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Updated to a HDR-FOX T2 from a 9300..

Ineluki

Ineluki

Member
And isn't it a huge improvement!

Keeping a watchful eye, though; had a couple of funnies where it seems to have retuned all the channels without prompting (thereby losing all the schedules, of course).

And once or twice, the content has started to go all pixellated on all channels, and only a cold reboot has fixed it. If this is a known issue, should I send it back while it's still in warranty?
 
Just to be clear, you will need to specify HD-FOX or HDR-FOX if you post a query (we know it's T2!).

When you get pixellation, check your signal strength and quality: Menu >> Setings >> System >> Signal Detection*. If the strength figure is below 30% and/or the quality is less than 100% you have your answer. If the signal strength is fine then you should consider rejecting the Humax before you build up a load of recordings.

* I am endebted to THIS POST (click) for the information I could not remember off-hand.
 
You may be receiving signals from a weak but detectable transmitter which the Humax has placed lower in the channel number list rather than the most powerful transmitter. Particularly if the unit has auto-retuned.

Check if you have channels in the 800s. If you do then a manual retune for your best transmitter will select the strongest signal and hence give a better quality signal. check the wiki on Manual Tuning.

Martin
 
Black Hole said:
Just to be clear, you will need to specify HD-FOX or HDR-FOX if you post a query (we know it's T2!).

When you get pixellation, check your signal strength and quality (I'm away from home at the moment so can't be sure of the menu commands, but from memory press OK to bring up the channel list and then "i"). If the strength figure is below 30% and/or the quality is less than 100% you have your answer. If the signal strength is fine then you should consider rejecting the Humax before you build up a load of recordings.
Click to expand...

Sorry- HDR-Fox. 2 weeks old. Channels are fine for a while, then start to skip/pixellate. Power-cycle the box and they're all OK again, for a day or so... typically seems to kick in about 8 or 9 in the evening.

So- if quality is < 100%, it needs a retune? Or perhaps the aerial needs attention? Getting our signal from Winter Hill, though the box does keep trying to give me Sutton Coldfield instead (which is odd, as the aerial is 90 degrees out for SC).
 
MartinOnline said:
You may be receiving signals from a weak but detectable transmitter which the Humax has placed lower in the channel number list rather than the most powerful transmitter. Particularly if the unit has auto-retuned.

Check if you have channels in the 800s. If you do then a manual retune for your best transmitter will select the strongest signal and hence give a better quality signal. check the wiki on Manual Tuning.

Martin
Click to expand...

I've deleted all the duplicate channels, based on advice here. Question- when and why would it auto-retune? And can I stop it?
 
Black Hole said:
Just to be clear, you will need to specify HD-FOX or HDR-FOX if you post a query (we know it's T2!).

When you get pixellation, check your signal strength and quality (I'm away from home at the moment so can't be sure of the menu commands, but from memory press OK to bring up the channel list and then "i"). If the strength figure is below 30% and/or the quality is less than 100% you have your answer. If the signal strength is fine then you should consider rejecting the Humax before you build up a load of recordings.
Click to expand...

Checked last night- the channels are still where I left 'em. What happens is that the signal strength seems OK, but the quality cycles varies randomly between 50 and 100%, with a mean period of about 10-12 seconds. Power-cycling the box makes the symptoms go away for another day or so.

Seems like a faulty box to me.
 
Sorry to be simple and asking too many questions but every issue is new and known and common faults have to be eliminated. It all adds to the wider database.

I see you have deleted all the channels above 800 but:
Have you manually retuned to guarantee you are receiving the strongest signal?
Do you have a masthead amplifier? If so, is it fed from the Humax or from a separate supply? If not, is the HDR's antenna supply switched on?
Are your aerial cables close to any HDMI or mains cables?
Is the Humax the first connection from the antenna/amplifier?
If you "jiggle" the antenna cable near the socket connections does the picture pixellate?
Is the pixellation only on live tv or is it on recorded programmes?
Do you keep your HDR on all the time?
Is the HDR in a ventilated position?


Black Hole is right, a quick resolution of the problem is necessary to avoid you losing too many programmes.

Martin
 
All valid questions, and I would add performing a factory reset to the list of options before sending it back (a factory reset does not destroy existing recordings, but everything will have to be set up again from scratch).

I have corrected my post above about getting a signal strength report.
 
Well. I've spent an hour today on the phone to Humax tech support- he said I've done all the checks he'd have asked me to do, and I should send it back.
NB - this is a second box, with the same problem, Amazon replaced the first one without a murmur and now this one has gone the same way.
I can't see what it can be apart from the box; there just seems to be an issue when the box has been powered on around 24 hours. I did read somewhere that the 1TB models are less reliable than the 500GB ones, perhaps we could live with less space. Does anyone's experience back that up?

