I had previously been using my PC's TV card to watch and record Freeview programmes but in order to schedule recordings, I had to leave my PC on all the time, which I don't like doing. To combat this, I decided to get the Humax 9200TB Freeview PVR (Personal Video Recorder). This is sort of the Freeview equivalent of a Sky+ box, letting you record programmes to a HDD (Hard Disk Drive), like you would find in a computer so there's no more need for video cassettes or even DVD-Rs. Mine has 160GB of hard drive space which gives me 100 hours of video with this device. There are other Freeview PVRs with larger capacities but I thought that this was sufficient for me as I would delete items that I've watched.
One requirement for me was for the box to be able to tune into more than one channel so that I can watch one channel whilst recording another, which would require twin tuners. The 9200TB meets this requirement and also enables me to record two channels at the same time. It cost me £160 around July 2008 but should be found for less now.
USING IT
Setting up is the same as many other Freeview receivers and has a scart output. A TV aerial is
also required and as usual, an external or booster aerial is recommend to ensure the programmes don't skip all the time, which I've found very frustrating until I bought a booster aerial and moved it to another part of my room. With a good reception, it's excellent and I find the machine itself is very intuitive to use. Once tuned, changing channels, adjusting the volume, going into the various menus and changing the settings is very easy to do. The navigation around the menu system is quite quick although not quite instantaneous as I do feel there is a very slight delay before it responds. When watching a programme, the Humax actually records, as it goes along, which enables me to pause and even rewind live TV. I find this invaluable as it means I can always rewind back to TV or film moments that I've missed from not paying attention or if I need to pop to the loo.
The remote feels very robust and I really like the quality of it. Nothing like the cheap, low quality ones that come with cheap DVD players and it has all the buttons needed in a well laid out way to operate the Humax easily. It has a slide down section with even more functions such as PIP (Picture-In-Picture) and my personal favourite, 'commercial skip', which just skips 30 seconds ahead but I've set this to jump 60 seconds on each press. All other buttons are on the top. Most buttons are labelled with either text or the common icons so it is very easy to use and with the ones with less commonly used icons, it's easy to figure out by trying them.
Scheduling recordings is very easy. One thing I would have liked is for it to accept Video Plus codes. When VCR's were 'in', I used to use the Video Plus+ codes, which I would find in a TV guide, to schedule recordings of specific programmes as this was easy and more convenient than entering a start and finish time. Unfortunately, the Humax 9200TB doesn't seem to have an option to enter this code for recordings. I can only either choose to record the current programme on the channel I'm currently watching or choose a programme in the EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) but this is hit and miss, as I can't always find the programmes I'm after easily. It does seem to not show anything for some channels and it seems random as it sometimes works.
Quite often, the EPG schedule doesn't display all the programmes on certain channels and even the search function doesn't find programmes that I know will be on in a few days, but other times, it works like a dream. I do not know if this is to do with the reception strength or something. However, when it does work, I'm able to choose to record the chosen programmes even individually or I can choose to record the whole series, which I think is great, as it saves having to scroll from week to week in the EPG, or clicking on multiple items in the search results.
So when I want to watch my recorded programmes, all I have to do is press MENU on the remote, select RECORD option, Recorded Programme and I'm presented with a list of the recorded programmes. In my case, we have Smallville, Big Bang Theory, Sex: How to do Everything.....err how'd that get in there?! .... >_>;;; Anyway, recording works well, but there have been occasions where some programmes were listed in the Recorded Programmes list but with an extra icon. Turned out those were either not recorded or incomplete. These incomplete recordings were due to the hard drive being full but there have been other occasions where it was due to poor reception. Occasionally, I've found it had stopped recording before the programme had ended (which is irritating) but this can be countered by telling it to record a few minutes longer after the programme has ended in the settings (although it would do this for all scheduled recordings).
Like all Freeview boxes, it can display the programme information, Teletext and a list of channels available. It has a nice feature where it can mark the ones that are only available with a Top Up Card, which it has a slot for. It also has the ability to trim and delete chunks of recorded programs so that you can cut out commercial breaks. However, it's very basic and you're not able to fast forward through the preview so you can't quickly locate the bits you want to remove, which isn't great but it's not essential. I usually just fast forward through commercial breaks.
Although it's not an HD (High Definition) device, the picture quality of the Freeview programming that this machine outputs is excellent on my 19" LG Flatron, a non-HD flat screen TV/ Monitor. As I use it with a non-HD TV, the lack of HD content is not a problem but for those who do want to use it in a room with an HD TV, then the Humax may not be for you. One thing that slightly annoys me is that when watching a programme, if I press play again, it starts again. Sometimes, I press the Play button twice because I thought it didn't register the first time due to the very short delay after the Play button is pressed.
There have been a number of occasions where the machine froze, although it has been pretty rare. Whenever this happens, I have to turn it off and on at the back (or at the mains) to reset the machine, which is rather awkward for me to do due to the confined space with my setup. This can be a bit annoying but luckily, it doesn't happen very often so it doesn't annoy me too much.
EXTRAS
The Humax also has it's own USB port, which enables me to connect it to my PC. Once the software is installed on my disk, I am able to transfer file from the Humax to the PC and vice versa, however, I've not had much joy with transferring recorded programmes from the Humax to my PC. For all programmes that I've attempted to copy to my PC, they stalled part way through the transfer, which is annoying. I did manage to get one file copied to my PC, which plays in Power DVD in the .TS format but quality isn't great. It also supports pictures and MP3 files and although MP3s play fine, pictures aren't very good quality when it brings them up on my TV. Opening pictures that are around 1.5MB in size take about ten seconds each, which isn't very good so using it for uploading and showing off your family picture album is not ideal.
It has four built-in games, which are all puzzle based games, which you use the remote to play with. One involves a cute little dinosaur pushing an egg around an obstacle course, which I quite like although I'm sure I've played such a game before on a handheld console of some sort. I believe all the games are copies and rebranded versions of more popular puzzle games but that's not a problem as games isn't what the Humax is for anyway and I seldom play the games. As well as games, it also has the option to play the radio through the TV.
SUMMARY
PROS
- Reliable recording - Pause / Rewind Live TV - Twin tuners for recording two channels - 100 Hours of recording - Plays MP3 - Radio
CONS
- Can Crash - EPG doesn't always work for all channels - Transferring recorded programmes to PC doesn't work - Edit function a bit limited - Photos are slow and bad quality when copied to the Humax
VERDICT
My initial impression of this device is that it was a Freeview box with a hard drive and recording capabilities but I have found it to be a lot more. I really like its ability to pause and even rewind live TV and the ability to watch one channel whilst recording another as well as recording more than one channel at a time. Navigation is easy, has lots of functions that you may expect such as Parental Controls and it can even play MP3s. I can highly recommend the Humax 9200TB or the 9200T (silver version) although the 9200TB (black version) does need dusting more.
Although transferring the recorded programmes to a PC would be a bonus, it's not essential as my main reason for buying it is so I don't miss programmes any more. It'd be great if the EPG was a bit more reliable and if it never crashed but these are only minor niggles and nothing that would stop me from buying the Humax again unless I was after something with HD output.
Thanks for reading!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
exceptional by (7%):
very helpful by (93%):
