Humax’s Freeview Play box just got supercharged with Sky TV channels, iTunes films, more

Humax has boosted its Freeview Play set-top box with a number of new features, including access to some of the best exclusive channels from Sky TV, movie rentals from Apple’s iTunes Store, and improved video upscaling to boost resolution to match your telly. It’s a huge new update to one of the most feature-packed boxes on the market.

Human AURA already had a long list of features to rival the likes of Sky Q, Virgin Media 360, and other paid-for options. As well as Freeview Play, which includes access to dozens of terrestrial channels as well as catch-up services like BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4, and more. Freeview Play recently topped 30,000 hours of on-demand movies and boxsets.

And now, the latest software update brings access to Apple TV+. This streaming service unlocks access to any purchases or rentals associated with your Apple Account, including those bought exclusively from the iTunes Store. Purchases from iTunes often ship with extras, including behind-the-scene features and documentaries, not found on other digital stores.

Not only that, but Apple TV+ is the only way to access exclusive new shows coming to the TV+ streaming service, which is designed to rival the likes of Netflix and Prime Video. It’s still early days for Apple, but it has a number of hits under its belt already, including football comedy Ted Lasso and drama The Morning Show.

In addition, the new feature brings NOW, formerly NOW TV, to the AURA set-top box. Using the Chromecast system, which lets you wireless beam video and audio from a smartphone to the big screen, brings access to a dizzying number of live sports coverage, the latest Hollywood blockbusters and exclusive films, boxsets and more from Sky TV.

To get your hands on these new features, you’ll need to make sure your Humax AURA is running update version 9.21.

The software also brings a more dynamic Top Picks recommendations guide as well as “Now & Next” sections with boosted menus that Humax claims are easier to navigate. When setting up the set-top box from a reset, Humax will now select the optimal surround sound settings by default.

The AURA also now supports audio passthrough and audio delay in other media players for improved compatibility, such as VLC, Kodi and PLEX.