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Fox t2 hd signal breaking up
- Thread starter Mancav
- Start date
It depends what you mean by "see". What operating system is the PC running? I would expect it to at least detect the presence of the hard drive but if it is a Windows PC I wouldn't expect you to be able to view the file system without additional drivers.
Yeah black hole said windows wouldn’t. Pc bleeps when I plug the docking station in, but can’t read it. Not a major problem, from what I’ve read on here I will be able to copy my files to the new t2 via usb with the docking station. I did have the decrypt package loaded.
Luke
Well-Knwοn Мember
Was the package auto-unprotect?
Auto-unprotect allows the HDR-FOX T2 to decrypt recordings by removing the decryption protection.. Just installing the auto-unprotect package doesn't on its own do any decryption.
Did you then do anything to decrypt any of your recordings?
Maybe I misunderstood that then. I did copy some small files to a usb drive which I thought were hidef but maybe they were just standard.
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
I got a replacement fox t2 from the auction site. Unit and remote look like new and after all checks and formatting etc., setup, tuned and been running for a few days now. It’s installed with all my existing cabling exactly as my other one was for years. There has been no sign whatsoever of the pixilation or other problems I was having. I’ve recorded lots of random channels and all playbacks are fine. So it was obviously some sort of hardware problem. Not surprising after almost 10 years constant use without a problem until the other week. I have also got another one coming, and at £42 and £45, if they perform anywhere near as well as my original I will be well pleased. Thanks to everyone who chipped in with advice, I know a lot more about these units now.
Hi,
I appear to have exactly the same fault as Mancav on my Fox T2 too. Mine was purchased in Oct 2012 and is the 1TB version. It's worked perfectly since that point but in the last few weeks or so I'm getting the same problem, i.e. the signal breaking up, mostly on HD. It's a bit random, sometimes it will run for hours without the problem happening, other times it's more regular. It's not the HDMI cable causing pixelation, as the Humax displays are all clear and readable at the time of the fault.
When the fault happens, if I switch to the TV receiver, which is looped out of the back of the Humax, then the same channel displays perfectly, so I don't think it's likely to be the aerial.
If I leave the Humax for a while, eventually it seems to correct itself. If I power it off at the time of the fault and back on again it fixes itself immediately.
I've run the basic disk check and also performed a factory reset (without formatting the disk) but that made no difference.
I was about to install the custom firmware and have a go at running some diagnostics but having just read Mancav's experience, I wonder whether I'm wasting my time and just simply have a hardware fault on the receiver. The symptoms seem to be identical and nothing has changed on my system, that's been working perfectly for years. The box is also of a similar age.
I'd like to avoid this box going to landfill, especially as it appears to be largely working but ultimately I don't want to waste huge amounts of time if it's very likely to be a fault that I can't repair. Are there any quick diagnostics I can run before going to get another box? I'm presuming the receivers are not readily repairable?
Any thoughts gratefully received.
Many thanks,
Tim
I appear to have exactly the same fault as Mancav on my Fox T2 too. Mine was purchased in Oct 2012 and is the 1TB version. It's worked perfectly since that point but in the last few weeks or so I'm getting the same problem, i.e. the signal breaking up, mostly on HD. It's a bit random, sometimes it will run for hours without the problem happening, other times it's more regular. It's not the HDMI cable causing pixelation, as the Humax displays are all clear and readable at the time of the fault.
When the fault happens, if I switch to the TV receiver, which is looped out of the back of the Humax, then the same channel displays perfectly, so I don't think it's likely to be the aerial.
If I leave the Humax for a while, eventually it seems to correct itself. If I power it off at the time of the fault and back on again it fixes itself immediately.
I've run the basic disk check and also performed a factory reset (without formatting the disk) but that made no difference.
I was about to install the custom firmware and have a go at running some diagnostics but having just read Mancav's experience, I wonder whether I'm wasting my time and just simply have a hardware fault on the receiver. The symptoms seem to be identical and nothing has changed on my system, that's been working perfectly for years. The box is also of a similar age.
I'd like to avoid this box going to landfill, especially as it appears to be largely working but ultimately I don't want to waste huge amounts of time if it's very likely to be a fault that I can't repair. Are there any quick diagnostics I can run before going to get another box? I'm presuming the receivers are not readily repairable?
Any thoughts gratefully received.
Many thanks,
Tim
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
First of all you need to check the received signal at the time the disturbances are happening: Menu >> Settings >> System >> Signal Detection. Observe the meters for a few minutes - the quality should be rock steady at 100%. If it dips, then the strength might either be very low or too high. Personally I have found my TV signal degrading over time; this is probably due to external factors (5G, trees growing).
With a low signal strength, RF noise from the HDMI cable can compound the problem, possibly intermittently according to picture content. Proper thick aerial lead helps, not that horrible thin string so often supplied as a link cable. You can also try downgrading the HDMI output from (say) 1080p to 1080i or 720i - that will change the noise spectrum and if that changes the problem you have an idea of the culprit.
If there's nothing obviously wrong there, record the offending service and see whether break-ups observed live are also in the recording.
