HDR-FOX T2 Tuning Advice

This reprises a question I think I put on "the other place" as to how to go about manually selecting what channels I wanted to tune (short of connecting and disconnecting the aerial at appropriate times - which would be easy in this case).
Having just done a manual tune (but not taking notes) as the HDR had done a miserable job of selecting preferred transmitter, the procedure would be roughly as follows:

  1. Go to https://www.freeview.co.uk/freeview-channel-checker input your postcode and house number. When the initial results appear, and click on the "Detailed transmitter view" link. Look carefully at the information returned for each transmitter; don't blindly accept the recommendation for the most likely transmitter. You are looking for the single transmitter that will give you the best signal strength across the range of multiplexes you wish to receive.
  2. Having decided on a transmitter, note down the channel numbers for the mutiplexes typically between six and nine (shown in the white column headed N (the N is white on a black circular background) and whether the multiplex uses a transmission type DVB-T or DVB-T2 (hover over the channel number and a popup should appear which inc.
  3. On the HDR press Menu>Settings>Installation. You will be prompted for a password which defaults to 0000.
  4. Select Automatic search for channels and immediately stop it; save the results. This deletes all previously found channels.
  5. Select Manual search. In the Channel field press right arrow, scroll up or down and select the first channel number from your list. In the Transmission field leave it on the default DVB-T for all channels except the HD channels; for the HD channels it must be changed to DVB-T2. Press Search. This should find a number of channel names. Save the results.
  6. Repeat the manual search for each channel previously noted.
  7. You will then need to enter your schedule of recordings.
Updated 30/11/2019
Updated 21/04/2022 to correct the ever changing link to the Channel Checker.
Corrections gratefully received (perhaps this could become a FAQ) and I acknowledge the prior work of Biggles on manual tuning the 9200/9300.
 
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Having just done a manual tune (but not taking notes) as the HDR had done a miserable job of selecting preferred transmitter, the procedure would be roughly as follows:

  1. Go to http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/postcodechecker/main/index/dummy/NA/yes and input your postcode and house number; tick the box marked "I am in the aerial installation trade". Look carefully at the information returned for each transmitter; don't blindly accept the recommendation for the most likely transmitter; in our case it suggests Emley Moor but the reception predictor accurately predicts that we can't currently receive from Emley Moor but we have line of sight to Chesterfield transmitter which is only 5km away.
  2. Having decided on a transmitter,note down the six or seven channel numbers for the mutiplexes (shown in the column headed N and on a darker grey background). If you are in a post DSO area carefully mark which one of these channel numbers carries the HD Mux.
  3. On the HDR press Menu>Settings>Installation. You will be prompted for a password which defaults to 0000.
  4. Select Automatic search for channels and immediately stop it; save the results. This deletes all previously found channels.
  5. Select Manual search. In the Channel field press right arrow, scroll up or down and select the first channel number from your list. In the Transmission field leave it on the default DVB-T for all channels except the HD channel; for the HD channel it must be changed to DVB-T2. Press Search. This should find a number of channel names. Save the results.
  6. Repeat the manual search for each channel previously noted.
  7. You will then need to enter your schedule of recordings.
Corrections gratefully received (perhaps this could become a FAQ) and I acknowledge the prior work of Biggles on manual tuning the 9200/9300.

Thanks Guys, I am now back to receiving from Crystal Palace. Hemel Hempstead transmitter had hijacked all the settings. Changed aerials to a much smaller one and did an auto search and everything returned to Crystal Palace. Many thanks to all. We are still receiving in the 800 group but it's not giving us any problems.
 
Query: if one tunes two BBC1's (say), how do they get allocated to programme numbers? Does the first one go in a "1" and the next "801", or the other way around, or according to signal strength...?

I guess there must be some information in the transmission to say what its preferred number should be?
 
I don't think it's that clever, it appears to be which ever it finds first ie lowest channel no, is given no 1
Agreed; that appeared to be exactly what I found this morning with a very marginal set of BBC channels in the lower channel numbers and a much better quality set allocated to 800+.
 
