NEWS: Humax launches AURA 4K Freeview Play Recorder

Am I the only person in the world who bemoans the loss of a front display on PVR boxes? I've had a Humax, without display for around 6 years now, but still miss older boxes that I could see at a glance what channel it is on and roughly what it's doing (how many channels is it recording, etc) without necessarily having the TV on. I wonder also whether this Humax box still has the crazy colour code for its front LED; Blue-On, Red -Off, Red, recording. o_O
Edit; not forgetting the most useful reason for having a physical display- when listening to freeview radio stations - I hate having to power up a power-hungry TV display panel just to change station.
I think AV set ups have developed to the point where that feature is redundant. It certainly has for me. In fact none of my devices, with the exception of my AVR, have a front display. All my kit is hidden inside a cabinet anyway, and if I want to change a channel I have the favourites set up as a one button press on my Logitech remote, or I can access music by simply asking Alexa to turn the required station or piece of music on through my AVR for me without having to turn on a display.
 
As I already have a Shield Pro I thought I'd compare the cost of converting it to a multi-tuner DVR as against the cost of the 2TB Aura.

Aura: 2TB storage / 3 tuner - £279

Shield-based DVR not including the cost of the Shield:

HomeRun Quatro 4-tuner box: £140
USB storage: £70
HomeRun DVR software (per year): £35
Total: £245.

So there's very little in it, unless there are cheaper options out there than the Home Run?

Adding in the Shield cost (£200) brings the total to £445. The Aura wins hands down, especially as it's one box as opposed to three.

I bought my Shield Pro a couple of days before the Aura was announced, which is really annoying! I think I might return or sell it to part-finance an Aura. The only advantage I can see with the Shield is that it has Dolby Vision and some gaming.
..and Dolby Atmos and Full HD audio codec support.
 
Thanks, I was hoping I'd get some posts like this extolling the Shield's advantages over the Aura. :D

Another advantage I've just thought of is the transcoding options in DVR software if you use Plex or Kodi. As I understand it, converting to H264 is built-in, making file archiving easy, rather than having recordings locked up in the Humax.
 
I‘ve had Humax Freeview and Freesat DVR boxes and none compare to the Virgin V6 box I‘ve now had for the last couple of years in my opinion.
I don’t subscribe to any pay for channels, but it’s reliability vs the Humax boxes, flexibility and TiVo intelligence to auto record programmes I’m interested in is fantastic.
 
As I already have a Shield Pro I thought I'd compare the cost of converting it to a multi-tuner DVR as against the cost of the 2TB Aura.

Aura: 2TB storage / 3 tuner - £279

Shield-based DVR not including the cost of the Shield:

HomeRun Quatro 4-tuner box: £140
USB storage: £70
HomeRun DVR software (per year): £35
Total: £245.

So there's very little in it, unless there are cheaper options out there than the Home Run?

Adding in the Shield cost (£200) brings the total to £445. The Aura wins hands down, especially as it's one box as opposed to three.

I bought my Shield Pro a couple of days before the Aura was announced, which is really annoying! I think I might return or sell it to part-finance an Aura. The only advantage I can see with the Shield is that it has Dolby Vision and some gaming.

The main advantage I can see with the shield / hdhomerun setup is the fact other people in the house could use the hdhomerun app on other devices to watch live TV / recordings. If I cancel sky we'll lose the sky q mini box so would want something to replicate that and as far as I can tell the aura doesn't do that but hdhomerun does. That's a big advantage for me.
One thing I'm not 100% sure about with hdhomerun though is whether 2 different recordings can be watched at the same time on different devices?
 
The main advantage I can see with the shield / hdhomerun setup is the fact other people in the house could use the hdhomerun app on other devices to watch live TV / recordings. If I cancel sky we'll lose the sky q mini box so would want something to replicate that and as far as I can tell the aura doesn't do that but hdhomerun does. That's a big advantage for me.
One thing I'm not 100% sure about with hdhomerun though is whether 2 different recordings can be watched at the same time on different devices?

