Humax video recorder

[Bill]

When a local Currys closed down, I made the mistake of buying a Humax video recorder. I've never liked it - it takes forever to start up from cold and lights the same red led to show both "off" and "recording". Utterly stupid design and just one of the weirdly incompetent human interface decisions.

Because whatever incompetent body that replaced the BBC in transmitter site planning (Ofcom?) excelled themselves, we are now plagued by a relay for BBC Wales nearby and in line with and thus much stronger than Winter Hill. This makes tuning up any TV apparatus a nightmare. This may or may not be relevant.

When setting up a programme to record, within the last few weeks the Humax has now started deciding it will record the Welsh channel as well as the English. So I've been having to go through and delete lots of duplicate recordings.

Today when trying to set up to record tonight's political debate (we look after even older people than us) it decided that it couldn't record the Winter Hill channel because it already had two channels set to record. Having scrolled through all the channels in the recording schedule and finding nothing pre-programmed, it occurred to me that the clash was with the two BBC Wales channels (HD and SD?) in the list which it was waiting to set up. Accepting the only option of deleting the English recording and allowing a Welsh lets it record, so we may be OK.

I wonder if anyone else has seen anything like this and whether there may have been a recent over the air software update that has caused it. Or is it my finger trouble?

[Clive George]

[tabbypurr]

I guess it's not a betamax or u-matic.

NT

[Max Demian]

Do a full retune and delete the channels you don't want. Preferably a 'manual' retune so you only get the channels from your preferred transmitter.

[Bill]

2000T. The delay in finding it was because I don't want to disturb or brave the old ladies in the lounge and couldn't immediately locate the manuals on my backup server. That's another thing I need to improve.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I use a PC equipped with a Hauppage USB TV tuner.

Running linux and Kaffeine.

I can record as many stations simultaneously as I have USB dongles to tune the multiplexes to

Recorded videos are (edited with openshot to remove the adverts and) stored on my headless domestic server (linux) (built from a scrap PC gifted to me by my PC supplier, as it was obsolete and unsaleable) which runs minidlna so the smart TV can 'see' the whole 500GB video library.

I have no DVD player.

DVDs are ripped on as PC as soon as they are bough, by Handbrake, and stored on the server.

There is now just one remote and a TV screen connected by mains networked plugs (WiFi proved unreliable for all te streaming I do) in the living room...

It turns out that this is about the lowest box count and remote count that works.

Mindlna does audio too. and so does the TV.

I must get a hifi amp to add to it all.

If you have a desktop PC,and a smart TV then getting the dongles aint expensive, and building a server out of an old XP machine (needs little CPU or RAM, just serious disk) is cheep.

And you then have a permanent online library of ALL your DVDs, plus the functionality of a TV recorder that will do as many channels as you add dongles up to the five that represent all the UK muxes in general.

And its a heck of a sight easier to set up recording schedules with a mouse and keyboard than a sodding remote.

[Bill]

In message , Tim+ writes

Yes, I'm afraid I'll have to do this, but it will necessitate finding some undisturbed time with access to the room the recorder is in.

Somehow, every single device we have here responds differently in the way it has to be set up - even the Sony TV is different from the (older) Sony recorder that we have under the telly as a standby device.

I was really wondering if anyone else with a Humax 2000T had noticed a change in its behaviour in the last few weeks. It never used to program

2 or 3 instances of the same programme simultaneously on different channels. This seems to happen whether or not the broadcasts are at the same or different times. If someone else has one of these recorders that doesn't do this then I'll have to try to find what button I've pressed that I shouldn't.

[Bill]

In message , The Natural Philosopher writes

That sounds very interesting, although I have doubts about it being appropriate for the circumstances here. SWMBO can just about stop and start playback of recordings once I have them all set up and ready. She won't use any sort of computer and the smartphone I got for her remains unused.

I might fire up a Linux machine and have a look at Kaffeine. I assume that when you refer to usb dongles in the 3rd para, you are meaning dongled usb tuners?

