Humax HDR Questions

[admin_exported]

Well I was lucky enough to source a box some weeks ago from Comet and have the engineer coming round tomorrow to upgrade my dish LNB

The route of the cabling will be through a drop in the ceiling so I'm thinking that rather than make a mess running multiple cables I'll go with a single LNB and loop on the Hummy. Anyone here run the box in this setup and does it work well?

I've read some comments that the over air update for firmware doesn't work on a single LNB feed - correct? The manual has no mention of USB support for updates but while digging around the humax site I've come across this page which seems to suggest otherwise:-

http://www.humaxdigital.com/uk/support/downloadcenter_model.aspx?category_seq=65

So does this actually work in practice if I use USB? If I go with a single cable feed on my box I'd hate to think I'll be stuck on old firmware.

 

[Anonymous]

My HDR is on a single feed at present and seems to work OK. There is also no mention in the user manual of needing both antenna cables connected of OTA software upgrades. It just stipulates that you are connected, have a strong signal and that the unit is not turned off (standby minimum).

I connected up a Humax Foxsat box recently for an elderly neighbour and that upgraded itself successfully as well.

 

[Anonymous]

Oh, and it is also important that you can receive ALL freesat channels.

 

[Anonymous]

hdmad

does that depend on what sat you are aiming at ? is there one that gives you more than the other ?

 

[Anonymous]

There are several Astra satellites grouped closely together at 28.2 degrees. If your dish is aligned correctly you should pick them all up as their beams are focussed over the UK.

 

[daveh75]

Freesat and Sky for that matter, use several transponders on "astra 2" @ 28.2 degrees and also "eurobird" @ 28.5 degrees

 

[Anonymous]

Also, if you are missing some channels then you can try and manually tune them providing you know the correct frequency and polarisation.

 

[Cofnchtr]

MrKermit:
The route of the cabling will be through a drop in the ceiling so I'm thinking that rather than make a mess running multiple cables I'll go with a single LNB and loop on the Hummy. Anyone here run the box in this setup and does it work well?

Hi,

I may be misunderstanding that section but the way I read it you intend using one cable into both inputs on the rear of the PVR? Rather than 2 into 2? This will give you limited use of the 'watch one channel while recording another' functionality of the Humax because of the way satellite is transmitted, it's not the same as feeding two TV's from one coaxial input.

If I'm reading it wrongly then ignore this post!

Cheers,

Cofnchtr.

 

[Anonymous]

You are correct in your thinking. Using one antenna and the "loop through" means you have limited two channel capability. You can watch one channel and record another providing that the transponder frequency and polarisation for each channel is different . If they are the same then the two tuners will be fighting for control of the same single antenna and it won't work. This is why PVR's, Sky + boxes etc have two tuners.

 

[Alsone]

You are severely restricting yourself with single cable.

You can only record 1 program at once and you'll only be able to watch another program when recording if the program you want to watch falls within the same channel group eg. recording Ch4 watching More 4. If eg you wanted to record Ch4 but watch BBC 1, you couldn't do it.

ALSO CONTRARY TO WHAT WAS SAID ABOVE, YOU CANNOT UPDATE THE HDR FROM A SINGLE LOOPED FEED.

Shouting over.

Its is a known issue and it cannot be done. If you don't believe me, go the digital spy forums bug list: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=939550

A Humax employee Bob Cat reads and feeds back from those forums so if it was possible, he'd have posted. there are many other HDR owners who confirm its not. Its currently under Humax investigation.

Problem is rumoured to be that it uses LNB1 to search for the update but LNB2 to download it. Thus without 2 connections, it can't be downloaded.

Without the software update, some post codes cannot be entered meaning the box cannot be used. The firmware also fixes other issues so updating is essential.

 

[Gazuk]

Are there any other ways of updating the HDR, maybe the ethernet cable or the usb?

 

[daveh75]

well there are downloadable updates on humax's website, so guessing you can update via the usb port. Although i havn't tried it nor seen it mentioned on any of the forums, so who know's?

EDIT- humax update here http://www.humaxdigital.com/uk/support/downloadcenter_model.aspx?category_seq=65

 

[Anonymous]

Apologies if my comments above on single antenna upgrades are misleading. My box has the latest software after the setup but maybe it was shipped with it.

As per Dave75 above, the website says that you can download upgrades onto a USB key and then upgrade the box via the front USB slot.

 

[Alsone]

hdmad:

Apologies if my comments above on single antenna upgrades are misleading. My box has the latest software after the setup but maybe it was shipped with it.

