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Is the HDR-FOX T2 right for me?

L

Little Green

New Member
At present I am viewing SD courtesy of TalkTalk through their Huawei HG633 router and recording on the Huawei DN372T connected to my old CRT telly by Scart. The telly has a spare Scart.

I am happy with this apart from having run out of storage on the box and I also possibly would like to back up my Sky Arts recordings to a separate HDD. (Could you clarify if I would still be able to access them when/if I leave TT). I see on their Community that some have used different routers which may circumvent this problem but also that one needs to notify them if you are adding another recorder as to which one will be your primary one.

I asked a seller of a hummy with CF if it would suit me but he said his box recorded from the TV arial only and not IPTV from the router so wouldn't work. This confounded me as (you probably noted!) this is all new to me. I have now spotted a dongled up 1TB wireless one and wondered if this might be better.

Would it be possible to run both boxes in tandem or possibly change between them by moving the Scart? Also I might not have to access the Sky Arts progs on the Huawei if I rerecord them on the Humax during the year I still have with TT.

I think I have a powered arial and also satellite.

Apologies for asking so many questions and in no coherent order but my ignorance is such that I can't really be succinct. I only hope that you can intuit what I'm on about and help me out.

Thanks in advance.

 
Little Green said:
I asked a seller of a hummy with CF if it would suit me but he said his box recorded from the TV arial only and not IPTV from the router so wouldn't work. This confounded me as (you probably noted!) this is all new to me.
Click to expand...

The seller is correct. The HDR-FOX T2 has very limited ability as a streaming client and as far as I know can only record BBC iPlayer via the custom firmware.
Would it be possible to run both boxes in tandem or possibly change between them by moving the Scart? Also I might not have to access the Sky Arts progs on the Huawei if I rerecord them on the Humax during the year I still have with TT.
Click to expand...
You can certainly run both boxes in tandem; a SCART switcher might be a good investment. If you want a competent PVR for recording over the air TV then an HDR-FOX T2 with the custom firmware is a good choice. however if you need to watch or record streamed content then it is not the box for you.
 
Little Green said:
I also possibly would like to back up my Sky Arts recordings to a separate HDD. (Could you clarify if I would still be able to access them when/if I leave TT).
Click to expand...
That will depend (doesn't it always).
If the recordings are not encrypted then then you should have no great problems accessing them after leaving TT - the depend here is that the format can be played by whatever you are using to try and play them.
If they are encrypted, then they will only play on the box that recorded them. However, some boxes decrypt some files automatically when they are copied on to an external disk which puts you in the same place as above.
Whichever of these it is you'll probably need to ask on a forum that has specific info on the TT/Huawei DN372T, unless someone here happens to know.
 
Thank you Martin, the fog has cleared a little! It is indeed good that it can record the iPlayer as I sometimes forget to record stuff.

Could you tell me then what it is about the Huawei that enables it to record from Sky. Surely the router is streaming to it and it is decrypting the content, but I have noticed that on the TT community some using other recorders. I am just off to check what content they were recording.
I wondered about re-configuring another router as a solution.

If I were to run both boxes in tandem which should be primary? I guess the answer would be to keep the Huawei as primary if I find that one can keep Sky Arts recordings after leaving TT. Also how should I
connect the boxes.

Apologies, just thinking out loud (never very flattering!)
 
The DN327T is a YouView set-top box. Recording etc is nothing to do with the router, all that does is provide the Internet connection (and manage your home network).

The HDR-FOX is a capable Freeview recorder - but it records from a TV aerial only. It just happens we have been able to tweak it a little to access the buffered version of iPlayer and YouTube streamed content and save it off, but that is all.
 
Little Green said:
Surely the router is streaming to it and it is decrypting the content,
Click to expand...
Yes and no. The router is not decrypting, the recordings. The recorder encrypts any decrypts recordings that it has made.

