Humax Tivizen TV review

Although there’s a world of entertainment to download or watch online, good old-fashioned television hasn’t gone out of fashion just yet. The real question, is how do you get it if you’re away from your home? That’s something that Humax thinks it has the answer to with the Tivizen TV.

This simple product is a battery-powered Freeview tuner (not Freeview HD) with built-in Wi-Fi. Using the Tivizen TV couldn’t be easier. All you have to do is connect your device to the Tivizen’s internal Wi-Fi network, fire up the app (it’s a free download from the Apple App Store) and follow the wizard through to tune in TV and start watching your favourite shows.

This battery powered Freeview receiver connects to your iOS device via Wi-Fi

Using Wi-Fi for the connection is a clever idea, as it means you can place the tuner where it gets best reception while still being able to watch comfortably from your device. The downside is that you have to disconnect your device from any Wi-Fi routers that you’re using, removing internet access while you’re watching TV. There’s also no security on the Tivizen’s Wi-Fi network, although the app only allows a single iOS device to connect at once.

This is more a limitation of the version sold by Humax, as there’s also a German import available (the Elgato Tivizen TV), which has a different app available, which lets you set a network password and even connect the Tivizen TV to your home network. We tried this app with our Tivizen, but it refused to connect.

We don’t see the more restrictive app as a massive problem, as the main reason for a product like this is so that you can watch TV when you’re out and about, and not near a Wi-Fi network.

An extending aerial helps you get the best signal strength

Once you’re connected, the quality of the TV stream depends on the strength of the signal it can receive. Wi-Fi means you’ve got flexibility in placement and the extendable antenna helps improve the signal and gives you a bit more flexibility. Ultimately, though, you’re at the mercy of the Freeview signal strength. In our tests, this varied from no signal at all, unless we stood outside and held the Tivizen TV in the air (not hugely practical) and full-strength. Generally speaking, placing the Tivizen TV in a window gets you a good signal, while in an unobstructed field, such as when you’re camping, gets you the best image quality.

With a strong signal, the image quality is really good, with a sharp image and strong colours. We compared the footage from Tivizen to the footage using the BBC iPlayer app. Quality is similar, but the BBC loses out detail, particularly in areas such as foliage and grass. To be fair, you probably wouldn’t notice the difference in a moving image. The one thing that’s particularly strange is that the Tivizen TV shows a picture with thin black bars around it, whereas the iPlayer app shows the image full screen.

The BBC iPlayer version (top) has slightly less detail than the Tivizen TV version (bottom) – click to enlarge

There’s no way to pause live TV, but you can record shows so that you can watch them later. You can only record what you’re watching and there’s no scheduling, but it at least lets you catch up with a programme for viewing later. A basic TV guide lets you flick through what’s currently on TV by channel, but we couldn’t get a full guide up on the iPhone. The iPad app lets you browse through a list of TV shows by channel, but a full guide would have been nice.

A MicroUSB port lets you charge the internal battery

Inside the case is a Nokia BL-5C 3.7V 1,050mAh battery, which is charged via the Tivizen TV’s MicroUSB connector. It should last around 3.5hours on battery charge alone, although replacements costs just a few pounds and you can charge the device while you watch.

Whether or not you need the Tivizen TV depends on what you want to do. At home, the free CatchUpTV app, which streams all of the Freeview channels for free over your internet connection is the best bet. If you go camping a lot, it’s a handy product, but you’ll need a decent Freeview signal to get the most out of it.