Humax to Release PVR Set Top Box for Freely’s UK Broadband TV Service
Set-top-box manufacturer Humax appears to be preparing to launch its first box with video recording capabilities for the new broadband-based live TV streaming service Freely, which is supported by several of the major UK TV broadcasters (BBC, ITV etc.) and is an evolution – not yet a full replacement – of the existing Freeview service (inc. Freeview Play and Freesat).
Freely has been slowly improving their device support since the service first went live in April 2024 (here) and recently confirmed plans to launch on Netgem’s new streaming TV box during Q4 2025 (here); such boxes are typically bundled by broadband ISPs like Brsk, TalkTalk, CommunityFibre, Wightfibre and others. The BBC are also understood to be considering the launch of a streaming box (here).
However, Freely’s adoption is likely to remain limited until the service arrives on popular streaming devices from Amazon, Google and Roku, but at present there’s no clear indication of whether or even when this will happen. In the meantime, progress is still being made and a number of electrical retailers (examples here, here and here) recently started listing the existence of a new device – the Humax FHR-6000T – “Freely PVR Recordable Set Top Box“.
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The new 4K (UltraHD) supporting box doesn’t yet appear to be listed on Humax’s website, but the retailers indicate that it will cost £249 and “stands out as the very first Freely PVR (personal video recorder) set top box, allowing recording of up to four channels simultaneously on a single screen” (max recording time of 1000 hours). The box will also offer connectivity via HDMI 2.1 and USB ports, as well as WiFi capability, Ethernet (LAN), SPDIF (optical audio), RF out and RF in.
The box supports popular TV services / apps like BBC iPlayer, ITVX, C4, C5 and allows Remote Record (Schedule on the Go). The kit, which also has the ability to pause live TV, comes with a 1-year warranty (extendable to 2 years upon registration), weighs a hefty 1.7kg and is sized as follows: H48 x W280 x D200 mm.
However, there’s currently little to no other information on how this box will go about Freely’s integration, and a sizeable question mark remains over the limitations of its video recording capabilities (i.e. does this really extend to content delivered via Freely or only via something like aerial-based Freeview signals).
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Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
Ought to include a Satellite receiver in the box as well. A lot of rural and coastal areas have limited channel availability on terrestrial reception.
Trouble is that satellite is likely to disappear before Freeview. If Sky stops satellite when their current contract with SES (Astra) ends in 2029 Freesat may well become uneconomic and SES have not committed to replacing their aging fleet of satellites. Ringway Manchester made a video about it here:- https://youtu.be/H3Qg6exDBAI?t=4
Easier just to launch a separate version rather than make it more expensive for the majority of people who don’t need satellite.
Why would you want to record if you have on demand makes no sense.
Who records nowadays no need.
I do, not all things which are broadcast on TV actually make it to streaming, on top of that… most streaming services have loads of adverts, which you easily skip if you have a recording set top box.
This box is aimed at people like me 😉
We record programmes from ITV, CH4 & CH5 so we can skip over the adverts which you can’t do with their catch up players.
I would assume Humax is going for an experience that mimics Freeview as much as possible, where people are used to traditional recording. The BBC has also said they wish to release a cheap Freely streaming box that feels like Freeview in that it has channel numbers and is simple to use.
Speaking for myself and family:
1) Not everything is on demand/on demand when I want to watch it
2) It works if the broadband goes down
3) Skip adverts easily
4) no messing around with signing in….yes this is a problem for some….no don’t laugh
At my retail job, I also tend to find it’s older customers who buy recorders like this.
To fast forward to skip adverts.
Everything is recorded in our household, means we can skip the ads and pick and choose when to watch something and have our own library and list of programs. Picture quality on the Freeview HD channels is better than what is on streaming services, and BBC via Freeview is DOG free, whereas that isn’t the case on iPlayer. Even UHD content, we’ve gone to watch that on iPlayer for some extra resolution, found it so compressed it was no better than the Freeview broadcast.
If I watched linier TV still, I would still record stuff, for a start as been said not everything is streamed, and also I would record to skip adverts. But I don’t watch linier TV these days.
My brother still record. I know of someone who still recorded to VHS until a couple of years ago and now record to DVD.
@Pepstar, Even if it will be possible to record Freely stuff, I can’t see them allowing adverts to be skipped, I could be wrong, but this is something that commercial channels hate is people recording and skipping adverts.
Myself, I watch the majority of my viewing on demand these days and a bit of DVD/Blu-ray now and again.
My first PVR was a Humax, Single tuner thing, it was a good unit for it’s time. The Freely PVR will have to be very good, certainly for the price of £249, four tuners may sound great, but they don’t make up the cost. If it don’t record Freely, then there is really no point to it and may as well get something cheaper.
In addition to what has already been said about availability of content, skipping of adverts, avoidance of DOGs, etc I record things like live football on ITV so that if I arrive home after kick-off I can rewind to beginning of game and rewatch the action, such as contentious decisions, then jump forward if I want avoiding unwanted punditry.
Because you can race through the adverts if you record
In addition to the points raised, with the exception of news programs I record EVERYTHING my mother watches.
She is now in her 90s still living in her own home, but often looses track of time and regularly misses some, or all of her programs. There are also the toilet breaks!
She struggles with the Freeview recorder, and stands no chance with anything more complicated – even Channel updating can result in her being unable to use it again until I next go around. She does have a FireTV stick, but for her to watch something on catch-up needs me to be present.
So yes, far fewer people record than they used to, however it is all too often a mistake to speak for everyone based on personal experiences or requirements.
