Redring - development and beta testing.

[Brian]

I accept there is a confusion between blue in standby waiting for AR and blue idle or waiting for AR in power up, but is not the former a dim blue rather than a bright blue?

I think we could have that as a convention: dim in half-awake, full brightness in full power.

There should be no confusion because of what the display is showing

Dull Blue with clock displayed means part awake waiting for AR (or display off for LPS mode)
Bright/Normal Blue with channel name displayed means fully awake possibly waiting for AR

 

[Black Hole]

I think that confirms what I said.

I am concerned that the red in half-awake recording is actually bright rather than dim (I don't have it installed to check), which I why I suggested a convention for half-awake indications. I am aware that the state of the VFD also indicates the half-awake/full-awake state, but I see no harm in uniformity for the LED ring.

 

[Brian]

Both of my boxes were in standby with Blue rings this morning so something is still not right. They did not appear to be in a part awake state as webif access was not possible, and powering up was the same as a normal start from Orange ring standby.

 

[Brian]

I think that confirms what I said.

I am concerned that the red in half-awake recording is actually bright rather than dim (I don't have it installed to check), which I why I suggested a convention for half-awake indications. I am aware that the state of the VFD also indicates the half-awake/full-awake state, but I see no harm in uniformity for the LED ring.

In my earlier post #152, I did suggest that the Bright Red ring was a bit too bright when in standby, but I seem to recall that the earlier Humax firmware which actually had the ring Red when recording from standby only used the dim setting. This actually made it quite difficult to tell if it was Orange or Red, the difference was not great and unless you actually saw it change or had another box alongside in Orange mode to compare it with, there was some confusion.

I would like to see the standby recording Red about half way between dull and bright.

 

[Black Hole]

That might not be physically possible*. Perhaps we need purple.

* Update: it seems it is possible, and af has provided a slider for it.

 

[makem]

Can someone explain the reason for the NEED of an indication that the box is about to record? Other than 'it would be nice to know'.

Don't forget some people praise the 'low power' mode as making a saving for themselves and the planet. It would mean those people (the majority imo) could not use the simple orange > red > orange sequence unless there was a switch available to turn off the geek blue/light blue/pulsing blue/cycling colour part of the cycle or they 'put up with it'.

EDIT: I forgot the benefit of being able to say "look look, it is about to record" to friends who visit ! ROFLMAO

I know the actual power used is the same, but it is a perception?

 

[makem]

What's the alternative? If it went from orange to red at AR wake-up time, that wouldn't be when it actually started recording. If it went from orange to red at record time, there would be nothing to show it had woken up ready to monitor the AR flags. This is all about us geeks being able to see the progress from one state to another!



@af123: you seem to have found a way to read back the icon drive register?

The alternative as I keep repeating and have yet to have a good reason for having the 2 stage cycle is to go from standby orange to red when it is ACTUALLY recording. This is where we came into this thread and we have departed for reasons required by geeks.

 

[Black Hole]

Can someone explain the reason for the NEED of an indication that the box is about to record?

For some of us anyway, AR is still a flakey process and warrants monitoring. Taking that stance one might say there is no need to monitor that the box is actually recording in standby either, it is only useful if you are actually there to see it and you could peer at the "Rec" icon or turn the box on to see what colour the LED ring became.

In my excursions into AR, I have found that sometimes the box just plain sits there half-awake waiting for the AR trigger but never actually starts recording unless I turn it on! I admit the indications point at there being something wrong with my box, and maybe with a bit more time at my disposal I will investigate a warranty replacement (but I've had it 19 months now...).

 

[Black Hole]

Don't forget some people praise the 'low power' mode as making a saving for themselves and the planet.

When waiting for AR or recording in half-awake it's not in the low power mode, and fiddling with the LED ring can't affect the power in standby.

 

[Brian]

Don't forget some people praise the 'low power' mode as making a saving for themselves and the planet. It would mean those people (the majority imo) could not use the simple orange > red > orange sequence unless there was a switch available to turn off the geek blue/light blue/pulsing blue/cycling colour part of the cycle or they 'put up with it'.

I wonder how many people Actually use the low power mode ? I know that I don't.
It is easy to use the simple Orange > Red > Orange sequence if you want to, just turn AR off and use a little padding.

