HUMAX DTR-T2000 500GB YouView Receiver with HD

We are lucky enough to live in a Virgin connected area so, for the last 25 years have had the advantage of cable TV and broadband.On one or two occasions I have strayed, I tried Sky once until I realised what a reprehensible, manipulative individual Murdoch is (that took me all of a year on contract with them) at which point I dumped the network vowing never to give that man a penny ever again.So via one or two other experiments which didn't work (including early TV over broadband which lasted a matter of months) I continually, and reluctantly returned to Virgin, mainly because the kids wanted Disney channel, and I demanded my Eurosports etc. So having handed over £100 per month for over 20 years to Virgin (think about it £20,000 for TV!) when I had a problem and wanted to terminate the contract they had recently put me on in an attempt to reduce my bill, they cheerily charged me £250 to terminate! Effing cheeky baskets! (No longer owned by Branson of course, it was brilliant when he was running it).I read every article I could find about aerials (ours had fallen down years ago) co-axial cables, Freeview Vs Youview receivers and even Freesat. I decided to spend a few quid on the Humax believing it a good investment, I wasn't wrong. However the secret is in the aerial, for Pete's sake don't go down to B&Q and have a stab at the best looking, most expensive aerial with the greatest claims for reception, most are just rubbish.For advice on aerials go here http://www.aerialsandtv.com/ there is more reading on the subject than you will understand, all hand crafted by the company owner himself. I bought the basic kit, less than £70 for everything you need, other than courage (man our gable end is HIGH!) and following the instructions, aided with a cheap direction finder available on Amazon, I have brilliant, stable, HDTV reception in a medium reception area.The Humax itself is brilliant, easy to use and the YouView menu system was better than Freeview (Freeview has improved now I believe) but every bit the equal of Virgin or Sky.Virgin has an extra recording channel, but as it would cost me £100 a month to get it, I figured I could get another Humax box and have another two recording channels, assuming I could be bothered figuring out how it all works, which I can't.The final indignity, of course, is that when I plugged everything in and expected the Humax to scan for channels, out the blue, my Panasonic TV took over and scanned for channels itself on Freeview. I had no idea it had a receiver, I had bought it on the understanding it didn't because I had Virgin so didn't think I would need it. I could have saved myself a few bob on the Humax, but to be honest, I really don't care as the Humax delivers beautiful HD reception and records (of course the TV can't) as much as I need on its 500Gb hard disk.However, I must say that the final accolade must go to Aerials and TV (earlier link) as my aerial set up provides the quality signal any set top box requires, the aerial itself is the least obtrusive I know of and the kit delivered is of the highest quality, the mounting pole itself is not quite a scaffold pole, but not far off it.I really hope this review helps people wean themselves off this obsession with satellite and cable rubbish we all seemed addicted to. I now subscribe to Eurosport for Motorsports for less than £4 a month, I have to admit to watching Rugby and F1 by alternative methods (ahem) but if I care to use BT (instead of a 3rd party broadband provider, Zen, also very good) I can subscribe for Rugby..........But I will always relish watching Murdoch's F1 borefest by alternative methods, not because I particularly enjoy it these days, I just get enormous satisfaction of fleecing him as he's fleeced the British public for generations.

This was purchased as a present and is now over 2 years into use.It is very easy to use for general use.The menu system is all live (TV channels are in the background as you navigate through)The setting of programmes is very easy and can be replicated to be a one off or regular.It has 2 tuners, so you can record multiple progrannes at the same time, or record whilst watching another back.The quality seems to be very good with no picture break ups.There is just one downside, but that happens infrequently. The unit can freeze up. This has hardly happened but it could be due to updates.An easy to use box, overall, and the quality seems good.this was purchased with the 4 year cover.

Seems to be made well and is easy to use. Picture quality is very good . Only thing which was a niggle is that you have to connect to your WiFi with an Ethernet cable to do the initial set up to tv and use! Cannot be used without internet connection!This enables you to watch things like Netflix , bbc iPlayer ect . Had to buy a plug in internet booster to connect the cable too because of where I wanted the Humax to go . Overall though very pleased with this product!

Specification of the receiver is great but my experience is that the product is unreliable. It has frozen when watching 4 On Demand and neither the remote or buttons on the box would clear the problem. I had to turn power off at socket to get it working again. It has stopped playback several times after a few minutes saying the programme had ended when there is still some of the recording on hard drive. Now it randomly only records the first few minutes of scheduled recordings of TV programmes which is really frustrating when you settle down to watch an hours programme only to find it ends in less than 2 minutes.Luckily I have the option to return it via Amazon. I will try one more Humax product as I hope the one I have had was just one of a bad batch but if the replacement is as problematic as this one, it will be the last.

In my opinion YouView is the best pvr, on demand and freeview system, and it's British!!! It is very easy to setup and it's operation of the most frequently used features through the YouView guide is intuitive.Installed on HUMAX hardware it's a sensible one-off purchase choice particularly if you want to avoid monthly charges from the likes of Sky, BT, TalkTalk, Virgin etc...All that's needed is good quality broadband and aerial connections, you probably have got these already. The HUMAX hardware does not have Wifi, probably because they do not consider it to be good enough for tv streaming, so a network cable is provided to connect directly to your router. If your tv isn't near your router then use HomePlugs.

Bought this PVR based on reviews, and wasn't disappointed. Out of the box I loved the simplicity of the design of the PVR, and the handset is a fabulous design. Setting up was a doddle as the PVR does it all for you, and the electronic programme guide post Sky+ is really good and easy to use. Now to the 'problem' bits... I had to return the first unit after it started scrolling through the channels without input from handset (removed batteries just to make sure). Then following day it wouldn't switch on! The replacement was fine initially until I moved it on top of my Sky box when again it started to change channels on it's own. Having searched online it would appear the PVR can be effected by heat or interference from TV (plasma in my case). Having put the PVR on its own beneath Sky box it's working fine.Don't be put off buying this box it's a great PVR and produces a fantastic HD picture.