I started this thread to report what happens when you take a HDR FOX abroad, in this case to Finland. Some things work and some don't. Some cause trouble and some can be worked around.
Finland has DVB with both UHF and VHF broadcasts (analogue was switched off well before the UK). Some channels broadcast DVB subtitles and some burn subtitles into the picture. These subtitles are mostly in finnish (since there are lots of non finnish language programmes (mostly english)), subtitles for the hard of hearing aren't that common (not enough deaf people?).
There are some free to air channels and lots more pay tv channels which need a card and CI module.
DVB-C is common in finland (in cities) and no doubt the HDR FOX doesn't work at all. This is not of interest to those in the UK since shops never sell a mix of DVB-T and DVB-C and ask customers which model they need.
What works:
UHF channels are received. VHF channels (which includes the free to air HD channel YLE HD) are not received since the HDR FOX only has a UHF tuner. The few UHF HD channels are received OK.
EPG works and shows a full grid.
What doesn't work:
Recordings set via the EPG initially didn't record at all. This is because the box is waiting for a CRID to accurately say when the programme starts (so called "accurate recording"). This isn't broadcast in Finland. Setting an explicit start/stop time worked, so did choosing an EPG programme and then changing to daily repeat (since in both cases CRID isn't used). The workaround is to set padding in the recording options, then CRID isn't used to trigger recording.
Subtitles: These don't seem to work on live TV, the box always says "no subtitle data". Perhaps it's looking for only english/welsh/etc subtitle streams. However recorded shows will display subtitles and so does catch up playback. So for subtitles press pause, wait a few sec and then press play and then the subtitle function will work.
Channel numbers initially started at 801 since I suppose the box wants to put BBC1 into channel # 1 position. Install custom firmware and use the reorder package to assign nicer looking channel names (eg YLE1= channel 1, YLE2= channel 2)
With custom firmware the timezone could not be set anywhere. The box itself works ok (time on the screen shown correct and EPG shows correct times and timer is set using local time). But the web based EPG is two hours out. Choosing a programme on the web EPG does end up recording the right show (and not recording two hours out (Finland is UK + 2 hours)). I did play around with some settings via telnet but changing the timezone like below seemed to cause more trouble than good and things ended up two hours off.
export TZ=EET-2EEST,M3.5.0/1,M10.5.0/2
So far untested:
Any use of pay channels since I don't have a subscription and don't have a CI module. Some humax models are sold in Finland and people buy a CI module so this probably works but not tested.
Why did I buy it? If you ask why i bought it in the UK and not something from Finland where all the features no doubt would work ok, then the main reason is the price. In Finland a similar box is 350 pounds and I paid 180 pounds. Since i only need the box for watching the news and using as a media player, then i'm happy with saving the money.Also I doubt that custom firmware would work on the finnish version and I quite like some of the extras (record the news every day and keep only the last two days worth of news programmes for example).
Finland has DVB with both UHF and VHF broadcasts (analogue was switched off well before the UK). Some channels broadcast DVB subtitles and some burn subtitles into the picture. These subtitles are mostly in finnish (since there are lots of non finnish language programmes (mostly english)), subtitles for the hard of hearing aren't that common (not enough deaf people?).
There are some free to air channels and lots more pay tv channels which need a card and CI module.
DVB-C is common in finland (in cities) and no doubt the HDR FOX doesn't work at all. This is not of interest to those in the UK since shops never sell a mix of DVB-T and DVB-C and ask customers which model they need.
What works:
UHF channels are received. VHF channels (which includes the free to air HD channel YLE HD) are not received since the HDR FOX only has a UHF tuner. The few UHF HD channels are received OK.
EPG works and shows a full grid.
What doesn't work:
Recordings set via the EPG initially didn't record at all. This is because the box is waiting for a CRID to accurately say when the programme starts (so called "accurate recording"). This isn't broadcast in Finland. Setting an explicit start/stop time worked, so did choosing an EPG programme and then changing to daily repeat (since in both cases CRID isn't used). The workaround is to set padding in the recording options, then CRID isn't used to trigger recording.
Subtitles: These don't seem to work on live TV, the box always says "no subtitle data". Perhaps it's looking for only english/welsh/etc subtitle streams. However recorded shows will display subtitles and so does catch up playback. So for subtitles press pause, wait a few sec and then press play and then the subtitle function will work.
Channel numbers initially started at 801 since I suppose the box wants to put BBC1 into channel # 1 position. Install custom firmware and use the reorder package to assign nicer looking channel names (eg YLE1= channel 1, YLE2= channel 2)
With custom firmware the timezone could not be set anywhere. The box itself works ok (time on the screen shown correct and EPG shows correct times and timer is set using local time). But the web based EPG is two hours out. Choosing a programme on the web EPG does end up recording the right show (and not recording two hours out (Finland is UK + 2 hours)). I did play around with some settings via telnet but changing the timezone like below seemed to cause more trouble than good and things ended up two hours off.
export TZ=EET-2EEST,M3.5.0/1,M10.5.0/2
So far untested:
Any use of pay channels since I don't have a subscription and don't have a CI module. Some humax models are sold in Finland and people buy a CI module so this probably works but not tested.
Why did I buy it? If you ask why i bought it in the UK and not something from Finland where all the features no doubt would work ok, then the main reason is the price. In Finland a similar box is 350 pounds and I paid 180 pounds. Since i only need the box for watching the news and using as a media player, then i'm happy with saving the money.Also I doubt that custom firmware would work on the finnish version and I quite like some of the extras (record the news every day and keep only the last two days worth of news programmes for example).
