Humax DTR-T1010 review

The Humax DTR-T1010 is the company’s second YouView box, but rather than something completely new it’s really just an external facelift of the excellent Humax YouView DTR-T1000 PVR.

Although the DTR-T1010 is a much better-looking PVR, thanks to the brushed-metal effect front panel, inside it’s effectively the same as the model it replaces, running the same YouView operating system. It’s certainly not aimed at existing Humax YouView owners then, but for anyone looking to buy a new Freeview HD PVR, there’s a whole lot to love about the DTR-T1010.

HARDWARE

For starters, it’s really well built and we love the look of the PVR and the way that the LCD screen shines through the metal-effect front panel. Once you’ve turned the box off, it also means that it looks a lot sleeker.

We love the new-look, with the brushed metal effect front looking making the DTR-T1010 look much sleeker than its glossy plastic predecessor

The DTR-T1010 was originally available in both 500GB (£249) and 1TB (£299) versions. However, the company has now added a massive 2TB model to the line, which could be ideal for real TV lovers.

As each box has identical features and specs otherwise, the choice of hard disk just comes down to how much TV yo want to record and how much you’re willing to spend.

According to Humax, you should get 125 hours of HD programming or 300 hours of standard definition programming on the the 500GB box; moving up to 250 hours of HD programming and 600 hours of SD on the 1TB box; and the 2TB model doubles that again, with up to 500 hours of HD programming and a whopping 1,200 hours of SD programming.

Price is also important to think about, with the 500GB box currently costing £229, the 1TB box costing £249 and the 2TB box £299. Based purely on price and capacity, the 1TB box is the best value, with the 2TB model a premium upgrade. That said, £299 for a 2TB set-top box certainly isn’t bad value and if you find yourself constantly running our of room on your PVR, this should be the model you choose.

At the rear are all of the usual connections you’d expect to find on a PVR, including a single RF-input for the dual Freeview HD tuners, HDMI out (Humax provides a cable), and composite and SCART outputs for older televisions, as well as an optical S/PDIF for audio.

All of the outputs you’d expect are on the back

As this is a YouView box, it’s essential that it’s connected to the internet to use all of the services. There’s only an Ethernet port provided (a cable’s provided) and there’s no way to hook up a wireless adaptor at the moment, even though there’s a USB port. If your router’s not close to your PVR, we recommend using HomePlug instead – possibly the TP-Link TL-PA511 AV500 Gigabit Powerline Adaptor Starter Kit for just £27 at present.

You get the same remote control as with the DTR-T1000, but that’s no bad thing. It’s well laid-out and the keys give plenty of feedback, so it’s responsive and easy to use.

The remote control is well designed and comfortable to use

YOUVIEW

As this is a YouView box, it has the same interface and operating system as any other YouView PVR. That’s no bad thing, as a lot of work has gone into the operating system. Our original Humax DTR-T1000 review gives you the full low-down on YouView, but we’ll cover the important points here, too.

You get the same YouView interface here as on any other YouView box

In case you’re not familiar with it, YouView is designed to mix live TV with on-demand TV in one seamless interface. The idea is that you can step back in time through the EPG and select programmes that were on in the past via the internet, as well as watching and recording live TV.

YouView has built-in support for all of the main terrestrial television channels’ on-demand players, including BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD and Demand Five. That’s still a good step ahead of most Smart TV platforms. To watch content from any of these players, you just step back in time through the EPG and select a programme to watch; the relevant player is automatically started and your content starts to play. If a programme isn’t available (most likely for licensing reasons), the selection is just greyed out.

While using the EPG is a great way to find programmes that have just been on, it’s not ideal if you want to search for a show that was on longer ago. Fortunately, YouView has several methods of finding the programmes that you want to watch.

YOUVIEW PLAYERS

The most obvious way to find programmes is to a launch each individual on-demand player. Each player is the responsibility of the provider, so the interfaces differ dramatically. BBC iPlayer is excellent, for example, while ITV’s player has less features, making it harder to find programmes. Still, regardless of the quality, having all of the major catch-up services available in one place is still excellent.

