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Networking after installing Customised firmware

H

hg144

New Member
This is my first post, so hopefully I have chosen the correct forum. If you think you may have seen this before, I have asked similar questions on another humax related site, so far without reply, so I thought I'd see if anybody here might be able to help.

I currently own an HD Fox T2, to which I have added a USB drive, and have successfully installed the modified firmware/software. Now I am looking at purchasing two pvrs , either an HDR Fox T2 and an HDR Foxsat, or two HDR Fox T2s.

Before buying, I'd like to know how the devices would interact if they are all connected to my (wired) network. My current understanding of the situation with the standard firmware/software is:
- the HD Fox T2 can stream from an HDR Fox T2, but not the other way round.
- the HD Fox T2 can stream from some other DLNA servers
- the HDR Fox T2 has a DLNA server and some other devices (including another HDR Fox T2?) can stream from it
- the HDR Foxsat has no built in networking

My questions relate to networking the Humax devices with customised firmware/software:
1. Would I be able to stream recordings from the HDR Foxsat to the HD Fox T2 and the HDR Fox T2? I think High definition recordings may be an issue unless recorded in non freesat mode.

2. Would I be able to stream to the HDR Foxsat from the HDR Fox T2, and possibly from the HD Fox T2 using the Mediatomb pacakage? Again I understand High Definition files may be an issue if they are encrypted.

3. Would there be any clashes with hostnames on the network, particularly if I decide on two HDR Fox T2 machines? i.e are any of the hostnames used by the modified firmware/software hardcoded, or can they be edited if they are not unique to each machine ?

4. If all the above works, is there a fixed limit on the number of these devices on a network? Has anybody had more than three devices on a network?
 
1. Would I be able to stream recordings from the HDR Foxsat to the HD Fox T2 and the HDR Fox T2? I think High definition recordings may be an issue unless recorded in non freesat mode.
Click to expand...

Yes, using the mediatomb package (on the Foxsat), as long as the recordings aren't encrypted (non-freesat mode).

2. Would I be able to stream to the HDR Foxsat from the HDR Fox T2, and possibly from the HD Fox T2 using the Mediatomb pacakage? Again I understand High Definition files may be an issue if they are encrypted.
Click to expand...

I don't know if the Foxsat has DLNA client functionality, if it does then yes, to both - HD Fox T2 would be trickiest because you'd need to temporarily boot the HDR Fox T2 software on it so that you could decrypt the recordings and then you could stream them using mediatomb.

If it can't act as a DLNA client then you can probably still mount the Fox T2 boxes via Samba and access the recordings that way but I'll wait for someone with experience of the sat boxes to provide more information.

3. Would there be any clashes with hostnames on the network, particularly if I decide on two HDR Fox T2 machines? i.e are any of the hostnames used by the modified firmware/software hardcoded, or can they be edited if they are not unique to each machine ?
Click to expand...

No, each box can have its hostname customised through the web interface (with custom firmware).

4. If all the above works, is there a fixed limit on the number of these devices on a network? Has anybody had more than three devices on a network?
Click to expand...

No, there's no fixed upper limit. You could theoretically exhaust the bandwidth available on your network if you simultaneously streamed enough content between devices, but you'd have to work at it!
 
Thanks af123 for your very quick and informative reply.

It looks like the only issue that needs further clarification is the streaming to the Foxsat HDR and whether that can act as a DLNA client, or perhaps a UPNP client.

Your idea about using samba to mount the Fox T2 boxes sounds interesting. I wonder if that would be possible via the remote or via the web interface on the Foxsat.

I know the Foxsat is different to the Fox T2, but I just tried to see if I could work out how to mount files from a Windows 7 laptop on the HD Fox T2 I already have. Using the media, storage, network, options I connected to the laptop and I could 'see' the video folders on the PC (actually on a usb drive connected to a laptop), but I think they are only visible if I have added the folders to the library in Windows media player (WMP) - am I right in thinking that WMP is effectively acting as a DLNA server in this situation?

I didn't see anything to use in the web interface, or is there a package I should download for that. The service management panel in the web interfcace shows that the samba service is already 'on'.

Returning to the Foxsat, are there any owners of the HDR Foxsat who can access video files from a remote server, be it aa HDR Fox T2, HD Fox T2, Mac, PC or NAS device?
 
hg144 said:
I didn't see anything to use in the web interface, or is there a package I should download for that. The service management panel in the web interfcace shows that the samba service is already 'on'.
Click to expand...

Samba is what you need, WMP is providing DLNA as BlackHole has said. Try typing \\192.168.0.1\ into the Start->Run box on your Windows client and see if it brings up the shares.

Returning to the Foxsat, are there any owners of the HDR Foxsat who can access video files from a remote server, be it aa HDR Fox T2, HD Fox T2, Mac, PC or NAS device?
Click to expand...

Sorry, still can't help you there. Most of the Foxsat users seem to hang around on AVforums, it would be worth asking there. Some do pop in here from time to time though so I'm surprised you haven't had a response yet.
 
I've got a Foxsat (which has the customised firmware and Twonky installed) and my HDR Fox T2 and HD Fox T2 can both stream SD files from it
 
hg144 said:
Returning to the Foxsat, are there any owners of the HDR Foxsat who can access video files from a remote server, be it aa HDR Fox T2, HD Fox T2, Mac, PC or NAS device?
Click to expand...
The Foxsat HDR is not as versatile as the HDR Fox T2 inasmuch as it will only play video recorded in its own native .ts format, which also requires the presence of the two sidecar files .hmt and .nts. Having said that, there is something in beta test at the moment to enable recordings of this type to be stored and played back from a NAS or PC share via CIFS.
 
Thanks to all of you for your replies

Black Hole, thanks for the confirmation, and also for all your other informative posts which I've read over the past few days.

af123, thanks for the tip about the samba share - I can see the files in the HD Fox T2 from my laptop - I was wondering if there is any way to see files that reside on the laptop (or other samba enabled device) from the HD Fox T2 and / or Foxsat by any means other than using the DLNA client to see files from a DLNA server such WMP.

I hope that makes some sort of sense, but I think the answer is probably no; I think I've read elsewhere that while the customised software enables the Foxsat to serve its files to other devices, it is not possible to stream anything to the Foxsat.

Thanks to Perkin77 for your confirmation of streaming from the Foxsat.

Thankyou raydon for your comments, and of course for all the work you and the other guys have put in with the custom firmware / software. The work on enabling Foxsat recordings to be stored and played back from a NAS or PC share via CIFS sounds interesting.

My decision
I think I will probably get one each of the HDR Fox T2 and Foxsat, as this will provide most flexibility, and would also cover me in case there is ever a problem with either the aerial or satellite dish (already installed with quad LNB).

It seems there are other possibly newer boxes in the wings (Youview and G2 freesat receivers), but I doubt they will provide the same level of networking capabilities, certainly not to start with anyway. The maturity of the HDR Fox T2 and the Foxsat, coupled with the additional capabilities of the customised software sounds more attractive than being a guinea pig with new hardware platforms. From what I have seen, few manufacturers seem to be able to deliver a fully working system on day one, and it can take quite some time for the products to settle down.

Thanks again to all of you for your help.
 
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