It caused much confusion in the NW when Winter hill went full digital, Moel-y- parc transmitter nos in the 20's, Winter Hill in the 50's most people ended up with Welsh services when they did an automatic re-tune, took ages to sort out. I still know someone that has the wrong ITV service, says he prefers it to Granada !!
 
I'm starting to look at this in earnest in a small window of opportunity, and I was wondering whether I could lose the SDN, ARQ A and ARQ B muxes and thereby get rid of all the Gay Rabbit clutter - I wish!

Gay Rabbit is on the BBC A mux. If I refused to tune the SDN mux I would lose ITV3 and Quest, on the ARQ A mux I would lose Dave, and on ARQ B Yesterday, Film4, and ITV4. I'm no fan of the trivialisation DVB has brought us, but sometimes the good stuff turns up on the outside runners.
 
I'm starting to look at this in earnest in a small window of opportunity, and I was wondering whether I could lose the SDN, ARQ A and ARQ B muxes and thereby get rid of all the Gay Rabbit clutter - I wish!

Gay Rabbit is on the BBC A mux. If I refused to tune the SDN mux I would lose ITV3 and Quest, on the ARQ A mux I would lose Dave, and on ARQ B Yesterday, Film4, and ITV4. I'm no fan of the trivialisation DVB has brought us, but sometimes the good stuff turns up on the outside runners.
Why don't you just delete the "unsuitable" channels?
 
Well, yes, but that has to be repeated every channel re-scan (and there are several between now and 2013). I want to do a manual tune anyway because I get some bleed from Wenvoe to eliminate.

Any chance we can get web control of channels?
 
I don't really have this problem, as I only have the four HD channels on my HD boxes, so that is just one mux to tune in.:)
 
Update 17/02/2012: WARNING
As attractive as it might seem to be able to choose between (for example) two local news regions, the collective wisdom now is that it can lead to problems and is best avoided. The problem is this: the EPG is broadcast on all multiplexes, and carries programme information for every multiplex available in that TV region. The EPG data controls the recording schedule, which might be different from region to region not only in terms of the regional timing variations, but also in the service and programme ID codes.
If the Humax happens to be monitoring the EPG for your secondary region, but the data in that region is invalid for the services scheduled for recording, the recording may fail (particularly if using AR).
With that warning in mind (and the information is useful for tuning TVs where recording is not involved), read on...

With thanks to the instructions for manual tuning posted above, I've had a play and can report how things work when you are trying to tune multiple regions.

For reference, I receive West region from Mendip on 61, 54, 58, 48, 67, 52; and Wales region from Mynydd Machen on 23, 26, 29 (as per the DigitalUK web site referred above - note that these allocations were correct at time of writing, but should not be relied on later, look them up fresh). If I allowed an automatic tune it would also pick up Wales channels from Wenvoe in the 40's.

Contrary to what was suggested above, the stations are not just allocated to station numbers on a first-come-first-served basis. Each carries a preferred LCN (which I presume stands for 'Logical Channel Number'), and after the manual channel scan when you are offered the "save" button, if any of the newly scanned stations' LCNs conflict with existing tuned LCNs you get a message "Multiple regions detected", and an option which region you want - in my case "England" or "Wales". By choosing "England", those channels are given priority over the Mynydd Machen channels in the LCN table.

The bumped-out channels then populate 800 onwards on a first-come-first-served basis, thus BBC1 Wales is on 800, BBC2 Wales is on 801 etc. ITV1 Wales which you might have thought would be on 802 actually comes further down the list, after all the stations on the channel 23 mux (ITV1 being the first station on the channel 26 mux).

LCN allocation is in a table HERE (click). Channel4 is an odd one: there is one on LCN 4 from channel 54 (England), and another one on LCN 8 from channel 26 (Wales) - LCN 8 would otherwise be allocated to BBC ALBA (whatever that is) that only seems to be available in Scotland.

