Humax FHR-6000T Will this need its own listing in the forum? ( Now named the Aura EZ 4K Freely Recorder)

You must have got unlucky, I've had three in practically continuous operation since the early 2010's.
I've had two HDR Fox T2s, a third at my parents and a fourth at my aunts in heavy use since the early 2010s. Two of them needed bad blocks on the hard disc fixing after many years of use, but that can happen on any device. And at least with the custom firmware on the HDR Fox T2 we have the tools to do it, unlike most Freeview recorders. Other than that they've been very reliable.
 
What I've read so far about the Aura EZ doesn't fill me with confidence. I'm very unlikely to consider buying one unless some catastrophe robs me of all my existing Humaxes. I think I'd prefer a refurbished original Aura or a 2000T as a disaster recovery plan!

For the Aura EZ: what I'm unsure of, at present, although I can have a good guess!
  • Can video files be played* from an external USB drive?
  • Can video files be loaded onto the Aura EZ's HDD and played*?
  • Can recordings be archived in the same way as for the Aura (ftp from another device)? The Aura stores StdDef recordings without encryption - does the EZ? The Aura allows transcoding of HiDef to a lower quality unencrypted form - does the EZ?
  • Can the Aura EZ stream recordings to another device?
* Unlikely if the Google Play Store cannot be accessed and VLC or other player cannot be loaded.
 
One of the features which some stores/sites promote is the 'pause and rewind live tv'. It certainly can't be done whilst watching freely, the buttons on the remote for the related controls do nothing. You can't watch live TV on freeview, only record it. So you can sort of pause and rewind whist watching the recording in a time shift sort of thing but that's not live TV, you have to be recording it.
 
One of the features which some stores/sites promote is the 'pause and rewind live tv'. It certainly can't be done whilst watching freely, the buttons on the remote for the related controls do nothing. You can't watch live TV on freeview, only record it. So you can sort of pause and rewind whist watching the recording in a time shift sort of thing but that's not live TV, you have to be recording it.
" You can't watch live TV on freeview, only record it."

I saw someone else say that in the comments on Cord Busters but assumed it must just be a newbie who has not got the hang of using it yet. Surely that could be classed as not fit for purpose, a Freely recorder that cannot record Freely and can only record Freeview but not play it live? What on earth were Humax thinking.
 
What happens if you disconnect from the internet? In theory shouldn't "live" then attempt to use the aerial. Do pause etc. work then?
That is unacceptable if it is the only way, the least they could have done is have a disable internet access button on the remote.
 
That is unacceptable
I'm not saying it's acceptable. What I'm trying to work out whether it is possible to watch live through the aerial or not. Based on my not very good understanding of Freely I thought the box may revert to aerial if the internet is not available.
Is it even possible to watch or record channels that are on Freeview (ie. through the aerial) but not on Freely? It's advertised as a Freely box so maybe not.
Perhaps Humax should have continued with the Freeview Aura (with software sorted out) and given Freely a miss. Sounds like a complete dogs-dinner to me!
 
I'm not saying it's acceptable. What I'm trying to work out whether it is possible to watch live through the aerial or not. Based on my not very good understanding of Freely I thought the box may revert to aerial if the internet is not available.
Is it even possible to watch or record channels that are on Freeview (ie. through the aerial) but not on Freely? It's advertised as a Freely box so maybe not.
Perhaps Humax should have continued with the Freeview Aura (with software sorted out) and given Freely a miss. Sounds like a complete dogs-dinner to me!
I was not disagreeing with what you said and I expect you are correct. I seem to remember reading somewhere where it said if you did not need freely or have internet access you could just leave it unconnected and just use it like a Freeview PVR, I cannot find where that was said now but that now reads like "we told you so" if anyone complains about it not being viewable live unless you do. It just all seems to be deceptive tactics by Humax to make this product appear to be something that it is not and I find that un acceptable
 
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Are Humax necessarily to blame for what Freely have decided to do?

(BTW, anyone posting "freely" without the capital F is causing confusion when read.)
 
Are Humax necessarily to blame for what Freely have decided to do?

(BTW, anyone posting "freely" without the capital F is causing confusion when read.)
Are you saying that Freely are responsible for Humax making a product that does not allow OTA live viewing unless it is disconnected from the internet? Freely TV's do not need to be disconnected for Freeview channels to be watched live.
EDIT. I assumed that they used Freely if available for that channel but as not all channels are it reverted to Freeview for the others but I am not so sure after reading this..... https://rxtvinfo.com/2025/what-is-freely-and-does-it-replace-freeview/

"Does a Freely TV support Freeview?

As a last resort, if your Freely TV is disconnected from the internet for a longer period of time, it will begin to behave like a normal Freeview TV. In time, it will revert back to the Freeview channel numbering system. That’s because without an internet connection, it can’t connect to the Freely channel list"
 
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IIRC Freetime YouView units made by Humax had to use the awful Freetime YouView user interface and functionality. The same may well be true of Freely. It is unlikely Humax have implemented their own Freely stuff, it will have been provided by Freely, and I imagine Freely have specified the functionality too.
 
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IIRC Freetime (I think) units made by Humax had to use the awful Freetime user interface and functionality. The same may well be true of Freely. It is unlikely Humax have implemented their own Freely stuff, it will have been provided by Freely, and I imagine Freely have specified the functionality too.
Same thing happened with the awful Humax Youview boxes, I was one of the trialists for the first one that was in an HDR Fox T2 style case. Humax were stuck using the dreadful user interface specified by Youview whether they liked it or not.
 
IIRC Freetime (I think) units made by Humax had to use the awful Freetime user interface and functionality. The same may well be true of Freely. It is unlikely Humax have implemented their own Freely stuff, it will have been provided by Freely, and I imagine Freely have specified the functionality too.
If so then any Freeview/Freely hybrid was destined to be a failure, it is no wonder Manhattan did not bother and instead released a stand alone Freely product. Maybe even Humax know it is a dud as at the bottom of their Aura EZ page there is ....................................
Humax Aura 4K Android TV Recorder (Refurbished) with Freeview Play
Sale price From £199.00

add a £69.99 Freely AERO and you cover all bases including Netflix , TIVO , 4 tuners and recording and live Freeview in a channel order of your choosing for just £20 more than the EZ.
 
Are Humax necessarily to blame for what Freely have decided to do?
Probably not. I suppose they have to implement certain features and restrict others to be certified as Freely. They are responsible for not making it perfectly clear what users can and can't do, and for the poor manual that Richer Sounds has on the website.
We shall see whether most buyers feel duped and return the Aura EZ.
 
I still haven’t had any missed recordings or power failures, however all of my Freeview recordings since midnight today have been named after the channel and time recorded, not the programme title. Annoying, but not as annoying as missed recordings.

I am really hoping that Humax just wanted to get this out there early before they had finessed the interface and operation. It really shows all the signs of a hurried release before it was ready.

Still, as I said before if it records my Freeview programmes more successfully than the original Aura I will count it as a win. Updates will be coming I am sure.
One more thing - the old Aura used to frequently disconnect from the WiFi requiring every couple of days another pain in the arse password input demand. So far this hasn’t happened with the EZ.
 
however all of my Freeview recordings since midnight today have been named after the channel and time recorded, not the programme title.
That's almost as bad as trying to navigate the old Aura's recordings from VLC to play things that have recorded but are not playable (ITV4!). As an example, not from ITV4 - try making sense of which episode "New__Mock_The_Week_TLC_012_5796" is and when it was recorded. You can't (you can, it was either last Sunday or the one before :D) - 5796 appears to be a number indicating the entry in the schedule list. No date/time.
 
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