Thoughts on Humax Aura PVR?

poseidon1

Frozen_up_north said:

Thanks for the feedback guys. My OH likes to skip adverts with a PVR, rather than have to put up with them on "catch up" via the internet, hence looking for the Humax. Incidentally, they seem to be the same price everywhere, maybe a little cheaper on black Friday...

My Humax gave up the ghost over 9 years ago.

 Since all modern tvs have USB sockets I plug in a standard 500 gb hdd back up storage drive and use this in conjunction with the TV's programme guide to record a whole range of free view films and series. My TV allows recording of one channel whilst watching another, and of course recording whilst on TV standby. Can also pause live TV ( useful when going off to make a cuppa)

To be noted the recordings are locked to that TV  so plugging the hard drive into a laptop or another TV will not work ( DRM copy protection to prevent sharing I guess)

I do have the full range of streaming services, but a lot of what I record from freeview either not available ( very old films and series ) or pay per view.

Curiously I know nobody else who use this functionality built into all smart TVs or even aware it exsists.

Anyone else using hard drives in this way in preference to dedicated  ( bulky) PVRs?

Frozen_up_north

poseidon1 said:

Since all modern tvs have USB sockets I plug in a standard 500 gb hdd back up storage drive and use this in conjunction with the TV's programme guide to record a whole range of free view films and series. My TV allows recording of one channel whilst watching another, and of course recording whilst on TV standby. Can also pause live TV ( useful when going off to make a cuppa)

Anyone else using hard drives in this way in preference to dedicated  ( bulky) PVRs?

Thanks for the reminder, I have tried that with a Samsung TV in the past, but didn’t find it very successful. We now have an LG that often needs a re-tune as the stored channels vanish at the drop of a hat…
Regarding the Manhattan vs Humax Aura, from the various reviews it looks like the Manhattan is more stable, and the Aura has more features but reports suggest it may have flaws in the firmware causing occasional crashes.
The Humax Aura hasn’t had a firmware update since 2021, the Manhattan T4 has firmware available dated Sept 2025.
I am leaning towards the Manhattan T4 at the moment…

Frozen_up_north

Just an update, today I bought a Manhattan T4-R (2TB version). Sadly no Black Friday offers.

There was a firmware update on initial connection to the internet.

So far, so good. No obvious issues and a nice colour “getting started” booklet too. The buttons are similar in function to the old Humax.

SH88SH88

Frozen_up_north said:

Just an update, today I bought a Manhattan T4-R (2TB version). Sadly no Black Friday offers.

There was a firmware update on initial connection to the internet.

So far, so good. No obvious issues and a nice colour “getting started” booklet too. The buttons are similar in function to the old Humax.

Please do report back soon with your views/opinions on the new acquisition as I've currently got 2 PVR's and I'm probably looking to replace at least one quite soon. 

ian16527

I have one, coming up for 2 years. Its OK in the main, but nowhere near as good as Sky Q which it replaced.

Recording TV is fine. 

Sometimes it will turn itself off. Sometimes it will reboot first thing in the morning. 

Apps can be flaky, especially YouTube which will freeze the picture, but sound keeps going after the ads have been on. You have to rewind a bit. ITVX used to crash if you pressed backup mid show for some reason

No Netflix app but has Prime . 

Dont regret buying one

Frozen_up_north

The ITVx app used to be very poor, but so far the apps we have tried on the new Manhattan box have worked fine.

The i (info) button doesn't give details of a program while playing back, or I don't think it does... early days.

Supatramp

But the Manattan can only record 2 programmes, the Aura is far better in that respect.

SpanishBlue

Supatramp said:

But the Manattan can only record 2 programmes, the Aura is far better in that respect.

There must be though very few people who want to record more than 2 programmes at the same time?

I can't remember the last time I needed to. Certainly more than a year ago.

And on those very rare occasions, at least one of those programmes is likely be on the BBC iPlayer, so it's just as easy to watch it on that.

Frozen_up_north

Lets hope Aura users don't get their boxes hacked as the latest software update is mid June 2021. As far as I know, our old Humax recorder never had an update.

The Manhattan T4-R has software dated 11th September 2025 and ours did an update once we connected it to the internet.

ian16527

Frozen_up_north said:

Lets hope Aura users don't get their boxes hacked as the latest software update is mid June 2021. As far as I know, our old Humax recorder never had an update.

The Manhattan T4-R has software dated 11th September 2025 and ours did an update once we connected it to the internet.

I bought mine Jan 2023 but in 2024 I had an issue with a black screen and the waiting rotating circle on live TV which would happen alot and would last 5 - 10 secs. Contacted Humax support and they said they were sending a Freeview app update. It should be 

"Check the version name in Settings > Apps > See all apps > Show system apps > "Freeview" : it should show "1.00_62_240210_6c584f1a4""

Not sure if there has been any more updates