• The forum software that supports hummy.tv has been upgraded to XenForo 2.3!

    Please bear with us as we continue to tweak things, and feel free to post any questions, issues or suggestions in the upgrade thread.

HDR selective back-up to NAS options

Hello Rich,

My Twonky version is actually older than yours; 5.16. I bought the NAS a couple of years ago and I'm still running the same version of Twonky that came on the NAS. I don't do anything else other than decrypt and move to my NAS. The QNAP NAS is really good and I'm fully gigabit wired (although the Humax isn't a gigabit device), but that's it really. Not sure what else to add. I'm afraid I'm not sure why your hidef files don't stream cleanly. Maybe the NAS, maybe some weak link in your network. Good luck!
 
It might be worth mentioning that there are reports of Twonky Ver 7 not working with the Humax (See Notes HERE), so I wouldn't bother upgrading to that if I were you
 
Not sure I can even upgrade mine. Think it's a bu as is type of box with no options to alter anything other than the features in the manual.
I do have option to change the media streamer type in re twonky server page. It's defaulted I generic device but trees options for Samsung TV so will give that a try. See if it helps and report back.
 
I think the latest official QNAP firmware includes Twonky 6.x.x, although 7.x.x can be installed as a separate QPKG. (I also haven't done this, as I've seen reports of problems with it).

If streaming to a Samsung Smart TV, it can be a bit picky with video file types. I haven't done exactly the same as hugoread or richsimpson, but a relative's Samsung Smart TVwouldn't recognise .mkv files from Twonky MediaServer (although it would pick up mp4, avi and others). I had to switch to a different media server (installed on QNAP as a QPKG) - Plex server from memory - and then the Samsung would see all the video files.

Normally I use QNAP's Twonky version to stream HD .mkv files to various WD TV Live boxes, and it works a treat on a wired gigabit network (SD only on wifi though). Haven't tried moving recordings from the Humax though.
 
Black Hole said:
What I do for viewing HDR content on the HD-FOX is run samba on the HDR and automount on the HD, but you will need to decrypt all the content on the HDR (run auto-unprotect and unencrypt). I do find that viewing HiDef content that way suffers break-ups whereas using DLNA doesn't, my theory is that my network is not quite fast enough but the DLNA client is designed to cope with it by buffering (a player for media stored locally would not need to buffer)
Click to expand...

Hi Black Hole - I'm glad to say I sorted out samba and network-shares-automount (big thanks to Climber for that) and I've moved folders of decrypted programmes to my NAS and I can now view them on my HDR just as if they were local, along with the trick play you would expect. I'm very happy with that so thanks for pointing me to it. Out of interest, I can play HiDef files from my NAS this way (using network-shares-automount) no problem at all, just like they were local. I'm not getting any lag or choppiness at at all. I've got a gigabit router and a gigabit switch and all the end points (ie the tellies) are connected directly with cat5, although I realise the Humax boxes themselves aren't gigabit devices. The main reason is probably the quality of my NAS (a QNAP 219p for what it's worth), which over the last couple of years has faultlessly served me a variety of files, including very large video, without a single glitch. Just thought I'd let you know.

Having done this I'm now determined to get my HD player set up with the CF and network-shares-automount so I can also play all the files from my HDR on my HD as if they were local. To this end I've ordered a 32GB pen drive that I'm going to leave as the permanent USB on the HD and when it arrives I'll try to set it up. I really hope it works!

I'll post back after I've had a go...
 
hugoread said:
I've ordered a 32GB pen drive that I'm going to leave as the permanent USB on the HD and when it arrives I'll try to set it up. I really hope it works!
Click to expand...

One note of caution, the Humax HD Fox T2 will definitely run the Custom Firmware on a USB Hard disk drive and a USB flash drive, however there is little evidence that the HD-Fox T2 will record to a USB flash drive so that may cause a problem. Notes on CF installation for the HD-Fox T2 HERE
 
Thanks for that. I did read this and I am somewhat nervous of doing it on a USB stick, but...

1) I don't have a spare USB hard drive and I certainly don't want to buy one - more money, another thing plugged in, more clutter etc.
1) It seems from various posts that with a pen drive of 32MB or over it's easier to load the full custom software
2) I've got no desire at all to record on the HD, I just want to run the custom software. I'll probably pause live TV every now and then if that's possible (or more likely my kids will), but basically I just want to do it so that I can run network-shares-automount on the HD so I can play the files from my HDR box as if they were local, with channel info, thumbnails, trick play etc.

Hopefully for this purpose it will be fine, but I guess I'll find out...

Cheers,
Hugo.
 
I think the 'easier with 32GB or over' is because the Humax won't format a drive smaller than that, but the Humax will format in EXT3 anyway, which is not recommended for Flash drives because of journalling (constantly writing to the device). It's much better to format in EXT2 for flash devices, Free EaseUS will do this on a P.C.
 
It's fairly straightforward from the command line in maintenance mode too - we can help if necessary, there isn't currently a helper script for this although there probably should be.
 
