BT Youview+ Set Top Box with Twin HD Freeview and 7 Day Catch Up TV, No Subscription

I have a Sky HD+ Box in the sitting room, but wanted to be able record stuff that is of interest to just myself and watch when in the "mancave" doing stuff. Sky Multiroom is too expensive an option so looking at Freeview type recorders and came across this BT Youview box.Picked it up through the Amazon used option so a significant saving over the original price. I have a fairly large (40") LCD Screen connected, but this is also a fairly old (>12 years?) TV as well so well matched to the Youview box which did come out a few years ago.Picture quality is good enough. Not quite as good as the Sky Box and newer (still 10 years old) TV in the main room, but good enough.Dislikes would be when first powered up, the box comes to life quickly but the 'interface' part of the Youview system that allows you to select the different options - recordings, apps, downloads, etc - seems to take an age to start working. For anyone familiar with the Sky Box, it is like when that is powered up from cold, but on the Youview, it is every time you turn it on from standby. Once working it is fine, but the initial wait is frustrating.The other bugbear is the remote control. It feels like a good quality remote but the button locations - specifically the 'back' button is SO ANNOYING. it is virtually impossible to avoid accidently pressing it when navigating around and using the arrows. Then once pressed, you go back (of course) and then have to start again. It is hard to believe it passed any kind of ergonomic user testing. I don't think I have had a remote with such a silly button position.But the good things are you can record 2 things while watching a 3rd live broadcast (better than Sky HD+!). The interface itself once woken up is decent and perfectly useable.And a super feature - the BT phone app allows you to set recordings up remotely, which is an excellent option I was not even aware of when I bought the box. This feature is what makes it a 5* unit despite the annoyances about the remote and the slow startup.I used to have a BT Vision (think that was the name?) Set Top Box many many years ago as part of a BT Broadband setup and that was ok.I used to have a Humax Freeview PVR before I went to Sky and that was good for its time.This BT Youview box (also Humax based) is overall superior to both of those devices, with much greater flexibility and features and at a much better price.At the Amazon used price I paid (~£70) I think it was great value. At the normal new price of ~£160, it is not quite the 'no-brainer' choice but still pretty good if you want a PVR with the ability to remotely schedule recordings.

Had an old humax box for the last few years but had the common problem of the tv guide not showing all the channels or recordings not working whenever it felt like it.Bought this box instead and I'm glad I did.Very easy to set up (just follow the on screen questions) and within a few minutes I had all the freeview channels and a tv guide which was populated for ALL channels for the WHOLE week ahead.Plugged in the included 10 metre ethernet cable to my router (luckily they are next to each other!) and now I can browse backwards a week in the tv guide as well and select play from the guide which then opens the programme in the relevant on-demand player.The remote works perfectly and anything you press happens very quickly. On my old humax box everytime you paused a recording and pressed play you would have to rewind a few seconds as there was a delay so you missed some of the programme but with this box everything is instant. Even pressing the fast forward 60 sec button a few times quickly will skip the adverts and then start playing instantly again.The search button on the remote works very well (although it didn't work at all until I plugged the box into the router) and as you type it auto-completes, looking for any programmes with the letters in as you type. You can then choose whether you want an on-demand version of the programme (to watch) or a current one which is on in the future (to record)The HD channels look really good (even the standard ones look better than they used to) and if you try to record something in SD and it's available on an HD channel then you get a message asking whether you want to record the HD programme instead.There's also an Android youview app which shows you the tv guide and you can record the programmes directly from the app even when you're out of the house (This has been a bit hit and miss when I tested it, I get errors a few times in a row when attempting to record something and then eventually it does appear in the recording schedule on the box, but I wouldn't rely on this too much. Not much help around either to try and work out why it doesn't always work!)Been using this for just over a week now and so far it's very impressive. Also very small compared to other dvr's.

I was all set to give 5*: easy to set up, good quality recordings etc but there's 2 unfortunate omissions.1) There's no Disney+ app, nor any way of adding it.2) The set up guide says the controller can be paired with the TV to control the volume. It's not been possible to do this with my Panasonic so we need to keep 2 remotes handy - particularly true when switching between different sources, as the volume can vary immensely.

This product is no longer available, so I was upgraded to the brand new BT/EE pro box which is a great addition to the viewing and recording of programmes. I recommend a this product and the seller. My order came the very next day (if you order early in the day) and it is very good value for the money, every thing is perfect (picture, channels, storage etc) and the set up was very easy to do, in fact it mostly did it itself and you only have to press ok when asked.,