The really irritating thing is that we tend to notice it acting up during prime viewing time- so you reboot and then it acts up during prime viewing time the next day! :mad:
I'm glad there are alternate episodes of a lot of things- if The Management doesn't get her Corrie fix, there's trouble!

I've even considered connecting the T2 via a (mechanical) timer, so that it turns the power off at 05:00 for 5 minutes, to see if that helps.

The box is still only a few months old, so we can send it back to Amazon for a refund - the question is, go for a replacement, or try an YouView box as an alternate? I've read some disquieting reviews about the EPG software (and of course there's no wifi, though I have some 500Mb HomePlugs lying around - I'm actually a Solwise reseller, so if anyone wants any at "mates' rates", message me ;) )

Any thought on this?
 
Two consecutive boxes exhibiting exactly the same problems in the same environment points one way as far as I am concerned...

The 1TB drives do seem to have a slightly worse track record, but I'm not sure this fits into the same category. As far a space is concerned, if you squirrel away TV faster than you watch it, you will eventually fill up any drive, it will just take longer if it's bigger. A good housekeeping regime is necessary whatever the size of the drive. Things you want to keep long-term should be archived off.

The YouView box is a long way back in its development cycle, and it is unlikely there will be a customisation project for it due to the lock-downs.
 
Ineluki : I've even considered connecting the T2 via a (mechanical) timer, so that it turns the power off at 05:00 for 5 minutes, to see if that helps.
Click to expand...
I don't think the Humax was ever designed to left powered on 24/7 and there is some evidence of unreliability associated with this practice, could I ask why it has to be constantly turned on?
There are better ways of having a timed 'stand-by period' than switching the mains off every day, it could do more harm than good
 
It's left on all the time so that we can record stuff that's on when we're out! It's not a "stand-by" we're needing- it's a complete power-off and reboot (power-cycle).
If we don't do it this way, we have to do it by switching off and on using the switch on the back. Just switching to standby doesn't clear the fault- it has to reboot.
 
Black Hole said:
Two consecutive boxes exhibiting exactly the same problems in the same environment points one way as far as I am concerned...
Click to expand...

Well, my instinct pointed the same way. I just cannot for the life of me think what it could possibly be. The key fact, for me, is that if you power-cycle the box, it's sorted instantly.

If you don't power-cycle the box, it remains unusable (forever, as far as we can tell). If it were some environmental thing, it would be a very bizarre co-incidence that powering off the box fixed it.

Occam's Razor suggests that it's a problem with the boxes - possibly a software rather than a hardware issue.

  1. It's not the aerial- the TV works fine - in fact, the TV works fine looped through the PVR, even when the PVR produces a screenful of gibberish.
  2. For the same reason, it's not the transmitter.
  3. We don't have a masthead amp or anything of that sort.

The support guy at Humax changed the subject when I asked if it was a known problem, which to me means "yes, but I'm not allowed to say."
 
I still don't think it's a done deal. You are reporting the same effects on two samples when (as far as I can recall) we have seen no other similar reports. Our accumulated samples says it is a rare problem, and for two...

You said "content". Is that only recordings are corrupted or live as well? StDef and HiDef or just HiDef? Have we asked what your signal level and quality are reported as (Menu >> Settings >> System >> Signal Detection)?
 
Ineluki said:
It's left on all the time so that we can record stuff that's on when we're out! It's not a "stand-by" we're needing- it's a complete power-off and reboot (power-cycle).
If we don't do it this way, we have to do it by switching off and on using the switch on the back. Just switching to standby doesn't clear the fault- it has to reboot.
Click to expand...

It is hard to see how a power cycle fixes a problem that placing the box in standby doesn't, in standby most of the box is powered down anyway, only the clock in the front display, the Remote control receiver and sometimes the co-ax feed through amplifier is powered, leaving the Hard Disk, CPU and video processing off. It may be worth putting the box in standby and ensuring that the hard disk stops spinning, if it doesn't it may-be that the box never really goes into stand-by and stays in the Half-awake state where, although the Video to the TV is off the Hard Disk, CPU etc. are still running
 
Ineluki, I cannot see anything in this thread that suggests your Humax is tuned to Winter Hill OK.

Please would you try
Menu >> Settings >> System >> Signal Detection >> Right Arrow (the one to the right of the OK button on the silver ring).

This will give you a list of the frequencies you are tuned to. For Winter Hill they should only read 54, 55, 58, 59, 61, 62 and perhaps 57. If there are any others then your HDR-FOXs have been mistuned and this would account for at least some of your pain.
 
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