HUMAXFVP-5000T 1TB Freeview Play HD TV Recorder - Black - Refurbished

User interface not as good as Virgin / SkySmart features not great - I still use my smart TV but if you don't have one I would recommend another option like a firestick, apple TV etc.Needs constant reboots - things stop working (e.g freeview play) and box needs an OFF/ON cycle to restoreOn the good side the picture quality is great and it can record a lot of channels at once. Also has allowed me to ditch Virgin so can't be all bad!

The Humax FVP 5000T box seems quite well made and comes with a 1yr warranty from Amazon – upgradeable to 2 yrs if you register it online with the Humax UK website. Worryingly, when I tried that, the website reported that my serial number had already been registered, which made me wonder whether I’d been sent a refurbished one, so I rang the (very efficient) Humax helpdesk who told me that it happens all the time (the serial number is printed under the box in the smallest possible type) and that it’s usually because some half-with has mistyped the number when they registered theirs. They registered it for me without fuss.Connects easily to the TV via HDMI with no noticeable loss of SD or HD picture quality. (Beware – you have to delve into the box’s menus to turn off the “power-saving” mode, or the pass-through aerial socket that feeds the TV doesn’t work if the Humax box is turned off. Weird – but I suppose the intention is to have you use the box for everything and just use the TV as dumb screen. That may also be why you can programme the remote to control some functions of the TV) Everyone else has moaned that you can’t see whether the box is powered on or not, as the power indicator is under the front of the box. I agree – it’s a dumb bit of design….It has most of the usual apps such as iPlayer, ITV hub, All4, Netflix etc (you get to Netflix via a dedicated button on the remote, which I suppose Netflix paid them to do). No sign of Amazon Prime and you can’t add that or extra ones if they come along later. Not very future proof. They are slower to load than the same ones on the TV. Doesn’t appear to be any way of recording the streaming services though, even if you wanted to.Its strength is the Freeview Play interface; the onscreen programme guide is clear and easy to use (if a bit slow to respond) and setting up recordings is easy (up to 8 days in advance via the “Guide” screen, with a “Record the series” option.) Can also set the recording timer manually. 1TB is probably more recording space than I'll ever need.Overall, it’s worth the money, and I can’t find a better recorder. Knocked a star off for being a bit clunky and slow to respond, but I’ll probably get used to it.

It works well as a pvr and has a good range of catch up apps built in. I'm using the built in wifi connection it connected easily and I've had no problems using it to stream from iplayer. The 3 tuners allow the recording of 4 programs at the same time and it was this that made me choose this pvr over others. The 1TB hard drive gives me plenty of space and so far I haven't got beyond 10%.used space even though most of my recordings are HD.It can be slow to respond to the remote, particularly just after start up. Once you are playing a recording the response is immediate. Populating the guide is also slow and seems to be done each time you look at it.I find the freetime option to play stream programs from the the program guide to be a gimmick and not very useful. On the other hand when you search for a program it lists all the options available on catch up as well future programs and this can be very useful.There is a problem with the ITV hub that prevents you from activating it on the device. A search on Google gave me lots of suggestions but nothing seemed to work. After a week of trying every so often it worked today. Hopefully that's an end of the problem for me.The supporting android apps are very poor. There are 4 you can use all performing different functions. It would be much better if they were integrated into a single app. The Live TV app allows you to view the guide and set up a recording remotely. The tablet version crashes on my huawei tablet when I try to change the date. It works better on my phone but even then it only allows you to view 7 days of the schedule not the 8 days you can view on screen. The remote control app allows you to set up a search using a keyboard but you have to have the box powered up and connected to a TV to see the results. I'm replacing an ee tv box which allows you to do this just using your tablet or phone screen.All in all I'm pleased with the box and would be happy to recommend it for the recording capabilities. The guide and the apps could be better.

Echoing what many others have said here, it's a decent piece of hardware but is really let down by its software. If you're used to the Sky or Virgin Tivo systems you'll find operating this feels like wading through treacle, it's often slow to respond to the remote and lacks the structured and polished feel of the big players.One particular gripe for me is that it can't show a continuous video at x2 (the slowest..) fast forward, it just hops forward in jumps meaning you can't follow the sports action if you want to FF through the boring bits.Shame really, with it's multiple tuners I was hoping this would release me from the increasingly expensive Virgin contracts, but despite the potential cost savings this Humax offering just isn't good enough.EDIT to add:- I've now replaced the Humax with a Freesat 4K PVR, this is like night and day compared to the Humax. It has well laid out, visually attractive and responsive software, records up to 4 programs at once and even manages to deliver the simple task of displaying FF video in continuous motion, something the Humax fails to do at even the slowest FF speed.Sky Q (with wideband lnb) dish setups on ebay for less than £30 if you want to go the Freesat route.

I bought this as a replacement for my Freesat recorder. There is no visible indicator to show if unit is on or off unless you lift it up and look underneath. The remote actions sometimes do not seem to respond. The Humax FVP-5000T 1TB Freeview Play HD TV Recorder works ok otherwise but does not feel refined.