Micro_Mart_-_January_7_2016_

T

he FVP-4000Tset-top

box is the first venture

into the arena of

FreewayPlay by Humax.

This Humaxbox is suppliedwith

a remotecontrol and leadsfor

mainspower, Ethernet and

HDMIconnectivity. Similarin

size and shapeto the Humax

HDR-1100Sreviewedrecently,

apartfrom the fauxleatherlook

to the top of the box,it's

availablewitheither500GBor

1TB of storage,witha choiceof

colours(whitewithgoldtrim,

and cappuccinoor blackwith

silvertrimand mochatop).

Settingup this box,witha

choiceof Ethernet or wi-fito a

localnetwork,via a HDMI

connectionto a television,is

meantto be straightforward.

However, my first attempt

produceda problemin thatno

audiowas beingreceivedby the

televisionfrom the Humaxbox.

My solutionwas to switchto

anothertelevision,and this

solvedthe problem.

Onceset up, this Humaxbox

offers a rangeof features that

are accessiblefrom the large,

suppliedremotecontrol. By

pressingthe homebuttonon

the remote,a scrollablemenu

appearson the televisionscreen,

allowingyou to switchbetween

TV guide,Recordings,On

Demand,MediaCentre and

Settings,plusa recentcategory

thatappearsoncethe box has

beenusedfor accesscontent.

its arrivaland offeringa choice

of music,videoor photo

content.You can thenaccess

the contentyou want.

Generally, this processwas

trouble-free but on a coupleof

occasions,contentwas not

detected,eventhoughit had

beenaccessedfrom this source

duringan earliersessionand

was still availablefrom the

Recentoption.This is

disappointing,and to date,I

havenot got to the bottomof

this anomaly.

The MediaCentre can also be

usedto accessappropriate

contentstored on yourlocal

network.Accordingto the user

guidesuppliedwiththis

product,you're meantto be

ableto accessthe Humax

internal hard drivefrom a

computeron the samenetwork.

However, wheneverI triedto do

this I receiveda messagethat

the drivewas not accessibleas I

did not havethe required

permissionto use this resource.

Consideringthe other

problemswithhad withthe

FVP-4000T, it's hard to really

recommendit. Hopefully,

though,someof theseflaws

can be remediedat a latertime.

mmMichaelFereday

Someusefulfeatures

butoneortwoworrying

issues

6

6

Quality

Value

55

Overall

Humax FVP-4000T

DETAILS

• Price:£199.99
  (500GB)


• Manufacturer:
  Humax


• Website:
  humaxdirect.com/uk


• Requirements:n.a.

HumaxentersthearenaofFreeviewPlaywitha newset-topbox

Demandfeature of this box.

You can selectfrom BBCiPlayer,

ITV Player, All 4 and Demand 4

servicesfor yourfix of missed

programmes.This sectionalso

containslinksfor itemsthat

includeYouTube,Euronewsand

Internet Radio.

The MediaCentre, as you

mightexpect,handlesyour

personalcollectionof music,

videosand photos.Someof this

contentcouldbe stored on an

external device,suchas a flash

stickor hard drive,whichis then

linkedto the Humaxbox via a

USBporton the rightside of

the device.As soonas a device

is connectedto this port,a

messagewill appearon the

television’s screen announcing

The EPG(electronic

programmeguide)allowsyou to

makefull use of the three

tunersbuiltinto the Humaxbox.

Up to fourprogrammescan be

scheduledfor recording

simultaneously, whilea fifth

programmecan be watched

live. Programmescan be

selectedfor recordingon a one-

off basisor as partof a series

witha choiceof SD or HD

broadcastwhenavailable.

Recorded contentwill be stored

on the unit’s internal hard drive,

providingup to 300 hoursof

programmes,and thenmade

availablefrom the Recordings

optionfor viewinglater.

Providingcatch-uptelevision

is the mainfunctionof the On