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Still looking for a replacement for our 9300 and did wonder about the DTR series. But looking at the excellent FAQ’s here, as an ex-broadcast engineer who likes to be ‘in control’ as it were, this box seems to be locked down. For instance, no manual tune. So what happens if, like us, we are close to Ridge Hill but also might pick up tx’s from Wales ?
I see it has a SCART (we need this until we upgrade the TV) but cannot see anywhere the ability to alter the output resolution…or is this capability not needed on this box as the SCART output is the right resolution? Is the SCART output RGB? Component? Composite?
TIA
countryman – 1 hour ago »
Still looking for a replacement for our 9300 and did wonder about the DTR series. But looking at the excellent FAQ’s here, as an ex-broadcast engineer who likes to be ‘in control’ as it were, this box seems to be locked down. For instance, no manual tune. So what happens if, like us, we are close to Ridge Hill but also might pick up tx’s from Wales ?
If Ridge Hill’s signal is stronger than Mendip then you may be OK.
My Humax DTR stores the muxs with a local channel then appears to select the strongest of what is left from the multiplexes plus the duplicated local channel variations. Which is a bit different to my Huewei which stores channels from the multiplexes just from the transmitter I select.
On the Humax I have tune by connecting the aerial at only the relevant time during the auto-tune so that it pick up the right multiplexes. If I don’t do that and do it correctly then it starts to miss recordings.
countryman – 1 hour ago »
I see it has a SCART (we need this until we upgrade the TV) but cannot see anywhere the ability to alter the output resolution…or is this capability not needed on this box as the SCART output is the right resolution?
I’m not sure whether it’s RBG or not but my DTR-2100T presumes that its SCART is connected to a widescreen TV.
FYI, since the last update ITV player only outputs video over HDMI. The ITV channels will work over scart, but the catch-up player won’t.
Many thanks for the replies…which are sufficient to turn me off the whole idea of YouView. Too much potential for grief. Which eejit designed the system this way with no manual tuning? Humax or YouView?
Or effectively, one might speculate, BT.
Thanks once again for the replies. It’s a bit of a learning curve for me, this YouView idea. Googling, I discover that in some instances (TalkTalk, for instance – stop sniggering at the back, there) a third party overlays their own view of things – ie software – on top of whatever the PVR manufacturer has done along with YouView.
The original idea was that the Youview software, overlaying STB or PVR functionality, would allow one box to offer both DTT and IPTV, both free and paid, both unicast and multicast, both retail and proprietary.
Unfortunately, over the years of development, it ended up with too many cooks in the kitchen, and too many conflicting interests to produce a truly integrated box. All the various requirements went into the Core Spec, but a hell of a lot never made it into the actual boxes. There was a desperate stripping-out of “non-essential” functionality to try to finally get the Humax box to market in time for the London Olympics. What was left out were largely the bits not needed/wanted by BT, who needed a new system box and were determined it would be YouView. Consequently, once launched, YouView spent its first year being made multicast-capable in time for the launch of BT Sport, rather than being made fit-for-purpose for retail buyers.
Hence the collapse of the original BBC vision (that YouView would become the replacement for Freeview, and thus save the UK FTA broadcasters from being cannibalized by OTT providers like NetFlix)), the split between the YouView broadcasting partners and the YouView ISP partners, and the eventual development (by the broadcasting partners) of FreeView Play instead.
Huawei wasn’t caught in quite the same bind as the Humax box, being always TalkTalk’s baby and only required to more or less keep up with what was being offered by the Humax box.
Fascinating insight, James, thanks. Certainly explains a lot!
I do find myself in an intriguing dilemma…do I really need a YouView box? We’re organised here and rarely watch any TV in realtime, doing a daily recording schedule. So the need to access last weeks programmes that we missed doesn’t enter into the equation. We simply never miss any programme that we want to watch.
The OnDemand is of more interest but it’s difficult seeing what is available in the online catalogues from the likes of Netflix without signing up (although I am aware of the free trial). But to take advantage of the free trial necessitates having a suitable box! Catch-22. We’re not Game of Thrones type people and my gut feel is that that is the bread and butter of Netflix but I could be wrong.
Maybe buy a cheap secondhand box off fleabay and suck it and see. Get a feel for how easy/difficult/annoying the tuning issue is and what films are available that we’d be interested in watching.
YouView has some nice features, if you like the UI. Certainly worth giving it a try, though if it was me I’d look for a later Humax model or a Huawei model, as these seem to have fewer failure reports than the DTR-10*0 boxes.
On the catchup/OnDemand side – for a while YouView seemed to lead the field, but nowadays it seems to me to have fallen behind, lacking both YouTube and NowTV Entertainment. But you could supplement with a cheap NowTV boxlet.
Or use something like Chromecast to play online services from your laptop or tablet to the TV. I prefer a PVR to be good at being a PVR and not end up being a Jack of all trades like the Youview box has.
JamesB – good points. I did look into the Huawei but reviews say that the video quality on SD is not very good. I am constrained by the fact that we are still watching on a very good Panasonic plasma screen and so not HD. Nor HDMI, which rules out Chromecast, Gomezz. I agree with your point re Jack of all Trades and which is why, when we do change our TV, I will try and avoid anything with the word ‘smart’ in the title!
Don’t get me wrong..I realise that sooner or later we’ll have to bite the bullet but until then I’m soldiering on with what we have.
As an aside, being in IT Security, I have a very jaundiced view of connecting up any TV type device to the internet and have taken steps to isolate any putative TV or PVR box from my primary computing network.
If you Panasonic TV has a VGA input socket (with associated audio input socket) then that can still be used with a laptop.
No it hasn’t got one of those, I’m afraid, but thanks for the suggestion.
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