Aura comments (forked from Dead/Unwanted items)

[EEPhil]

We have had an Aura for a couple of years and although it has some quirks you need to get used to, or in some cases find the setting to change it, it's been reliable.

I've had mine for six months and it frequently crashes in the middle of the night. Failing that, the Freeview app becomes unresponsive and I can't watch TV or recordings.

If left on, rather than being turned on as and when required, things last longer.

Unfortunately, my Aura requires a power off (at the plug) to regain control. Of course, if I left it on (not in standby) maybe it wouldn't crash.

There must be something wrong with the way my Humaxes are set up. The Aura was to replace a 5000T which is a bit cranky. It also crashes in the middle of the night. There's a pattern there. The only common factor I can see is no internet overnight. (Internet is currently a second phone, cheap SIM and hotspot - but I use same phone,in aircraft mode, as MP3 player overnight)

 

[gomezz]

Humax boxes do an overnight check for software updates etc and expect to be connected to the internet during that time. Of course, a lack of internet should not cause it to lock up but your use case does seem a tad unusual. Perhaps there is an outstanding update that needs applying to fix a known issue with your box?

 

[EEPhil]

The box is up to date with updates. I manually check, often! There was a recent (yesterday 30/5/24?) update which asked for a new password for something. Perhaps it needed a reboot - it didn't say.

[Edit] I noticed there are a few (non specific) gripes about the latest update over on the other forum.

 

[MikeSh]

The (Android) app for the Aura is pretty poor. I only use it for setting up non-series recordings where that means I don't have to start the box and TV up, as that's the only thing it seems good for in terms of management.
They obviously won't spend the money to make it fit for purpose.

 

[prpr]

The Aura was to replace a 5000T which is a bit cranky. It also crashes in the middle of the night. There's a pattern there. The only common factor I can see is no internet overnight.

The common factor is "crap software from Humax".

 

[EEPhil]

The common factor is "crap software from Humax".

That's a given! But I don't see other users complaining about the crashing in the middle of the night - so I thought it was something I'm doing. (Scratch that. On the other site someone complained about recordings failing when Aura left in standby when user on holiday. As no one answered, I chipped in thinking the EPG had gone blank because device not switched on. If the Aura crashes the EPG can be/is lost. A daily reminder - like a timed power on for other models - cures that problem, iff the Freeview app is behaving.)

 

[MikeSh]

But I don't see other users complaining about the crashing in the middle of the night

How would I know it crashed? Presumably it would reboot itself as these types of thing usually do.

 

[Black Hole]

That depends: the HDR-FOX is perfectly capable of freezing as opposed to rebooting, either of which would be classed as a crash unless you're being very specific.

 

[SemiRamis]

I've had mine for six months and it frequently crashes in the middle of the night. Failing that, the Freeview app becomes unresponsive and I can't watch TV or recordings.

I can't believe there is no machine to record tv in HD and being reliable.

I fear the writing is on the wall for us hummy users.

 

[EEPhil]

How would I know it crashed? Presumably it would reboot itself as these types of thing usually do.

Not always.
My Aura doesn't always come out of standby into live tv. Sometimes the Freeview app has failed. Press "Live TV", "F" or "Guide" and you get a blank screen for a few seconds and then back to home or app screen. Can't power off by remote or box button.

 

[MikeSh]

Well, like I said, I wouldn't trust the app.
I don't recall the box not coming out of standby at all, though a few times I've had to press the button again or maybe more positively (that being the one on top, the remote seems ok).

 

[EEPhil]

By Freeview app I mean the app on the box itself that provides Freeview functions. (I ought to call it the "Freeview Live TV" app.) On screen it's a red tile named "Live TV" or "FreeviewPlay TV Guide". I'm not referring to the app on your phone or tablet.

You have to use the "Freeview Live TV" app if you want to watch/record/playback Freeview.

