Humax HDR-FOX T2 Problems when recording

Hi
Ok just done a manual retune but for com 7 did not pick up any channels,is that normal!
Im missing 4 channels but we have very strong winds here at the mo so might wait untill tomorrow!

Thanks to everyone's help so far,much appreciated

Carl
 
Did anyone find a solution to this? I'm having the exact same issue.

If I make a recording using tuner 1, then viewing a channel from another mux on tuner 2 is pixelated beyond being watchable or no signal at all.

I have tried a test suggested above.

I record a channel using tuner 1, change channel to another mux, unwatchable. Record unwatchable channel on tuner 2. Cancel the recording from tuner 1 makes no difference until I cancel the tuner 2 recording, change channels and everything is fine. Presumably because the Humax has switched to tuner 1 again.

This implies tuner 2 is faulty right?

But when I compare the tuner's signal strength in the hidden menu, there seems to be no indication that either tuner is worse than the other.

I've performed a factory reset.

I've performed a manual scan. Actually I do this anyway, so performed a full scan after factory reset to see if any change.

Such a shame, the Humax has potential but all I've had in the 1.5 years of owning it has been problems.

Sky's interface is so bad but at least it's reliable, though I don't want to go back to a paid setup.

Does anyone know of a reliable Freeview HD recorder?
 
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notapom said:
Does anyone know of a reliable Freeview HD recorder?
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I have three HDR-FOXes in daily service without the problem you describe. To suggest that a few examples out of the many units owned by members of this form is an indication of unreliability seems unreasonable. Indeed, there remain people willing to snap up any which become available, if for no other reason then certainly because it's the only customisable unit out there (short of a DIY setup). Customisation wouldn't be worth a jot if the basic functionality wasn't reliable.

However, it also has to be noted that the HDR-FOX has been out of production for a good number of years, and we are relying on the remaining stock circulating on the second-hand market still having some useful life.

IIRC there is a more recent discussion of the tuner issue, and some hardware investigation. It seems strange that the unit does not perform properly and yet the tuners check out on the hidden service menu, but don't condemn the whole tree because of one bad apple.
 
It's been happening for about 2 weeks, at first I thought it was only when I was trying to watch Saorview channels when recording from a Freeview mux but realised it was happening when trying to record and view from any 2 muxes.

I too was surprised to see no problems with the tuners, from reading this thread that is what I expected it to be.

Black Hole said:
IIRC there is a more recent discussion of the tuner issue, and some hardware investigation.
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Is that on here? This is the only thread I could find relating to the same issue I have. I'm up for giving it one more try before resorting the unit to the scrapheap in the sky.

I'm happy for you that you have 3 working units, but I can only go on my personal experience which has been unreliable. I'm tired of having to mess about with it basically. I understand that using a unit that is out of production or with custom firmware has its own set of problems. I owned a TiVo series 1 from launch with 3rd party network card, customised firmware until the altEPG service ceased operating with minimal issues.
 
notapom said:
Humax has potential but all I've had in the 1.5 years of owning it has been problems.
Click to expand...
So it was quite a few years old when you got it and perhaps the previous owner got rid of it because it had become problematic for them. Happens with cars quite often.

If you like the basic box and functionality then maybe try and get another. There's obviously a chance of another faulty one but there are good ones around where people have simply stopped using theirs.

notapom said:
Does anyone know of a reliable Freeview HD recorder?
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The Humax Aura and Manhattan T2 (?) T3-R seem to be well regarded.

(Edit. Corrected per posts below)
 
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MikeSh said:
The Humax Aura and Manhattan T2 (?) seem to be well regarded.
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I think that should be the Manhattan T3-R but I agree it is well regarded. I have an Aura and it is certainly a step up from my FVP-5000T but it still has a few niggles which I really hope Humax will resolve.
 
notapom said:
I too was surprised to see no problems with the tuners, from reading this thread that is what I expected it to be.
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Most recent. if not all, who have reported a similar tuner issue have reported that the issue is with the prime tuner, unlike yours which is the secondary tuner. They have all reported an intermittent issue rather than total failure (of probably the non RF back end of the tuner rather than the RF back end itself). As it is more obvious that there is an issue when it is the prime tuner I'm not surprised that the more recent threads are about the other tuner misbehaving.
I think the threads are the following (but I've done in this in hurry and hopefully I've grabbed the relevant ones!):

