Humax HDR FOX-T2 HD PVR Master thread - [Part Eight]

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donka said:
How is your connection? I use Buzz Player HD on the iPad without issue. Plays back video perfectly. Not tried audio only.

I am using 54mbps wifi (the humax is on fast ethernet connected directly to the router). It makes no difference whether I am next to the router or further away with lower strength.

Skifta and vplayer works brilliantly for me. It even seems to stream some earlier hd recordings I have, although they are too slow to watch and the audio is also slowed and therefore low in frequency.
 
Hi

I suspect that most people advocating auto-padding haven't tried AR for a while.

I've only had my HDR Fox T2 since May, in which time I've recorded hundreds of programmes. Many with Series Link. All with AR, not auto-padding.

>99% of recordings have been perfect. The few exceptions are Channel 5 programmes, for which I may lose a few seconds at the beginning, or even gain a few minutes of adverts prior to the start of the programme.

Give AR a chance. Series Link too.

That's just the trouble, it's not 100% reliable, with auto-padding it's been 100% reliable for us, no missing a few seconds or minutes here and there at random. We've occassionlly gone back to AR only to find it takes a few days until we have an example of a clipped end or start, and not all channels support it anyway, so AR doesn't give you anything on those channels.

We use auto-padding for a reason, you use AR for a reason as well, the options are there to keep everyone happy.

Regards

Phil
 
Hi Phil,

I personally regard the problem you refer to as more than a slight bug. Unless people visit excellent forums like this, with contributions from people like your good self, the work around just doesn't apply. They will not know what's happened to their missed recordings. I hope Humax will have this down as an important future fix, but I'm not holding my breath!

Regards

Paul

My experience corresponding with Humax on this subject resulted in me sending emails and them not replying! (Apart from their suggestion of a retune!!!)
Regards
Rob
 
Hi



That's just the trouble, it's not 100% reliable, with auto-padding it's been 100% reliable for us, no missing a few seconds or minutes here and there at random. We've occassionlly gone back to AR only to find it takes a few days until we have an example of a clipped end or start, and not all channels support it anyway, so AR doesn't give you anything on those channels.

We use auto-padding for a reason, you use AR for a reason as well, the options are there to keep everyone happy.

Regards

Phil

Are you saying then that you get no recordings at all on certain channels if using AR? Do you or anyone else know which channels do NOT support AR? I think it would be very useful information for people to know, if possible. Thanks

Paul
 
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That's just the trouble, it's not 100% reliable, with auto-padding it's been 100% reliable for us, no missing a few seconds or minutes here and there at random. We've occassionlly gone back to AR only to find it takes a few days until we have an example of a clipped end or start, and not all channels support it anyway, so AR doesn't give you anything on those channels.

We use auto-padding for a reason, you use AR for a reason as well, the options are there to keep everyone happy
There must be a problem with the implementation of AR on the Humax then, it's been about 9 months since I've had a clipped recording on the DS that was because the CH4HD EPG data was running a couple of minutes behind the actual broadcasts, once that was sorted by CH4 just before Xmas AR has been 100% reliable for me.
 
Are you saying then that you get no recordings at all on certain channels if using AR? Do you or anyone else know which channels do NOT support AR? I think it would be very useful information for people to know, if possible. Thanks

Paul

You will still get recordings, you just won't get any benefits i.e. if a transmission is delayed etc.
 
My experience exactly :D. Auto padding for me simply has too many downsides especially when requiring to record consecutive recording on different channels. For the odd rogue channels a repeating manual recording is way more flexible.
Also depends if you're a sports fan or not as I find AR invaluable for over running sports coverage, a football cup game going into extra time for example, or the F1 if there's been a rain delay. Unless you add an 1 hour to 2 hours of padding to every sports program you could miss the ending, nothing worse than sitting through 2 hours of recorded F1 only to find you're missing the last 20 laps.
 
The old AR v Padding debate. Horses for courses. Do what suits you.

I totally agree. However there was an implication in an earlier post that some channels don't support AR at all. If that is true, then wouldn't it be good to know which ones don't, even if you are an auto-padding fan?

Paul
 
I totally agree. However there was an implication in an earlier post that some channels don't support AR at all. If that is true, then wouldn't it be good to know which ones don't, even if you are an auto-padding fan?

