Press record and the central and two other lights flash away like a computer from the original Starship Enterprise. A central light glows bright green when the unit is on, dulling when it’s in standby. While there’s no clock or display, the front of the unit features three lights similar to those on the boxes Huawei makes for TalkTalk. While I wasn’t able to remove the casing of the review unit, the hollow feel of the box suggests Huawei skipped an opportunity to reduce the unit’s size. Like BT’s G4, the DN371T uses a power adapter rather than an internal power supply unit yet the box is substantially larger than its rival. My original Humax DTR-1000 is slow and laggy when navigating through long lists of content but the DN371T handled a list of 790 films just fine with no pausing and I didn’t have to wait for it to catch up with the button presses as I sometimes do with my DTR-1000. While you may not have access to this, I find navigating through it to be a good test of a box’s speed.
Other on demand players worked fine too.Īs my review box was connected to my BT broadband it was updated to include access to BT’s on demand player. Loading the BBC iPlayer took around 10 seconds but navigating within it was speedy and programmes played without any lag or buffering. While not as fast as on BT’s G4, changing channels and navigating the EPG and menus was a speedy experience and the box responded instantly to each button press on the oh-so cheap remote. The good news is that the penny pinching appears to have ended with the box’s exterior. Given that they’re made of very soft rubber, I suspect a year or so of heavy use will leave them entirely flush and very difficult to use.Īnd while Humax tarted up its retail box with a fashionable white/silver look, and BT designed its new box to match the look of its HomeHub router, the DN371T is housed in a plain, generic grey/black box which is distinctly underwhelming.
The other buttons are so shallow that they’re almost flush with the remote’s housing. When light hits the plastic framing the white letters marking the buttons become impossible to read – and the remote’s problems don’t end there. Sadly what you actually get is a very noisy set of buttons and arrow keys topped with a grey plastic housing. In photos the navigation pad and surround looks like a sleek metal touch control.
#HUAWEI TALKTALK YOUVIEW REVIEW MANUAL#
You may not be too fussed about the manual – it’ll probably go in the bin after you’ve set the box up – and the light, hollow casing won’t be an issue when the DN371T is placed under your telly, but the remote control is so cheaply put together that it’s offensive. It’s going to be interesting to see how retailers price and position the newcomer because it has a distinct ‘budget feel’ about it.įrom the empty, hollowness of the device itself to the clicky remote control and the incredibly thin paper the manual is printed on, the signs of cost cutting are everywhere. The arrival of the DN371T in stores means potential YouView users finally have a choice of manufacturer – all other retail boxes, including retail versions of BT’s new G4 box, are built by Humax.
#HUAWEI TALKTALK YOUVIEW REVIEW TV#
The DN371T is a PVR (digital recorder) built to work with connected TV platform YouView and will be available subscription free from major retailers in the coming weeks.Īlthough this is Huawei’s first retail box for the platform, the Chinese electronics giant has a lot of experience with the platform as it builds the boxes for TalkTalk’s YouView-based TV service.
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