I’ve been a TalkTalk customer for years.

As such they have sent me a Youview box, FOC with no changes to my tariff/contract etc

I have a smart TV already and apart from the TV’s lack of 4OD there seems a good deal of crossover between the TV and the Box.

I’ve never recalled needing to pause the TV but the recording element of the box seems useful. That said having to hard wire it is a bit of a bind considering where the router is.

Any users out there care to share their thoughts?

I appreciate this is a bit gift horse and mouth 😳

Just had a junk mail offer to upgrade to the tv package, at a cost!
How long have you been with them?

we got one through the post too, no extra charges didn’t want, I wasn’t asked, it just turned up.

We’ve got sky, so it’s in it’s box still in a cupboard, should have returned it really, actually will try to that this week.

Well IIRC the box is (possibly rebadged) Humax DTR-T1000 (or 1010)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/02/review_humax_youview_dtr_t1000_iptv_freeview_pvr/

In general Humax are very good and I considered getting one of those, but that review ^ put me off, especially the lack of DLNA. The YouView ability (i.e. just scroll back in time on the TV Guide instead of faffing with variations of iPlayer, 4OD etc) seemed like a nice idea though.

So we got a Humax HDR-2000T instead, which doesn’t do YouView but does do DLNA and all the usual FreeView recorder stuff.

I’ve never recalled needing to pause the TV

Really? It’s very useful. Pause when you need a wee, fancy a cuppa, answer the phone etc. Then when you resume you’ll have a bit of buffer which means you can fast-forward when you get to the next ad break.

Having said that, most grown-up telly we watch these days is recorded anyway.

should have returned it really, actually will try to that this week.

They are £180 new. I’d consider flogging it if you’re not using it!
http://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/Direct/Prod/Humax_DTR-T1010_500GB

I have one of the older trial boxes (Humax, rather than the Huawei production version).

It gives you access to loads of catch-up content and, only if you want it, there are various paid for content. Note that paid for content is either on a one-off charge (eg a film) or monthly subscription (eg Sky sports where you could have a one month subscription, rather than the Sky 12-18 month contract).

It’s generally pretty good IME (we also have Sky), especially for catch up content as there’s more and older stuff available than if you accessed iplayer via a PC. Only limiting factor is broadband speed (but isn’t it always and, before everyone starts, that’s actually a BT issue).

I got one the other day. i’m trying to work out if it is an ‘unsolicited gift’ and therefore mine to do with whatever I awnrt, or that there’s some small print meaning TakTalk now own my soul if I connect it. If the former, then it’s going on ebay.

They are £180 new. I’d consider flogging it if you’re not using it!

seems to be loads on ebay for £30 ish, lots looking like they’re not selling either

I have the Huawei box. The software is pretty good and seems to have loads of recording space.

However, it’s a PITA to use as it’s incredibly slow. You press a button, wait a second and press the button again thinking nothing happened. Then it double presses. Also the “nearly ready” message it says for 10mins on startup is annoying. The random failure to record stuff is also a nuisance.

seems to be loads on ebay for £30 ish, lots looking like they’re not selling either

Bum. They were goingfor loads just a couple of months ago. 😡

seems to be loads on ebay for £30 ish, lots looking like they’re not selling either

Blimey.

In that case just open it up and take the 500GB hard drive out of it and stick it in your PC and send them back the rest as an unsolicited gift 😀

We’ve got one of the BT youview boxes. Been quite impressed really.

Currently using a 10m ethernet cable but probably going to buy a pack of powerline adapters to get internet around the house as my laptop wifi is rubbish and I am fed up with cables.

Really nice to be able to hit record on something you are watching if you have to go do something and the series record is great for the F1 as it has recorded all the qualifying etc so I can scan through for things without having to be there to watch it live or watch the whole thing.

Unfortunately we struggle to get decent BBC1 and BBC reception but that is when the iplayer function comes in handy. Only sluggishness I have seen is when accessing the online viewers but I put this down to a rural internet connection.