With a low signal strength, RF noise from the HDMI cable can compound the problem, possibly intermittently according to picture content. Proper thick aerial lead helps, not that horrible thin string so often supplied as a link cable. You can also try downgrading the HDMI output from (say) 1080p to 1080i or 720i - that will change the noise spectrum and if that changes the problem you have an idea of the culprit.
If there's nothing obviously wrong there, record the offending service and see whether break-ups observed live are also in the recording.
That will achieve nothing. The HDD can accumulate file system errors which are recoverable, but without correction are imposing additional processing overhead which can have negative effects even on the live reception. The best next step is to perform a proper Custom Firmware file system repair: Quick Guide to Disk Recovery (click), and obtain the SMART stats for the HDD to see how healthy it is physically. This will not be time wasted.
I've run a range of diagnostics. I've found this evening that the PVR is having the problem roughly once an hour. When the fault occurs, it seems to be across all channels and when I flick over to the TV that's looped into the back of the PVR, at the same time of the problem, the picture quality is perfect for the same channel.
When the picture gets corrupted, the Signal Detection page shows the quality dropping down to 5-20% (normally it's 100%), however, the signal strength remains static at around 80%, which is what I get under normal operation.
When the fault is happening, switching between 1080i, 760 or 576 doesn't appear to make a difference. Also when the fault occurs, the same problem is exhibited in recorded programmes.
The fault clears itself after a random period, usually around 10 minutes or so.
I've installed the custom firmware and have attached the smart disk information below. I ran a fixdisk and it found a few problems, which it appeared to correct. I then did a long hard disk self test which came back with no errors. I initially thought that the fixdisk might have resolved the problem but the picture fault occurred again soon after.
When the picture gets corrupted, the Signal Detection page shows the quality dropping down to 5-20% (normally it's 100%), however, the signal strength remains static at around 80%, which is what I get under normal operation.
When the fault is happening, switching between 1080i, 760 or 576 doesn't appear to make a difference. Also when the fault occurs, the same problem is exhibited in recorded programmes.
The fault clears itself after a random period, usually around 10 minutes or so.
I've installed the custom firmware and have attached the smart disk information below. I ran a fixdisk and it found a few problems, which it appeared to correct. I then did a long hard disk self test which came back with no errors. I initially thought that the fixdisk might have resolved the problem but the picture fault occurred again soon after.
MymsMan
Ad detector
This sounds like some sort of electrical interference that is turning on every hour,
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
The SMART stats look fine.
Agreed. There was a case recently of a faulty TV obliterating broadband in a village - I can relate to that, my broadband suffers from the local noise environment. Is somebody operating a microwave oven?
Hi,
Many thanks for the feedback.
My guess is that it's not electrical interference, as when the fault occurs, if you turn it off and back on again it clears the problem. If it were external interference I'd expect the fault to come back immediately? The hour thing is a very rough estimate, sometimes it can run for many hours without a problem other times it's a short interval between issues.
The other thing is that fault is just like Mancav's problem, in that the system has been rock solid for nearly 8 years but then I started to get the odd glitch and gradually it's getting progressively worse, as if something is slowly failing.
The fault has been around for a month or two, so I'm guessing is probably not related to the heating coming on.
My thoughts were leaning towards something failing on the tuner or the hard disk playing up. I might see if I can buy another PVR and swap it out, leaving everything else the same and see what happens.
Thanks again for all your help,
Tim
Many thanks for the feedback.
My guess is that it's not electrical interference, as when the fault occurs, if you turn it off and back on again it clears the problem. If it were external interference I'd expect the fault to come back immediately? The hour thing is a very rough estimate, sometimes it can run for many hours without a problem other times it's a short interval between issues.
The other thing is that fault is just like Mancav's problem, in that the system has been rock solid for nearly 8 years but then I started to get the odd glitch and gradually it's getting progressively worse, as if something is slowly failing.
The fault has been around for a month or two, so I'm guessing is probably not related to the heating coming on.
My thoughts were leaning towards something failing on the tuner or the hard disk playing up. I might see if I can buy another PVR and swap it out, leaving everything else the same and see what happens.
Thanks again for all your help,
Tim
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
There's nothing to support that idea.
Are you sure that is not a coincidence? How long does the "problem" usually manifest for? It takes a minute or two for operation to resume after a power-cycle.
I would expect a "hard" fault with a tuner to be far more problematic than that, and if it is a temperature-induced "soft" fault a brief power-cycle should not be sufficient to restore operation.
If possible, I recommend testing in another environment.
MymsMan
Ad detector
Can the interference be correlated to anything that is happening on the Humax? at start/ during/ end of recording? during playback?
What CF packages are installed?
Apart form the temperature there is nothing in SMART stats indicating a problem but it is possible for a file system corruption to occur without faulty sectors so it would still be worth running fix-disk in maintenance mode
The OP has already done that; see post #71.
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
The temperature reported in the stats isn't extreme.
Hi Tim, it does sound the same as my problem. I wish I could tell you what was causing it but I’ve not had another look at mine yet. When I have time I’m going to try bits off one of the ones I bought to try and narrow it down. There are some good bargains around, and the two I got have been working without a glitch since installing.