Watt Tyler
Member
Hi,
I've finally bitten the bullet and installed the custom FW having struggled on without it for 3 years or so! I seem to to got it working more or less to my satisfaction, but there are a few things to which I can't readily find answers. [Forgive me if I'm missing something obvious].
Firstly, I've created an account on https://rs.hpkg.tv to let me perform remote scheduling. [That will be useful when we're away from home and SWMBO says "I wanted to record so and so but forgot to program it"!] My understanding is that it requires two boot cycles (one of which can be added to the schedule command) for the change to take effect. This can be achieved when the box turns itself on in the early hours each day to check for firmware updates. But, if I allow it to check for firmware updates, doesn't this mean that the custom FW could get replaced by a later version of the standard stuff? And if I disable auto update checks (which I have currently done), doesn't this mean that it won't turn itself on each morning, and won't thus update the schedule? Hopefully, I'm missing something, and there's a simple answer to this dilemma?
Secondly, I'm trying to get my head round the best way of transferring recordings (particularly HD) to my PC for viewing on that on on my Android tablet. In the past, I have followed the rather laborious process of FTP-ing the HMT file to my PC and back in order to process it with 'Foxy', then using the remote control on the box to copy the file to a USB memory stick, and then FTP-ing it from memory stick to computer. Even then, it was in .ts format - so not as universally useful as it would be in MP4 format. I have set up the custom FW to apply decryption recursively to the entire 'My Video' folder - so that does away with the need to use Foxy or to copy files via USB. If I browse media files in the Web Interface, the OPT+ button gives me the option of extracting SD recordings to MPG - which can then be transferred to my PC and played in Windows Media Player, etc., which works fine. However, for HD recordings, the extract to MPG option is greyed out. So I'm stuck with .ts files - which I can play with programs such as VLC - but this seems to result in a lot of frozen video and pixelation while the sound carries on, even though the files are ok if viewed directly on a TV. Is there a way of getting the Humax to extract HD recordings to MPG/MP4 or, failing that, is there anything better than VLC that will display .ts files properly on a Windows 7 PC?
Finally, is there anywhere where I can find a detailed description of each of the optional 'packages' which come with the custom FW? The brief descriptions in Package Management give the general idea, but don't always tell you exactly what it does, why you might want it, and how it manifests itself once installed.
Many thanks for reading all this!
WT
I've finally bitten the bullet and installed the custom FW having struggled on without it for 3 years or so! I seem to to got it working more or less to my satisfaction, but there are a few things to which I can't readily find answers. [Forgive me if I'm missing something obvious].
Firstly, I've created an account on https://rs.hpkg.tv to let me perform remote scheduling. [That will be useful when we're away from home and SWMBO says "I wanted to record so and so but forgot to program it"!] My understanding is that it requires two boot cycles (one of which can be added to the schedule command) for the change to take effect. This can be achieved when the box turns itself on in the early hours each day to check for firmware updates. But, if I allow it to check for firmware updates, doesn't this mean that the custom FW could get replaced by a later version of the standard stuff? And if I disable auto update checks (which I have currently done), doesn't this mean that it won't turn itself on each morning, and won't thus update the schedule? Hopefully, I'm missing something, and there's a simple answer to this dilemma?
Secondly, I'm trying to get my head round the best way of transferring recordings (particularly HD) to my PC for viewing on that on on my Android tablet. In the past, I have followed the rather laborious process of FTP-ing the HMT file to my PC and back in order to process it with 'Foxy', then using the remote control on the box to copy the file to a USB memory stick, and then FTP-ing it from memory stick to computer. Even then, it was in .ts format - so not as universally useful as it would be in MP4 format. I have set up the custom FW to apply decryption recursively to the entire 'My Video' folder - so that does away with the need to use Foxy or to copy files via USB. If I browse media files in the Web Interface, the OPT+ button gives me the option of extracting SD recordings to MPG - which can then be transferred to my PC and played in Windows Media Player, etc., which works fine. However, for HD recordings, the extract to MPG option is greyed out. So I'm stuck with .ts files - which I can play with programs such as VLC - but this seems to result in a lot of frozen video and pixelation while the sound carries on, even though the files are ok if viewed directly on a TV. Is there a way of getting the Humax to extract HD recordings to MPG/MP4 or, failing that, is there anything better than VLC that will display .ts files properly on a Windows 7 PC?
Finally, is there anywhere where I can find a detailed description of each of the optional 'packages' which come with the custom FW? The brief descriptions in Package Management give the general idea, but don't always tell you exactly what it does, why you might want it, and how it manifests itself once installed.
Many thanks for reading all this!
WT