There are apps for the Aura to allow Live TV and recordings to be watched in other rooms
 
There are apps for the Aura to allow Live TV and recordings to be watched in other rooms

See that for me is what makes it probably the first true replacement for SKYQ.

I don’t have any experience of Android TV but I assume it means the device may get better long term support than most freeview boxes might get.

It says a November launch so hopefully reviewers get it soon as I am all over this
 
Tried the Shield, as well as ATV, and was far happier with the Shield overall with the exception of the lack of a auto matching frame r
Oh well, if this new Aura from Humax isn't all I want it to be, I know I can fall back on the Shield.

Another plus for the Shield is that it can run Plex SERVER, you can then also use the client to play local files or, what some do, play from Google Drive or other cloud locations.
 
The new Chromecast has Android TV, and I am quite liking it apart from the lake of an All4 app
 
Is it correct that the DVR software in Plex and Kodi can transcode so that the files can be saved in standard formats? If so, hopefully the HomeRun DVR can also do that.
 
Is it correct that the DVR software in Plex and Kodi can transcode so that the files can be saved in standard formats? If so, hopefully the HomeRun DVR can also do that.

Kodi does not really have a DVR, it just plays and controls other DVRs like Enigma2 and TVHeadend. So If you had a PC with some tuners plugged in and Kodi on it you would not be able to watch live TV without some other software. So Kodi basically acts as a PVR extender.

Not sure about Plex as I dont use it
 
Hi All, forgive a newbie question.
I currently pay Virgin £60 a month for broadband and TV.
Whilst I realise I still need broadband, I want to get rid of the TV services from them.
So, my question is, can the Aura show terrestrial tv channels from its internet feed or would it need a tv aerial or a satellite dish?
Thanks
 
Hi All, forgive a newbie question.
I currently pay Virgin £60 a month for broadband and TV.
Whilst I realise I still need broadband, I want to get rid of the TV services from them.
So, my question is, can the Aura show terrestrial tv channels from its internet feed or would it need a tv aerial or a satellite dish?
Thanks

To show live tv you will need an aerial
 
Am I the only person in the world who bemoans the loss of a front display on PVR boxes? I've had a Humax, without display for around 6 years now, but still miss older boxes that I could see at a glance what channel it is on and roughly what it's doing (how many channels is it recording, etc) without necessarily having the TV on. I wonder also whether this Humax box still has the crazy colour code for its front LED; Blue-On, Red -Off, Red, recording. o_O
Edit; not forgetting the most useful reason for having a physical display- when listening to freeview radio stations - I hate having to power up a power-hungry TV display panel just to change station.


You can add me to the list. My HDR-1000S still has the front display. I think the last model to retain this was the HDR-1010S (adds built in Wifi to the 1000S spec).
 
Hi All, forgive a newbie question.
I currently pay Virgin £60 a month for broadband and TV.
Whilst I realise I still need broadband, I want to get rid of the TV services from them.
So, my question is, can the Aura show terrestrial tv channels from its internet feed or would it need a tv aerial or a satellite dish?
Thanks

You need an aerial for live TV and to schedule recordings to internal HDD. . However you can cast the broadcaster catch up content from a smart mobile phone or a tablet to the built in Chromecast. These have a live stream option. Some let you download content for viewing offline.

eg iplayer, ITV Hub, All4 and My 5
 
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You need an aerial for live TV and to schedule recordings to internal HDDS. . However you can cast the broadcaster catch up content from a smart mobile phone or a tablet to the built in Chromecast. These have a live stream option. Some let you download content for viewing offline.

eg iplayer, ITV Hub, All4 and My 5
Might as well just use a firestick or a chromecast with google TV and save £200 if all its going to do is use the players
 
There are apps for the Aura to allow Live TV and recordings to be watched in other rooms

Really? Interesting. If that's the case it would be a perfectly adequate replacement for sky q then (apart from the lack of subscription channels obviously). Pleased I didn't buy a Manhattan T3-R now
I'm guessing this Humax will be pretty flakey to start with though, these things always are but it's definitely a very interesting proposition
 
thanks for the help.
I only really ever watch the terrestrial channels and Netflix.
I just called Virgin to see how much to just have their broadband, they said £39 a month.
I still think that's too much but there's not much of an alternative that I can find.
 
