[Closed] Is Humax still the Freeview go to?

I have the BT Youview box which is a Humax in disguise and it's been great. Much more preferable to using the EPG and pause functions on the tell(ies) themselves (recent LG and older Samsung).

There is or was a stack of unused boxed ones on ebay that people got with mega phone/broadband/tv contracts with BT but you don't need to have it wired into BT. Because of the massive user base there are quite frequent updates. Search ebay for 'BT youview Humax'. Not sure if this is still a thing though or whether BT now hand out something else or something different.

e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BT-Youview-Set-Top-Box-500Gb-Recorder-with-HD-Freeview-and-more/153332758027

Do the BT boxes work without subscription?

Yep. Just takes a freeview signal over the air. All the recording works OK, as does iPlayer via a network cable. Nothing BT about it other than the logos. Happy with ours, albeit on the tele in kitchen so it doesn't get used that much.

slight hijack. is there a way of connecting a youview box wirelessly? My old box needed a direct connection to the router, but the current router is rather a long way from the second tele (upstairs) and wondered if you can set up some way of putting this on line?

You could use a couple of home plugs

Yes, non-subscription BT box here that I got off ebay. You only bump into BT stuff that will ask for subscription details if you go looking for it, like trying to go to BT Sport channels or the like. Else all good, works fine with the Youview app too for setting recordings.

The Humax freesat one is meant to be good too. Sky won't want their dish back, they never do.

Sky is hard to beat though at £27pm for 18 months (fibre, phone, entertainment package)

slight hijack. is there a way of connecting a youview box wirelessly? My old box needed a direct connection to the router, but the current router is rather a long way from the second tele (upstairs) and wondered if you can set up some way of putting this on line?

There are such things as ethernet to wifi adapters but they're rare and the old ones are probably not compatible with new wireless standards (they were more useful when wireless was new, systems didn't support it, and home plugs hadn't been invented). I was having a bit of bother recently with the homeplug the BT/Humax is connected to and it's probably cheaper and less hassle to try a new plug than hunt down a legacy piece of kit.

Have a look at something like this though https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wireless-Dreambox-Network-Printer-Microsoft/dp/B005OIB6XI/

Sky won’t want their dish back, they never do.

That's what I figured. Looking into it a bit today and broadband without TV is still quite expensive, almost doesn't make it worth it once you factor in buying a Humax box for £180

 

Yes, I was going to leave 18 months ago but they offered me a good deal so it wasn't worth it. Only problem now is the the box is knackered so we have to pay for someone to come out and fix it.
This is the second box in 2 and a bit years where the HDD went (I blame the amount of cbeebies and American dramas saved in there).
I might see if they'll offer a deal again but currently looking at £62 a month for a basic package

I've got a Humax Freeview box and it's fine, does what it needs to do.

Have a look for a refurbished one direct from Humax:

https://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/refurbished.html

Our new one (Cappuccino) is laggy (remote I think - we're on our 2nd) and the user interface is crap compared to the old 9000 unit we had. We upgraded to get a bigger hard drive and HD and in hindsight it was a mistake.

Oh and no +29sec button on this one either which is sorely missed.

I've got a Panasonic box which replaced a BT box that bricked itself. Panasonic has been great for about 3 years with no issues.