Humax HDR-1010S 1TB (1000GB) HD TV Freesat Recorder with Free Time and Wifi (requires Satellite dish)

When I opened the box, I was initially dismayed at the rather short and brief instruction manual. Surely there must be more information required? But no - that really was all the that was required to get the box set up and running in under 10 minutes with a previously working Sat dish and a WiFi router within range. Particularly good is that it can connect via scart, so older TV's can be connected and suddenly become smarter!Straight away you have all the catch up services from the 5 main terrestrial channels (BBC i-player etc) and a multitude of channels. The various EPG on-screen displays are all very clear, though the programme information can be a little small on smaller tv. The Menus are all very clear and easily accessed via the remote and all very well thought out, so there is little need for the manual as it is very intuitive. Any options are asked only when needed.The unit is white, which I dislike, and the shape is like a set of body fat index scales - which I also dislike. Leave it lying on the floor and someone is sure to try and weight themselves on it. But once over this, there is really no complaints.It's fairly silent in operation, however the remote does have rather loud clickey buttons - This is reserved only for the buttons you's use the most - not sure why, as the rest are the usual quiet type. You won't notice it as a user, but if you channel hop, anyone else in the room will! Some people have pointed out the rather slow boot time (about 15 seconds), but I don't think it's really that bad - but don't press the on button twice as it'll just turn off again.The search facility is good if you know what programmes you are looking for, after typing 3 letters it starts a results list that shortens as you type more - so you can stop and scroll at any point. Sadly it doesn't search by genre - as useful feature that is missing - so you can't search for films for example and get a list of films. The software is updated though - so this facility may yet arrive....Over all, I can't see what else you would buy to compete with this unless you want to subscribe to SKY

This box has recently been awarded a 'Best buy' in Which? magazine and placed above the Sky+ box. The earlier Humax models were clunky to use and lacked a lot of functionality, so how is this one different?The first big difference is the ease of use. It's now simply a matter of screwing in the Satellite dish feeds and away you go. The box's onboard software takes care of everything except inputting your postcode. Once it's checked your signal levels and performed an onboard channel scan, you're ready to go. It's really that simple.Picture is clear and bright, sound is excellent. Recording is even simpler than Sky - if that's possible. Simply select the show you want to record and press Record on the remote. The system then performs some very clever tricks, which place it ahead of Sky's boxes: it first asks if you want the Standard or High Definition version of the show. Once you've selected that, it asks if you want all the shows in the series. This is where it gets seriously good: it then checks to see if there's any conflict - in other words, are you trying to record three programmes at the same time? If so it tries to find another showing of the programme and asks you if you'd prefer that.However, it offers more, and this is where it poses a really serious challenge to Sky: Freesat have apps for iPads, Android, iPhones and several other systems and these allow you to 'pair' with up to six of these boxes, so you can browse channels, set recordings and even view some shows remotely. Pairing is simple: you register on the Freesat site, and and then input the special code which this box provides on request, simply by following a few prompts. From then on, you can do almost everything on your ipad from your armchair without bothering with the Humax remote.As if this wasn't good enough, the box has Wi-Fi built in, and once connected to your router through ADSL or wirelessly, the system offers Freetime, a system that lets you access easily free catch-up TV, such as the BBC iPlayer. 4OD, ITV player and more. It also offers the same functionality that the much vaunted Freeview does: the ability to scroll back and forth through listings for seven days either way. Add to this two USB sockets that allow you to play photos on the system and it's difficult to fault this machine.The remote control is clearly laid out, with a big 'home' button, so you can easily find your way back to the main screen. At the moment, the system doesn't support folders, but experience shows they can be a mixed blessing, anyway, and it's always possible Humax will introduce them in the future.In terms of PVRs, this is now the best on the market and worth the price tag, since there is no subscription required for Freesat services.There is one, tiny niggle: it seems the Humax HDMI handshaking protocols are a tad over-exuberant. What that means is that if you're using a Sony with HDMI, the Humax won't allow you to select other HDMI inputs, unless you power off the system first. This isn't a deal-breaker, it's simply a little inconvenient. I'll be fitting a new HDMI switch box this week, to see if that makes a difference. If it does, I'll add it to this review.

This was bought as direct replacement for Sky. The features of the box are very good in terms of the usual stuff you would expect - planner, TV guide and the range of on demand services is very good. Setup is easy, connecting to home network is easy, and the built-in software update mechanism works very well.Using the device in my opinion is not as intuitive as a Sky box, though. It's a bit clunky and quite slow to respond and I have had some glitches with On Demand. The menus scroll in a weird fashion, and the series link functionality is not very informative. I feel like I've told a program to SL a number of times, and it never seems to take. Sometimes it locks up and the picture can become scrambled. This is usually resolved by exiting out, or cycling the power - it just doesn't feel like it's had the same amount of stress testing that Sky has had. The look is also a bit dated.So I'm not convinced it's worth of its price tag - it feels much closer to 100-150 in my mind, but nevertheless if you're looking to move away from Sky, then this is a very good choice (and you will quickly recoup the price of the box on the subscription fees you'll save!)