Humax HDR-1010S review

Humax’s HDR-1010S is a PVR that lets you watch high-definition satellite TV without having to pay subscriptions fees. You can record any two of the 150 or so free channels at any one time. The 1TB hard disk provides a vast amount of storage, letting you store up to 500 hours of standard-definition TV or up to 250 hours of high-definition TV.

This PVR is an update to the Humax HDR-1000S we reviewed last year, and apart from being white rather than black, it looks the same. Although the HDR-1000S impressed us, we were dismayed that some catch-up TV services were missing, and we were still waiting for them to appear months after the review. However, we’re happy to report that with the HDR-1010S you get the full complement of UK catch-up TV services right out of the box. This means you can stream content from BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD and Demand 5.

ACCESS ALL AREAS

You can access catch-up TV in one of two ways. You have full access to the web portals of each catch-up TV service, which is great if you want to browse a service to see what’s available. The HDR-1010S uses the standard interfaces for the online services, so they look familiar. Perhaps the most convenient method, though, is Free Time, which is Freesat’s equivalent of YouView. Free Time integrates catch-up TV into the HDR-1010S’s electronic programme guide (EPG). Not only can you record future shows and set reminders, but you can also see what’s available to watch on a particular channel from a previous day, up to a week earlier. To view a catch-up TV show, simply select it and the HDR-1010S will stream it.

The internet services don’t stop there. There’s also a YouTube portal, and you can view highlights from BBC News and BBC Sport. In addition to the generous number of catch-up TV services, there are Flickr and Picasa portals, as well as portals for online news sites such as OK! and the Daily Star, among many others. Some services are fairly specialist, though; the highlights are the catch-up TV services and the YouTube portal.

To use the online services, you’ll need to connect the HDR1010S to your network, and you can do so via an Ethernet cable or the HDR-1010S’s built-in Wi-Fi. We had no trouble connecting to our network using either method, and the large onscreen keyboard makes it easy to enter Wi-Fi passwords.