If you are happy to sit through six minutes of annoying ads and repeated trailers every 20 minutes, then you don’t need to record programmes to off-air/off-line storage. Otherwise, recording content is very useful for skipping past these irritating interruptions to viewing enjoyment. We welcome the opportunity to be able to finally record live-streamed content as well as live over-the-air content, so that ads and other irrelevant interruptions to films and shows can be skipped over. Also, streamed picture quality will potentially be HD, as Freeview restricts bandwidth to most channels, leaving them SD only (except for the five mainstream channels).
I wonder if this is their attempt at Freeview over IP. For those that don’t have an aerial, or satellite – but have full fibre – having the ability to record live TV without being forced down the EE/VM/Sky Q options would be most welcome.
I’m guessing you’re not familiar with Freely, as ‘Freeview as IPTV’ is the whole point of it.
The main selling point of this is that it’s also a DVR.
What a pile of overpriced junk. I’ve had Humax equipment before, it’s been laggy and there’s probably about £15 worth of hardware here. Even if you then triple the markup for their development of the operating system that still only works out to be £60 in total.
Those in charge of Freely seem straight out of the 2000 market when digital dominance ruled king, streaming wasn’t even a thing, and people were forced to watch what the linear bosses wanted us to watch. I’m not a fan of all the diversity of services as it pushes subscription cost up and choice down, but seriously why don’t the Freely team look at reconsidering the minimum hardware requirements and making an app that will work on existing Android and Kindle devices?
I’m not promoting illegal Kindle devices. My relatives have one and I frown at them for it. They can easily afford to pay for all the services they get legitimately. I keep telling them their services can be traced and payments made for these things can cause fraud and can fund criminal activity. I’m not tempted at all. But when the average person is actually proud to declare they have a dodgy stick (which thoroughly annoys me btw), Freely should be doing everything they can to make their service easily accessible not more complicated. It feels like the dinosaurs in charge have never heard of their competition and yes, piracy devices have to be considered as competition if they are to be stopped.
I suspect you mean a dodgy fire stick running Kodi?
Yes fire stick not kindle, I was clearly having a moment earlier as I thought it didn’t look right… I guess you can at least appreciate it’s definitely not an AI response 😉
They need to just get this added to samsung and LG tvs and integrate it with their guides
Freely is very good. We install a lot of broadband connections to caravans on park and the Hisense TVs with freely solve a coastal TV signal problem for many. I trust this will be an off-the-shelf item.
The fact that the photos show an RF input indicates they don’t expect it to have all the Freeview channels.
And they can’t even update the the humax 5000 so you can get itv hub or itvx
Hopefully it will run better than their last Humax freesat box, the 1100s. Stopped using it after 4 weeks due to it’s extremely slow and laggy user interface, it sputtered right down to loading channel lists. Waiting a few seconds between button press and action was not fun.
I hope it’s better quality than my Humax Aura: which is the most buggy, unreliable,glitchy, overpriced piece of junk I’ve ever owned!
I am Humax 1100s 2GB user for years, I like it, bar the horid green interface. I wonder will the Freely IP services work on the PVR in Ireland (Republic)? Some of the catch up tv services apps on my Samsung TV don’t allow viewing with Irish IP address.
Perhaps I need to figure out if I can set up a UK VPN aimed solely at the mac address of the TV (or PVR). I have a Unifi Dream Machine Pro SE. Should be possible without affecting other services in the house? Any tips?
@Colm
Yes it’s pretty easy to set up on Unifi – you’ll need a UK VPN, you set that up under Settings/VPN in the unifi app – best to use wireguard usually.
Then go Settings/Routing/Policy Based routing – create a new route that has
Route : all traffic, Source : (your tv/set top box etc), Interface : the VPN you set. Fallback : off.
Once that’s done all your tv/set top box traffic will go via the VPN – all other traffic totally unaffected.
I like the idea of freely but still need a PVR so I can rewind live tv (freely doesn’t seem to do that), pause for more than 15 minutes, record content that isn’t available on catchup,and resume watching programmes where I left off without having to fast forward from the start of the programme and sit through ads again.
Is there any official reason why they haven’t made this an app on streaming sticks?
Bought a 2TB Humax Aura years ago when it just launched – went through a round of software updates innitally but then Humax all but abandoned it – it’s never worked as it should. Based on this lack of support, I would never buy a Humax product again. Once bitten twice shy.
Humax PVRs always seem to get mixed reviews. Ive been using two BT branded Humax Youview PVRs for years and they have been great (one since 2016). Lovely interface – shame Youview is not actively developed. Cant stand being forced to sit through adverts on streaming services. I would try one of these at the right price.
The Free Ad-Supported Television (FAST) sector in the UK is facing turbulent times as ad revenue growth stalls in 2025. Despite rising viewership—platforms likes of Channel 4’s streaming service see millions of monthly users—ad revenue per user (ARPU) is declining sharply. Globally, FAST revenue is projected to reach $11.68 billion this year, but the UK market mirrors a worldwide trend of sluggish growth, with an 8% CAGR far below the sector’s earlier boom years.
The UK’s challenges stem from an oversaturated market and economic pressures. Hundreds of FAST channels compete for limited ad budgets, diluting revenue potential. Advertisers, squeezed by inflation and shifting to targeted platforms like social media, are spending less on FAST’s low-cost ads. This revenue shortfall is pushing platforms to restrict ad-skipping on recorded programmes, a move to safeguard income but risks alienating viewers.
Hope remains, though. UK broadcasters, controlling a growing share of top channels, are investing in live sports and local content to boost engagement. Innovations like AI-driven ad targeting, as seen in STV Group’s “FastFwd 2030” strategy, aim to improve monetisation. While the UK FAST market navigates these growing pains, focusing on premium content and better ad tech could spark a revival in this evolving industry.