 

[MikeSh]

By Freeview app I mean the app on the box itself that provides Freeview functions.

OIC. We/she doesn't really watch live TV. It's on for a few minutes while she's finding a recording or I'm setting up schedules, and often she'll just watch whatever is on for a while when a recording is finished.

Press "Live TV", "F" or "Guide" and you get a blank screen for a few seconds and then back to home or app screen.

Actually I think I had something like that when setting up schedules in the past, though not recently. It was deeper down though - select a programme in the guide, select record and it would jump out to live TV. It would be OK on the second try.

 

[EEPhil]

Actually I think I had something like that when setting up schedules in the past, though not recently. It was deeper down though - select a programme in the guide, select record and it would jump out to live TV. It would be OK on the second try.

Pulling up the guide probably requires the Freeview App. It might be able to get information over the internet, so might work without. When I've had problems guide, live and recordings plus the F 'ing button & off don't work properly no matter how many times I press them. The temptation to throw the remote at the wall and see if that works often beckons.

 

[Trilobite]

I have the Aura set to 'Deep Sleep' (30 mins after standby). During the week, it is generally okay. It has had the Freeview Live and Freeview System Apps updated recently. It is disconnected from the web (wi-fi off, and 'scanning for other networks' off too).

However, the past few Saturday mornings, the 'red light of insanity' has been seen to be active. On checking, the box defaults to its HOME internet page. The EPG being totally blank.

I had set up a '20 minute manual recording daily', but frequently that failed too. A week ago, I re-tuned manually to only the multiplexes available. That had no effect on stopping the tantrums.

Saturday 8th, playing back a recording in the evening, the playback froze and the box rebooted itself.

Yesterday, the 15th June, at around 10:05am on the mantelpiece clock, I noticed the usual Red Light of Zilch. I switched it on, to be met with the typical HOME page... the Aura's clock was behind at 6:47am, but incrementing by the minute. The EPG was totally blank.

I checked the signal strength of the Muxes, which on the three PSB Muxes, was around 97% - 99%. Obviously far too high, so I fiddled with the variable attenuator on the aerial lead to reduce the signal. The three PSB Muxes are now at 90%; the three COM Muxes around 76%. I'll see if that helps.

I haven't had a PVR this flaky since the Panasonic TU-CTH100, back in 2005!

 

[MikeSh]

I have noticed the red light on ours being on more often recently. It's usually only when it's in its 4 days pre-restart state but I've seen it on at other times, once the day after it had done a reboot. I started it and later stopped it, but it stayed bright even then. It does eventually go back to normal and it hasn't (so far) done anything else out of the ordinary, so I put it down to probably being a bug in a recent update.

We don't do anything exotic with it though. No deep sleep and it's permanently on wired ethernet.

 

[EEPhil]

I can't find (or can't be bothered to find) the actual date and full information for a recent update that was supposed to cure a problem I never had. (Eh?)
I've a feeling things got worse once that update took place. As far as I can tell, even a factory reset doesn't get back to the previous (or earlier) version of whatever was updated.

 

[MikeSh]

As far as I can tell, even a factory reset doesn't get back to the previous (or earlier) version of whatever was updated.

I don't think that's ever been true of anything (that I've had dealings with). It just clears all the memory stuff, like settings.

 

[Trilobite]

Another thing I noticed...

When I was moving up the channels, just hopping from one to the next - using the Channel Up/Down button - on some of them I got a blank, black screen.
Moving further up the list, and back down again fixed it.
It seemed to coincide with jumping from a DVB-T channel to one of the DVB-T2 channels, such as 100 (Freeview Info on PSB2/D3&4 mux) to 101 (BBC1 HD on PSB3/BBCB mux).
It also happened moving onto '5Select' which I believe is on the PSB3 mux.

 

[EEPhil]

The factory reset I used on the Aura (no disk format, preserves recordings ) removed third party apps and any updates to the Freeview live (and probably other) apps