Garbled Picture only for first few minutes on startup

Hello, Please could someone help with this problem. Had an HDR-FOX T2 since new , 31 Dec 2012. Recently when it is switched on from standby, or cold, the TV says no data and there is no picture on all channels. If left on for a minute, a garbled/pixellated picture starts to appear, and after a...
hummy.tv hummy.tv

Tuner issues on startup

Hello folks I have an issue that's started in the last couple of weeks where on startup the tuner/s are not able to show any channels for the first couple of minutes, displaying a message 'the channel is missing or scrambled'. I realised we had a retune event in our area and thought that would...
hummy.tv hummy.tv

No Programmes Are Currently Being Broadcast On This Channel for approx 3 minutes

After power on and loading competed (ie, channel shown in vfd) screen shows 'scrambled' message for 10 seconds then 'No Programmes Are Currently Being Broadcast On This Channel' Info bar shows correct information EPG populated Signal detection as normal Picture appears after approx 3 minutes (it...
hummy.tv hummy.tv

notapom said:
Did anyone find a solution to this? I'm having the exact same issue.
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With my similarly faulty unit, the issue was only for a few minutes somewhere in the 1st 5 minutes of switch on. It has got progressively worse and the second tuner now fails to work at all for a longer period when it first is switched on. If I now leave it on for at least 40 minutes it works fine. If I had left it on 24/7 I would never have noticed that there was an issue (and theoretically may have avoided the underlying fault developing as it may have been the heat cycling that triggered the fault).
Possibly the same work round won't work if the issue is with the second tuner. My thinking is that with the 1st tuner what makes it start to work is having the unit get warmed up, but with the secondary tuner perhaps just having the unit switch on just warms up the prime tuner.

notapom said:
Does anyone know of a reliable Freeview HD recorder?
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Is there such a thing? But yes from reading various different forum sites the manhattan T3-R appears to be the most hassle free, but may not suite everyone, especially me.

My HDR-FOX T2 that developed this fault was purchased new in July 2012 and although I do have other recorders that had been my prime recorder and apart form the !TB original HDD not being the quietest was reliable for almost 8 years before this fault developed.
I find the multimode custom firmware indispensable and so I no hesitation in purchasing another HDR-FOX T2. I paid about £13 (including postage and packing of £9.99) for a "faulty" unit and since zeroing out the HDD its behaviour has been impeccable.
 
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MikeSh said:
So it was quite a few years old when you got it and perhaps the previous owner got rid of it because it had become problematic for them. Happens with cars quite often.
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Yeah it probably was a few years old when I got it. I should have been clearer, when I say problems, they have more been annoyances and regularly coming here to read to find solutions. Previous user used standard firmware and had updated to a Freesat unit. I found myself messing with the thing more often than I'd like to.

But the current issue is borderline making it unusable, but yeah you always run the risk of problems using used electronics I guess.
 
MikeSh said:
If you like the basic box and functionality then maybe try and get another.
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The standard functionality isn't particularly my taste but I really liked the ad skipping function on the custom firmware. I wouldn't say I made the most of the custom firmware tbh. Ad skipping and channel re-order was the main things I used, the latter is standard on most boxes I've used in the past so really only the ad skip function.
 
notapom said:
I really liked the ad skipping function on the custom firmware.
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Do you mean the ad removal package?
You can manually skip in preset time chunks on most boxes (I think) and that's what most people would call "ad skipping".
 
MikeSh said:
Do you mean the ad removal package?
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detectads can be configured to place a bookmark at the end of advert breaks, so skipping to the next programme segment becomes a single button press rather than a hunt. I prefer that to automatic cropping, which is a pain if the crop points are not correct.
 
I also prefer that arrangement, having found that the automatic cropping often loses sound for several seconds after the crop
 
MikeSh said:
Do you mean the ad removal package?
You can manually skip in preset time chunks on most boxes (I think) and that's what most people would call "ad skipping".
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As black hole mentioned, it's detectads that I use. I just forgot what it was called at the time. I love it and it's almost always perfect. Maybe once a month a recording has incorrect bookmarks, but every other time, it is flawless
 
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