HDR-1800T record/playback problems.

[Bigphil]

Hi all,
My Hummy is giving me grief.
On play back it suddenly stops,goes blank and reports 'this channel is not available or encrypted' and no buttons on the remote do anything. The only way to recover the situation is to unplug it from the mains, wait a bit, re-power it and delete the recording. In addition to this although some recordings state the correct time of the file it stops prematurely and goes blank during playback.
I have re-formatted the drive several times and done a HDD check, no errors reported, but it has not sorted the problem.

The Loader version is UKTFAC 1.04 and the software version is UKTFAC 1.01.20 which I believe is the latest.

Have any of you clever people got any ideas or do I throw in the bin with the rest of the rubbish and buy something that works (not a Humax).

Regards

Phil.

 

[EEPhil]

The HDD check is next to useless. I'm sure someone will be able to point you in the direction of a more rigorous test.
When you formatted the HDD did you do a Factory Default? If not it might be worth trying as this should clear out any rubbish stored in non-volatile memory. How long did you power down for? Under the circumstances I'd give it at least 30 minutes.

 

[Black Hole]

Have any of you clever people got any ideas or do I throw in the bin with the rest of the rubbish and buy something that works (not a Humax).

That's rather unfair. I presume you've had this for some time, and now if it's reached end-of-life you think Humax is worse than anything else?

Recordings become "scrambled" not because of anything to do with the HDD, but when the unit forgets what its decryption key is. It finds it can't decrypt the data to anything sensible, and assumes that's because the recording was not available for you to decrypt in the first place. Rebooting it refreshes the decryption key.

If the unit is persistently forgetting the key, that implies an age-related fault has developed in the decryption hardware.

 

[EEPhil]

Rebooting it refreshes the decryption key.

If the unit is persistently forgetting the key, that implies an age-related fault has developed in the decryption hardware.

Although I only occasionally use my 200OT for recording a film, usually on BBC1/2HD* (no DOGs), I've mainly moved on and forgotten previous problems - although that could be age related and/or my slapdash approach to documenting problems and solutions. I have the vaguest recollection of a similar problem to Bigphil's a long time ago. A Factory Default and a long power off appears to have cured it.
(* It's easy to copy HiDef off the 2000T - Foxy works. It isn't easy on later models.)

 

[prpr]

I have re-formatted the drive several times and done a HDD check, no errors reported, but it has not sorted the problem.

I don't have an 1800/2000T but I suspect your drive might have physical problems which the above doesn't detect or fix.
As a start, you need to investigate the SMART stats. on it, which means extracting it from the unit and connecting it to a PC.

 

[Bigphil]

The HDD check is next to useless. I'm sure someone will be able to point you in the direction of a more rigorous test.
When you formatted the HDD did you do a Factory Default? If not it might be worth trying as this should clear out any rubbish stored in non-volatile memory. How long did you power down for? Under the circumstances I'd give it at least 30 minutes.

Thanks for your reply.
The first time I formatted the HDD I did a Factory Default but not the second time.
I only powered down for a couple of minutes, however on re-power the unit responded to the remote but the recording still done the same thing hence I deleted it.

That's rather unfair. I presume you've had this for some time, and now if it's reached end-of-life you think Humax is worse than anything else?

Recordings become "scrambled" not because of anything to do with the HDD, but when the unit forgets what its decryption key is. It finds it can't decrypt the data to anything sensible, and assumes that's because the recording was not available for you to decrypt in the first place. Rebooting it refreshes the decryption key.

If the unit is persistently forgetting the key, that implies an age-related fault has developed in the decryption hardware.

My first Freeview PVR was a Panasonic (I forget the model number) which I bought early 2010 when freeview first came to this area. It never 'missed a beat'. However eventually the hard Drive packed up in early 2023 so I thought that instead of fitting a new drive I would treat myself to a new recorder (a decision i'm regretting now). That is when I bought the Humax. Unfortunately the problem didn't manifest itself until the guarantee had expired otherwise I would have taken it back and demanded my money back.
Seeing as the Panasonic lasted for 13 years I wouldn't expect the Humax to reached end of life after nearly 3 years.