[tredman]

For those in the UK this looks a good option to combine integrated dvb-t2 PVR, Android TV and Kodi.

https://uk.humaxdigital.com/product/aura...-recorder/

Humax have a great history in making reliable Freeview boxes and integration of Freeview Play will provide a good EPG and PVR experience. Just hope they can ensure refresh rate switching works to provide good app experience.

[noggin]

For those in the UK this looks a good option to combine integrated dvb-t2 PVR, Android TV and Kodi.

https://uk.humaxdigital.com/product/aura...-recorder/

Humax have a great history in making reliable Freeview boxes and integration of Freeview Play will provide a good EPG and PVR experience. Just hope they can ensure refresh rate switching works to provide good app experience.

Let's hope it supports HLG as well as HDR10 for HDR - as that's what the BBC uses for UHD HDR on iPlayer.

[tredman]

Let's hope it supports HLG as well as HDR10 for HDR - as that's what the BBC uses for UHD HDR on iPlayer.

You’d hope so, it makes a big play of doing 4K.

[flipside101]

For those in the UK this looks a good option to combine integrated dvb-t2 PVR, Android TV and Kodi.

https://uk.humaxdigital.com/product/aura...-recorder/

Humax have a great history in making reliable Freeview boxes and integration of Freeview Play will provide a good EPG and PVR experience. Just hope they can ensure refresh rate switching works to provide good app experience.

Has anyone seen anything on what chipset this runs ?

[tredman]

Decent review here:

HLG supported and all looks good, but NO NETFLIX!!! **** nonsense.

[jjd-uk]

That video does confirm it has L1 Widevine DRM hence why it's got 4K Amazon Prime & Disney+, so it's technically possible for Netflix 4k, however to get the Android TV Netflix app then the box needs to be certified by Netflix which I guess Humax would have to pay for.

[tredman]

It just seems deeply odd that they *wouldn't* pay for it, its one of the main reasons for using the Android TV platform.

Nice to see good high quality 1080i playback though.

[jjd-uk]

There's always the possibility it's still going through the Netflix certification process but wasn't done in time for launch, so might have simply decided not to hold it back until Netflix is ready in order to get the box on sale in the important pre-Xmas sales period.

[wrxtasy]

You would want to definitely check first that this - expensive - Humax PVR Android TV device supports auto Frame Rate Matching for 25/50fps local UK, TV and IPTV/VOD content & also 24p Amazon Prime etc.

[jjd-uk]

You would want to definitely check first that this - expensive - Humax PVR Android TV device supports auto Frame Rate Matching for 25/50fps local UK, TV and IPTV/VOD content & also 24p Amazon Prime etc.

Expensive for an Android box yes, expensive for the 3 tuner PVR with 1TB storage then at £250 for a newly released product then I'd say no it isn't.

It's closest competitor is probably the Manhattan T3-R at about £200 but no Android ecosystem so no Amazon Prime and no Disney+

[tredman]

Its a freeview play box so will do 50Hz for live tv in the freeview play section (my crappy Cello android tv freeview play tv does this too)

[noggin]

You would want to definitely check first that this - expensive - Humax PVR Android TV device supports auto Frame Rate Matching for 25/50fps local UK, TV and IPTV/VOD content & also 24p Amazon Prime etc.

My guess is that as the Aura is a Freeview Play device the output will usually be configured with a default resolution and frame rate of 1080p50 or 2160p50.  That will be fine for i25 Live TV & PVR recordings, p25 and p50 Freeview Play catch-up (including 2160p50/p25 HLG HDR iPlayer - currently showing His Dark Materials in UHD HDR for example)  (And also for 25fps shows on Amazon and Netflix)

The question is whether it will also switch to p24 and p60 (and the 1000/1001 variants) - and whether it will do so using the Android API (where apps switch the resolution) or tries to sense the frame rate of the playing video (i.e. fully automatic).   The former approach won't work with many apps (though will with Kodi?), the latter is a very non-standard approach in Android TV terms?  

No current mainstream Android TV platform offers Netflix or Prime with API or content-based frame rate switching does it? (nVidia's Shield TV has a 'press button to set Frame rate once playing' option, and Fire OS has support for API frame rate switching in some apps, but not Netflix last I checked?)

As others have said - the cost isn't that high for a properly implemented Freeview HD+/Play PVR with 1TB storage and 3 tuners with fully licensed Freeview Play reverse EPG, proper support for Freeview PVR/EPG stuff etc.  You can get cheaper un-licensed boxes - but they won't have any of the neatly integrated Freeview Play stuff.

[jjd-uk]

proper support for Freeview PVR/EPG stuff etc.

Perhaps you might know as I seem to remember you have something to do with the broadcast industry in the UK. Given it's a certified Freeview Play device then I assume it must be fully complaint with the DTG D-Book specs so does that mean EPG recording features such as Accurate Record and suggested alternative time/date options in event of a recording event clash should come as standard? or are those optional?

[noggin]

proper support for Freeview PVR/EPG stuff etc.

Perhaps you might know as I seem to remember you have something to do with the broadcast industry in the UK. Given it's a certified Freeview Play device then I assume it must be fully complaint with the DTG D-Book specs so does that mean EPG recording features such as Accurate Record and suggested alternative time/date options in event of a recording event clash should come as standard? or are those optional?

I believe 'accurate record' (i.e. using the EIT p/f - present/following aka now/next - flags change to trigger recording) is required for Freeview or Freesat licensing of any PVR (it was part of the Freeview+/Freesat+ certification that has been rolled into the current Freeview and Freesat platforms I believe).  The main broadcasters' EIT p/f flags are accurately triggered by their channel playout areas. (The trigger on BBC channels is at the start of the BBC channel ident and programme announcement going into the programme, and on the transition out of the next item after the show has finished at the end of the show - so your recordings contain any language or violence warnings before the show, and any post-show content - such as a pointer to BBC ActionLine etc. This was also the system used for the analogue PDC system which used teletext to trigger recordings back in the days of PAL broadcasts)