TV recorder setup for elderly person. Youview?

greenery

I have an elderly relative who had simple freeview box which has broken. I need to replace it. I am thinking of a youview box because of the ability to easily use catchup. Also the ability to record 2 channels at the same time would be advantageous. It needs to be very simple to use. A price of up to £200 is acceptable.

After reseaching youview I am not sure it will be supported for much longer, am I correct? It doesnt seem there are  many places to buy a box

Any advice gratefully received!

Chieveley

Ask on freecycle or freegle for a freeview box as that's what they are used to?

cerebus

Youview boxes require the internet to be able to use the youview function and catch up and it's usually a hard wired connection too.

Is this the kind of function your relative wants? I would simply replace the box like for like as its what they are used to and conformable using 

greenery

cerebus said:

Youview boxes require the internet to be able to use the youview function and catch up and it's usually a hard wired connection too.

Is this the kind of function your relative wants? I would simply replace the box like for like as its what they are used to and conformable using 

Thankyou but, the addition of being able to use catchup would be helpful ( programs are sometimes not recorded and they want to watch them) They do have a Chromecast, but find it hard to use, having to change the input source on the TV. They are happy using iplayer on their mobile phone, but would rather watch on the TV.

Hard wiring would not be a problem. I have a spare powerline extender & I would do the setup

Also they were using 2 controllers - turning the TV on with one and then using the box controller and this was confusing. I would like for them to be able to use just one.

Being able to record 2 channels at the same time would also be very beneficial. I am sure you can get  Freeview boxes that do this but the price starts to go up?

GDB2222

You could do worse than a DTR-T2110. Around £50 secondhand on CEX.

We have one running off powerline, and it works well enough. 

Rodders53

The current Freeview spec is Freeview Play (also does catchup via backward epg).  {You View was hijacked by the BT pay TV offering.}  Get a Freeview Play model.

You may need to increase the budget a little or buy 'certified refurbished' from Humax direct. 

Currently Humax Aura and 5000T are available to buy in limited numbers from other retailers.
Both can record/watch up to 4 channels.

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

Manhattan are supposed to be releasing a new version of their T3R unit, called the T4R - but have been saying that for some considerable time - with no sightings to date.  https://manhattan-tv.com/freeview/manhattan-t4r-tv-recorder

EDIT Latest Humax boxes have wifi as well as wired.  Powerline in my experience only works well on the same ring main circuit. Their PVR remotes can / do control basic TV power and volume as a minimum once set up with the correct code.

greenery

Rodders53 said:

The current Freeview spec is Freeview Play (also does catchup via backward epg).  {You View was hijacked by the BT pay TV offering.}  Get a Freeview Play model.

You may need to increase the budget a little or buy 'certified refurbished' from Humax direct. 

Currently Humax Aura and 5000T are available to buy in limited numbers from other retailers.
Both can record/watch up to 4 channels.

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

Manhattan are supposed to be releasing a new version of their T3R unit, called the T4R - but have been saying that for some considerable time - with no sightings to date.  https://manhattan-tv.com/freeview/manhattan-t4r-tv-recorder

EDIT Latest Humax boxes have wifi as well as wired.  Powerline in my experience only works well on the same ring main circuit. Their PVR remotes can / do control basic TV power and volume as a minimum once set up with the correct code.

That is very helpful, thankyou!

Sorry for my ignorance but when you say (also does catchup via backward epg). what does that mean? is catchup only available for the previous week?

outtatune

greenery said:

Rodders53 said:

The current Freeview spec is Freeview Play (also does catchup via backward epg).  {You View was hijacked by the BT pay TV offering.}  Get a Freeview Play model.

You may need to increase the budget a little or buy 'certified refurbished' from Humax direct. 

Currently Humax Aura and 5000T are available to buy in limited numbers from other retailers.
Both can record/watch up to 4 channels.

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

Manhattan are supposed to be releasing a new version of their T3R unit, called the T4R - but have been saying that for some considerable time - with no sightings to date.  https://manhattan-tv.com/freeview/manhattan-t4r-tv-recorder

EDIT Latest Humax boxes have wifi as well as wired.  Powerline in my experience only works well on the same ring main circuit. Their PVR remotes can / do control basic TV power and volume as a minimum once set up with the correct code.

That is very helpful, thankyou!

Sorry for my ignorance but when you say (also does catchup via backward epg). what does that mean? is catchup only available for the previous week?

It means if you scroll backwards through the epg to a programme that is available on one of the Freeview Play catchup apps you can play it directly from there, rather than having to go out of the epg, open the relevant app (and knowing wihich is the relevant app), searching for the programme.

Anything so old that it's fallen out of the epg may still be available by going into the relevant app though; it all depends on the app's retention policy, legal agreements, etc.

cerebus

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256212708801?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=256212708801&targetid=602114963966&device=m&mktype=pla&googleloc=1006524&poi=&campaignid=10215174691&mkgroupid=101743826083&rlsatarget=pla-602114963966&abcId=1063846&merchantid=101727496&gclid=CjwKCAjwgZCoBhBnEiwAz35RwqgS47hPeGwaCsJyYcO_LpPA7p_cN4nyVW6-YF4wD0CXKU6eGUnVpRoC2pMQAvD_BwE

I have two of these, simple to use , has the usual catchup apps , backwards epg and you can record two channels and watch a third 

greenery

cerebus said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256212708801?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=256212708801&targetid=602114963966&device=m&mktype=pla&googleloc=1006524&poi=&campaignid=10215174691&mkgroupid=101743826083&rlsatarget=pla-602114963966&abcId=1063846&merchantid=101727496&gclid=CjwKCAjwgZCoBhBnEiwAz35RwqgS47hPeGwaCsJyYcO_LpPA7p_cN4nyVW6-YF4wD0CXKU6eGUnVpRoC2pMQAvD_BwE

I have two of these, simple to use , has the usual catchup apps , backwards epg and you can record two channels and watch a third 

This  was the the one I was originally looking at. Now I am wondering if the Humax recommended by Rodders53 might be better.
Probably not much difference between the 2, but I wonder which would be simpler to use?

cerebus

Just to make it harder , humax are considered the bees knees of recorders and the bt youview box is made by humax 

I have no knowledge however of how easy humax own brand recorders are to use - sorry!