Humax DTR-T1010 review

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.