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HDR-FOX T2 unusable - urgent help needed!
PowerStorm
Posts: 132 Forum Member
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Hi all,
Sorry for the panic in the title - the only PVR in the house and our only means of recording TV. Worst of all, lots of programmes on the PVR that we'd hate to lose
So, it all started this evening. Was watching Pointless and paused it to go off and have tea. Came back 20 minutes later, resumed and after about 5 minutes it locked up - black screen on TV and scrolling text on the Humax stopped. Remote didn't respond so switched it off at the back.
That's what it now keeps doing - may do if seconds after coming back on, sometimes up to 10 minutes later.
Have left it off at one point for over an hour. Have factory reset it (without wiping the HDD). Aerial and Ethernet cables are unplugged - just power and HDMI. Still it does it even with no channels yet re-tuned.
I've tried copying off our content but it resets before a single programme gets copied (boy is that copying function slow!). I'm resistant to wipe the HDD but can predict that's what Humax will tell me when I call them.
Any help will be greatly appreciated. Box is about 3 years old now.
EDIT: Have also done an HDD test and that showed no problems
David.
Sorry for the panic in the title - the only PVR in the house and our only means of recording TV. Worst of all, lots of programmes on the PVR that we'd hate to lose
So, it all started this evening. Was watching Pointless and paused it to go off and have tea. Came back 20 minutes later, resumed and after about 5 minutes it locked up - black screen on TV and scrolling text on the Humax stopped. Remote didn't respond so switched it off at the back.
That's what it now keeps doing - may do if seconds after coming back on, sometimes up to 10 minutes later.
Have left it off at one point for over an hour. Have factory reset it (without wiping the HDD). Aerial and Ethernet cables are unplugged - just power and HDMI. Still it does it even with no channels yet re-tuned.
I've tried copying off our content but it resets before a single programme gets copied (boy is that copying function slow!). I'm resistant to wipe the HDD but can predict that's what Humax will tell me when I call them.
Any help will be greatly appreciated. Box is about 3 years old now.
EDIT: Have also done an HDD test and that showed no problems
David.
0
Comments
You might try asking on hummy.tv/forums, there are lots of experts for this box there.
Tried the Hummy forums but they just wanted me to install a custom firmware - bearing in mind the box wouldn't stay stable for more than a few minutes I thought tinkering about with that may not be a good idea.
In the end I rang Humax and they made me do a full reset, including wiping the drive. It didn't fix it.
It could have been an HD problem, it may not. I'd probably end up having to buy a new HD for it to find out. It also needs a new remote. Costing that up I decided to, instead, switch to YouView and get a box from BT. Works out relatively cheap.
I'll take the Humax apart at some point and test the drive to see if it was that. If it is that I might see about selling it.
David.
The disk diagnosies tools and the basic fetaures of the custom firmware do not get stored on the HDD!
Pressing pause on a PVR is not like pressing pause on a VCR. In fact if you press pause while watching live the PVR starts recording the programme (if it isn't already recording to give you the live rewind facility). If it didn't there would be no way to watch the remainder of the "paused" programme when you release the pause. So effectively it is no different to pressing record, the only difference might be what happens when you resume watching the programme.
And if you press pause during playback the hard drive may in fact spin down and the heads return to their park position. It is also likely that an amount of data is stored in a buffer which is entirely electronic. That way when you release the pause the buffer plays out while the disk resets back to where it last read from.
Pressing pause on a PVR is very very very very very unlikely to cause the drive any problems at all.:D
But why not simply press the record button? That way you are not having an image frozen on you TV for goodness knows how long or risk stressing the HDD. I just don't see the benefit of live pause, never have. The PVR has a two hour buffer in any event so why bother with pause?
NB The HDD is NOT stressed by being used in this mode! It's possible that your method of pressing record actually doubles the data being recorded.... one copy into a recording folder file and the other the 'live buffer' file! Unless you switch to standby after record is pressed.
The danger with using the live buffer file to rewind back is if someone 'changes channel' for whatever reason... not to mention you hear the dialogue from the next room so find out whodunnit
However if you want to do it your way that's fine - so is the way others wish to use the recorders!
Personally I almost never watch live TV any more, let alone pause or rewind it! :cool:
What stress on the hard drive? Pressing Pause or pressing Record has exactly the same effect on the hard drive. In both instances data is recorded onto the hard drive. As it may well be anyway for the live rewind buffer.
The only difference between record and pause is where the Play function picks up. In Pause it will pick up from the point where you paused. With Record it may go to the end of the recording and you have to rewind back to the start.
The PVR puts up a drifting screensaver clock after a while when in pause mode, so there's no risk of screen burn-in.
The PVR records the current channel continuously to HDD during normal viewing, using the two-hour buffer. So pressing pause does not create extra work for the HDD.
The classic scenario is: watching live TV and phone/doorbell rings. Pause live TV (one button press on remote), answer phone/door, have conversation, resume live TV (one button press on remote).
To use the buffer without pausing would require rewinding to the point where you were interrupted and then playing from there. Finding the right restart point is likely to be a hit-and-miss affair, and even if you get it right first time it requires multiple button presses.
Pressing record when you are interrupted would mean that you get a recording which started at the right place, but locating and playing the recording takes more button presses than simply pressing play after pausing live TV. On top of that, you end up with a partial recording to be tidied up afterwards. And if the PVR is already recording two channels, it won't let you record another one anyway.
Pausing and resuming live tv is a convenience feature that doesn't have to be there, but the 'downsides' you suggest (ie screen burn & HDD stress) simply don't exist.
Someone remarked they never watch live TV any more. That wouldn't work for me as I like to listen to the news when I come in from work. I then watch the magazine programme for local news and watch the news again before going to bed. I don't want to watch recorded news as events may well have changed.