Humax Foxsat PVR on single LNB Query

[lauraeva]

I'm fed up of procastinating and have decided to go for the Foxsat PVR as a) I can get HD right now, b) I perceive Freesat SD to be better than Freeview SD on my Sony TV which has both tuners. But this depends on the answer to my question.

Problem is that I only have a single working LNB outlet in my living room, the other has a discontinuity in its wiring (which was installed into the fabric of the 3 storey house when it was built - not easy to fix).

If I connect the satellite cable to LBN-1(IN) and connect LBN-1(OUT) to the TV what functionallity will I get ?

I'm thinking that when the PVR is in standby I will be able to use the TV's own Freesat tuner as normal.

And that I would only be able to record a single channel at a time even if channels were on different MUXs ?

What happens if the PVR starts recording while I'm using the loopthrough to watch Freesat TV ?

Is what I'm proposing a no-no ? Could I even damage the equipment ?

Actually the more I think about this the more I think that my supposition that the LBN IN/OUT loopthrough is like an aerial feedthrough is wrong ...

 

[grahamlthompson]

I hope i don't get banned here, not that I give a damn, the answer is here. Simply because I try to help any posters in this forum.

What can I record and watch using 1 or 2 cables « My Humax Forum

 

[logiciel]

The LBN IN/OUT loopthrough is NOT like an aerial feedthrough.
You might be able to use the TV's tuner when the PVR was powered off, but there's really not much point in trying.
If you can't record from the TV to external drive, and you need to record, then you need the PVR with the one dish connection.
glt's link explains how you can use the Humax's special facilities in some cases to record one channel while watching another.

 

[lauraeva]

The LBN IN/OUT loopthrough is NOT like an aerial feedthrough.
You might be able to use the TV's tuner when the PVR was powered off, but there's really not much point in trying.
If you can't record from the TV to external drive, and you need to record, then you need the PVR with the one dish connection.
glt's link explains how you can use the Humax's special facilities in some cases to record one channel while watching another.

Thanks !

Took the trouble to educate myself about LNBs and basic satellite technology last night ... I'm an electronics engineer by profession (know everything about analogue TV, broadcasting, modulation, etc.) but satellite comms and microwave conversion had bypassed me, not being "need to know" !

So apologies about a stupid question ... ...

The Foxsat loopthrough is a passive connection of signal only, LBN-1 does the voltage and freq steps to select band and polarisation and LNB-2 sees the same block.

Anyway have bought a Foxsat 500GB ... ...

For time being will be using a manual 75 ohm switch to choose TV's own sat tuner or work from the PVR tuner. Can watch Freeview while recording Freesat. Eventually I'll fix it so that I have the three LNB feeds I really need.

Busy now making up F-conn terminated leads ...

Please bear with me if I ask further stupid questions, esp about archiving off the foxsat box (I can dual boot my laptop into Ubuntu, so hopefully Linux formatting of HDD should not be an issue ?).

Laura -

 

[logiciel]

I don't get the point about "LNB-2 sees the same block".
I use a switch to feed one satellite connection to two machines in turn but it's not totally reliable.

 

[lauraeva]

If you use the Foxsat on a single LNB downlead and link LNB-1(OUT) to LNB-2(IN), then LNB-1 controls the LNB, and LNB-2 sees the same received signal ... just like a passive splitter ?

 

[lauraeva]

I use a switch to feed one satellite connection to two machines in turn but it's not totally reliable.

Why ?

I'm talking of a manual switch selecting F-connector inputs ... the kind of thing I've built myself and you can buy for < £10 ... just need to be carefull about screening.

 

[grahamlthompson]

If you use the Foxsat on a single LNB downlead and link LNB-1(OUT) to LNB-2(IN), then LNB-1 controls the LNB, and LNB-2 sees the same received signal ... just like a passive splitter ?

