Home > Consumer Reviews > Humax PVR9200TB Freeview

I looked at several PVRs before choosing the Humax to replace my unreliable Thomson TopUp TV PVR. Incidentally I had to return the Thomson as it gradually ground to a halt after just 4 months.

A friend had the Humax and I went to check it out and was most impressed. Having used two of these things now (as well as Sky+) I would say that this box is a great blend of specification, user-friendliness and price. The menu system is easy to use, it is quiet (no matter what anyone says, the fan on the Thomson box IS overly noisy) and so far it seems like a very consistent performer. I think the Sky+ interface is more polished but there you go, I guess that's what you get for £45 a month!

My neighbour who works on the technical side of the broadcasting industry is also full of praise for the Humax, so that's good too!

I would recommend this box to anyone looking for a PVR. There is also a 320GB version on the Humax-direct website if you want even more storage, but the USB connection on this box should give you access to the extra storage you need.

If you dont watch much TV, always get to see the programs you want when they are on TV and never feel the urge to stay up late to catch up on CSI, Ugly Betty or Heroes etc then this review is not for you!
For the rest of us, this is potentially one of the best purchases you will make this year and at sub £200 pounds is actually very good value for money.

Pros

-"Plug and Play"-just attach the aerial and the TV and it will do all the hard work for you.

-You can connect in a number of ways to your TV

-Very easy to use, just select the program you want, press OK and its all set up to record.

-Pause/rewind etc live tv at will on any channel. Hugely useful when the other half has missed bits!

-Record 2 channels, and watch a recording at the same time or a DVD or if you are lucky another TV channel.

-Press record midway through a program and it knows the program name and finish time so will stop the recording when the program ends and file it away.

-Set up your whole weeks viewing and then watch what you want when you want throughout the week. With 100 hrs or so of storage it really is difficult to find the time to watch it all!

-Active online community-some very attached to their Hummies, but also very helpful!

-Regular on-air updates by Humax.

-Some reviewers have mentioned noise but I have found it to be very quiet even when recording.

-No crashes yet!

Cons

-EPG is slow-can take 5+ minutes before it's fully populated

-If you decide to buffer recordings to avoid missing elements if schedules slip slightly and you are recording two programs on different channels one after the other the PVR gets lazy and tries to use only one tuner, hence you can sometimes get missing beginings and endings!

This requires some indivdual time tweaking I suspect but it certainly was'nt a deal breaker for me!
I have'nt used the MP3 player, Photo browser or tried to transfer recorded programs to my computer, but only because this is not why I bought the product.

Overall this is a really good product, with a good reputation and excellent reviews where ever you look. We love being able to watch telly when it suits us, and being able to pause/rewind live TV at will. We can go out secure in the knowledge that the other half will get her Ugly Betty fix and I can keep up to date with Neighbours no matter how late I work! Fun but also hugely practical.

The Humax PVR-9200T, PVR-9200TS and PVR-9200TB are all the same hardware. The "S" is a re-branded 9200T (Silver) and the "B" is the black version of the same box. They will all run the same software.

Being able to record two things and watch a third on the same MUX is a bonus and with auto padding I haven't missed any recordings that have started a bit early or finished a bit late.

Pausing live TV is useful for when you need a break, and being able to rewind a channel works well for when you switch the telly on half-way through a program, just hit rewind!

The update will bring series links, assuming the broadcaster uses them. So much like Sky+, it will go through the EPG and record anything in the future schedule that has the same name.

I've had Sky+ and this Humax is almost there, but not quite as slick. It is a very good replacement for Sky+ users wanting Freeview though and only the Topfield is it's equal (or better), but the Topfield was expensive.

I've had quite a few Freeview boxes, and this is my second PVR (they get moved around the house...). The Humax 9200TB is a generally nice piece of kit but it falls down relative to others in a few areas.

Firstly a couple of good points which made it worth buying IMHO, in spite of the flaws below:
* twin tuners work flawlessly and simply so you can watch/record without caring about a clash of channels.
* the onscreen guide has a sensible layout and is easy to use - and this is where you spend most time.
* creating your 'channel favorites' is well done and quick to do.

Flaws:
* fan noise - I would *not* recommend this unit for use in a bedroom. By default it switches on at 4am (but you can stop this via a menu). I'm fairly sure mine is typical and the fan noise is intrusive but bearable.
* TV guide - the basic grid display is logical and clear BUT it makes very poor use of the program 'info' additional guide text. So you have to scroll through the guide and hit the 'i' key every time you want more info on a program, instead of that automatically appearing in some other section of the screen as you scroll. The guide is forgotten on each shutdown (a BIG design mistake) so there's a delay on power-on which is exactly when you want to be looking at it.
* Recording - the usual way to do this is via the TV guide but bizarrely you have to hit 'OK' rather than the 'Record' button to record a program. Unless that program is currently playing in which case 'OK' will just select the channel. This bit of design was sad, frankly.
* Recordings list - the 'info' text (see above) associated with the program is thrown away when it's recorded. This is a disaster, as your recordings list just shows the same title for each of the 12 episodes of your favorite program without you being able to see which is which. This frquently accessed page is the worst designed in the PVR, which is a shame (e.g. the program titles are squished into a small part of the screen, giving more space to other stuff you are probably less interested in than the title.)

So mainly, if you can live with the fan noise you'll probably be happyish with the Humax 9200TB, but the usability isn't top notch.

This review is another celebratory one - this product has proved to be completely reliable and so easy to use - it is a revelation. I've not explored its more complicated functionality yet - usind the download etc - but then again I've only had it a week - but in that time the Humax has proved to be ;

Easy as you like to set up
Very intuitive to use
Picture quality excellent
Quiet - only the lowest of hums even when sat on a wooden floor

Less important - it looks great

I'd been scouting some similar equipment from different manufacturers that was £40 approx. cheaper but was put off by the number of reviewers who had experienced problems with noise, inability to record two separate programmes, boxes that switch themselves off - it has proved well worth spending that little bit more - an excellent product.