There are three ways of viewing HDR-FOX recorded content remotely from the HDR-FOX: the standard way that is available out-of-the-box is DLNA streaming (also known as UPnP; for explanations see
Glossary - click). For that all you need is a DLNA-capable client able to play M2TS data, but for HiDef recordings the client must also be DTCP compliant - which means (effectively) only another HDR-FOX or HD-FOX can access HiDef recordings that way. The VLC stand-alone app (eg running on a PC) is able to access DLNA servers and play their content, but will not be able to play HiDef recordings because of their protection (which the Custom Firmware can unlock using the
auto-unprotect package).
The next is to be able to access the HDR-FOX HDD as if it were a NAS on your home network, or by FTP. FTP is available as standard (although a better FTP server is available as a CF package), while NAS access is a capability made available by installing the CF and the
samba package (which confers SMB network file sharing). In this case your PC (or other computing device) will be able to browse the HDR-FOX's file system just like any other NAS, and access the files in it directly just as if they were stored locally. Thus any media player able to play M2TS files (ie the HDR-FOX's .TS files) will be able to render the content...
but only if the content has been decrypted first. VLC and Splash are good players for this solution.
The third way is to use the WebIF media browser as an intermediary. Clicking the recording and selecting play (in the pop-up) for any particular recording listed either streams the DLNA version (if the recording has not been decrypted), or streams the file as-is (if the recording is already decrypted). The problem with this is that it is reliant on your web browser having a media player capability in the form of a VLC extension, and we have found that the browser extensions are not particularly reliable (browser or extension updates sometimes "break it"). Alternatively, click the OPT+ button and select the download option. This saves a file to the computer which you can then play locally (without relying on a browser extension).
Whichever method you prefer, you need to be conversant with the restrictions imposed by the Freeview transmission format, restrictions imposed by the broadcasters, limitations imposed by Humax's design and software, and the facilities offered by the Custom Firmware to get around many of these restrictions - but they are only work-arounds, so some understanding helps to ensure you have everything set up the way you need.
Please familiarise yourself with:
With regard to compatibility with the various media players:
- Freeview (UK) TV is broadcast in the TS container format, but written to disk as M2TS by the HDR-FOX;
- The video stream is MPEG Video (StDef) or H.264 (HiDef);
- The audio stream is MPEG-1 Audio Layer II (StDef, AKA MP2) or AAC (HiDef).
(A container format is a means to multiplex several data streams together, synchronised in time. In the case of Freeview TV, there is the video stream, one or more audio streams for alternative languages or audio description, and a subtitle stream. A media player must not only be able to decode the video and audio streams, but also be able to extract the streams from the container file in the first place, and select the right ones if there is a choice.)