Paul

AR Function is provided by the EIT NOW Information.

All channels have this but some do not update it in-line with actual broadcast times - they just change at the scheduled times as per the EPG.

Notably the "five" channels and other smaller channels just follow the schedule.
five always seems to follow the schedule and this means that Split Movies on five will always be wrong as they actually broadcast the News segment when they feel like it and not as per the EPG schedule.


BBC, ITV and C4 group channels seem to be updated correctly (though I don't record much on the lesser channels of each family)

Pete
 
You will still get recordings, you just won't get any benefits i.e. if a transmission is delayed etc.

Would you still get a recording? I can't see how, If AR starts looking for a 'Start' Flag 15 Min. before the time stated in the EPG / Now and Next and doesn't get a 'Start' flag it will still be waiting until the program end time resulting in no recording.
 
Would you still get a recording? I can't see how, If AR starts looking for a 'Start' Flag 15 Min. before the time stated in the EPG / Now and Next and doesn't get a 'Start' flag it will still be waiting until the program end time resulting in no recording.

The initial schedule is performed via the EPG schedule i.e. This channel on this day at this time. I don't know the mechanics but I would assume that the Humax knows if a channel uses AR or not and if the channel in question doesn't use AR then it just starts and ends the recording at the times specified in the EPG.
 
Would you still get a recording? I can't see how, If AR starts looking for a 'Start' Flag 15 Min. before the time stated in the EPG / Now and Next and doesn't get a 'Start' flag it will still be waiting until the program end time resulting in no recording.

Yes you will, the recording starts when the current running programme changes to the next one. In the absence of AR it simply starts and stops at the scheduled times. Auto padding does the same but simply takes the scheduled times and adjusts them accordingly. Where autopadding is applied to consecutive recordings on the same channel the changeover reverts to the scheduled times.

By pressing info on a live channel you can see when the broadcaster changes the name of the current broadcast
 
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I would assume that the Humax knows if a channel uses AR or not

I think the best indication the the Humax could possibly get is a 'This channel is capable of sending AR signals', From what peterv is saying they all claim that, So the problem occures when a single EIT NOW signal is omitted for some reason, Wikipedia (that font of all Knowledge :laugh:) QUOTES :- " The broadcaster can prevent recording by sending nonsense signals", I don't think there is any evidence of that but, The Humax would be waiting for a start signal, The question is how often does it not get one
 
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Hi

There must be a problem with the implementation of AR on the Humax then, it's been about 9 months since I've had a clipped recording on the DS that was because the CH4HD EPG data was running a couple of minutes behind the actual broadcasts, once that was sorted by CH4 just before Xmas AR has been 100% reliable for me.

Which proves my point, I remember the complaints of problems at the time with CH4, problems we never experienced on auto-padding :clap:

Also depends if you're a sports fan or not as I find AR invaluable for over running sports coverage, a football cup game going into extra time for example, or the F1 if there's been a rain delay. Unless you add an 1 hour to 2 hours of padding to every sports program you could miss the ending, nothing worse than sitting through 2 hours of recorded F1 only to find you're missing the last 20 laps.

Quite frankly I wouldn't be sitting through 1 minute of F1 let alone 2 hours of basically 'bill boards on wheels' going around and around and around a track, which just proves we are all different so we can just pick the method we prefer, it's no big deal.

Regards

Phil
 
I think the best indication the the Humax could possibly get is a 'This channel is capable of sending AR signals', From what peterv is saying they all claim that, So the problem occures when a single EIT NOW signal is omitted for some reason, Wikipedia (that font of all Knowledge :laugh:) QUOTES :- " The broadcaster can prevent recording by sending nonsense signals", I don't think there is any evidence of that but, The Humax would be waiting for a start signal, The question is how often does it not get one
If omitted the programme info banner will continue to display the name of the last transmitted programme. The main problem is that AR looks for a specific event ID, if the broadcaster changes it after you schedule the recording (A favourite trick of ITV1-HD) you get a failed recording.
 
We've occassionlly gone back to AR only to find it takes a few days until we have an example of a clipped end or start

My girlfriend has two Humax 9150Ts. One for lounge. One for bedroom. Both set up identically. Same programmes recorded. Both with AR.