You can access every on-demand player individually, although the quality varies between them

You’re not restricted to this route, though, as YouView has proper on-demand integration in the OS. So, using the search menu, you can find on-demand programmes, as well as upcoming shows on live TV.

The YouView Search facility looks for on-demand and live content alike

YouView also bundles all of the content together in a special on-demand section. This lets you look for content by category, including Films and TV content. It’s a great way to discover new programmes, without having to load each player individually.

The On Demand section is a great way to discover new content, regardless of which service it’s stored on

YouView is also designed to be extendable, so other companies can pay to be on the platform. This could be for adding catch-up TV services, but you can also have premium content, too. For example, Sky Now TV gives you access to movies (£15 a month) and sports (£9.99 per day you want it). There’s no reason why another platform, such as Netflix, couldn’t make its way to YouView.

YouView is designed to be extendable, so new players and premium content can be added, such as Sky’s Now TV

You can also get extra content if you have a specific broadband provider. Connect this box to BT Broadband connection, for example, and pay for a BT Vision subscription (from £5 per month) and you get access to a brand-new app. This lets you watch any BT Vision content, including TV shows, films and music, without having to replace the set-top box. However, if you want to go down this route, you may be better off going straight to BT YouView as you can get a 500GB Humax DTR-T1000 box for just £49. Even including a £5 per month fee, the PVR works out at a total of £109 over a 12-month contract – that’s £140 cheaper than buying the DTR-T1010 box outright.

EPG

For planning what you want to watch, the EPG is one of the best. It’s clearly laid out, with the day and date you’re viewing highlighted at the top of screen. A thumbnail at the top right keeps showing the current TV programme, so you can browse through the EPG while still keeping an eye on what you were watching.

The YouView EPG is one of the best

Selecting a programme in the EPG brings up more detailed information. As it’s designed to be internet-connected, YouView pulls in extra programme information from online. This should mean that the programme information you get is more detailed than on a standard Freeview HD box. As well as detailed information, if there are extra episodes of the selected programme available on-demand, you get a More Episodes tab to browse through the additional content.

Selecting a programme in the EPG lets you view extra episodes on-demand

PVR

Of course, the DTR-T1010 is also a very capable PVR. Selecting a programme to record asks if you want to record a single episode or the entire series. We also like the way that selecting the standard definition version checks if an HD version is available and then asks if you’d like to record this instead.

We like the way that YouView asks if you’d like to record the HD version of a programme

Recordings are all accessed through the MyView section of the interface. You can view recordings and scheduled recordings separately, so you can see what you’ve recorded and manage what’s coming up. Recordings can be sorted by A-to-Z or Date, and you can filter them by Watched or Unwatched. All-in-all it makes finding what you want to watch easy.

As this is YouView, it pulls a programme description from the internet, complete with a thumbnail image for each show. It makes browsing through your recordings much more pleasant than on a lot of PVRs. As with other parts of the interface, you can also view More Episodes from the recording screen, diving into the on-demand content from this part of the interface, too.

YouView pulls extra information, including a thumbnail image, from the internet for your recordings

REMOTE RECORD

If you’ve got an iPhone, you can install the YouView App and set a programme to record from anywhere in the world. You have to first configure the app to talk to your PVR. This requires you to enable remote record on the set-top box and note-down the code that’s generated; this code is then entered into the app. It’s a bit of a pain to set-up the first time and creating a simple user account online and entering the details into your PVR and any iPhones in the family would have been easier.

You can remotely record using your iPhone, but it’s a shame that there’s no Android app yet

Remote record is rather simplistic and just lets you browse through the EPG and set a programme to record, either just a single episode or the entire series. Still, it’s a useful tool, although we wish that an Android version was available.

CONCLUSION

We’re big fans of YouView. It neatly and cleanly integrates on-demand and live TV into a simple interface. If you want a Freeview HD PVR, then YouView is the best type that you can get. Currently, the Humax HDR-T1010 is the best YouView PVR, making it the best Freeview HD PVR. It’s not worth upgrading from the HDR-T1000, as there’s simply not enough different. If you’ve got BT broadband, then you should sign up for BT YouView, as you’ll get the HDR-T1000 for an amazing price. For everyone else looking to buy a Freeview HD PVR, this is the one to buy.