Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
It seems to be a Win10 thing, perhaps updates/Win11 retracted on that:
HDR-FOX-T2 not seeing firmware file on the flash stick, and a "Russ Andrews upgraded" unit with fake boards added
- Thread starter peterh337
- Start date
It seems to be a Win10 thing, perhaps updates/Win11 retracted on that:
Thread title updated 
I doubt anybody at RA cares. Of course they knew the stuff is totally fake, but clearly so many people buy into this that they had a nice business. With 12 employees, probably a ~1M turnover.
They don't do the Humax anymore, AFAICT. That was more than 10 years ago.
I doubt anybody at RA cares. Of course they knew the stuff is totally fake, but clearly so many people buy into this that they had a nice business. With 12 employees, probably a ~1M turnover.
They don't do the Humax anymore, AFAICT. That was more than 10 years ago.
prpr
Well-Known Member
And invalidation of warranty on the boxes they supply or modify.
Well it might have been 15 years ago, but not now. Investigations would need to be made into any current stuff, if there is any.
I wonder how many of those circuit boards labelled 2005 they had produced and still have to get rid of.
Where did that green/yellow wire go from the mains socket (which they bodged in by removing the useful On/Off switch)? And the green wire from the other board?
The "filter" just goes to mains L N E. It does not do anything - totally fake.
The "power supply board" just goes to mains L N. It also does not do anything. Since it has no outputs, I think it is not a bought-in item with some function. I think it is a board which contains an oscillator whose output goes nowhere. It is built to a reasonable standard and probably by another firm. Totally weird somebody would do this.
This kind of outright scam is all over the place e.g.
The "power supply board" just goes to mains L N. It also does not do anything. Since it has no outputs, I think it is not a bought-in item with some function. I think it is a board which contains an oscillator whose output goes nowhere. It is built to a reasonable standard and probably by another firm. Totally weird somebody would do this.
This kind of outright scam is all over the place e.g.
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
That's not entirely true (for a properly installed filter). Cs could still reject spikes, even without a series L.
That is true but if you just stick a cap across the mains, whether it does anything depends entirely on the source impedance.
AFAIK nobody builds mains filters like that. One always has some series inductance, to create a low pass filter. If you want to clamp spikes, you use a VDR.
Anyway, the idea is a fake. Why would the Humax need protection from mains spikes, any more than any other appliance?
AFAIK nobody builds mains filters like that. One always has some series inductance, to create a low pass filter. If you want to clamp spikes, you use a VDR.
Anyway, the idea is a fake. Why would the Humax need protection from mains spikes, any more than any other appliance?
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
I didn't say otherwise, just pointing out you can't rely on the fact it's not in series.
It would be interesting to send that power supply board to BigClive on YouTube and get him to do a circuit analysis of it so we'd at least know what it REALLY does.
I'm guessing that the 555 timer produces high frequency square waves whose harmonics align with the natural resonance of the incoming electrons from the mains. This then capacitively couples to the main SMPS board and enables holographic quantography effects to smooth out imperfections within the main switching transistor's linearity curve. As a result, perceived picture resolution is improved by around 10% and video noise is noticably lowered within shadow detail.
I'm guessing that the 555 timer produces high frequency square waves whose harmonics align with the natural resonance of the incoming electrons from the mains. This then capacitively couples to the main SMPS board and enables holographic quantography effects to smooth out imperfections within the main switching transistor's linearity curve. As a result, perceived picture resolution is improved by around 10% and video noise is noticably lowered within shadow detail.
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
Sorry? What???
Don't you realise we have our own population of hardware experts on the forum, well capable of performing such an analysis, including me?!!
prpr
Well-Known Member
Go on then. It doesn't seem that hard to reverse engineer. What are those big grey things on the 'home-made' RA board? Presumably big Cs, but I've never seen any like that.
Owen Smith
Well-Known Member
I own some, I have one fitted to my central heating hot water tank stat to reduce noise when it switches. They may be X rated capacitors, meaning if they fail they're designed to go short circuit. Or they may be Y rated capacitors, those are designed to go open circuit if they fail. You typically have X caps across L and N so if the cap fails it trips the breaker, and you typically have Y caps between E and L and/or N so if the cap fails you don't connect earth to the other rails.
Maybe so, but this would be of interest to a far wider distribution than just a few people on this forum, and he has over a million subscribers.
.. and was it really necessary to respond in such a way as to imply that I’d suggested something utterly stupid?
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Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
Not so much stupid... but was it necessary to post in such a way as to suggest some YouTuber is more technically skilled than anyone on this forum? Either way, forum first, anyone else after.
You had better decide who best to send them to! Or better still, good photos of front and back, with circuit traces unobscured and component markings visible, would probably be good enough for us all to pour over.Give me an address and I will post it
Owen Smith
Well-Known Member
He never suggested a YouTuber is more technically skilled, though I see how what he wrote could be read that way. The point is BigClive has a huge following, which hummy.tv definitely does not these days (if it ever did).
Thank you, my point exactly. If this really is snake oil then it deserves a wider audience than it would get here alone.
I can power it up, put a scope on it, and tell you what it does.
Being maybe 15 years old, it would be of historical interest only, as an illustration of how far some people in the "hifi" business go to con customers. Problem is, where do you stop? That whole business is full of crooks. In the last ~40 years, misleading people has been almost the only way to sell stuff.
Being maybe 15 years old, it would be of historical interest only, as an illustration of how far some people in the "hifi" business go to con customers. Problem is, where do you stop? That whole business is full of crooks. In the last ~40 years, misleading people has been almost the only way to sell stuff.
I think I can almost certainly tell you what that board is, it’s the ‘DIY’ version of their Clarity mains conditioner, just not in the plastic case. The What HiFi article even mentions that one of these is used.
www.russandrews.com
There are also plug-in mains versions of this. It literally has no outputs, and simply plugs into the wall near your hifi and is supposed to make it sound better
www.russandrews.com
180 quid for a few basic components, who’d have thought?
ClarityMains DIY Kit
Bringing Clarity to your systemThe ClarityMains is a power conditioner utilising a type of technology called Coherence Technology. ClarityMains works in a different way to our other power conditioners (such as the |Silencer//P14039990000| and the |Mains Zapperator//P14439990000|): we...
There are also plug-in mains versions of this. It literally has no outputs, and simply plugs into the wall near your hifi and is supposed to make it sound better
ClarityMains UK version
Bringing Clarity to your systemThe ClarityMains is a power conditioner utilising a type of technology called Coherence Technology. ClarityMains works in a different way to our other power conditioners (such as the |Silencer//P14039990000| and the |Mains Zapperator//P14439990000| ): we...
180 quid for a few basic components, who’d have thought?