As per Dave75 above, the website says that you can download upgrades onto a USB key and then upgrade the box via the front USB slot.

No need to apologise HDmad, I wasn't shouting at you, I apologise for giving you that impression

.

Just trying to get the original posters attention before he makes a big mistake. Ignoring people's experiences and just going off what the Humax Website says should be possible is a big mistake when there are bugs / oversights involved. I doubt updating will stay this way for ever, unless there are technical reasons as to why two different LNB's need to be used in the process on the HDR. However, no-one knows exactly when a fix will come.

I would imagine USB stick would be a way around this, however the visual impact of twin vs single cable is minimal in my opinion and can easily be aleviated with this or similar:

This is "D line" trunking and it comes in various sizes. You just get the one closest in size to your cable, it sticks to the wall or can be nailed (I found nailing best), you insert the cable then close the door. Its very neat and far less visible than even a single cable. I've got the wide stuff enclosing the cables from my electronics stand to my tv which is wall mounted and its very neat. Its called D line because its a nice smooth D shape rather than the usual square stuff and its hinged rather than pull off snap on.

 

[Anonymous]

No worries Alsone, didn't take it personally and it is better to be given the right info. D trunking looks interesting, kinda like the stuff you see on office floors tidying the cables, but smaller. Have you got a piccy of your setup?

 

[Alsone]

hdmad:No worries Alsone, didn't take it personally and it is better to be given the right info. D trunking looks interesting, kinda like the stuff you see on office floors tidying the cables, but smaller. Have you got a piccy of your setup?

Just took this quickly (nothing switched on).

I moved the centre speaker so you could see the D link better.

(Amazing how flash picks up all the spagetti you normally don't notice at the back of the stand!)

This is the large D Link about 2 inches wide - it contains a power cable, optical cable and 2 x QED HDMI-P HDMI cables.

 

[Anonymous]

That is a very neat solution. The fact that it is hiding 2 x QED HDMI P cables is good because they are quite thick. May have to invest myself for my second antenna feed. Concerning the "spaghetti", I tidied mine up a little by using some spiral cable wrap as below:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=26849&C=Froogle&U=26849&T=Module

 

[Alsone]

Thanks for the link I'll take a look at the spiral wraps for tidying it a bit. TBH you don't see it normally between the shelves its just the flash picks it out.

The OP shouldn't need D Line as large as the one I've got, like I said its carrying a lot of cables, the power alone is a very thick cable.

For just a twin sat cable of good quality such as WF100, I doubt it needs to be more than 13-14mm wide. The one I used is 30mm approx I think.

They sell it at B&Q so best way is take a small piece of cable down and try it the various widths until you find one thats a fit but tight. It also comes in different colours BTW to match different decors.

PS I keep calling it D link its called D Line, apologies.

This shows the profile better:

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your comments. After a bit more thought I decided to go for the twin cable setup and the engineer was out yesterday doing the necessary work. Already I've recorded 2 channels at once so I'm glad I opted for the extra LNB run

The D Line product is useful to know about, I might re-run the section of cable in my bedroom using it as it does look more concealed.

Intial impressions of the Foxsat HDR are pretty good although I'm still finding my way around its many features. One thing I did want to ask, how do you find non-freesat channels? And does adding them have any effect on the freesat schedule?

 

[Anonymous]

To tune and store the non Freesat channels you need to use the Manual Tune option in the setup menu. In normal use you get to them by pressing the Menu button, select Settings and press OK. Select STB mode and press the OK button to switch between Freesat and Non-Freesat.

The Non-Freesat channels won't appear in the Freesat Schedule, and if you stay in the Non-Freesat mode I don't believe any Freesat sheduled recording will take place. The Instruction Manual isn't entirely clear on the subject, and I only watch The Horse and Country Channel, CNN, an English language Chinese channel, and an HD arts channel, and those only very occasionally. I always switch back to the Freesat mode after viewing to enable recordings to be made.

There are a large number of Non-Freesat channels available, but many of them are duplicates so you'll need to edit the list quite considerably unless you make a note of the channel numbers you want to watch.

 

[Alsone]

I forgot to mention and you can't see it from that pic, but I use some very narrow D line to conceal my surround speaker cables as they go up the wall - its easier than channeling. The stuff isn't very strong but it does the job.

On the non freesat mode, DenP has it right.

Only thing I would add is that if you do a manual non freesat scan, then it wipes out any existing recordings you have scheduled that are still pending (completed recordings are safe). So best to do a scan when you have no recordings pending or if you have only a few that you can easily re-enter.