IMPORTANT: The Differences Between HD-FOX T2 and HDR-FOX T2

Black Hole

Black Hole

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This has been thoroughly signposted in the other primer material, but HD-FOX owners still seem to fall into the trap of expecting their budget purchase to behave the same as an HDR-FOX, so I thought it would do no harm to flag it up again.
  1. The HD-FOX has no internal hard drive, so if you want to use it as a PVR instead of just a FreeviewHD tuner you need to provide a USB hard drive (preferably "portable" rather than "external"/"desktop" so it doesn't need additional power), and prepare it using the format options on the HD-FOX settings menus. To make life easy stick to a 2TB drive or below. For further advice regarding drives, including use of UPDs (USB pen drives, thumb drives, sticks... whatever you want to call them), see HERE (click), section 12.
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  2. The HD-FOX only has one tuner, so you can only record one service at a time and it won't give you the option to record another even if it is on the same multiplex. The best available is to record one and view another from the same mux (but of course you can always use the TV's tuner to watch something else from any mux). Neither is the HDR-FOX trick of rewinding and recording from the time-shift buffer available.
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  3. The HD-FOX has no mains on/off switch (the HDR-FOX has one on the rear panel). On the other hand, the HD-FOX does have a reset button, hidden under the flap at the right hand end of the front panel (the HDR-FOX does not).
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  4. The HD-FOX has different firmware and a slightly different manual firmware update process from the HDR-FOX, so if you want to install official firmware or the customised firmware make sure you get the right files, and follow the update instructions pertinent to the HD-FOX specifically.
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  5. The HD-FOX has no media streaming capability to your network. This gap can be plugged to a certain extent using the custom firmware, the Mediatomb package, and decrypted recordings (see item 7). The HD-FOX does not have FTP capability either (again, correctable by custom firmware).
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  6. The HD-FOX can access other DLNA/UPnP server devices (including HDR-FOX) and stream from the network as a client, and it is the only client (apart from another HDR-FOX) we know able to negotiate protected access to the HDR-FOX and thus stream recorded HiDef content from it. This makes the HD-FOX a very useful remote playback device for another TV in the house: with your HDR-FOX and HD-FOX connected to your home network, all recordings on the HDR-FOX are available to the HD-FOX as standard (no custom firmware necessary).

    Even better, with no fan and no HDD, the HD-FOX is totally silent and therefore very suitable for the bedroom. Should custom firmware be required, it can be hosted on a (silent) UPD. Alternatively, an SSD (also silent) provides for CF and recording.
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  7. All recordings made by the HD-FOX onto the external drive are encrypted, effectively locked to that specific unit for playback, and (unlike HDR-FOX) recordings do not decrypt when copied to USB. Update: at the time of original writing, work-arounds were few and inconvenient (if not downright awkward). Latterly the CF has been developed to include trivial methods to decrypt (albeit a slow process). It is also possible to export encrypted recordings for decryption elsewhere – see off-line decryption (click) and/or off-box decryption (click). Alternatively (old method), switch the HD-FOX into "HDR Mode" (which runs HDR-FOX code to enable some facilities such as decryption, but is incompatible for making recordings) – see spoiler:

  8. While the HDR-FOX buffers streamed content from iPlayer and YouTube to a hidden file (from where it can be subsequently extracted), HD-FOX does not unless you switch it into "HDR Mode" (see spoiler). Update: Note however that the Humax TV Portal is no longer compatible with YouTube, and iPlayer no longer works (and is likely to become incompatible). The youtube-dl (click) package can help with this, by providing an alternative means to download from both platforms.
    1. Install the custom firmware (for which you also need the external drive - see 1);
    2. Install virtual disk and BootHDR*;
    3. In the case of a HiDef recording use the auto-unprotect package to clear the protection flags;
    4. Run BootHDR to put the HD-FOX into "HDR Mode" - see Wiki entry Decrypt Recordings on the HD-FOX (introduction and Package Installation), and relevant forum topic HERE (click);
    5. Use the remote control handset to navigate the Media list and copy the required recording(s) to the virtual drive (on the USB device options) - this will decrypt them (copying using the WebIF media browser IS NOT SUFFICIENT, and if the red button offers you "move" instead of "copy" you are trying to send it to the wrong place);
    6. Reboot to return the HD-FOX to normal operation (non-HDR Mode).
    * Note: you may need to set "development packages = on" in the WebIF settings to make this available in the packages list.
If all this is news to you and you didn't know you could do any of these things, start on your path to enlightenment HERE (click).
 
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Regarding point #1
I'd just like to confirm that attaching a HDD larger than 1 TB, or one with USB3 to the HD FOX T2 is a non-goer? I've been thinking of a 1.5 or 2TB upgrade for the box, and almost all are USB3.
Thanks for your time,
Bill
 
You can use USB3 but note there is no certainty the power requirements will be within limits (it's a fair chance they are, but don't say you were not warned if not). You can use drives up to 2TB but if it's over 1TB* the Humax will not format it and you will have to make it Ext3 yourself. You will also have to fool the HD-FOX into thinking it did format it (there are ways).

Further notes HERE (click), section 12.

* This limitation no longer applies.
 
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My advice maybe out of date now, but I'd go for an internal HDD and a powered external caddy with USB. That way you're assured of a good supply of electrickery.
 
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