 

[makem]

I wonder how many people Actually use the low power mode ? I know that I don't.
It is easy to use the simple Orange > Red > Orange sequence if you want to, just turn AR off and use a little padding.

I use AR and have done since day one. Other than one 'unable to track' or something similar, I have never had any problem. I don't want or need to mess about with padding. I use low power mode and have done since day one. Both were among the many reasons for buying this box.

How about a redring for the likes of me and a geeks_redring? We know af123 can turn the full red on (normal colour - no tweaking), when it is recording in standby and any more options may cause probems such as the one brian mentions of blue when both boxes were is standby but with a blue ring. So, lets just have a simple red for recording and maybe later a purple for dual recording then even later, he could maybe satisfy the geeks?

 

[Brian]

I use AR and have done since day one. Other than one 'unable to track' or something similar, I have never had any problem. I don't want or need to mess about with padding. I use low power mode and have done since day one. Both were among the many reasons for buying this box.

How about a redring for the likes of me and a geeks_redring? We know af123 can turn the full red on (normal colour - no tweaking), when it is recording in standby and any more options may cause probems such as the one brian mentions of blue when both boxes were is standby but with a blue ring. So, lets just have a simple red for recording and maybe later a purple for dual recording then even later, he could maybe satisfy the geeks?

But surely the whole reason behind redring is to give an easily visible indication of the recording process whilst the box is in standby (or LPS mode), and for those of us using AR, the partially awake state is an important part of the process and therefore should be indicated. I personally like the Orange > Blue > Red > Orange sequence, and would really like to see the reintroduction of the dual recording indication using Purple, but only if this can be implemented without causing other problems.

 

[Black Hole]

I don't want or need to mess about with padding.

Sorry to fork this off and I know that was a throw-away line, but I wonder what you think is a "mess about" with padding? If you think it is a faff I can assure you it isn't - it's fit and forget just like AR, and I find AR far more frustrating than padding (never get "failed to track" with padding, and if you want to record minority channels you can forget AR). Perhaps you used "mess about with" to mean "investigate".

 

[Brian]

I set the same two programmes to record on both boxes this morning and put them into standby, both had Orange rings and clock display plus timer icon. They both went through the > Blue > Red > Orange sequence as expected, but both now have the HDD usage indication icon as well as the clock and timer icon. What does this indicate?, does it suggest HDD activity?, should it be on?, is it always on after a timer recording?, does anyone have any answers?.

 

[David_Brown_UK]

I want to know the following:-
1. Has the box correctly come out of standby and is waiting for the GO to record.
2. Is the box recording my programme.

If it hasn't come out of standby, the series link system may have gone wrong and if I know in advance I can check before missing the start of a recording.

I think switching from standby to half-on should have the amber ring go from dull to mid amber or if possible the ring stay dull amber and the main display go bright.
Switching from half-on doing nothing to half-on waiting for AR signal it should be dull blue.
Recording should be bright red.
Switching back to half-on doing nothing it should go back to mid amber or dull amber and bright display.

 

[Ezra Pound]

Brian :- does it suggest HDD activity?,

I don't have redring running at present and with the Box in standby the HDD usage is on, I think this is the normal state, It does not indicate HDD is in use, Just how full it is

 

[Brian]

I don't have redring running at present and with the Box in standby the HDD usage is on, I think this is the normal state, It does not indicate HDD is in use, Just how full it is

Thanks, I noted that it wasn't on when I put the boxes into standby, so expected it to be off after the scheduled recordings had finished.

 

[Wallace]

I wonder how many people Actually use the low power mode ? I know that I don't....

Me neither. Couldn't give a stuff about saving 'a few pence' every year. As for the planet.....I will be long gone........

Besides that, the power-save option is an inconvenience for me.

 

[Ezra Pound]

Switching from half-on doing nothing to half-on waiting for AR signal it should be dull blue.

I'm not sure there are these two different states, When would the Humax be in the 'half-on doing nothing' state and not standby

 

[David_Brown_UK]

I'm not sure there are these two different states, When would the Humax be in the 'half-on doing nothing' state and not standby

Waiting for the next recording. I assume if 2 recordings had 20 mins gap that it would not turn off for 5 mins then back on again. Or maybe it would. If it goes straight to looking for the AD signal as soon as it goes to half-on then there wouldn't be a mid amber when it is not doing anything.