Humax TV Portal to launch in January

Posted on 19 May 2013 at 13:57, by Gareth Halfacree

Freeview and Freesat specialist Humax has announced its intentions to enter the interactive TV market and compete head-to-head with Google TV, finally setting a date for the launch of its Humax TV Portal.

The web-based portal, which the company has been teasing since the start of the year, has now been confirmed as launching on the company's Freeview HD receivers in January.

The portal, which upgrades the Freeview HD boxes to support web-based content, will allow easy access to on-demand videos and other web-based content. Confirmed for launch is access to Sky Player, the BBC's iPlayer - with, the company claims, significantly higher video quality than is available through the BBC's existing iPlayer app on the PlayStation 3 - and streaming from popular video sharing service YouTube.

Interestingly, the Humax Portal will also offer access to Wikipedia, and a self-help service called Humax Support that allows users to access expanded manuals and updated support information for their Humax devices.

The service will be rolled out via a free over-the-air update in January of next year, with Humax hoping that it can offer a serious alternative to Google's TV streaming service, Microsoft's purported entry into the market and the recently unveiled TiVo-powered Virgin Media offering.