New retail boxes from Huawei and Humax

1andrew1 · 05/03/14 - 12:51

The Humax YouView+ DTR-T1010/2TB costs £300, has 2TB internal storage and looks like the existing silver DTR-T1010.
The Huawei YouView+ DN371T costs £220, has 500GB of internal storage and is housed in a new slim case.
The Humax is only available from Humax direct and the Huawei from online retailers.
http://www.techradar.com/news/television/new-youview-recorders-from-huawei-and-humax-come-with-storage-great-and-small-1231147?src=rss&attr=all

bradavon · 05/03/14 - 13:03

Is there a comparison between the Humax DTR-T1010 and Huawei DN371T anywhere?

Even a simple spec sheet comparison list would be handy for now. Is one better than the other?

Funnily enough I've been thinking about buying a YouView DTR-T1010 next month. Probably the 500GB model unless the 1TB version isn't much more.

Thanks

ney · 05/03/14 - 21:59

Youview from Humax will always be better made boxes then the Huawei Youview boxes.
Going by what I hear about the TalkTalk Huawei boxes.
Even the BT Youview service is better value than the TalkTalk Youiew service. Even though TalkTalk has more SD channels than BT.

Darren

David Waine · 06/03/14 - 06:23

My view of the Huawei box is not based on what I have heard, but from my own experience as a user.

The box and the remote are both well-made. The major criticism that has been levelled at them is their relative slowness of operation. This is true, particularly at start-up when a key press can take up to five seconds to activate on screen. Once it has fully warmed up, however, it works more briskly, although I still would not call it fast.

Stuff downloaded from the Net varies. Picture and sound quality are very good, but some of the sources are still prone to freezing occasionally, which suggests that the software is not yet fully sorted. The worst offenders in this respect are the BBC iPlayer and some of the Sky channels. On the other hand, the other On Demand services and HD movies downloaded from TalkTalk Box Office work just fine. I assume that this is the reason why Internet channels cannot yet be recorded on this box.

That, of course, will be sorted out in time, and we have been told that the box will be able to record three programmes at once as long as one of them is from the Net. A new Huawei box has also just gone on sale. Early indications suggest that it has a bigger hard drive (500Gb as opposed to 320) and a more powerful processor, which should make its performance significantly slicker. It also has quite an attractive price.

Comparisons of the BT and TalkTalk services are down to individual preferences. BT currently has more HD services than TalkTalk, but both are still developing and much remains to be revealed. A lot of the pay per view stuff on TalkTalk Box Office is already HD. As for pricing, it depends what services you take. It is possible to rack up a hefty bill on either platform each month if you subscribe to everything they have to offer. On the other hand, you can have it free if you stick to the Freeview channels and back-up services.

I might investigate the new box, but will wait for a few reviews to emerge before I do. Until then, I am quite content to continue with what I have. The picture and sound quality are excellent, my thumb knows its way around the remote and it works reliably. That is not to claim it never encounters problems, because that would be untrue. All PVRs have been known to exhibit those traits, however. The Huawei is no worse than any other I have ever used in that respect.

bradavon · 06/03/14 - 14:54

Thanks for the reply guys, especially David Waine for the lengthy response.

It's a pity on the one hand the software is identical but at least it means updates no third party can mess it up.

I'd probably plump for a Humax as I've found my Humax 9200T Freeview+ box to overall be good and reliable. I tend to prefer buying outright than on a subscription.

uk1 · 06/03/14 - 18:31

I was a beta tester for both boxes and still have both. You are right to choose the Humax if you have the choice. It is far superior for all the reasons extensively posted.

1andrew1 · 06/03/14 - 21:17

The new BT-branded YouView box DTR-T2110 produced by Humax and available to buy outright for £220 from stores has received the best reviews of all the YouView boxes. It is praised for being far speedier than the other boxes, compactness and energy efficiency as it has no fan.
http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=5700dc4dd63e1666959bb9056&id=53c6b460e5
http://recombu.com/digital/news/new-bt-youview-box-talktalk-tv_M12743.html

gwatuk · 07/03/14 - 04:52

David Waine wrote: »

My view of the Huawei box is not based on what I have heard, but from my own experience as a user ...
... The Huawei is no worse than any other I have ever used in that respect.

That's a very good summary.
One small question - where have you spotted that the new Huawei box has a more powerful processor?

gwatuk · 07/03/14 - 04:55

uk1 wrote: »

I was a beta tester for both boxes and still have both. You are right to choose the Humax if you have the choice. It is far superior for all the reasons extensively posted.

I'd very interested to know why you see the Humax as far superior.
Could you give us a quick summary please?

David Waine · 07/03/14 - 06:54

gwatuk wrote: »

That's a very good summary.
One small question - where have you spotted that the new Huawei box has a more powerful processor?

I read it on this very forum a little while back, but I forget when exactly. It was, of course, a rumour, but it also mentioned the bigger hard drive, which has since proved to be true. That is why I mentioned it as an indication, not as a definite fact. That is still to be established and is one of the reasons why I am holding back from purchase until I know more for certain. I will be very surprised, not to mention disappointed, if it turns out not to be true, though, for that would address the major criticism of the current box and hand an overwhelming advantage to Humax.

gwatuk · 07/03/14 - 07:21

David Waine wrote: »

I read it on this very forum a little while back, but I forget when exactly...

