Weird Humax events

[JBR]

I have just tried to watch a couple of recordings I made on Thursday on my Humax PVR. One was Exposed: Magicians, Psychics and Frauds on BBC4 (Freeview Channel 9) and the other was Foyles War on ITV3 (Channel 10).

On the list of recordings both appear as named and at the correct times, but each was duplicated for some reason.

When I tried to play them, they turned out to be the two Coronation Street episodes from tonight, on ITV (Channel 3), despite the names, times and dates on the list of recordings. This has never happened before.

This is very strange and, clearly, I cannot trust this unit to perform as required. I have had this PVR for about 2 or 3 years and the only other fault I have noticed was an isolated incident of a skipping recording a couple of years ago.

Is it time to ditch this unit and go with a better brand, or is there some obvious adjustment I could make to resolve the issue?

The other problem, which may not be the fault of the unit, is a quite frequent failure to stop programmed recordings on time: they stop early and the ends are missing. Of course, this could due to amateurism on the part of the broadcasters, as it only occurs with the new digital channels like Pick and Yesterday. I can, at least, try to avoid this problem by adding 10 or 15 minutes to the recorder timer.

The annoying thing is that Which? magazine always sings the praises of Humax equipment!

 

[big-all]

do a disc clean and a factory reset/first time installation

also a search for software updates

 

[SimonH2]

The other problem, which may not be the fault of the unit, is a quite frequent failure to stop programmed recordings on time: they stop early and the ends are missing. Of course, this could due to amateurism on the part of the broadcasters, as it only occurs with the new digital channels like Pick and Yesterday. I can, at least, try to avoid this problem by adding 10 or 15 minutes to the recorder timer.

Sadly you are correct, most of the channels are somewhat lax about timekeeping - even the BBC at times. I'm a MythTV user, and I have defaults set for 5 minute early start and 10 minute late finish for all my recordings, and even then I sometimes miss programs (when sports events run late).

The annoying thing is that Which? magazine always sings the praises of Humax equipment!

They have a reputation for being the best units available.

 

[JBR]

Thank you both for your advice.

I now find there are THREE listed recordings of 'Death Defying Acts' (a documentary about Houdini) each dated 2318 - 0009 on 21 May on BBC2, and each of which turns out to be recordings of 'Police Interceptors' on Channel 5!

I have now done a Software update search, but there are no software updates available.

I also did an automatic channel search, but I can find no option for doing a disc clean or a factory reset/first time installation.

Would this be the same as HDD Control/Format, which I did find? Presumably, if I did this I would lose all my recorded programmes.

I have also set Recording Start Time to 5 min early and Recording End Time to 10 min later, in an attempt to cover mistimed broadcasts or lack of start/end signals, as I explained earlier. However, this disables 'auto tracking' and 'split and series reservations'. (Incidentally, I have a Panasonic recorder which will allow such settings without disabling these features.)

I have to say that, despite Which? magazine's high opinions of Humax equipment, concurred by Simon H2, I find the Panasonic unit superior except for one matter: the Humax unit responds more quickly to commands from the remote control.

I shall persevere and see if there are any other strange recording events with the Humax unit. In the meantime, if you think things could be solved by doing a 'disc clean or a factory reset/first time installation', I'd appreciate any advice as to this can be achieved.

Edit: Four simultaneous recordings of 'Yes Minister' 1644 - 1715 on 4 June have now appeared, each of which shows a green 'no entry' sign(!) and none of which will play. I deleted one of the four and found the other three are now listed as 'Coping Without Cops' 1930 - 2000 on 4 June and, again, will not play. I deleted one of them and found the other two are now 'Question Time' 2246 - 2345 on 4 June. I deleted one and the remaining recording is now Police Interceptors 1903 - 1955 on 5 June, so I deleted that as well. God knows what's going to appear next!

I really think it is time to ditch this unit and replace it with something more reliable.

 

[SimonH2]

ALl I'll say is that I bought my parents a Panasonic PVR back in the early days of PVRs. It was a pile of poo, Panasonic basically abandoned it, and i'd need a lot of convincing to buy Panny again for anything but the basics (eg a TV, no "smart" features).
The Humax they bought to replace the Panny when it died was far better.

YMMV !

Unfortunately, with all of these regardless of make, when there's a problem the stock answer is "have you factory reset it" and until then you are on your own. Of course, as you've noted, doing so loses all your recordings and all your recording rules.

 

[Sam Gangee]

The "faults" you describe sound more like a PID error on the programmer's part and/or a problem (data error) in the download stream, that *might* be caused by a poor signal or interference. I rather doubt that it's a Humax fault except that a failing Power Supply in the (unknown model) "Humax PVR" might create such problems. In this case, a simple PSU repair might fix it. But there's nothing to add without knowing the model number.

 

[big-all]

yes the reforematt hdd option

 

[JBR]

I haven't reformatted the HDD yet and, fortunately, it now seems to be behaving itself. Recordings I made yesterday and today are all OK.
Perhaps coincidentally, this is since I added extra recording time before and after the published start and end times (in order to overcome the other problem I mentioned) for each programmed recording.
Of course, as I mentioned, the drawback is that I cannot set regular repeat recordings.

I have also just noticed that we bought it on 31 August 2012 and, unfortunately, even with Lewis's two-year guarantee, it is now out of warranty.

The model, by the way, is PVR-9300T

 

[big-all]

i have had perhaps 12 freeveiw boxes over the last seven or so years 2 or 3 at a time
all have played up' sometimes unplug cures the problem sometimes hdd reformat sorts it sometimes factory reset /first time installation works sometimes a mixture off above works
sometimes a random effort works one time but never again sometimes its a different solution will work but often just unplugging for 2 mins will reset the machine

 

[JBR]

Thanks. Should the problem re-occur, I'll try turning off and on. It seems to work for computers too!
I don't want to have to reformat the HDD, as I'll lose all my recordings.

 

[big-all]

part off the reason i have many machines is when one starts playing up i record nothing on it and watch it continuously until all important recording have gone
when you unplug on some machines it will remove that days individual recording requests but not the series recording requests

as an aside i have had 2 or three machines that have failed and when tested a year or so later before throwing out have burst back into life for between a few and six months

 

[Sam Gangee]

The model, by the way, is PVR-9300T

In that case I would definitely recommend replacing the notorious CapXon capacitors. See http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/humax9300.htm

 

[JBR]

The model, by the way, is PVR-9300T

In that case I would definitely recommend replacing the notorious CapXon capacitors. See http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/humax9300.htm[/QUOTE]

Thanks for that.

"Power supply failure can cause various symptoms because the resultant low voltages or "noisy" power can cause data corruption on the Hard Drive, resulting in "failed recordings", "missing recordings", "slow operation", "hesitation", "stuck in standby". You name it, it can happen!"

My problems certainly fall into two of those categories, so it could be the answer. I'll keep an eye on things. I'm sure I'm capable of changing a couple of capacitors, should it prove necessary.

Edit: I've just been looking further at that site and see that it doesn't actually list what is supplied in the 'kit'. If it is just two or three capacitors, it could be cheaper to buy them individually. Have you used them?

 

[SimonH2]

I think their kits normally contain all the "wet" electrolytics.

 

[JBR]

OK, call me a cynic, but I wonder why they don't simply list each capacitor supplied with its specification.
I know £10 isn't going to break the bank, but I thought that electronic components are generally dirt cheap.