxes as recorders, and generally they've been fine, probably the quickest of the various boxes I've used over the years. The most I paid was £5 for one, the rest have been free as people get rid presumably to just stream stuff. How many channels it will record at the same time seems to depend on the selection of channels and which mux they're on. The only issue I have, which apparently is a common one, is that the HDMI output has failed on one, which means I have to play back via another device using SCART because my TV is HDMI only. There's probably an adapter I can buy.

Doofus

33,454 posts

198 months

Saturday 18th April
quotequote all
I also had a Manhattan one in France, but the UI was appaling, so I bought another Humax (for Freesat) off eBay, and that's been good too.

I don't know if it's still the case, but Humax's OS used to be open source, and there was community creating apps, menus, skins and all sorts.

Ubiquitous2024

Original Poster:

602 posts

21 months

Saturday 18th April
quotequote all
Doofus said:
I have an Aura and, TBH it's the best Humax I've had (I've had 4). Granted "The best Humax" is a pretty low bar, but I'm happy, and the app allowing me to watch stuff on other devices is good.
Genuinely, I am both surprised and glad to hear this - so - worth a punt? (Not read anything below yet but about to).


Ubiquitous2024

Original Poster:

602 posts

21 months

Saturday 18th April
quotequote all
Blimey. Right, ok.

Firstly we love Humax, had 2 boxes, over 2 decades. I just thought things had "changed" (bit like Bosch becoming st now, not what it used to be).

But I can't find a replacement. Manhatten has been mentioned - I have looked on Youtube and don't really gel with what I have seen. The Aura has been about a few years and I have seen some odd reviews. But if Humax are still alive and kicking, and we have good feedback here, then I am game.

We never have an issue with the 2 recordings at the same time limit, plus watching a third channel. Rare that we have to debunk one, but it has happened. But if it works and lets you know, fine.

I researched this ages ago and apparently the fault that will/can happen is with the multi channel connections internally, i.e. over use. We are having a once every 3 months freeze and reboot, so I know it's on the way out.




Griffith4ever

6,463 posts

60 months

Sunday 19th April
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Manhatten was the best that I could find. Nice UI, handles the on demand players well. British made as well.

We moved and have a sat dish so now have a freesat DVR instead - SO many more HD channels, and SD channels are way less compressed. Worth considering if you can be arsed to put a dish up. The compression on Freeview is simply apalling.

Mr.Chips

1,213 posts

239 months

Sunday 19th April
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Will a Freesat recorder work with a Sky Q dish?

Mr Pointy

12,951 posts

184 months

Sunday 19th April
quotequote all
Bluevanman said:
Mr Pointy said:
Compared to the Humax the UI on those boxes is very poor. You can't even create a proper custom channel list.
Why would you need to?
Can you honestyl not see why a custom channel list is useful? There are tens of channels I'm never going to want to watch (eg shopping & religeous channels) & if I have BBC HD in the list I don't need BBC SD, but I'm stuck with scrolling through a long list of channels just to find the one I want.

Bluevanman said:
The Humax is a lot more expensive than the BT/EE one as well, I paid £80 for mine bnib.
No, you bought a second-hand box with no warranty: you can't equate that cost to that of a brand new Humax

Edited by Mr Pointy on Sunday 19th April 16:08

Mr Pointy

12,951 posts

184 months

Sunday 19th April
quotequote all
fooman said:
I still have a Topfield as my main box it's so quick and easy compared to streaming but I know one day it'll die so I'm interested in the next best solution.
Can you he HD channels though? There's never been another box that can compare to the Topfield.

Mr Pointy

12,951 posts

184 months

Sunday 19th April
quotequote all
Ubiquitous2024 said:
Doofus said:
I have an Aura and, TBH it's the best Humax I've had (I've had 4). Granted "The best Humax" is a pretty low bar, but I'm happy, and the app allowing me to watch stuff on other devices is good.
Genuinely, I am both surprised and glad to hear this - so - worth a punt? (Not read anything below yet but about to).
There's a whole sub-forum on Freeview recorders over on AVForums.

https://www.avforums.com/forums/tv-boxes-players-a...

It seems both the Aura & the Manhatten can have issues.

Griffith4ever

6,463 posts

60 months

Monday 20th April
quotequote all
Mr.Chips said:
Will a Freesat recorder work with a Sky Q dish?
Yes, you have to make sure the freesat box supports a wideband LNB - mine does - it's the Freesat box made by Arris.

Mr.Chips

1,213 posts

239 months

Monday 20th April
quotequote all
Thank you!