copy recordings off the humax
- Thread starter mihaid
- Start date
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
It depends what you mean by "fastest".
Non-CF network access means FTP, and that will achieve the greatest throughput (but the recordings will not be decrypted in the process, they will need prior decryption to be of any use).
With the CF there are a couple more options: install samba and you can use a Windows computer through the normal Explorer interface to move files around - same reservations about encryption though. The WebIF media browser offers a download option in the media browser, and this will also decrypt on the fly if required (but it slows things down a little).
Either of these network options run at similar speeds, and if you want to know what the speed is you had best run a trial and measure it.
However, with multi-gigabyte files nothing goes terribly quickly. I rate "fastest" as "the least imposition on my time", so actually I prefer to do a bulk copy to a USB drive (which decrypts if necessary) which can proceed unattended, then walk the USB drive to my computer where it copies much faster and ties up the computer less than running a network transfer.
Non-CF network access means FTP, and that will achieve the greatest throughput (but the recordings will not be decrypted in the process, they will need prior decryption to be of any use).
With the CF there are a couple more options: install samba and you can use a Windows computer through the normal Explorer interface to move files around - same reservations about encryption though. The WebIF media browser offers a download option in the media browser, and this will also decrypt on the fly if required (but it slows things down a little).
Either of these network options run at similar speeds, and if you want to know what the speed is you had best run a trial and measure it.
However, with multi-gigabyte files nothing goes terribly quickly. I rate "fastest" as "the least imposition on my time", so actually I prefer to do a bulk copy to a USB drive (which decrypts if necessary) which can proceed unattended, then walk the USB drive to my computer where it copies much faster and ties up the computer less than running a network transfer.
Ezra Pound
Well-Known Member
As stated in #2, without the Custom Firmware you must copy to USB, without it your recordings won't play on anything except the Humax they were recorded on
40 to 60 Mb/s as compared to theoretical maximum of 100Mb/s sounds quite reasonable to me.
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
The USB copy is about 10GB per hour or there abouts. I just leave it to get on with it.
I went in the end with ethernet transfer and it did the job the fastest I could hope.
Doing it the USB way I would have had to copy it twice.
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
Yes, but my PC copies USB at about 100GB per hour. That makes the combined transfer rate about 9GB per hour.
For comparison, 40Mbps = 20GB per hour, roughly.
For comparison, 40Mbps = 20GB per hour, roughly.
Andy Edgeworth
New Member
I use Robocopy - saturates the Hummy's 100Mb/s Ethernet every time!
Forgive me if I have got hold of the wrong end of the stick but I am a bit confused.
Ezra Pound said that "without the Custom Firmware you must copy to USB, without it your recordings won't play on anything except the Humax they were recorded on"
However I have just copied a SD video from my new Humax to my PC (over ethernet) and it seems to be identical to the same file copied via USB.
To copy the file to my PC I switched on "Sharing" on the Humax. The Humax then showed up on Windows Media Player and I could see the Humax video files in WMP. I right clicked the video and selected Properties, then copied the file's "Location" to Firefox browser which then gave me the option to save it to my PC's hard drive @ around 5.7 MBps.
I see there is another method to copy SD files described in the Wiki but this seems easier and doesn't need any additional software.
Apologies if this has been covered before or if I am just plain wrong.
Ezra Pound said that "without the Custom Firmware you must copy to USB, without it your recordings won't play on anything except the Humax they were recorded on"
However I have just copied a SD video from my new Humax to my PC (over ethernet) and it seems to be identical to the same file copied via USB.
To copy the file to my PC I switched on "Sharing" on the Humax. The Humax then showed up on Windows Media Player and I could see the Humax video files in WMP. I right clicked the video and selected Properties, then copied the file's "Location" to Firefox browser which then gave me the option to save it to my PC's hard drive @ around 5.7 MBps.
I see there is another method to copy SD files described in the Wiki but this seems easier and doesn't need any additional software.
Apologies if this has been covered before or if I am just plain wrong.