Thanks Ezra Pound (aren't you a dead American poet?!). So does this mean if I format my new 32GB drive when it arrives to Ext2, using Free EaseUS for example, that it will show up as a valid drive to record to on my HD, without having to perform a format whilst on board the Humax? If that is the case I'll certainly do that.

Combining this new bit of knowledge with cabsandy's post on his successful pen drive CF, I reckon I'll:

1) update the HD to the latest standard firmware .29 [done]
2) format the new 32GB pen drive to EXT2 on my PC with Free EaseUS
3) insert the pen drive, make sure it's recognised, try pausing TV or some other test.
4) take that drive out and insert another drive with the latest CF and run the update
5) put the 32GB drive back in, make sure it's still recognised
6) go to my PC and install the full CF from the initial WebIf page
7) install network-shares-automount from WebIF and configure it to pick up my samba share from my HDR and my NAS share too.

Sound good to you?!

Best,
Hugo.
 
af123 said:
It's fairly straightforward from the command line in maintenance mode too - we can help if necessary, there isn't currently a helper script for this although there probably should be.
Click to expand...

Hi af123, thanks for the post. Sorry, what is fairly straightforward from the command line? Formatting in EXT2? At the moment I don't even know what maintenance mode is! - I'm still very new to the CF.

Thanks,
Hugo.
 
af123 : It's fairly straightforward from the command line in maintenance mode too - we can help if necessary, there isn't currently a helper script for this although there probably should be.
Click to expand...
There are notes in the WiKi HERE
 
hugoread said:
Thanks Ezra Pound (aren't you a dead American poet?!). .
Click to expand...

Yes, it wasn't the best choice of name, Ah well

I would have a look at the link in #33, I seem to remember seeing something about the Humax 'registering' the USB drive as recordable so it maybe worth getting the Humax to format (In EXT3) and then either using the notes in the link to convert it to EXT2 or if you'd rather avoid Maintenance mode use Free EaseUS but keeping the drive name the same as the one generated by the Humax format process
 
hugoread said:
1) update the HD to the latest standard firmware .29 [done]
2) format the new 32GB pen drive to EXT2 on my PC with Free EaseUS
3) insert the pen drive, make sure it's recognised, try pausing TV or some other test.
4) take that drive out and insert another drive with the latest CF and run the update
5) put the 32GB drive back in, make sure it's still recognised
6) go to my PC and install the full CF from the initial WebIf page
7) install network-shares-automount from WebIF and configure it to pick up my samba share from my HDR and my NAS share too.
Click to expand...

I suggest a slightly different protocol, less fiddly:

1. Manual install of desired standard firmware;
2. Manual install of relevant custom firmware;
3. Insert Ext2 UPD (you only need to select Media >> Storage (blue) >> USB to check it is recognised);

...then continue from your step 6.
 
Thanks, but I still will have to format it as Ext2 at some point, which isn't mentioned there. Either on the Humax or on my PC. I'm pretty sure I've got the idea though, so I'll report back once I've (hopefully) got it sorted).

Hugo.
 
Well I've got the nice new 32GB pen drive and put it in my HD, but under the system options both 'Format Drive' and 'Make this my Hard Drive' (can't remember exact wording) are both greyed out, so I can't set it up as the main drive for the HD. Ahhg! I've formatted it as Ext2 as advised (on my PC) but now I'm not sure what to do in order to get the HD to allow it to be its drive.

Aside from that, I've installed the full CF, which presumably is on the pen drive! So I could install the CF and I've installed network-shares-automount, which is working to connect to my NAS, with exactly the same settings as the same package on the HDR. That's all great. I can navigate to the USB drive on the HD even it's not set as the system hard drive. However, I can't get network-shares-automount on the HD to connect to the HDR. I've added it as a smb drive and only set the IP address field correctly for the HDR, leaving all the other fields/folders in network-shares-automount as the defaults. Does anyone know if those settings are right? Black Hole? I think you have network-shares-automount set up on your HD to connect to your HDR. Note that I have samba set up on my HDR and I can mount the drive fine on my PC, so I think it's just about getting the network-shares-automount settings right in on the HD.

Many thanks,
Hugo.
 
Hello again! Sorry, I've just realised that I should have set the folder to 'Media' to get the HD to find the Samba HDR. I've now done that and it's all working a dream. Playing HiDef from network onto HDR or onto HD and from HDR to HD. What I REALLY like is that I can start watching a programme in the kitchen whilst cooking and then stop the programme half way through and go to the sitting room and 'resume play' from the same spot. Perfect.

The one thing I still need to work out is why the new 32GB pen drive can't be set as the system drive on the HD. As it stands, it's a big waste of a 32GB pen drive leaving it plugged in the back of the HD just for the CF. Surely I could use a much smaller pen drive for that. So I guess I need to either

a) work out why the 32GB can't be used as the primary hard drive for the HD, or
b) replace it with a smaller one and not worry about recording on the HD, which I don't really care about anyway.

Cheers.
 
Try running the assignhd diagnostic. It should link that disk to the Humax but only if it is big enough. I've seen 32GB mentioned as the threshold a few times but haven't tried a flash drive myself.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top