The long wait for the much-anticipated streaming service ITVX on popular Freeview boxes Manhattan T3 and Manhattan T3-R is drawing to a close.
We can now confirm that a free software update set to be released this week will finally make ITV’s streaming service available to users of these two devices, along with a few additional fixes (see full details below).
Although the update will start rolling out to devices starting today (Tuesday) – ITVX itself will only be activated for the T3 and T3-R on Thursday, May 25.
This brings to an end a delay that started back when ITVX first launched on Freeview, back in December 2022, with Manahhtan’s boxes facing unexpected issues.
Although the T3 Freeview Play box and the T3-R Freeview Recorder have both been discontinued – they were quite popular at the time, therefore many owners were eagerly waiting for the arrival of ITV’s streaming app – and their wait is finally over.
What Is ITVX?
ITV’s streaming app, ITVX, is a free-to-watch (with adverts) service that’s replacing the long-running ITV Hub app, and is meant to be a full-fledged streaming service, with the aim of competing with services such as Netflix and Disney+.
ITVX originally launched with more than 10,000 free (with adverts) hours of on-demand content, including 35 flagship shows, 200+ series and 250+ films, with new content being added regularly (here’s what’s coming to ITVX in June).
In addition to the on-demand content, you can also stream all of ITV’s live channels via the app, as well as several “themed” ad-supported live channels that are dedicated to a single series or theme (including a British Sign Language channel).
However, do note that ITVX’s live channels are NOT available on Freeview Play devices and TVs for now (except for Samsung), therefore they will likely not be available on the Manhattan boxes either.
And although ITV is focusing heavily on the ad-supported free tier, ITVX also has a paid Premium tier, which removes all the adverts when you’re watching on-demand content.
Premium tier subscribers will also get access to the entire content library of BritBox, which includes more than 4,000 hours of classic British shows and films, as well as films and TV shows from Studio Canal Presents.
The Premium tier costs £5.99/month or £59.99/year (but there’s a limited-time half-off offer running these days).
ITVX is available on most streaming devices and Smart TVs sold in the UK.
However, it’s worth noting that there’s a long list of devices that don’t support ITV’s streaming app – and likely won’t ever support it – from popular Freeview boxes like the Humax FVP-5000t, to Freesat boxes like the Humax Hb1000s, and older Smart TVs from Samsung and other manufacturers.
Last month, older iPhones and iPads also joined that list of devices that no longer support ITVX (or ITV Hub), as we were the first to report.
ITVX On Manhattan T3 and T3-R
The ITVX app launched on Freeview Play devices and TVs back in December, 2022 – but it was absent from Manhattan’s devices so far, due to unforeseen technical issues.
In light of that delay, owners of the Manhattan Boxes were so far still able to use ITV’s old streaming app, ITV Hub (even though, somewhat confusingly, the Hub’s icon changed into the ITVX icon a few months ago).
But this week, the ITVX app is finally coming to the Manhattan T3 and T3-R, thanks to a software update which is being pushed out automatically to the devices.
On the Manhattan T3 Freeview Play box, The v2.02 update adds support for the ITVX app, and resolves a few known issues.
On the Manhattan T3-R Freeview Play Recorder, the v2.05 update introduces support for ITVX, allows for finer adjustment of lip-sync, and resolves known issues from v2.04.
As mentioned above, ITVX will only start working on these devices from Thursday, May 25.
How Do I Get ITVX On The T3 And T3-R?
If your Manhattan T3 / T3-R is connected to the internet, and you haven’t disabled auto-updates, then the update should download and install automatically overnight – by May 24.
If the T3 / T3-R is connected to the internet, but you haven’t received the update yet, you can manually get it by going to Settings > System > Software Updates and choosing Check for Update Now.
If your T3 / T3-R is not connected to the internet, you can update by downloading the update files to your computer, copying them to a USB stick and inserting it into your T3-R.
More information – and the download files – will go up on Manhattan’s software update pages later today.
It’s worth noting that the Manhattan T4 and T4-R, the new, upcoming Freeview boxes that are due to be released this summer – will already have support for ITVX from Day 1.
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Having similar issues as described above. The manufacturers are agreeing to take back the box however to fix my box (t3R) as it refuses to update to the new version 2.05 with ITVX support.
They have replaced the box once already as the box would not update to the previous update so I’m a bit apprehensive about continuing using this box.
Should I wait and buy the new box from Manhattan due out in July (T4r)
OR
purchase the Humax Aura box that is out of for sale at the moment?
I would appreciate any advice from owners of both devices mentioned here.
Thank you.
We bought the Manhatten T3-R 4 months ago. It will not install the V5 even though it says it has detected the update. Manhatten sent us a USB Stick Surprise Surprise …. it won’t work from that either. I need to try & get my money back or they need to send us a new updated box.
Really fed up with my Manhattan T3 r – I had LOTS of bugs from not recording to rebooting when pressing the guide button. Was hoping that the update would help as I had most of the bugs listed making it unusable. After updating I now have a couple of the bugs that are listed that I didn’t have before – reboots when pressing the number keys AND the guide key now. Unbelievable! 🙄
Do we know if there is going to an update for the Humax boxes in the future.
That’s very unlikely. The older Humax boxes were among those that lost ITV Hub even before ITVX was released.
Our manhatten T3-R is finding the new V5 but it will not install.
The ITVX app, is painfully slow to navigate round the Manhattan T3-R. Tested ITVX on my Roku stick, and is navigating like lightening.
Same here, very fast on my Amazon fire TV cube though.
It’s finally happened, although I updated my T3-R box & was due to come live today, the box still showed ITV Hub until about 2pm. Thought it wasn’t going to work. Bit slow though despite my internet connection/wi-fi being good.