Ezra Pound
Well-Known Member
The Humax can be made to decrypt a file in several different ways :-
1) When playing the file to a TV
2) When steaming a Standard Def. File to a remote DLNA client
3) When Copying a Standard Def. File to a USB device
4) When using the Custom Firmware and OPT+ decrypt or auto-decrypt
Problems associated with each method
1) It is very difficult to capture the video content on it way to the TV via HDMI
2) Not many programs allow the streamed video to be captured
3) No problem (for a Standard Def. File)
4) No problems (for Standard Def. File or Hi-Def. (after Custom Firmware is installed)
The method jojnb is using is number 2) above, a lot of DLNA client players won't store the steamed video, however it looks like WMP does, but I'm not sure at what rate the file would be streamed, so it might take say 60 Mins. to capture a 1 Hour programme, so I still think method 3) above is more convenient, as it would be faster and doesn't require any additional software
1) When playing the file to a TV
2) When steaming a Standard Def. File to a remote DLNA client
3) When Copying a Standard Def. File to a USB device
4) When using the Custom Firmware and OPT+ decrypt or auto-decrypt
Problems associated with each method
1) It is very difficult to capture the video content on it way to the TV via HDMI
2) Not many programs allow the streamed video to be captured
3) No problem (for a Standard Def. File)
4) No problems (for Standard Def. File or Hi-Def. (after Custom Firmware is installed)
The method jojnb is using is number 2) above, a lot of DLNA client players won't store the steamed video, however it looks like WMP does, but I'm not sure at what rate the file would be streamed, so it might take say 60 Mins. to capture a 1 Hour programme, so I still think method 3) above is more convenient, as it would be faster and doesn't require any additional software
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
Your method is covered as bullet 2 in Things Every... (click) section 5, and also method 6 in the linked information. The captured stream will not be identical to the file created by the USB copy, and will not include the sidecar files, but the audio/video content will be identical, yes. The file will be streamed as fast as the client demands (and the network/hardware/OS supports), and this is essentially how the on-box decryption options in the custom firmware work.
You might also be interested in THIS (click).
Thanks for the very informative and interesting replies.
After having checked out the links it seems that the main difference is that I am using WMP to get the URL for the video file instead of using "UPnP Inspector". As WMP is 'standard issue', at least on W7, this seems to be an advantage.
The transfer speed was 1.8GB in 5 minutes which is roughly twice as fast as the 10GB in 1 hr that I have seen quoted for copying to USB - which is curious.
I have checked a TS file transferred by this method and the same TS transferred using USB and they were identical. (I used the DOS command line utility 'fc' to do a binary comparison.)
Pasting the "Location" (i.e. the URL) provided by WMP into the browser works very well in:
Firefox - you are asked whether you want to play or save the file.
Chrome - it automatically starts downloading the file
With IE11 things are more messy. IE11 automatically starts downloading the file and then opens WMP once it is downloaded. But the file is downloaded (in W7) to the Temporary Internet Files folder which (in W7) is located C:\Users\<user name>\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\<8 char folder name>
As this method seems to work well (at least with Firefox and Chrome), is quicker than the USB method and doesn't need any additional software (if you are a Firefox or Chrome user) I think it is going to be my default method unless I discover any problems.
(This forum is a really wonderful resourse for Humax owners. I am learning so much - thank you all.)
After having checked out the links it seems that the main difference is that I am using WMP to get the URL for the video file instead of using "UPnP Inspector". As WMP is 'standard issue', at least on W7, this seems to be an advantage.
The transfer speed was 1.8GB in 5 minutes which is roughly twice as fast as the 10GB in 1 hr that I have seen quoted for copying to USB - which is curious.
I have checked a TS file transferred by this method and the same TS transferred using USB and they were identical. (I used the DOS command line utility 'fc' to do a binary comparison.)
Pasting the "Location" (i.e. the URL) provided by WMP into the browser works very well in:
Firefox - you are asked whether you want to play or save the file.
Chrome - it automatically starts downloading the file
With IE11 things are more messy. IE11 automatically starts downloading the file and then opens WMP once it is downloaded. But the file is downloaded (in W7) to the Temporary Internet Files folder which (in W7) is located C:\Users\<user name>\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\<8 char folder name>
As this method seems to work well (at least with Firefox and Chrome), is quicker than the USB method and doesn't need any additional software (if you are a Firefox or Chrome user) I think it is going to be my default method unless I discover any problems.
(This forum is a really wonderful resourse for Humax owners. I am learning so much - thank you all.)
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
Fair enough, I wasn't aware that would be the case. As the stream has to be sent by reading the file and then transmitting the content through a variety of processes, I had expected there might be at least a few bytes added or taken away somewhere along the line.
I have taken the liberty of updating the information with a note about WMP, directed to your post.