Humax PVR-8000T Review

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Humax PVR-8000T
★★★★☆
3.6
74.0% of users recommend this
  • Features

  • Ease of Use

  • Value For Money

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andyrawlins's review of Humax PVR-8000T

“I bought this unit due to its multiple magazine awards...”

★★★☆☆

written by andyrawlins on 23/01/2005

Good Points
Convenient recording and pause live TV functions. Good recording quality.

Bad Points
Picture not quite as good as a freeview only box. Can not watch a different channel from that you are recording. Software old fashioned and frustrating.

General Comments
I bought this unit due to its multiple magazine awards and good ratings on sites such as this. To be fair, it does what it says on the box - ie it records from TV and can provide 'pause live TV' functions etc. However, a number of features make it frustrating to use.



It only has one tuner so, unlike a VCR, you cannot watch one channel and record another: If you are making a recording to archive you are prevented from changing channel. If you are using it in continual recording mode, as soon as you switch channels, the automatic cache of recorded TV is lost and you cannot go back to it.



The way it works is this: The unit continually records the current channel and this is what you actually watch - the recording. The record quality is very good but not quite as good as 'live TV'. There seems to be no way of switching to watch the live signal. The unit saves up to half an hour of this recorded TV so if you want to go back a few minutes to re-watch something you missed, you go to an earlier part of the recording. If you 'pause TV' the unit continues to record and when you press play, the recording carries on from where you left off.



The annoying bit is that the recorded section is wiped as soon as you switch channels, so if you flick channels to see what was on the other side etc, you loose your cached material. It would be more helpful if it continued to record on the new channel. If you specifically set it to make and save a recording of something, channel switching is blocked until recording is stopped.



The software is also clunky and, in my view, ugly. For instance, if you go to the channel guide, perhaps to see what is on another channel, the sound and picture are cut. OK, so you can use your 'pause live TV' function to go back to the bit you missed, but why can't the sound continue and the picture be of reduced size on part of the screen as it is, for example, in my Goodmans GDB4.



While the recording/pause TV function is very handy, I decided that the inability to switch channels and clunky software would drive me mad so returned the unit.



Humax have been promising a dual tuner unit - the PVR-9000 for over a year. Humax tell me that it is now slated for Summer 2005 release. The delay is apparently to adapt the unit to allow for 'Top up TV'. I will wait for that unit to come out, to allow recording and watching of different channels, and hope they improve the software at the same time.

  • Value For Money

  • Features

  • Ease of Use

  • Less than a Week

    Time DVR Owned

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Peasemold's Response to andyrawlins's Review

Written on: 01/02/2005

"It only has one tuner so, unlike a VCR, you cannot watch one channel and record another"
<br>
<br>Not entirely true - you can only do that with a VCR because your TV has a tuner. If your TV has a tuner you can watch one (analog) channel and record another (digital) one with the Humax, and unlike a VCR, the Humax produces a perfect digital copy.
<br>
<br>If you already have a Freeview box, or a TV with a digital tuner (IDTV), you can watch one digtal channel whilst recording another digital channel.
<br>
<br>"The way it works is this: The unit continually records the current channel and this is what you actually watch - the recording. The record quality is very good but not quite as good as 'live TV'"
<br>
<br>Not true. It must, by definition, be exactly the same as live TV, as it makes a bit for bit recording of the incoming digital stream.
<br>
<br>"There seems to be no way of switching to watch the live signal."
<br>
<br>Just press the "stop" button.
<br>
<br>The unit saves up to half an hour of this recorded TV so if you want to go back a few minutes to re-watch something you missed, you go to an earlier part of the recording. If you 'pause TV' the unit continues to record and when you press play, the recording carries on from where you left off. "
<br>
<br>It actually buffers about 90 minutes.

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Peasemold's Response to andyrawlins's Review

Written on: 04/02/2005

No problem Andy, I take on board what you say and it hadn't occurred to me that the video feed from the Humax might always be "off-disk", even when viewing "live".
<br>
<br>There is evidently some digital pre-processing as the Humax handles signal glitches by freezing the picture. I actually prefer this to the Netgem's method (my other Freeview box) which creates areas of blocks and loud rasping noises on the sound.
<br>
<br>I have to say that when I first got the box the improvement over VCR is so enormous that I might have got a bit carried away, and subsequently I have been made more aware of the limitations of the box.
<br>
<br>Nevertheless, the box, with it's current software level is excellent in both ease of use and picture quality, and it is also good value as it remains the cheapest at the moment.
<br>
<br>I'm also looking forward to the dual-tuner version, and the perfect device would also have a DVD recorder. This *will* eventually be available and at reasonable cost and when it does the PVR8000t will be consigned to the bedroom TV.

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Andyrawlins's Response to andyrawlins's Review

Written on: 02/02/2005

Yup, fair enough Peasemold, you are right about the number of tuners. What I should have said was that my the Humax isn't a complete replacement for my current, analogue, setup (TV tuner plus VCR) which allows me to watch one thing and tape another. The Humax, as my only digital tuner means that I cannot record one digital channel and watch another. I was not comparing like for like so fair do's.
<br>
<br>re "Not true. It must, by definition, be exactly the same as live TV..." I think not. Digital processes are far from perfect, which is why digital error correction is needed. If it was perfect, all CD players, for example, would sound broadly the same. I can assure you that my £50 Sony Diskman played through my hifi sounds nothing like my Naim CD player through the same hifi.
<br>
<br>The signal has to be correctly captured on to disk and re-presented in the analogue domain (sound and video). This process is never perfect. To be fair, its pretty good on the Humax and I think I said that.
<br>
<br>re "Just press the stop button" Nope. What you watch is always off disk. If you press stop you watch the most recently recorded feed, but it is always off disk not off air. If this wasn't true, how would you be able to rewind up to 30mins before you started watching? It's because it is continually cashing to disk. This is why recordings appear to be 'perfect'. The recordings and 'live TV' are both exactly the same thing, i.e. off disk recordings.
<br>
<br>"Buffers about 90 minutes". OK, I haven't tested this but it says 30mins on the Humax website.
<br>
<br>As you will see from my own comments on my review, I had already reconsidered my overall score. More interestingly, if you look at the global Humax site http://www.humaxdigital.com/global/ you will see that they are already advertising a version of the twin tuner model, which has lots more juicy features. Hopefully the UK version won't be too far behind.
<br>
<br>Cheers
<br>
<br>Andy

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Andyrawlins's Response to andyrawlins's Review

Written on: 02/02/2005

On reflection, I think I was a bit harsh on my overall scoring. After all, it does what it says on the box. I'll up my rating to 7.
<br>
<br>I still wouldn't recommend it because much greater things are just round the corner in the shape of the 9000T (or the Pace twin tuner unit), but if you can live with what it doesn't do, what it does it does well, and it's certainly very good value for money.
<br>
<br>Looking forward to rating the 9000 10/10 :)

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