Thanks - I find it very bizarre that news of the box has been released but there are no details of its spec to be found, and although it's supposed to be available from Amazon it isn't !!!

David Waine · 07/03/14 - 07:43

Yep. Checked on Amazon, Ebuyer and Maplin this morning, but no sighting to report. Hopefully full details will emerge very soon.

David Waine · 07/03/14 - 08:10

This is the relevant page from Huawei, although it doesn't tell us anything that we didn't know already. The new remote looks good, though, and the box is quite stylish, although lighter than it looks apparently.
http://www.huaweidevice.co.uk/home-devices/youview/

gwatuk · 07/03/14 - 08:43

David Waine wrote: »

This is the relevant page from Huawei...]

Well spotted!
I shall now share with various other outlets!
Thanks.

One extra little bit of info is that it looks like an external power supply so probably (like the TalkTalk box) no fan.
The videos are quite impressive - they make YouView sound really quite exciting!
;-)

1andrew1 · 07/03/14 - 11:31

David Waine wrote: »

Yep. Checked on Amazon, Ebuyer and Maplin this morning, but no sighting to report. Hopefully full details will emerge very soon.

It does say coming soon so watch this space. I wonder if it is faster or slower than this box, which is faster than the previous Humax models.

David Waine · 08/03/14 - 13:56

Now we need to know two things: (a) is the new box a major upgrade on the old one and (b) will TalkTalk offer us a trade-in deal?

1andrew1 · 10/03/14 - 15:27

David Waine wrote: »

Now we need to know two things: (a) is the new box a major upgrade on the old one and (b) will TalkTalk offer us a trade-in deal?

Also:
(c) Will TalkTalk be offering the new Huawei DN371T box or is it just retail. (d) Is it faster or slower, better or worse than the identically-priced new Humax DTR-T2110?

miket15 · 10/03/14 - 20:08

Talktalk supply the Huawei DN372T box as well as the DN370T and the DN360T boxes.
I have both the DN370T and DN372T boxes, the DN372T box was a trial box supplied to me from Talktalk.

David Waine · 11/03/14 - 07:10

So which is the DN372T? I get a bit confused with all the meaningless identifications. If it is the new PVR, perhaps you could supply a comparison report.

gwatuk · 11/03/14 - 07:59

David Waine wrote: »

So which is the DN372T? I get a bit confused with all the meaningless identifications. If it is the new PVR, perhaps you could supply a comparison report.

I also have a DN372T box as well as the DN370T.
The DN372T was trialed by TalkTalk and was essentially the same as the DN370T but was described as having improved hardware.
However as far as I know it was not subsequently introduced as TalkTalk's main machine.
(There are many DN370Ts available on eBay but only a couple of DN372Ts.)

The DN371T is a completely new machine.
(They must have chosen this number just to confuse people!)

1andrew1 · 13/03/14 - 10:59

gwatuk wrote: »

The DN371T is a completely new machine.
(They must have chosen this number just to confuse people!)

Yes. I've not seen any reviews yet so I think it's too soon to expect a comparison. the Huawei site has a user guide but I could not find the technical specifications though we know most of them, it will be interesting to see its speed compared to the competition. I do expect it to sell for less than £220 as the new Humax DTR-T2110 sells at this price and is a better known, more upmarket brand.

Faust · 15/03/14 - 00:21

gwatuk wrote: »

The videos are quite impressive - they make YouView sound really quite exciting!
;-)

I doubt they'll ever make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

1andrew1 · 21/03/14 - 17:47

Here's a review of the latest and fastest YouView box, the Humax DTR-T2110. It's available via retail outlets or with BT YouView's service. (£220 retail, 500GB). The review concludes "The new DTR-T2100 box is a vast improvement over its predecessor, being much faster and quieter. It also uses less power and starts up quicker."
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/digital-home/3507739/bt-youview-box-review-2014/

David Waine · 26/03/14 - 23:47

Here is a review of the new Huawei box:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/huawei-dn371t_TV-recorder---set-top-box_review

In most respects it seems to be an improvement on its predecessor. It also implies that it will pick up TalkTalk's subscription services for subscribers. There are comments about it being slightly sluggish at times and it seems quite critical of the SD performance.This is a little worrying. I have the current Huawei box, which delivers excellent picture quality in both SD and HD. These are subjective assessments, however. I think I will wait for a further review.

gwatuk · 27/03/14 - 03:40

David Waine wrote: »

...I think I will wait for a further review.

http://www.seenit.co.uk/review-huawei-youview-set-top-box-dn371t/

1andrew1 · 27/03/14 - 10:58

David Waine wrote: »

. I think I will wait for a further review.

gwatuk wrote: »

http://www.seenit.co.uk/review-huawei-youview-set-top-box-dn371t/

From all that I've read, I think you'd be far better off buying the BT-branded YouView box DTR-T2110 produced by Humax for £220. This can still be used to get TalkTalk's extra channels if you have a TalkTalk TV subscription in place.

Hey there!

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