The Huawei one is a pos! There’s a long thread on Talktalk community from disgruntled customers, me included. As jonnouk says it’s slow, painfully slow. Seems the more you store on the hd the slower it gets and then freezes, so you have to keep using the power button on the back. Given up using it now and gone back to my 4 yr old Humax, which is lightening fast in comparison!

I’d be careful you’re not agreeing to a new 2yr contact by accepting the box…

Indeed, mine is 🙁

I have a Talk Talk you view box…… If I plug it into a BT internet connection would the programme planner / record etc work? Obviously the talk talk specific stuff won’t but will the basic functionality work ?

God damn is the TalkTalk Youview box annoying. I’ll echo everything said above. It’s tediously slow to start sometimes, I suspect it occasionally checks for updates whilst proclaiming “Nearly Ready” so actually takes 5+ minutes to even turn on at times.

I’m old fashioned and since (as per Michael McIntyre’s standup routine) we only trust the fridge (and the cordless landline phone) so every other appliance in the house is turned off at the wall. So a cold start of the YouView box takes ages, every day. And by God if you neglect to turn the router on BEFORE the YouView box, sometimes the YouView box pops up with a helpful message: ‘Your YouView box is now connected to the Internet’ and locks up for about 15 minutes before randomly unlocking itself. Absolute POS. Avoid at all costs. And send it back. In a flaming bag, if possible.

Oddly though if anyone asks what our electricity bill is they are often surprised how little it is per 1/4…

I have a Talk Talk you view box…… If I plug it into a BT internet connection would the programme planner / record etc work?

I’d expect so – as above, I think it is just a rebadged Humax box isn’t it?

every other appliance in the house is turned off at the wall.

Good God, it would take me about 45 minutes to go to bed if we did this!

So you do this even though, as you discovered, turning off devices that are designed to remain on makes them far less functional and inconvenient to use?

The startup time is noticeably longer from a cold than warm start, however the probability of it crashing/locking up during a warm start are so high that if it has to be reset the benefit of leaving it on standby is lost. We did leave it on for a while after we first got it and since it sits in an enclosed TV cabinet it got pretty warm, even on ‘standby’ so we turned it off once the reliability issue came to light.

Functionality and convenience aren’t really affected. Most of the programs we watch are on catch up services anyway so we don’t need on and recording 24/7 pointlessly as you can just scroll back through the TV guide and it links to the appropriate player. It crashes all the time whether you leave it on standby or not. There’s nothing worth setting up to record anyway.

I don’t understand the practice of not turning things off at the wall if there is an alternative. What’s the point in wasting any electricity (albeit a very small amount from some modern energy efficient devices) by leaving a multitude of things on standby? I’m not so lazy, impatient or incapable that I need to have everything able to be turned on by remote at a millisecond’s notice. Don’t get me wrong I’m not some crazy environmental evangelist driving round in a Prius by any means, I just don’t get why for the hour or so a day I might watch the TV why it needs to be powered awaiting my return for the other 23.

I guess when you (and your family?) are at home and have everything turned on the street lights in your road must dim if you have that many things to turn off.

If it’s a Huawei one it’s not a rebadged Humax, I wish it was….

I don’t understand the practice of not turning things off at the wall if there is an alternative. What’s the point in wasting any electricity (albeit a very small amount from some modern energy efficient devices) by leaving a multitude of things on standby?

Well my Humax box uses less than 1 watt on standby.

I consider the corresponding 80 pence a year a pretty small price to pay for having instant on, never missing a recording (or software update), and most of all for not having to clamber behind the TV cabinet multiple times a day.

Likewise my router is always on. It works better that way (due to line speed negotiation) and I don’t want to have to go upstairs and turn it on every time I pick up my phone/tablet or I have a premonition that someone might be trying to contact me by WhatsApp/Facebook/iMessage/email/facetime/skype etc etc. (In fact in that way it is very similar to leaving a landline phone on).

Well my Humax box uses less than 1 watt on standby.

I consider the corresponding 80 pence a year a pretty small price to pay for having instant on

Ok, so what if everyoneon Earth thinks the same? How much energy is that? And what damage does it’s production cause?

Such a spoiled, thoughtless and selfish attitude. 🙁