Got myself a HDR-Fox T2 to replace (what was) a trusty DigitalStream

DAsh

Member
Hi everyone

I've just set myself up with an account so I can get involved and hopefully receive help and support as required.

I've been having a couple of months of issues with my 7 year old DigitalStream PVR after the broadcasters started playing around with the amount of data carried with the EPG (particularly on COM7 & COM8). This seems to be overwhelming the DS machine, and has caused issues to me and other users (corruption to the firmware being the biggest pain, requiring reflash from USB).

The new PVRs don't seem to be up to scratch (Humax FVP-5000T and Panasonic DMR-HWT150 were the contenders). Slow EPG, poor interface, no shortcut buttons, no customisation etc.

I have purchased a barely used 500GB HDR-Fox T2 today and will be looking to add some custom firmware to protect against loss of scheduled recordings etc. Expected delivery mid next week.

Any advice as to which are the essential (top 5) CF for getting the best out of this PVR would be gratefully received. I've looked at the CF list, and it is so long that I would't know where to start !!

I'll be streaming using an Apple TV, the Hummy will only be used for conventional recordings and chase play (and, of course, skipping the ads !!). So I want to be sure of a skip forward/backward capability with options for me to define the skip lengths.

I’ll be using a Harmony remote; hoping Logitech have this Hummy on their database.

Oh... and if it all goes pear shaped I'll blame Graham Thompson!! I've been swayed by his support for this machine.

Thanks

Dave
 
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Hi and welcome.
The default settings is OK for skipping ads. 4 presses or better still use the ad detection package in the CF to bookmark the ads, you can then skip to the bookmark, or optionally, have the CF just cut the ads out for you.
You will not be disappointed with the CF.
 
The default skip settings work for me. Most ITV breaks are 4 minutes but some are only 2 mins (eg first ads in Tipping Point). Defaults are + 2 mins and - 5 sec. Most ads are two forward and if you overshoot back up in 5 sec jumps. The auto decrypt capability is a must :)
 
Any advice as to which are the essential (top 5) CF for getting the best out of this PVR would be gratefully received. I've looked at the CF list, and it is so long that I would't know where to start !!
You start by reading the standard sources:

Quick Guide to Custom Firmware (click), specifically the end of post 2;

Things Every... (click)

https://hummy.tv/forum/threads/new-readers-start-here.838/

Newbies' Guide to the Forum (click)

...and note that you have posted in the non-CF section.

Oh... and if it all goes pear shaped I'll blame Graham Thompson!! I've been swayed by his support for this machine.
Why him, particularly? Not that I mind if you blame him!
 
Any advice as to which are the essential (top 5) CF for getting the best out of this PVR would be gratefully received. I've looked at the CF list, and it is so long that I would't know where to start !!
That is part of the fun.

If the HDR-FOX T2 you bought has a nice strong bright display, to help length its life you could remove the orange filter which masks how bright it really is, and then install redring to bring it down to the brightness you want and help extend its useful life. Then as the display fads over the years you just up the brightness.
If the HD-FOX T2 has a display that is too dim then removing the orange filter and you may find it too bright. Similarly after removing the filter on a previously too dim display use redring to adjust it down to your preferred brightness.

To help preserve the unit as a whole install the fan package. This helps keep reduce the wild temperature fluctuations that occur without the fan package.

The multimode package is the killer package for me. I record a lot of radio documentaries, radio dramas and some other radio which would get cut short if I used just the HDR-FOX T2's settings for Accurate Recording. Using the multimode package I can have Accurate Recording for channels that supply it, and padding for those that don't. What are the 'essential' packages for one won't be the same for everyone. For example I don't need most of the Network packages but for some some of these would be essential (e.g. samba). Others want to use NTFS or exfat drives and so packages for those may be essential. Others could nominate sweeper so that some functions can be defined and automated, or perhaps the screen-saver so that the screen-saver is more subtle, or perhaps detectads to help skip adverts more easily, or auto-unprotect to help with the decryption process, or tunefix and tunefix-update to make the tuning smart.
 
Thanks for your replies and pointers as where to look to learn more about CF

Looking forward to getting started in a few days time (and now I know to also look in the CF section)

I’ve seen a lot of Graham Thompson’s posts on AV Forums where I also have been quite active in discussing the DigitalStream and Harmony Remote
 
My HDR-FOX has arrived. Formatted HDD and set up my channels; ran all suggested tests and I'm very happy with its operation. It currently has 1.02.29 installed. Is it worth hanging on to this version? I've read that newer versions slow down the EPG; will that be noticeable? I won't be using the Humax streaming portal (I use Apple TV for catchup services), so won't be worried about iPlayer not working.

Any other factors which might influence whether I keep or update the firmware?

Thanks
 
Thanks. I'll monitor behaviour for a week or so before deciding whether to upgrade the firmware and deciding which of the 3 WebIf packages to select.
 
You are confusing WebIF with Custom Firmware. The CF is a framework which supports the running of other installable facilities (including WebIF). There is only one version of CF you should be using (per firmware revision) - the specials are for dealing with specific problems. Once you have installed the CF, then you go on to install and configure WebIF etc according to your taste.

See Quick Guide to Custom Firmware (click).
 
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I've been having a couple of months of issues with my 7 year old DigitalStream PVR after the broadcasters started playing around with the amount of data carried with the EPG (particularly on COM7 & COM8
I am currently running my DS without COM7 and COM8 and that seems to work fine like that. Of course it limits what you can watch and record but I mainly use it for BBC2 HD and now C4 HD following that channel being ditched from Freesat and it helps that it is only one of three PVRs I run to avoid prime time recording clashes.
 
I am currently running my DS without COM7 and COM8 and that seems to work fine like that.

Thanks gomezz. I’ve been involved in the ongoing discussion about the DS issues over at AV Forums. I’m known as msg there ;)

Back to the HDR-FOX...

I’ll update to latest firmware as suggested and look to using CF.

During testing, I’ve noticed there’s no way to delete a recording in progress, and I can’t delete the second of two programmes from the media list which finished recording about 20 minutes ago (the delete option is greyed out). Any suggestions?

Dave
 
More likely he's failed to stop playback properly. You have to let the playback of a recording come to the end, or you have to press "stop", before the file is unlocked. Exiting playback by any other method leaves the file in limbo.

Resume playback, then press "stop".

Ditto for recordings currently being made: press "stop" to abort the recording (if there is more than one recording in progress, you will be presented with a dialogue to select which to stop).
 
Thanks Graham. No password protection applied (no icon showing against the affected programme in the media list)

If I press OK I get the play menu and that provides a delete option, but nothing happens when I select it. In OPT+, only Sort and New Folder are live options.

I’ve just restarted the box and got access to Delete in OPT+ on the programme. It has deleted !!

Thanks Black Hole, I’ll make sure I use the stop command in future (though can’t remember whether I did or not in this instance)
 
More likely he's failed to stop playback properly...
For the benefit of DAsh, you get into this state by playing a second programme while playing another without stopping it. You'd think the box would be able to sort out this out but it doesn't. Way out is to stop playing the second prog, start playing the first one again - the one you want to delete - then stopping it. You'll then be able to delete it.

While on the subject of not-being-able-to-delete funnies, it there seems to be an issue with some directory names. I've not yet experimented to figure out what's going on, but the one that brought it to my attention was you can't delete the QI folder while playing a programme in QI XL - both folders in /media/My Video.
 
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