Humax YouView DTR-T1000 review

While the Humax YouView DTR-T1000 may look like any other hard disk PVR, inside it’s something a bit special, as this is the first model to use the YouView platform. What this means, is that as well as being able to view and record Freeview HD broadcasts, you can access all of the main channels’ (BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five) on-demand programming from one seamless interface.

Before we get into the details of this PVR, it’s worth addressing some of the points made about YouView, particularly as a lot of the press have been rather negative about it. We’ve explained why YouView is good in our in-depth article, but the short version is, yes it’s delayed, no that doesn’t make any difference to you and the Humax DTR-T1000 isn’t particularly expensive – as it has the same launch price as the company’s previous Freeview HD PVR, the Humax HDR-FOX T2. The only thing that’s important about this box is whether or not it’s a good PVR for live TV and if the on-demand programming adds anything.

HARDWARE

Things are certainly off to a good start from the outside. The DTR-T1000 has Humax’s usual quality build quality and looks every inch the high-end PVR. It’s currently available as a 500GB model, although a 1TB model will be available in the future.

The Humax YouView DTR-T1000 is an attractive-looking PVR with dual Freeview HD tuners

At the rear are all of the usual connections you’d expect including a single RF-in for the dual Freeview HD tuners, HDMI out (a cable’s included in the box), Ethernet (again a cable is provided) and composite and SCART outputs for older televisions.

A short quick-start guide helps you set up the box and basically involves plugging the Ethernet cable into your router and the HDMI cable into your TV. Sadly, there’s no support for wireless at the moment, although the USB port at the rear may be enabled for this at a later date; in the meantime, Humax recommends HomePlug if you don’t have your router within network cable distance of your router.

The first time you power on the box it takes a few minutes to set itself up. Then, there’s a short wizard you have to go through to automatically tune in the channels and set your postcode so that you receive the right programme information.

FREEVIEW HD PVR

Once done, you’re ready. From an initial look the DTR-T1000 looks and acts like a regular PVR. The EPG is simple to browse through and we like the thumbnail preview of the channel you’re currently watching.

The YouView EPG is one of the best that we’ve seen: it’s clear and easy to read

Hit record on any programme and you get the option to record either that single programme or, if it’s part of a series, all future episodes. You can step forwards by a day and use the channel up and down buttons on the remote to skip quickly through the channel list.

As you’d expect from a PVR, you can record a single programme or an entire series.

Recordings are simple to access, you can view programmes that have been recorded and scheduled recordings – so you can cancel the latter if required. You can also filter the list of recordings by those you’ve watched and those you haven’t. There’s also the standard option to delete a recording or lock it, so that you can keep it forever.

You can filter Recordings by Watched and Not Watched, as well as viewing those Scheduled

Watching live TV gives you all of the features you’d expect, including the ability to rewind and pause live TV. As there are dual Freeview HD tuners, you can record two programmes at once and watch a third, provided it’s on the same multiplex as one of the current recordings (multiplexes being the small groupings that digital channels are broadcast in). All-in-all, it’s a very simple, feature packed PVR that does everything we’d expect.

STEP BACK IN TIME

Where things are different from a usual PVR is that you can also step back up to seven days using the same EPG. Programmes that were shown in the past can be viewed, as long as they are on a major channel, via internet-based streaming services.

Just hit the OK button and instead of box tuning into the correct channel, the relevant on-demand player (BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD or Demand Five) is started and the programme plays automatically. It’s a neat trick and the integration of live and catch-up TV in one simple EPG makes choosing what you want to watch incredibly easy. Though we would have liked our own recordings to have also been marked up on the EPG, as an alternative to streamed ones.

The integration of the services goes beyond simply being able to select a past programme to watch, though. Because YouView is connected to the internet it can also pull in extra information about live programmes. So, select Info on a programme in the future and, if available, you get a More Episodes button, which pulls its content from the relevant on-demand service. Each programme’s information is also pulled from online, giving more detail than is standard for a Freeview EPG.

The integration of live and on-demand programming is really neat. Here you can see what extra episodes of a programme are available

There’s also a search facility, which lets you search all of the on-demand services in one go, looking for the programme that you want to watch. This search steps back through the entire content catalogue, so you can find programmes that are more than seven days old. At no point do you have to concern yourself with which on-demand application you need to load. Currently, the search facility doesn’t work with live TV, which is a shame, as you can only find this by browsing through the EPG.

You can also browse through on-demand content by type (Films, children’s TV, Adult, etc), with YouView pulling all of the relevant programmes from each service. Should you know which on-demand service houses the content you want to watch, you can jump directly to its YouView app and use that solely.

YouView lets you browse all on-demand content by category, including Films and TV shows

Even better, when you’re watching on-demand TV you can bring up the YouView menu and search for new content or browse the EPG without interrupting your viewing. In essence, then, YouView presents and treats catch-up TV as though it were live TV.

The simple YouView menu doesn’t get in the way of what you’re watching.

Detractors of YouView often don’t take into account this integration when they say that all of these facilities are available already through Smart TV or by plugging a laptop or tablet into your TV. Smart TV doesn’t have every catch-up service and you have to quit live TV and then choose the service you want to watch. Plugging in a laptop gives you every catch-up service, but you can’t search through them seamlessly and you lose the remote control ability. So, yes YouView does what you can already do, but it does it better and with less hassle.

REMOTE CONTROL

Humax provides a decent remote control that’s comfortable to hold. We found its buttons responsive and it’s easy to tell that you’ve correctly depressed a button. There’s a dedicated YouView button that brings up the small menu bar, plus shortcuts to jump directly to the EPG or Search facilties.

