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.

PORT SCRATCHINGS

The HDR-1010S’s connectivity doesn’t end there, though. The system also has two USB ports to which you can connect USB drives, a HDMI output, an optical digital audio output and scart and component video outputs. There are two F-connectors to which you connect your satellite cables. You need only one to watch Freesat+, but the second connection is essential if you want to record one channel while watching another.

As with the HDR-1000S, the HDR-1010S is far more than a Freesat+ PVR, as you can stream media from DLNA servers on your network, such as other PCs or NAS devices. The HDR-1010S detected the media servers running on our router and our Synology DS212+ NAS quickly and without issue. As is typical with such systems, you can choose to view photos or videos, or listen to music.

Whichever media type you choose, the interface screens look great and are informative, especially the music screen, which shows the album art for a track and provides a playlist to the right of the screen. You can also play media from connected USB drives and copy media files to the HDR-1010S’s internal hard disk. All these features mean you can place the HDR-1010S right at the heart of your media setup, providing you with access to your music, videos and pictures as well as subscription-free satellite TV.

As much as we liked the old HDR-1000S, it lacked certain online services, although Humax assures us that you can now get the catch-up TV services that were missing. There are no such shortcomings with the HDR-1010S, however, so we had no problem awarding it five stars and a Best Buy award.