I will add a +1 about the catchup on the device being a nice to have, not an essential.
I got a FVP-4000T about a year ago when my old Media Center PC finally gave up ghost as Microsoft have given up on Media Center. I briefly considered running Kodi (in fact I have used a RaspberryPi with XBMC, later Kodi before) but decided I wanted a simple "wife ready" device I did not actually have to administer. I chose the Humax as a friend was a big fan of their earlier models and especially because it had 3 tuners (I actually had had 4 on my old Media Center), and had a decent sized disc (2Tb). The Freeview Play catchup stuff was a nice to have, but frankly there is a better set of Apps on my SmartTV, on my Amazon Fire Stick, and NowTV box. Since the Humax has major misses in online services supported (no Amazon, no NowTV, no Plex, cannot act as target for Casting from phone), really all it does is add more confusion than anything (which version of iPlayer and I using, with which remote control?).
I find the UI of the Humax both slow and poorly designed. I won't rehearse all the issues again, they are well documented here. I also find it less reliable than I would expect from a consumer device - recordings sometimes do not happen for no obvious reason, it reboots randomly, and has just lost recordings: all problems you will see mentioned here in the forums. It is slightly better in reliability than my old Media Center - but only just, and that is compared to software that stopped being properly supported about 5 years ago.
My dream PVR is actually pretty simple - just work reliably as a PVR, have at least 3 tuners, a large disc, a UI that is as well designed as on a Sky+, SkyQ or even the just the old Microsoft Media Center, and for a real dream one that supports CEC properly (not just for power), so I don't need yet another remote control. Catch up and other apps are nice to have, but frankly if you can't match the apps on my SmartTV don't bother.
| Tue 9 Jan 2018 14:26:03
#24 |