Really? Interesting. If that's the case it would be a perfectly adequate replacement for sky q then (apart from the lack of subscription channels obviously). Pleased I didn't buy a Manhattan T3-R now
I'm guessing this Humax will be pretty flakey to start with though, these things always are but it's definitely a very interesting proposition

From the Humax website

Humax Aura app
Watch your recordings around the house or on the go.


Download the Aura app* to a compatible smart device and stream Live TV or recordings around the house.

Set reminders, schedules and recordings through the Humax Aura App, or download recordings straight to your device to take on the go.

Available for both Android & iOS.

The Humax Aura app is coming soon to Android & iOS App Stores, expected to launch Nov 2020.
 
thanks for the help.
I only really ever watch the terrestrial channels and Netflix.
I just called Virgin to see how much to just have their broadband, they said £39 a month.
I still think that's too much but there's not much of an alternative that I can find.
I pay Virgin £50 a month for 200mbps, a landline (I just can’t bring myself to drop the landline) and basic TV channels. At approx £10 a month for Virgin TV, it would virtually take you 2 years to get you money back on the Humax box at £200. By that time something else would be out encouraging you spend at least another £200 to replace it.
 
Am I the only person in the world who bemoans the loss of a front display on PVR boxes? I've had a Humax, without display for around 6 years now, but still miss older boxes that I could see at a glance what channel it is on and roughly what it's doing (how many channels is it recording, etc) without necessarily having the TV on. I wonder also whether this Humax box still has the crazy colour code for its front LED; Blue-On, Red -Off, Red, recording. o_O
Edit; not forgetting the most useful reason for having a physical display- when listening to freeview radio stations - I hate having to power up a power-hungry TV display panel just to change station.
You can add me to the list. My HDR-1000S still has the front display. I think the last model to retain this was the HDR-1010S (adds built in Wifi to the 1000S spec).

The front panel display is a big loss to me as without it you cannot tell if the box is actually recording a program that you set without powering on the TV, my box has occasionally missed programs and it is very annoying, with a front display I could see at a glance if it was recording but using the same red light as in standby it is impossible to tell :( I like F1 and one race a while ago didn't record, very disappointing after avoiding all the news, internet sites and radio so as not to get the result before C4 broadcast it. If there had been a front panel display I would have seen it wasn't recording and been able to rectify the situation. :(
 
+1 for missing the front display. I have been using second screen options for a while. Currently I am using a low cost android tablet, on a stand. As long as the platform you are using has an app (for me it is Plex) you can have now playing metadata on the second screen (tablet) and mess about with zoom / always on apps, etc to make it look nice.

Is it confirmed that this new Humax Aura device does not do HD audio passthrough, when used as a plex client, including atmos / dts:x?

And.. what is this about the Shield not supporting frame rate switching? I have an Nvidia Shield Pro 2019 and it definitely does support resolution / refresh rate switching, as well as autio HDR on and off. I use it as a plex client and use either the native plex app or the plex app in kodi. The kodi one seems more stable, but not as pretty!
 
And.. what is this about the Shield not supporting frame rate switching? I have an Nvidia Shield Pro 2019 and it definitely does support resolution / refresh rate switching, as well as autio HDR on and off. I use it as a plex client and use either the native plex app or the plex app in kodi. The kodi one seems more stable, but not as pretty!

The Shield doesn't automatically match frame rate and resolution.
 
That's weird then, because mine does! I do only use the Plex app and Kodi, so is it those apps that add that functionality then?

From memory, I thought you have the option to match the frame rate of displayed content but, it isn't automatic.
 

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