My venerable Humax 9200T is on its last legs. Keeps freezing up and getting recordings confused (reformatted the drive several times and run all the drive check utils on it).

Plus our region is about switch off analogue and go fully digital.

So all in all it seems like a good time to upgrade.
I guess the modern equivalent of my current Hummy is the HDR-Fox T2.

What else is good?

Obviously decent size storage, HD output, dual tuners, decent TV planner and usable remote would be good.

I’m also thinking the ability to connect to my home network and play DivX movies, music or photos from the DLNA media server would be really quite handy. As would the ability to use iPlayer (+ ITV/4oD/5).

Thoughts?

Shuttle XPC and TV tuner record, watch live, watch downloads

Failing that maybe a PS3

Mmmm.. yeah I could build my own but can’t really be faffed with the hassle if I can buy a box that already does it all.

Don’t think a PS3 covers it? Handles the playing for media server and iPlayer requirements, but doesn’t actually record Freeview HD does it?

The Terminator.

Humax DTR-T1000

The YouView one?

El Reg didn’t seem that impressed with it:
http://www.reghardware.com/2012/08/02/review_humax_youview_dtr_t1000_iptv_freeview_pvr/

http://www.trustedreviews.com/humax-dtr-t1000_TV-recorder—set-top-box_review

Trusted Reviews thought differently – have to be honest, I don’t pay a huge amount of credence to the Reg hardware reviews.

Yeah Tech Radar one was a little more positive:
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/audio-visual/digital-tv-recorders/humax-dtr-t1000-1090466/review

But the major stumbling block seems to be that the T1000 doesn’t do media server / DLNA streaming.

Which is odd given that the cheaper HDR-FOX T2 that it is based on does.

a very happy t2 owner here. they just work

jp-t853: does the tv portal thing do iPlayer and is it usable?
Anything else useful in there yet?

(I assume it doesn’t do itv,4,5 players, OS that’s why you pay the extra for YouView)

Happy with my digitalstream, I got it nearly new for half the price of the humax.

Digitalstream?

One of these: http://www.techradar.com/reviews/audio-visual/digital-tv-recorders/digital-stream-dhr8203u-694518/review ?

Hmmm…..

Interested in this thread, in the process of ditching sky and looking at alternatives, sort of thought that youview is the obvious choice given its more of a platform allowing for future upgrades rather than just being a box

We have a 9200 and a fox-T2 and the T2 is miles better. I found the ‘apps’ pretty slow on the T2, but the basic functionality is streets ahead of the 9200. I’ll ask the Mrs what iplayers like on the T2 when she wakes up!

We have a 9200 and a fox-T2 and the T2 is miles better. I found the ‘apps’ pretty slow on the T2, but the basic functionality is streets ahead of the 9200. I’ll ask the Mrs what iplayers like on the T2 when she wakes up!

sort of thought that youview is the obvious choice given its more of a platform allowing for future upgrades rather than just being a box

Yeah I thought that too, but the lack of DLNA support cripples it compared to the cheaper T2.

I’ll ask the Mrs what iplayers like on the T2 when she wakes up!

Thanks lodious.

Can`t fault my Digitialstream

Failing that, see if LG do a standalone box. Their smart-TV and DLNA streaming support is excellent.

Can`t fault my Digitialstream

Which model? I don’t think the DHR8203U does DLNA networking does it?

The EPG looks a bit clunky:

When compared to Humax:

The review mentions that it is a bit slow to use. Do you notice that much?

Come on.. MOAR FEEDBACK required.. I going shopping tomorrow and I don’t want to make an actual buying decision on my own without the infinite wisdom of the hive mind.

Is there a recorder/freeview box in one that I can get? My freeview box is on its last legs and I could do with something that can also record shows.

Is there a recorder/freeview box in one that I can get? My freeview box is on its last legs and I could do with something that can also record shows.

Yeah. Pretty much anything mentioned on this thread 😀

Edit: or do you mean you want to record other, non-freeview stuff from a different AV source?

Been impressed with BT Vision since I got it a few weeks ago. Box works well, interface is friendly enough and as I renegotiated my broadband deal, I’m actually better off each month than I was before I got vision.

We’ve got a Toshiba, works well, very occasionally needs a reboot.

Get another Humax, the ridiculously-named HDR-Fox-T2.

I did and it’s been brill, a worthy upgrade from the 9200t with better everything. And custom firmware. Especially the custom firmware.

Oh, and don’t go shopping for it, get a cheap refurbished 1TB model from humax direct.

Well worth looking at BT Vision if you get BT BB, BT also have a version of Youview coming and football rights.

And custom firmware. Especially the custom firmware.

Ooooh now that looks interesting! +1 to Hummy.

Are the newer Humaxes better at PC connectivity? My old 9200 needs a shockingly unreliable app to transfer programs to my PC via a usb cable (even the command line version from the forums).

To be fair, the old Humaxes weren’t really designed to do that, whereas the new ones are network-ready and have Ethernet built-in.

new ones totally different (vastly improved!). linux-based os and the custom firmware allows all sorts of useful packages to be installed. UPnP server, FTP, HD decryption. Have a scout around hummy.tv to get an idea.

That humax epg does look nice, the digitalstream does its stuff just fine too though. I’ve never found the epg to be slow, though deleting HD files can take a few more seconds than ideal. The one thing I would say is that digitalstream listen to their customers, take on board suggestions and release any changes/fixes quickly. When I had a hummy it took them an age to release firmware fixes. I paid £115 for my 500GB, a fair chunk cheaper than you could get a hummy for.

The review mentions that it is a bit slow to use. Do you notice that much?

The EPG on my parent’s Fox-T2 is lovely and fast. The one on my Foxsat HDR is rather slow, especially with the original Humax remote.

Graham, sorry it’s a bit late, but I tried the iplayer app on the T2, and it appeared to work OK…not the fastest app in the world, but appeared to be usable (based on a 5 min test).

Have you bought one yet (and do you like it!)?

Cool thanks.

No didn’t get one yet – partly cos I decided that at the shop prices I’d be better buying online, and partly because I remembered it was my wedding anniversary on Sunday so had more important things to do than go shopping 😀

Will probably order one next week sometime. Still weighing up T2 vs T1000.
T2 seems to have the edge, but T1000/YouView may have a brighter future after some updates.

my mate has a tvonics and I bought the same for my mum – seems pretty good and british (welsh).

hi,iv had 3 or 4 different model humax boxes,all very good,but lacking an inbuilt dvd burner to back stuff onto,so then bought a panny freesat/dvd recorder, now got a panny frreeview/dvd recorder-twin tuner,hd,320gb hdd etc-great picture quality,nice bit of kit,also recently bought a samsung equivalent too,but seems bit cheap to the panny,but only tested it for ten minutes

Well, been running a youview box for the last week and very impressed!