Humax 5000T auto tuning query

[Clem_Dye]

Could someone who has a 5000T clarify something for me please? There's a thread over on AVForums which is discussing how the 5000T handles channel updates, whenever they come along. I live in a location where I can get get services from 3 TX, so, on my existing kit, once I've got the channels that I want stored, usually by manual tuning, I then disable the automatic update feature. This allows me to control when and if updates takes place. This generally works well, as the majority of the channels that I watch seldom move. However, if I look at the manual for the 5000T there's no such option to disable automatic updates. When I asked Humax Technical about this yesterday, the guy that I spoke with told me that minor channel updates are handled automatically, including dealing with any planned timer events that might be affected, but if a major tuning event is signalled, then the box pops-up a dialogue box advising that a full re-tune is required, and that this cannot be ignored/bypassed/overridden. Is that correct? It seems odd forcing the user to re-tune when perhaps they don't want to, and doesn't actually seem that user friendly at all. I'm interested in this because my existing Panasonic PVR is starting to get glitchy, so I need to replace it. From what I can make out, only Panasonic PVRs have facility to stop automatic channel updates, an option which doesn't appear to be present on Humax or Manhattan kit.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Clem

 

[Member 7823]

I've never noticed an automatic update and certainly never been prompted to update. I've always initiated any channel updates from the settings

 

[MartinLiddle]

When I asked Humax Technical about this yesterday, the guy that I spoke with told me that minor channel updates are handled automatically, including dealing with any planned timer events that might be affected, but if a major tuning event is signalled, then the box pops-up a dialogue box advising that a full re-tune is required, and that this cannot be ignored/bypassed/overridden. Is that correct?

I don't think that is correct. I have an FVP-5000T and the transmitter I use recently had two of the major multiplexes move to different frequencies. When I powered the box up on the morning of the move date there was no signal on BBC1 so I started an automatic tune (usually I manually tune but wanted to see how well the FVP auto tune worked). When it finished I checked the multiplexes were correct for my preferred transmitter which they were. Later in the day the box put up a prompt suggesting it needed to do a retune, which as I was quite sure it was not required, I dismissed.

 

[Clem_Dye]

Thanks for the replies. @MartinLiddle: that you can dismiss the re-tune prompts is the key here, I think. Humax told me that it wasn't possible. This is all very encouraging.

Clem

 

[Black Hole]

Humax told me that it wasn't possible.

The Humax support desk is not manned by experts, that would be too expensive. I guess the job is farmed out to an agency, whose operatives simply read off their equivalent of a FAQ - so the answers they give are only as good as the stock responses to a few search terms can be.

 

[EEPhil]

I'm not even sure minor channel updates are handled automatically. I don't remember the change from 5Spike to whatever it is now being handled automatically. In most cases, user intervention required (or should that be desired).

Later in the day the box put up a prompt suggesting it needed to do a retune, which as I was quite sure it was not required, I dismissed.

This has to be (for me) one of the most annoying parts of retunes. You get a message telling you to do it. You do it. Then you get another message telling you to do it.

I guess the job is farmed out to an agency, whose operatives simply read off their equivalent of a FAQ

That seems to be par for the course these days. Even some (or all) calls to NHS 111 are handled like this. "Call advisors" who use "NHS Pathways" to deal with your query. (Hope NHS Pathways isn't related to the Liverpool Pathway ).

 

[Trev]

no signal on BBC1 so I started an automatic tune (usually I manually tune but wanted to see how well the FVP auto tune worked).

Does the box have the capability to manually tune individual multiplexes separately? Whether it does or doesn't is not clear from the various posts on MH

 

[EEPhil]

Trev, the FVP-5000T allows the same tuning options as you are familiar with (including manual tuning of one multiplex). It also has so-called smart automatic retune which is supposed to preserve most of your existing tuning information and recording schedule. I found that it isn't smart and it doesn't work properly. (Hands up anyone who is surprised by that).

 

[MartinLiddle]

Does the box have the capability to manually tune individual multiplexes separately? Whether it does or doesn't is not clear from the various posts on MH

In my post I said "I started an automatic tune (usually I manually tune but wanted to see how well the FVP auto tune worked)" which I thought implied that manual tuning was possible.

 

[MartinLiddle]

I'm not even sure minor channel updates are handled automatically. I don't remember the change from 5Spike to whatever it is now being handled automatically. In most cases, user intervention required (or should that be desired).

I certainly haven't seen anything to suggest that they are handled automatically.

 

[Black Hole]

Hands up anyone who is surprised by that

:handsdown:

 

[Trev]

Do'h
But I got the impression, probably pretty wrongly, that people on MH were saying it couldn't manual tune, as that would have been the obvious answer to the problems they were trying to overcome (like LCN31), and as far as I could see, no one definitively said it could be manually tuned.

 

[MartinLiddle]

But I got the impression, probably pretty wrongly, that people on MH were saying it couldn't manual tune, as that would have been the obvious answer to the problems they were trying to overcome (like LCN31), and as far as I could see, no one definitively said it could be manually tuned.

If by MH you mean MyHumax.org then if you look in the FVP-4000/5000 FAQ section there is a manual tuning FAQ which has been there for quite a long time.

 

[EEPhil]

But I got the impression, probably pretty wrongly, that people on MH were saying it couldn't manual tune, as that would have been the obvious answer to the problems they were trying to overcome (like LCN31), and as far as I could see, no one definitively said it could be manually tuned.

If that (LCN31) is the post I replied to then I tried to indicate a manual tune. However, I thought the questioner was referring to UHF 31 (ie. a multiplex) not LCN31. When I realised my mistake there had been no comeback, so I didn't clarify.

 

[Trev]

Yes, I think that was the one Phil. 5 Spike not swapping to Paramount Network. My solution was to retune the correct MPx.

 

[EEPhil]

Yes, I think that was the one Phil. 5 Spike not swapping to Paramount Network. My solution was to retune the correct MPx.

That was what I meant as well even if I didn't express it correctly (well, not in a way that you understood).

 

[Trev]

But I didn't voice my 'solution' because I didn't even know if manual tune was available or not.