Humax DTRT2000 rebranded itself as EE TV without permission

[TrevorPH]

I've got a 1TB Humax DTRT2000 Youview box that I bought at retail from Richer Sounds in 2014 and it's still going strong though rather slowly. About 2 weeks ago I switched ISP from Virgin Media to EE. I pay EE only for a 900Mbps FTTP broadband connection, no other services at all and definitely not TV.

I powered my Youview box up tonight and everything looks different. The icon at the top left of the blue button settings menu now says "EE" not "Youview" and all the menus and options look different, more Janet and John style with big simple fonts and whatever option you have selected is ringed with a yellow border. The TV guide has been given a Janet and John rework too. All my existing recordings still exist

I'd like my Youview box back please. I didn't give any permission to have my own box rebranded to EE without being asked. Does anyone know if it's possible to reverse this (short of cancelling my EE Broadband connection)?

Thanks for any suggestions. Trevor

[DarrenDev · Accepted solution]

Not possible I'm afraid - the only way to revert to YouView branding is connect it to a different broadband. 

[TrevorPH]

Oh, and it's also added approximately 250 new channels to the EPG, none of which function as they try to invoke EE TV and error out. I've just been through the edit channels and hidden them all but there were a lot of them from 300 to 525.

[widdowsonben]

As Darren said it's not possible with EE. I guess this issue exists because you're probably one of a very few people who brought a box outright. Most sold through BT/EE or Talk talk back in the day. If you're using a third party router you could route the Youview box through a VPN, run the software update and boom you're back with vanilla YouView. If you're using the EE provided router you're stuck I'm afraid. Have you considered EE TV and taking a box upgrade or is paytv wasted on you?

Best of luck. 

[zulu17]

That generation of YouView Boxes are designed to be able to connected to any broadband supplier -  what effectively occurs is YouView provides a Home page/Guide /App layout based upon their interpretation of the ISP supplier and location.

I suspect YouView approach here is to fulfil their policy of showing what services could be offered on  your Youview Box based upon how you currently have it connected rather than provide a viewer choice to customise the user experience. 

That generation of YouView boxes date back to 2014 so don't expect changes.

If YouView follow the same approach as they did with the earlier  first generation DTR1000/DTR1010  boxes thy may effectively revert to a Freeview only box at some stage in the future. 

Some EETV customers on BT Broadband may still be using similar generation boxes so I suspect the EETV  policy on  how long they continue  to support or pay for support of  that generation of boxes will have considerable influence on what YouView do.

As for permission  - when you agreed to YouView s  T&Cs  you would I believe be giving them permission  to make changes  Specifically 

1.2.7 the features of the YouView service may change from time to time and the interface of the YouView service may differ depending on your internet service provider. We’ll try not to make any significant changes which are likely to be to your disadvantage without notifying you in advance.