All Freeview stuff is transmitted unencrypted, its the Freeview box that encrypts and decrypts HD all recordings (as part of the Freeeview licence conditions) and only the box on which it is recorded will decrypt it. This does not apply to subscription services, such as Sky stuff (not the Freesat From Sky, which is not encrypted) which is encrypted at 'their end' and requires a viewing card to decrypt it.

So unless any of your programme material requires a viewing card, it is not transmitted in an encrypted form.
The above applies to Freesat boxes as well.

EDIT: Although an exception is mentioned by Luke below specifically for TalkTalk DN372T, but the fact remains the same, most subscription services are encrypted at 'their end'.
 
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Little Green said:
I guess the answer would be to keep the Huawei as primary if I find that one can keep Sky Arts recordings after leaving TT.
Click to expand...
Without a subscription to the relevant boost the watching of boost recordings is not possible.

All HD and boost recordings, including Sky Arts, on the TalkTalk DN372T are encrypted. When you cease subscribing you will still be able to watch recordings from the HD channels (as they are all from your aerial as the box will continue to decrypt on the fly when playing back), but your ability to watch the recordings from your old channel boosts will cease immediately.
 
Little Green said:
I asked a seller of a hummy with CF if it would suit me but he said his box recorded from the TV arial only and not IPTV from the router so wouldn't work. This confounded me as (you probably noted!) this is all new to me. I have now spotted a dongled up 1TB wireless one and wondered if this might be better.
Click to expand...
You may need to clarify your question a bit.
If you are referring to the normal Humax wifi dongles then these are just for connecting some of the Humax models to your router instead of using an ethernet cable or power-line adapters. They give no more channels or functionality than just using a cable or power-line adapters.

Little Green said:
I see on their Community that some have used different routers which may circumvent this problem but also that one needs to notify them if you are adding another recorder as to which one will be your primary one.
Click to expand...
As already implied by Black Hole and explained by Trev this is not possible. Which 'Community' are you referring to, youview or talktalk? I sometimes read the youview forum but have not spotted that incorrect speculation.

Little Green said:
Would it be possible to run both boxes in tandem or possibly change between them by moving the Scart? Also I might not have to access the Sky Arts progs on the Huawei if I rerecord them on the Humax during the year I still have with TT.
Click to expand...
The SCART has no bearing on what you can and cannot watch or record. It is just a means of using the TV has a display monitor with speakers.

If by "Would it be possible to run both boxes in tandem" you mean to record Sky Arts on both boxes I'm not sure if this has been answered for you, but it is not possible for multiple reasons. For example:
- Your TalkTalk boost channels need a youview box to interpret them and the youview boxes just interpret the boost channels for their own use.
- TalkTalk target your boost(s) at a specific box. Even if your second box was another youview box, TalkTalk are not setup to allow multiroom (i.e. multi box option) and if they did they would probably charge extra.
- If TalkTalk were to offer a multiroom (i.e. box) option then they would likely be under the same constraint as BT customers. Due to the contract between BT and Sky, even with BT who do have a multiroom option, customers are not allowed to have multiroom if they have taken out a Sky subscription with BT.
 
I think some explanation of 'boosts' might be useful. I've not heard the term before though I can guess what it probably means. What they are and how they are delivered might help the OP and others understand better what effects changing supplier and/or hardware may have.
 
Trev said:
its the Freeview box that encrypts and decrypts HD recordings
Click to expand...
Just a minor point of correction (specifically HDR-FOX but may include other makes/models): all recordings are encrypted, not only the HiDef ones. The custom firmware can be used to decrypt them, but not prevent the encryption in the first place.
 
MikeSh said:
I think some explanation of 'boosts' might be useful. I've not heard the term before though I can guess what it probably means. What they are and how they are delivered might help the OP and others understand better what effects changing supplier and/or hardware may have.
Click to expand...
Sorry I was just thinking of Little Green (the OP) when I wrote that and didn't think about anyone reading it who wasn't a TalkTalk TV customer.
"Boosts" are what TalkTalk refer to subscription content. You pay TalkTalk a subscription to get a "boost" in addition to the basic freeview service that is available via just your aerial.
 
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