One consistently starts recording about 20 seconds behind the other machine. It sometimes gives the impression of having missed the beginning of a programme, though it's only missed some seconds.

I wonder if the HDR Fox T2 is subject to similar variability between individual machines?
 
I would put that down to differences in signal strength at the two machines - they are unlikely to behave differently unless there is something different. Perhaps one picks up the AR codes immediately, but the other gets garbled info that only gets sorted out after a few more frames of error correction.
 
I have some news for all those averse to running modded firmware in their HDR-FOX T2. I have probably mentioned it before, but the method is now firmed up.

For non-HiDef recordings, it is possible to download a DECRYPTED file directly across the network, and I'm talking about a Windows 7 PC here (the equivalent should be possible to other platforms). It is a bit of a fiddle, so you might wonder whether it has any significant advantage over USB copy, but what the heck.

You need two tools installed: XBMC* and wget (wget.exe is just a little command line tool which doesn't need installing, just be in your working directory or on the command search path). Google for them.

* The need for XBMC and log files is now superceded, see next few posts. If you have XBMC installed anyway, the right-click file properties are an alternative - see below.

XMBC is used for its DLNA capabilities. As long as you have "media sharing" turned on in your Humax' settings, XBMC can navigate the directories and show you your recordings, and play StDef recordings by streaming them. However, I have found that it can't skip forward or back, or FF/REW. Once you have found the recording you wish to download, play it and then immediately stop it again and exit XBMC.

Now you need the xbmc.log file XBMC creates each time it is run. On my machine it is located at C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\xbmc.log (but note that this directory is protected from prying eyes so it might take some persistence to find it - try searching for xbmc.log). What I have done is create a shortcut to it on my desktop.

The problem is that the Humax' DLNA server doesn't use the directories and file names to reference the media files, but we can use the contents of the log file to work it out. Open the log file (notepad is the default) and search for the line which contains ":9000/web/media/" (just ":9000" should do as a search term). Copy the string which starts "http" and ends ".TS" inclusive.

You're done with xbmc.log. Now open a command window in the directory you wish to receive the recording file into, and it would be helpful if wget.exe is in the same directory. Issue the command "wget <line copied from xbmc.log>". After a little thinking the file should start to download, and as it is being accessed through the DLNA server it is being decrypted on the fly. This won't work with HiDef - if you try to download one of those by this method you will find it is still encrypted and useless.

Note that the file will have its media ID as the file name, you will have to rename it something more useful.

Once you have a complete download Splash Player will play it very nicely. However, VLC pulls off a neat trick and will play the file even before it has finished downloading - very useful, and what makes it better than streaming is that the FF/REW functions work.

I will probably tidy this up with a little batch file, but don't hold your breath - as a modded firmware user I have a "download" button on a web interface to my Hummy (can download both StDef and HiDef), so I don't need it myself.

Update: when you navigate the files in XBMC, right-click the file you want and select "movie information", the string required for wget is shown on that screen which saves extracting it from the log file (but I wouldn't know how to automate that).

I am told you can download the file using the same string in a browser address bar - but I have not managed to make that work in IE8 (possibly something to do with my setup).

Credit is due to Ratx on Hummy.tv for the original wget inspiration.
 
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Update: when you navigate the files in XBMC, right-click the file you want and select "movie information", the string required for wget is shown on that screen which saves extracting it from the log file (but I wouldn't know how to automate that).

I have found an alternative way of accessing the URLs.

There is an open source utility called UPnPInspector which is available for Windows and Linux: UPnP-Inspector - Coherence - a DLNA/UPnP Framework for the Digital Living - Trac

Once installed and launched it should detect the Humax automatically:

zz9q4.jpg


You need to click once on the Humax entry, then right click and select "browse MediaServer"

This gives you a new window with a tree view of the contents of your Humax!

If you select a .ts it shows an info pane which gives you the URL to pass to wget which you can right click on to copy:

dNlFb.jpg


Also very useful for figuring out what 8.ts (in this example) is once downloaded!

Hope this is of use! Certainly a lot less to download and install if you are not already an XMBC user.
 
Sorry if it's been asked before (I have scaned the many pages relating to this product) but does anyone know if an external BluRay drive can be connected via USB for conventional disc film playback?
 
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