Humax EPG

[wasbit]

Humax FVP 5000T set top recorder is often very slow to populate the EPG. Signal is from rooftop aerial not internet. Some stations can be populated either fully or partially whilst others are empty. Have tried turning the channel guide off, waiting a minute, then back on which occasionally helps with some channels. Often the population can take 20 or 30 minutes & sometimes up to an hour. Is this the norm & is there anything that can be done to speed the population up?

[Brian Gaff]

I notice this on my Samsung tv. I thought it was just that the different channels send them at different rates. Brian

[Brian]

I have the same issue on another set top box - a VBox ( it feeds TV onto my local network and you can view on an iPad, record etc. )

I’ve noticed if I display the EPG then select a channel to watch - which then displays the current programme- wait a moment, the EPG usually updates virtually fully, including the week ahead.

It doesn’t seem to matter which channel I select, although I normally pick one of the main ones - Drama, ITV, etc.

That said, this only works from a tablet of phone- probably as the VBox doesn’t support viewing on laptop browsers.

To view TV on a laptop, I need to use a VLC. The trick doesn’t work with VLC as you can’t view the EPG in VLC.

[alan_m]

On one of my old boxes (not Humax) the problem was the amount of EPG to be downloaded and stored was causing some tardiness. The solution was after a scan for channels removing/deleting all the channels you would never watch.

Question: does the Humax store the 7 day EPG to disk when it is shut down properly and then reads the EPG from the disk when powered back up? On other boxes this mechanism can/fail if the box is not shut down properly by switching off at the mains socket before putting into perhaps a deep standby first. The box needs to know its going to be switched off in order to transfer the EPG from RAM to disk. If a box is switched on without the EPG it can take approx 5 to 10 minutes for it to fully populate.

[wasbit]

Last night was particularly bad again, hours & hours on most channels showing 'No Programme Information'. Had to wait for one programme to start before I could record it.

[wasbit]

I don't know. Where would I find that information?

The box is normally turned on & off manually using the button, (not the remote) & very rarely turned off at the mains.

[alan_m]

The manual say the button is the standby/on button. The box takes less than 0.5W in standby.

This (user) reply suggests that the epg is purged from the box during overnight housekeeping and the solution to your problem may be to set some form of timer to automatically switch to BBC1 HD for a short time each day to refresh the EPG.

See first reply

[Chris Hogg]

Doubt if this helps, but I have a Humax HDR-FOX T2, which is always on standby when I'm not watching the TV. The EPG is just always there, instantly, the whole week, lots of channels, whenever I bring it out of standby. Maybe it continuously updates when in standby. I've not tried turning it off.

But I have now, and the EPG is all there again, instantly. reception is via a loft aerial (unplugging it kills the signal) but there is an Ethernet connection to my BT Hub. Not sure why, set it up a few years ago and can't now remember :-(

[Clive Page]

My Humax FVP 5000T has just died (so I've sent it off for repair, may report on that separately when there's some progress) so can't check this directly, but there is an option to turn it on every day for a short period (15 mins seems enough) which allows it to populate its programme guide. It's somewhere hidden among the power options. If you can't find it I may be able to find the manual and find more detail of where it is in the setup menu tree.

[Andrew]

I have an HD-FOX-T2 (one tuner) with an external 2.5 inch HD to record stuff on. It also sleeps on standby and the EPG is always there.

There haven't been any OTA updates for these for quite some time so you don't need to leave it connected to your BT hub and the version of the iPlayer is so ancient it is effectively unusable. I use the Android part of my connected Sony Bravia for catchup and YouTube.

[wasbit]

I had searched before I asked but didn't come across that answer.

The only mention of EPG in the manual is in the glossary & includes 'The information supplied in the EPG is sent and updated by the channel broadcaster.'

The machine does turn itself on & off & the hard drive starts & stops during the night whilst in standby mode - presumably updating something.

I'll try removing the power for 15 minutes & report back.

Thanks.

[wasbit]

Manual page 25 'Power Timer You can set the time the product powers on or powers off.'

Thanks. I'll try turning it on for 30 minutes during the day.

[wasbit]

I would suspect that the internet connection takes priority over the aerial where updates are concerned. Thanks.

[alan_m]

That's not what the forum answer is suggesting.

What it's saying is that you set up a timer to automatically switch the box out of standby for 15 minutes each morning and select the BBC 1 HD channel. After the 15 minutes has elapsed automatically switch the box back into standby.

[wasbit]

Ah yes, oops, got sidetracked. 😳

[wasbit]

Removing the power from the machine didn't work. I'm not sure how setting a timer is going to work if the EPG doesn't populate, sometimes 2 hours, after the box is turned on, but I'm willing to give it a try.

[alan_m]

The recommendation is to use the timer to select the BBC1 HD channel which on Freeview is probably broadcast at the greatest power from the transmitter and possibly transmits the EPG in the best way. This would get over the problem if, say, your reception was marginal on some MUXs.

[Tim+]

Have you rescanned the channels recently? Couldn’t hurt…

Tim

[wasbit]

Yes, twice this year. :)

[wasbit]

Ok, understand the logic. Set the timer for 2 - 2.30 pm so I can see if it works. Thanks.