100% accurate. tuner2 gets all the channels sharing the same frequency band (high/low) and polarisation (horizontal/vertical) as tuner 1 is using. (minor point for lnb1 read tuner 1 and lnb-2 read tuner 2)

As a happy accident most of the popular channels are low band (now including CH4-HD recently moved to Astra 1N). If you are recording a bbc1 SD channel then remember all the BBC1 regions are in the epg with both polarisations. Also makes sense to use a postcode that gives you the full-HD ITV1-HD Granada sharing it's polarity with the BBC-HD channels.

A talented female engineer, very impressed I met many during 40yrs at National Grid

Not sure the manual switch is a good idea, forget to operate it and you will screw up the recording reservation list on the Foxsat-hdr. The box knows it only has one feed and won't let you make any impossible dual recording reservations. Remember also you also have third channel viewing options while recording two. I would be inclined to forget the TV tuner until a quad lnb is fitted.

 

[logiciel]

If you use the Foxsat on a single LNB downlead and link LNB-1(OUT) to LNB-2(IN)

Yes - it wasn't clear that that was what you were referring to.

Why ?
I'm talking of a manual switch selecting F-connector inputs

I don't know why but that's how it is - it has odd effects sometimes - it IS the sort of thing you're referring to.

 

[grahamlthompson]

Yes - it wasn't clear that that was what you were referring to.

I don't know why but that's how it is - it has odd effects sometimnes - it IS the sort of thing you're referring to.

See my edit

 

[lauraeva]

A talented female engineer, very impressed I met many during 40yrs at National Grid

Thanks ... but not very PC ... ... why should a female engineer be a cause for remark ?

Its the kind of attitude that has seen female colleagues drift into marketing or project management rather than persevering with the technology.

I'm more than the equal of the guys in my profession (oil industry deepwater control systems, specifically power distribution and comms) ... before that avionics R&D, have stuff that is mine on the Eurofighter Typhoon !

Anyway, I'm sure the LNB downlead switch will work.

Do need the switch as the Foxsat SD tuner seems very retrograde compared to my Sony TV's built in tuner, so bad that I wouldn't be really happy watching it everyday, but for recording quality its just OK.

The Foxsat on HD can't be faulted.

Not sure why Foxsat SD quality is so poor ? OK the signal seems to be over processed and smoothed, with highly saturated colours ... things I can half compensate in my Sony TV's HDMI-2 input ... need to turn off all noise removal features and do max sharpness, then cool the colour balance ....

Is Humax really the best option we have in balancing tuner quality with flexibility (like rec to PC) and reliability ??

Guess there's little choice ...

 

[Partridge]

Please bear with me if I ask further stupid questions, esp about archiving off the foxsat box (I can dual boot my laptop into Ubuntu, so hopefully Linux formatting of HDD should not be an issue ?).

Laura, when you are up and running with the box, then for ongoing archiving the fastest and easiest way is to install custom firmware mods which enable you to connect to the HDR via network. Then you can archive recordings via ftp or samba or web browser to any computer (linux / windows / mac), plus a bunch of other stuff like streaming recordings across network.
[the HDR has propretary software from Humax but runs on an embedded linux system; the custom firmware adds hooks to enable other linux software to be added which are also bundled with the custom firmware]

See the thread here:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/free...e-server-bundle-foxsat-hdr-release-4-0-a.html

The alternative to the custom firmware mods is to use an external USB drive to copy from HDR as described in the user manual. It works with FAT32 or EXT3 formatting, but indeed you need EXT3 for larger files. And it is slow!

 

[grahamlthompson]

Thanks ... but not very PC ... ... why should a female engineer be a cause for remark ?

...

Because I am 68 yrs old, at the time I was in my 40's Female Engineers were as rare as hens teeth. Most in the industry were statisticians or similar. Very few had real engineering degrees. Even today the statistics make female professional engineers a significant minority. It's sad but definetely a cause for remark. I was fortunate to be involved in the training of the very first female engineer to join the National Grid shift 24 hour system control team, not because of ability simply because women did not normally follow engineering degree courses. It may not be PC but still accurate today.

Ask yourself how many posters in technical forums like this one are actually female in percentage terms. Not very many, too few by half.