HUMAX Aura Android TV 4K Freeview Play Recorder with Google Assistant and Chromecast - 1TB

I was nearly put off buying this because of the negative reviews. I think the latest update has really done the job - this is a great box. I have had to return a Manhattan box (terrible lip sync and constantly crashing), a BT4k YouView box, which was really good but then kept getting stuck in standby, so third time lucky.The set up is easy but time consuming by the time it updates, scans for channels, sign into Google etc. and it sometimes seems like nothing is happening - you just have to leave it to do it’s thing. Once set up, it is a dream to use, with one caveat, you need to get used to the screens and menus. Once you do, you can zip through and it’s great. If all else fails and you think “how do I get out of this menu” you can just press the ‘live TV button’ on the remote and you’re back to the start. It has an android operating system with Google Play and most apps - they all work perfectly. Netflix is not available (yet) and NowTv can only be used via a phone or tablet via Chromecast (which works very well with no issues).Recording TV is easy - not one recording has failed. The recording are organised well - easy to find what you want.The app works really well - not sure what others are doing, but if you’re on the same network you can stream your recordings to a tablet etc. It works every time for me - as does remote record. Again, I’m not sure why/how others are having issues.The remote is Bluetooth - so no line of sight required and it has a massive range!!Overall, this is one of the best boxes you can by at the moment - it is worth the money. Just give yourself time to get to know the menus and its little quirks. It has never crashed once, you can record four programmes and watch another - I have done so several times to test it and it has never faltered. I really think the latest update has done the trick. It’s a shame Humax released this too early with bugs in the software, as this gave a poor experience for early adopters and put them off. It seems Humax have finally got their act together!

Overall this is a good product. It was fairly quick and easy to set up. It does a pretty good job of using the regular TV aerial (which is old technology) and trying to have similar functionality to the Virgin V6/360 box or Sky Q. However the system does contain bugs. I've had the system for less than a week, and already I've had a few issues where the screen went blank and the system stopped, and also programmes not recording when they were meant to. I've found out that resetting the apps fixes the blank screen issue, although not everyone would be able to discover that themselves. The Humax Aura has been around since 2020 and they should've fixed these issues by now. Unlike Sky or Virgin, Humax don't need to rely on your continuous subscription to incentivise them to fix these bugs. I also think the Humax Aura is expensive for what it is, and it doesn't allow you to install Netflix or NOW which you can do on much cheaper devices such as the Amazon Fire Stick. But overall it's a good product and there aren't any rivals that contain so many things in one, and with a few improvements it could be great.

There are cheaper Freeview recorders on the market but I've always been happy with the Humax brand. I've always found them to be reliable with good quality recording & playback. Very easy to set up and looks good sat under the TV. The capacity for storing recordings was 1Tb on this device and that is more than enough for my viewing habits. Overall very pleased with this purchase

It worked well for the first few months but over time humax have not updated the firmware. So things like itvx player stops working and crashing. Simple viewing of certain channels now either crashes the box, black screens or has intermittent dropouts. It's channels like ITV itv3 U& Dave. U drama and many others that have a problem now and it's getting worse. The reception is near 100% on those channels with problems and my telly works perfectly on those channels where the humax box has a problem. It is becoming so unreliable now. Humax have not given a firmware upgrade on the box since I bought it so I am giving up on them. I have reset the box twice and checked all the threads about options to try and remedy the freezing and the blackouts but nothing. I have now bought a Manhattan box and we will see how that goes.

Really ease to set up. and what a free view box. it does everything except making a cup of tea.