[The Natural Philosopher]

Correct. Hauppage do em for normal digital TV and a new one that does HD as well

There's several different TV player for linux. MeTV, mythTV XRDBC VLC.

from memory. Maybe even that ghastly pile of turds Totem

For me I prefer everything - computer data, pictures music videos - all on the server where I can auto back them up and use a TV to play the multimedia or PC, and a PC to edit the personal data stuff

In fact you could using a wireless keyboard and mouse simply use the TV as a monitor for that server, although I think you would need speakers as well.

[Brian Gaff]

Or vcr, or video 2000 or vhs or long play vcr or Technicolour reel to reel or video 8 or... chuckle. Brian

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Bill escribió:

That's Storeton or Moel-y-Parc. I had the exact same problem

Older stuff will assign channels from both transmitters, this is what you're seeing. Newer stuff will either put the duplicates up in channel

800+ or ask you which transmitter you want to use.

yes

I think you're probably getting better reception because of the good weather, and the Humax is now able to detect the extra transmitter and is adding the channels from that when it tunes.

I fixed it two ways for different kit:

1) for a Topfield PVR, I put an 18dB attenuator in line with the aerial cable. This worked to filter out the weaker signal from Moel-y-parc such that Winter Hill was the only transmitter detected

2) for another device, I ignored the auto-tuner and manually added the channels using the information found at

[Bill]

In message , Mike Tomlinson writes

Yes, Storeton in front of the aerial and Moel-y-Parc aimed at the back. I am fairly sure that I remember that when planning permission was finally granted for Storeton, one condition was that it would not relay Welsh transmissions, but I haven't been able to find any record of the permission.

It has put one of the Welsh transmissions on 801, but the other is in the normal list. It hasn't been a problem juggling the channels round so that BBC1NW is 1, BBC2 is 2 and so on.

It never used to record anything but the channel and programme that it was programmed for, but now it seems to want to record the programme selected plus the same programme on a different channel and from a different transmitter. That's why it would be helpful if anyone with a similar Humax and multiple channels with the same programme could confirm it hasn't happened to them.

Thanks, When I have full access to the TV, I'll fiddle around.

I do know of one local elderly lady who has reverted totally from TV to radio, and most others round here have moved from Freeview to Freesat. I do have a biggish dish mounted on the garage but will probably now never embark on my plan of steering it by stepper motors interfaced with a PC that would log satellite positions. That once seemed like a good idea, but I never got round to investigating and re-purposing the old industrial printers' motors.

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Bill escribió:

I had the same problem despite the aerial pointing straight at Winter Hill with Moel-y-Parc behind. They're both horizontally polarised, unfortunately.

Maybe you'd benefit from a more directional aerial - one that is more capable of rejecting the unwanted signal from Moel. There's an aerial fitter that contributes to these groups, he may chip in.

You should also try posting to uk.tech.digital-tv. There's a bunch of very knowledgeable and helpful people there.

I think you need to delete the duplicate channels from the channel list by hand

[Freesat]

Why do it yourself when there are commercial motorised dishes widely available, plus support in the STBs for finding satellites? Google DiSEqC.

[Andrew]

No longer made ??

Not exactly an easy-to-use option for most.

There aren't enough hours in the day to watch the many hours of nonsense I have recorded on my simple, easy to use Humax HD Fox T2.

Are you being serious ?. Setting up a once-off or series recording is just one button press on my Humax.

[The Natural Philosopher]

still made in 57 different flavours

This is UK-d-i-y.

Not home-owners consumer items wankfestr

If you can navigate to the right page and have the remote

[Andrew]

Linux is definately *not* DIY. Windows and Apple stuff is.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Oh dear.

No,. there is nothing to be done on Apple. Thats 'take it to the apple center' stuff

Windows is what it is. You cant really configure it much.

You certainly cant BUILD anything useful with it easily.

Building a NAS style home server out of an old XP tower with some extra disk is really a lot less challenging than installing a toilet.

[T i m]

Where is my stalking net cop Clive George when we want him?

Here TNP goes again, bringing Linux advocacy to a group that looks like he would rather keep his heavily biased thoughts to himself?

Cheers, T i m

[Clive George]

Turnip is killfiled because there's no hope for him.

[T i m]

Any chance you could do the same for me please? At least it wouldn't still look like you were stalking me. ;-)

Cheers, T i m