It took me ages to figure out how I could tell what transmitter any particular station was coming from: with normal TV playing, press "List" to bring up the channel list, then cursor up/down to highlight the one of interest, and press "i" - that brings up a window with the channel information, and if it says "26" for example, I know that's Mynydd Machen.

So, in summary:

If you are tuning just one region and wish to select the strongest signal (or preferred transmitter), use the process as described a few posts above (click) to tune your six or seven multiplexes. It does not matter what order you scan them in, might as well work in numerical order of channel for efficiency. Don't forget to set the Transmission type correctly each time: DVB-T for the SD multiplexes and DVB-T2 for HD.

If you wish to add channels for a second region, start with your preferred region as above. Once that is done, scan the channels for your secondary region and each time you click "Save" you will be asked which region you want - select your primary region so that the secondary region's conflicting channels will be bumped to the 800's.

Now I only have to go through and delete all those "waste of space" channels. I wouldn't mind but there's not a decent (ie free) porn channel amongst them! At least Channel One used to have Sexcetera....:rolleyes:

Now, does anybody know what "Network Search" does?

Edit: enhanced for clarity
 
Fell for the Transmission setting trick myself.
We are on the Waltham transmitter and I was disappointed that the first retune (17th.) didn’t include the HD mux and I was on holiday last week when the big bang happened.
I could hardly contain myself when we got home but after many attempts over the weekend I got to the point of firing up the PC and searching for the frequency of CH58 just in case the Fox was wrong when I noticed the Transmission setting. If I wasn’t such a Geek I probably wouldn’t have known about DVB-T vs DVB-T2.
I don’t know if the interface/GUI/software is a purely Humax thing but since knowing the right question to ask, I’ve searched the web and not managed to find anywhere that just states “Set Transmission to DVB-T for SD and DVB-T2 for HD”.
 
Hi, I'm a noob, and stumbled into this site almost by mischance.

My postcode is MK43. , just post DSO, and receive from Sandy Heath
My HDR Fox T2 suddenly got confused, and decided I needed BBC Oxford mux (at low signastrength ) as my main BBC chans :(
Found my Sandy Heath BBC stuff up in the 8xx range.
THANKS to this thread I now know how to sort it.

I did find that if I let Idiot to a full auto scan, and then when it had finished then did a manual scan on MUX/CHANNEL 27 (BBC) that sorted out the MIXup, without having to stop the Auto halfway through.

What a learning curve..
Now to find out about WiFi software/firmware webaccess etc (after visit to specsavers) ;)

Thank you all. :):)

Mike
 
On the SD Humax PVRs, receiving from more than one transmitter can cause problems with accurate recording/series link; are you saying that this does not apply to the HD models?
I am trying this out in the context of no duplicates but a mix of regions/transmitters.
I've tuned to the PSBs + SDN and also Mux D from a different transmitter. (By choice I do not bother with Mux C/ARA A.)
So far there is no issue with epg population.
 
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I've not had any problems with series linking since I adopted the "wake up in the night" work-around - I do not use AR because I regard a missed/cut off recording due to late schedule changes as more tolerable than a missed recording because of a now/next balls-up (which anecdotes suggest still happen far too frequently), which might even be an implementation balls-up if the programme starts outside the expected window and the recorder can't track it despite now/next being accurate (and for everything else there's iPlayer).

I think I probably get away with it because Mendip accomodates the vast majority of my viewing/recording, Mynydd Machen is only there on sufferance in case I want to see the Wales local news or something (relegated to the 800's). A more mix-n-match approach could well lead to epg/programming problems.
 
I couldn't help but set the "network search" option to "on".
Basically, I just selected the HD channel, with DVB-T2 selected and it happily went through all of the channels for the relevant transmitter.
119 channels found after 1 manual scan.

My guess is that it checks the internet (somewhere) and figures out the relevant channels for your transmitter.
I'm suitably impressed.
 
Excellent, thank you. You have inspired me to have a play (sometime). It will be worth trying with the Ethernet unplugged.
 
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