Green screen

Bewildered said:
I too have an HDR-Fox T2 and a 40" Samsung TV connected by HDMI and it has just started doing something similar. When you first turn the Humax on, you get a few seconds of proper Humax graphics and then it goes all green.
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I would guess that if it worked OK for a long time and then started to give problems then it is a hardware issue. Probably worth checking the HDMI lead but other than that I don't know the solution.
 
Clearly something has changed, so if there has been no change to the system (eg the TV updating its firmware, and no fiddling around with cables) something must have broken.
 
Wallace said:
It most certainly IS the HDMI handshake.

My solution is to use an HDMI matrix. I have a two output/six input model. As I have numerious devices that I connect. There are plenty of discusions on the subject. I recommend you use the search facility.

HTH
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Hi Wallace,

Thanks for the reply. I have already tried that with a 5-in, 1-out device but without success. It still gives the green screen.

By way of additional information, I can add that I have already tried a different cable and, using the original HDMI lead plugged into another (cheap) receiver, it all works fine and that after switching the order of the HDMI connections, the "fault" always follows the HDR T2. My FoxSat and my FVP4000 all work in any of the 3 HDMI inputs.

Any further thoughts (from anyone) would be most welcome.
 
5-in-1-out is not a matrix switch, which needs to be at least 2-out. The reason is that a matrix switch by necessity has to provide an intermediate handshake and thus decouple the HDMI source from its destination, whereas an n-to-1 selector does not.
 
Many thanks for that Black Hole. I shall have a look and see what I can find on the internet or is there one that you would recommend?
 
That's great, thank you for that. I have just ordered one so, fingers crossed!

I will let you know how I get on.
 
Sadly, it is just the same.....

Update - I turned it all off, left it for 5 minutes and then turned it all back on again and, hey presto, it;s working!

Many thanks for your help.
 
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Yet another update: I went back to the system later and it was green again. I hooked it up with a SCART cable again and, when I changed channels, there was a brief message on the screen that said that HDMI was not allowed due to HDCP issues and that I should use a SCART....

I am now more confused than ever!
 
Mine has started to continually do this as well for the last few months, to the point where i have to leave the box on 24/7 now otherwise it takes 10 minutes to get it working again.
Its annoying, the only way I can get the picture back seems to be unplugging then re connecting the HDMI cable, then after around 20 to 30 times suddenly the picture appears.
Have tried changing boot loaders as well.
Cant think what could cause it as the TV hasn't been updated, the box is running the same custom firmware it always was and nothing has been touched both tv and humax side.
Even tried different HDMI cables, ports on TV etc to no avail.
 
I have a similar system in a different room so I swapped the boxes between rooms and both work fine.

More baffled than ever.....
 
Getting this problem too and also periodic picture black-outs and sound drop. Given that reseating the cable works and, for a while, holding the cable at a slight angle (wedging something against it) works I suspect a bad solder joint on the HDMI connector inside the Humax. I'm going to take mine apart and see if I can just warm over the joints but as a workaround...
You can connect up the ethernet and stream the content to (sometimes [1]) your TV, a PC or your gaming console (PS/3 works great) and play recordings like that. But the gotcha is that you have to decrypt the HD recordings first (off to check out the custom firmware, or you can use Foxy and a USB attached drive manually).
[1] My Panasonic TV will NOT play these; it sees them in the list of files, puts of 'waiting...' and then gives up. "Your mileage may vary" as they say ;-).
 
papadeltasierra said:
off to check out the custom firmware
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Quick Guide to Custom Firmware (click)

papadeltasierra said:
But the gotcha is that you have to decrypt the HD recordings first
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No you don't, you only need to clear the protection flag. The DLNA service you are using decrypts on the fly - but only if [1] the recording is not protected (ie a StDef recording, or a HiDef recording that has had the protection flag cleared), or [2] the DLNA client negotiates DTCP (we've not found anything that can do this other than another HDR-FOX or HD-FOX, or maybe one of the other Humax PVRs). See the auto-unprotect package.