INDIVIDUAL SERVICES

That’s not to say that everything is perfect. Licensing issues mean that not every programme is available. For example, the Ricky Gervais show is available on 4oD through the website, but not through the DTR-T1000 box.

The other minor issue is that each on-demand service is the responsibility of the original owner, so each has a slightly different interface and different status bars. Tighter integration would be preferable, but this is a minor point. More pressing is that each service provides a different set of features and gives you access to programmes in a slightly different way. The quality varies between broadcasters, so we’re going to take a look at each one in turn.

BBC IPLAYER

It has to be said that out of all of the services BBC iPlayer is the best in terms of features, integration and quality. Of all the on-demand services, iPlayer is the only one with an HD stream. Standard definition is selected by default, but you can use the simple interface to select the HD stream, if available. You can also set YouView to automatically default to the HD stream, while the BBC iPlayer app has a similar setting. If you’ve got fast broadband and a high data cap, the HD version is definitely the one to go for.

BBC iPlayer has an HD stream, which you can select as the default using the iPlayer app and in the YouView Settings menu

When you’re watching a programme, there’s a Choose another programme option at the top that lets you view similar programmes (called More Like This), More Episodes or view favourites.

When you’re watching a programme, you can view More Episodes and similar programmes via More Like This

It’s the BBC iPlayer app that gives you the most options, though. This is basically a replica of the website, designed to be browsed using a remote control. From here you can view the Last Played programmes and resume, as well as Featured Most Popular and Favourite programmes. It’s good to see a full search box is integrated, so you find the content you want to watch. Overall, the BBC iPlayer experience is smooth and easy to use – it’s the pick of the bunch.

The BBC iPlayer app is excellent and has a full search facility.

ITV PLAYER

ITV Player is a little disappointing. After launching a programme to watch, the only thing you can do is view information on the show. That’s it. There’s no option to find similar programmes or choose other applications. It’s a real disappointment that more effort hasn’t been put in here.

You can only view the current programme’s information when using ITV Player.

Through the ITV Player app, there’s a bit more control, there’s the option to resume watching recent programmes, plus you can browse by channel, day and A-to-Z. The interface looks very basic, though, and it’s a real shame that there’s no proper search integrated.

All programmes have adverts in them, which you can’t skip. This is the same as the ITV Player service online, so we can’t really complain; but if you’re coming from using a traditional PVR, actually having to watch some adverts again is a bit of a shock.

The ITV Player app is very basic and we wish that more had been done

4oD

4oD has adverts that you can’t skip, as does the service when accessed through a web browser. We quite like what Channel 4 has done with its service and it’s clearly made an effort to make the experience a good one.

Hitting the Info button on the remote control brings up programme information for the current show and lets you choose More Episodes, so you can find out what else is on.

When viewing a 4oD programme you can see what other episodes are available.

Likewise, the 4oD app is similarly well-designed. You can browse content by Most Popular, Categories and Collections, and resume programmes that you’ve started to watch. There’s no proper search, but an A-to-Z of programmes instead.

4oD’s app is pretty good, letting you browse through available programmes, but there’s no search.

DEMAND FIVE

Five Player is an impressive bit of work. When you’re watching a programme, you can view More Like This and get More Episodes. It’s a quick and easy way to navigate through what you’re watching.

Demand Five lets you access similar programmes (More Like This) and More Episodes

Accessing the Five Player app shows that the quality has continued. You can resume programmes you’ve started to watch and access your Favourites. Five also lets you browse Featured programmes or through a full list of shows, and it has a proper search bar. It’s great to see the company take YouView seriously and deliver a full set of features.

Demand Five’s app is really easy to use and has a full search facility

THE FUTURE

One of the main things about YouView is that it’s not just designed to work with the big broadcasters, but with a mind to extending the service in future. Click on the Players link to view on the on-demand apps and you can see that there’s plenty of room on this screen for new content to be added.

One of the first services to be added will be Sky’s Now TV. Offering movies to start with, this IP TV service will later add sport and entertainment, including Sky Atlantic and Sky 1. It will cost £15-per-month for unlimited access or from 99p to £3.49 on pay-as-you-go. Other companies and services can pay to have their content added to YouView, meaning that the platform can only get better in the future.

YouView has plenty of scope for being expanded in the future, with Sky’s Now TV due to be added soon

In the meantime, we think that the current offering could be improved slightly, by making sure that every company provides an HD stream. It would be good to provide a consistent interface for each of their individual Players, too.

WORTH BUYING?

The big question is whether the YouView DTR-T1000 is worth buying or not. Our simple answer is, yes. YouView gives you all of the free catch-up TV services and lets you watch content in a way that’s considerably easier than using any Smart TV or connected laptop. We love the YouView interface and the way it treats live and on-demand programming in the same way. With more services due to be added, YouView will only get better. We can also see the technology being the de facto standard for PVRs, set-top boxes and, hopefully, even TVs.

There’s not quite enough reason to upgrade, but the Humax YouView DTR-T1000 is the best if you need a new PVR

That all said, if you’ve got a Freeview HD PVR that you’re perfectly happy with, the Humax YouView DTR-T1000 is a little expensive for an upgrade and we can’t see many people swapping. However, if you’re looking for a new PVR, this is the one to buy and well worth the relatively small premium over existing Freeview HD boxes. As for YouView in general, provided it’s in it for the long-haul, it has a bright future ahead. After all, who doesn’t want on-demand TV integrated into the same neat EPG?