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Humax FVP-4000T review – Freeview Play is here

Humax FVP-4000T teaser
Our Rating :
£149.99 from
Price when reviewed : £200
inc VAT

The Humax FVP-4000T is a little slow and Freeview Play isn't as strong as rival catchup television approaches like YouView or Freetime

Specifications

Tuners: 3x DVB-T2, Dimensions (WxDxH): 280x200x48mm, Networking: Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Internal disk capacity: 500GB, Warranty: One year RTB, Details: www.humax.co.uk, Part code: FVP-4000T 

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Recording and Apps

There are three tuners inside the FVP-4000T so you can record up to four channels while watching a previously recorded programme. Usefully, if somehow you manage to max out the tuners, the FVP-4000T will let you know if a particular show is being repeated at another time. You can then choose to either record it at a later time or cancel one of your existing recordings.

Humax FVP-4000T recordings

Your recordings are then available from the My Recordings menu and you’re provided lots of ways of sorting your recordings for when you build up a large collection. With the 500GB model, you can expect about 300 hours of SD recording or 125 hours in HD. Handily, the FVP-4000T remembers where you left off when watching your recordings. As well as playing back recordings you’ve made, there’s also the Media Centre section of the interface. Like Humax’s other boxes, this lets you access content either on USB flash drives or on a NAS on your network, including images, music and video.

Humax FVP-4000T media centre

The numerous apps for iOS and Android devices include a remote control, Live TV and a media player app. The remote control app, as you would expect, lets you control the FVP-4000T using your smartphone or tablet, using either the simple or full remote interface. It also lets you use your device’s onscreen keyboard, rather than attempting to input text using the FVP-4000T’s slow and cumbersome keyboard.

Humax FVP-4000T remote app

Even this isn’t perfect, though. There’s a Search button for conducting a programme search from the remote app but you still need to then hit OK after as if you were using the physical remote control to begin text entry. Then you need to hit the keyboard button in the app to bring up the keyboard to begin typing your search. After that, you need to use the navigation buttons to highlight the text entry box back on your television so that you can hit OK again to complete the search. This is because ‘A’ is still highlighted, so hitting OK without moving to the text box will just add lots of extra characters to the end of your search. It’s far too many steps and removes the convenience. When using the app-based keyboard, searches don’t seem to be based on a per-character basis, either. Using the physical remote control and television interface, you can often find the content you want after only entering the first few characters.

Humax FVP-4000T live tv app

The Live TV app is much better. It lets you watch live television from your mobile device, with content streamed from the FVP-4000T. You can also swap between channels on your mobile device and then have that content sent to your television. Similarly, you can hit the ‘Bring In’ button to resume watching whatever is on your television on your tablet. Useful if anyone ever wants to commandeer the television. There is a few seconds of delay compared to live TV, but aside from that, it all works flawlessly and a lot like the EE TV. It’s also a much faster way to flick through the hundreds of channels rather than using the slow television-based interface or even the Remote app.

Conclusion

After being massively impressed by Humax’s Freesat boxes, it’s difficult not to come away disappointed with its fledgling Freeview Play PVR. Some of the complaints can be levelled at Freeview Play itself, but the performance of the box is also poor. It lacks the refinement of Humax’s other boxes and it at times feels slow and unwieldy. Jumping through channels, the most basic of tasks, is cumbersome. The stable mobile apps are useful, and I was particularly fond of being able to watch streamed television and content from the box, but aside from this, the FVP-4000T is a bit of a let-down. Buy Now from Amazon

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Hardware
Tuners3x DVB-T2
Accessories providedRemote control
Dimensions (WxDxH)280x200x48mm
Ports
Audio outputs1x optical S/PDIF, RCA
Video outputs1x HDMI 1.4
Video inputsNone
NetworkingEthernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi
USB ports2x USB
Memory card readerNone
Features
Video playback formatsH.264, MKV, MOV, MPEG4, Xvid HD
Image viewing formatsJPEG
Audio playback formatsMP3
Smart TV appsBBC iPlayer, ITV Player, All4, Demand 5
Recording
Recording mediaHard disk
Internal disk capacity500GB
Hours of recording on internal media125h (high-quality HD), 300h (high-quality SD)
Simultanous channel recordingUp to 4
Buying information
Price including VAT£200
WarrantyOne year RTB
Supplierwww.johnlewis.com
Detailswww.humax.co.uk
Part codeFVP-4000T

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