Home » Humax FVP-5000T – one box to rule all your TV needs

Humax FVP-5000T – one box to rule all your TV needs

Ever since terrestrial TV has vacated the airwaves, TV in the UK has been reliant on Freeview. While some choose to get a subscription for their television, not all want to or get it in their area. Also, similarly, some televisions pack in Freeview players, while others don’t. Humax have been delivering Freeview players with built in recorders for a while. Their latest and greatest product packs in quite a punch. Not only is it a Freeview player, but it also records, lets you catch up with various apps, and the remote even comes with a dedicated Netflix key!

Humax FVP-5000T – features

  • Pause, rewind and record live TV
  • Record up to 4 programmes while watching a 5th
  • Play your own media via USB or network
  • Access multi-room tv when paired with the H3 Smart Media Player
  • Record up to 1000 hours of SD TV, Record, pause and rewind live TV on 2TB model. 250 hours on 500GB model. 
  • Over 100 TV and Radio channels, 15 in HD dependant on location
  • Catch up TV from BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4, Demand 5 & UKTV Play
  • Additional subscription based player: Netflix
  • App for Android and iOS to manage viewing/recording
  • Built-in Wi-Fi for easy connection to your Home Network
  • Record up to 3 programmes simultaneously whilst watching a recording or catch up.

In the box

  • The FVP-5000T
  • Power adaptor
  • Product manual
  • Quick set up guide
  • Remote Control
  • HDMI Cable
  • Ethernet Cable

Look and feel

The set top box is like most others, though it is a lot smaller than your typical Sky or Virgin box. This makes it easier to stack away by or under your TV. The top comes with some buttons, though in practise only the power button gets used. That is rather rare too.

The back comes with a suite of ports, including RF in, HDMI, AV, USB and ethernet.

There is no such thing as a perfect remote, but the remote packed with this tries its best. It comes with a dedicated Netflix key as well as buttons for On Demand and Freeview play which takes you to a ‘HOME’ of sorts.

Usability and performance

The initial setup is reasonably simple. You plug, you play. It tunes and you’re good to go. The EPG lets you go back up to 7 days and forward 7 days. So far, reasonably simple and typical. You can record programs on the go, you can record series, and you can watch all that back. Simple again.

Now the fun part starts.

The player brings HD channels with it, and if you end up on SD channel (such as BBC 1 instead of BBC 1 HD) it will actually recommend you shift over and do it for you. No having to search for BBC 1 HD in the program guide.

Dedicated players from the likes of BBC or Channel 4 mean that when you do want to watch a show from 3 days ago, it will take you directly to the program via the app. This cuts down searching time in the app. I also like the fact that the Channel 4 app exists, which doesn’t exist on my TV as standard.

Netflix still needs a subscription, but that is no surprise.

Recording and play back is fairly simple. What is great is that you can plug in a USB and watch back your own media, play your own music, and annoy everyone with your holiday snaps as well.

The interface is clever, the design is simple. All in all, a great job in giving you pretty much what is a complete product.

The app

Oh yes, there is an app too. The app lets you stream media directly to your smart device (iOS – available in Dec 2017, or Android – available now) and lets you set up recordings. It even lets you set up reminders on your phone so you can be nudged to turn the telly on when your favourite program pops up.

More information

More information on the Humax FVP-5000T can be found on the Humax website.

It is available from various retailers, including Amazon, and starts from £229.

Verdict

With Christmas on the way, you need a good bunch of movies and programs ready to be viewed. You don’t want to miss out on the stuff that is on the other channels. More so, you want it all to be simple and easy. The Humax FVP-5000T achieves all of this in an effortless fashion. The perfect partner for your television!

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