Custom Firmware users generally decrypt all recordings by routine anyway, as that opens the way to unrestricted use of the recordings - not just DLNA.

Decryption Guide (click)

papadeltasierra said:
My Panasonic TV will NOT play these
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The media players built into TVs are generally not compatible with the M2TS format of the recording files (even though they are named .ts).
 
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Apropo "Green Screen", my "supported user" has reported an incident recently where multiple retries at turning on (programmed Harmony handset issues standby commands to TV and HDR-FOX) resulted in the green screen. However, eventually the retries resulted in normal function and I have not heard anything else for several days.

This does worry me though.
 
Black Hole said:
Quick Guide to Custom Firmware (click)


No you don't, you only need to clear the protection flag. The DLNA service you are using decrypts on the fly - but only if [1] the recording is not protected (ie a StDef recording, or a HiDef recording that has had the protection flag cleared), or [2] the DLNA client negotiates DTCP (we've not found anything that can do this other than another HDR-FOX or HD-FOX, or maybe one of the other Humax PVRs). See the auto-unprotect package.

Custom Firmware users generally decrypt all recordings by routine anyway, as that opens the way to unrestricted use of the recordings - not just DLNA.

Decryption Guide (click)


The media players built into TVs are generally not compatible with the M2TS format of the recording files (even though they are named .ts).
Click to expand...
Black Hole - many thanks for letting me know that. I can easily rattle of a quick Python script to nobble any 'enc' flags each night and since I'll only be using DLNA, save myself a lot of bother pre-decrypting!
 
papadeltasierra said:
Black Hole - many thanks for letting me know that. I can easily rattle of a quick Python script to nobble any 'enc' flags each night and since I'll only be using DLNA, save myself a lot of bother pre-decrypting!
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Why reinvent the wheel? Install the CF and the auto-unprotect package and you're done... but the CF is a much bigger world of opportunity than that (and decryption is no bother at all). Seems to me you are missing out, deliberately.

How would you make your Python script work on files that are inside the HDR-FOX anyway? Without the CF providing direct access, your only option is to export them via USB. That's what Foxy does (before we had the means to do it on-box).
 
Black Hole said:
This does worry me though.
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Is it possible that the HDCP protocol has had an ota update (on the TVs, not the Fox's obviously) and is now 'fussier'?
I've noticed the momentary green screen on start much more on our setup in the last month or two, though it's never failed to pass through it (yet).
 
MikeSh said:
Is it possible there is HDCP stuff within the broadcast
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Not according to my understanding, but I suppose "never say never".

As far as I know, HDCP is confined to establishing the capabilities of the receiving end of a HDMI link (or I suppose potentially any other digital link with a limited return channel), and is implemented locally between the transmit and receive chips. If the receive end does not complete a cryptographic handshake when the link is first established (or re-established if it is broken), the transmit end is not authorised to output high-definition content. The receive end is only licensed with the appropriate crypto key if it is certified as incapable of recording HiDef content received from the HDMI.

There is a compromise in the Humax implementation, in that if the handshake does not complete it kills the whole HDMI -not just for HiDef.

Now, just speculating, but IIRC there is a protection mechanism built into DVD/Blu-ray players which is supposed to revoke the DRM capability of a unit when the industry 'broadcasts' a list of players that have been cracked - the broadcast mechanism being the discs themselves (contained within the non-content areas of each disk published after that date).

Is there some similar revocation mechanism in TV broadcasts? I doubt it. It is the Sonys and Disneys of this world with an axe to grind over content piracy, not public-service broadcasters (who are already putting the content out to all and sundry).

MikeSh said:
or content that is 'new' and causing some issues with older equipment?
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That would cause a systematic problem and we would all see the same thing at the same time (or at least, those of us with "older equipment"). We have seen oddities with the data received in the Freeview streams which resulted in unplayable recordings for example, but these were systematic.
 
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