Fortunately, I don't really have any issues with box so my ramblings aren't going to be of much value. Still, here goes...
Certainly anything that causes recordings to fail must be considered top priority. So, although I haven't suffered from it, a fix to autopadding must be first.
I have never tried archiving recordings, but I think this is something that could be very useful. I understand that this is not easy because you can't schedule a number of recordings to 'play' one after the other for this purpose. Hence, "whatever it takes to archive easily" gets my second vote.
Now we are really on to minor usability things (as far as I'm concerned anyway). I think it would be good if hitting OK in the recordings list (from menu) played rather than edited a program.
And along the same lines, I'd like to be able to delete from the list (from button under flap)
At this point I'm rather stumped. Perhaps the EPG saved to disk - although I have to say this has never been an issue for me (due to auto-wakeup facility).
Most of my fixes have already been stated but I share the same opinion.
1. Auto-padding can miss (not record) programs when presented with back-to-back recordings. Missed recordings also seem to trigger the "always recording bug". So hopefully by fixing the padding, you'll fix that too.
2. Error Correction and speed enhancements for USB transfer (not a feature, a fix - it's unreliable at the moment!)
3. The box seems to lose the buffer extremely easily and sometimes unnecessarily. For instance, two scheduled recordings start while you're watching TV from the buffer.... bam, you lose the buffer. Even if your show has been fully recorded in the buffer, you still lose it. I can understand the buffer no longer being updated, but just dumping it is stupid.
4. When a recording ends, often when both turners are in use, the channel you're currently watching will black out and then resume (I presume this is when channel buffering commences) - this is a pain, not just because you get a black screen for a few seconds, but because it also loses any interactive services you may be using.
5. Auto-padding, if you make a last minute scheduled recording (via the EPG) and your 'xx before program starts' has already rolled by, the program never records. I.e., You set auto-padding to start 2 minutes before your programs.... it's 20:59, you suddenly realise you want to record a program at 21:00 and select it in the EPG. Every thing seems fine, but the program will never record since with the padding settings, the recording should have commenced at 20:58 - which has already past. You're not alerted to this.
6. Make the 'List' button on the remote control open your Recorded Programs list, not the TV channel selector thing. After all, the 'OK' button right next to it currently does exactly the same thing! (This is a fix!)
7. Remote Responsiveness. The commercial skip buttons were greatly improved with the previous software update. However, the fast forward and rewind buttons (etc) are still very sluggish. I've also noticed that when using Chase-play, the commercial skip buttons behave like they used to, very slowly and often skipping to the same location several times.
There’s probably loads more that have slipped my mind.
6. Make the 'List' button on the remote control open your Recorded Programs list, not the TV channel selector thing. After all, the 'OK' button right next to it currently does exactly the same thing! (This is a fix!)
How is making something not do what the manual says it does count as a Fix?
However as it is it's definatly a niggle - playing recordings is most of the point of having a PVR rather than an STB, but the button to do so is tiny and under a flap whereas
I say they should amke it an option - just changing what a button does utterly from what the manual says without asking or telling the owner isn't a good idea.
I say they should amke it an option - just changing what a button does utterly from what the manual says without asking or telling the owner isn't a good idea.
Not sure if anyone else has noticed this, but if I start flicking through channels not long after switching on, occasionally some appear for a second then go blank and others show a different channel.
This could be something to do with the EPG being populated, but I'm not sure.
Not sure if anyone else has noticed this, but if I start flicking through channels not long after switching on, occasionally some appear for a second then go blank and others show a different channel.
This could be something to do with the EPG being populated, but I'm not sure.
see this thread which also has some tips. If its a real pain following the advice let me know as i might be able to email you some test software that seems to have cured it. PM me. If its fixed completely it will be popped into the the next release which they are working on.
see this thread which also has some tips. If its a real pain following the advice let me know as i might be able to email you some test software that seems to have cured it. PM me. If its fixed completely it will be popped into the the next release which they are working on.
It's not really a major issue for me, since I normally switch it on in the morning and let the EPG populate whilst doing other things (don't really watch daytime TV).
It's just this morning I was up early and didn't really have anything better to do than flick through the channels and see what was on!
see this thread which also has some tips. If its a real pain following the advice let me know as i might be able to email you some test software that seems to have cured it. PM me. If its fixed completely it will be popped into the the next release which they are working on.
1. Allow the i-plate to navigate to other now and next info, such as on my old Sony VTX800 box.
2. Channel number reordering, had it configured with only Channels 1 to 30, grouping each broadcaster together after the terrestrials are covered.
3. Increase the speed of epg loading, it isn't any way near as fast as my Sony, and it doesn't seem to do cross-mux epg loading (i.e it loads faster if I change channels as it only seems to load info for the mux it is on)
1. Allow the i-plate to navigate to other now and next info, such as on my old Sony VTX800 box.
2. Channel number reordering, had it configured with only Channels 1 to 30, grouping each broadcaster together after the terrestrials are covered.
3. Increase the speed of epg loading, it isn't any way near as fast as my Sony, and it doesn't seem to do cross-mux epg loading (i.e it loads faster if I change channels as it only seems to load info for the mux it is on)
stone free my observations on your list
1) I dont see why this would be hard to implement and really do not see why it wasnt in the first place - or that the list button showed the 'next' as well as the 'now' that it does currently.
2) Agree. At the moment it is possible to reorder and rename channels if you bung them all in one of the favourites slots. But thats only a workaround.
3) saving the EPG to memory even when in standby will do the trick - and if there is not enough memory dumpt it to a section reserved for it on the hard drive so it jumps back into memory on resume from standby or always resides on the hard drive like on 4TV systems. It will need some sort of refresh cycle or check for changes cycle though, I would have thought?
As far as I can tell by the way the hummy behaves, it will allow other channels EPG data or for other MUXs to be loaded from the current channel. But there are a lot of ifs and buts about the channel in question on how it supplies EPG data for its and other channels.
As far as I can tell by the way the hummy behaves, it will allow other channels EPG data or for other MUXs to be loaded from the current channel. But there are a lot of ifs and buts about the channel in question on how it supplies EPG data for its and other channels.
All I know is yesterday it took about 10 minutes to fill on crystal palace.
All I know is yesterday it took about 10 minutes to fill on crystal palace.
Being 9200t owners we know all to well how EPG delivery is performed on all the channels. When the EPG from freeview is saved properly in memory all the time, even in standby, maybe we'll forget how bad freeview EPG is.
I dont know what the big deal is about not having OSD on vcr scart full stop
I agree, although from my POV i'd rather be able to turn it off on both scarts - I'm still messing about with the connections on my set up, but to get both DVD & PVR in RGB on mine will mean connecting the TV out Scart on the PVR to the DVD - so just turning it off on the VCR scart won't help but would be a start...
1. Sort order for mp3s should be alphabetical, not date (the latter makes no sense at all, and is clearly just a hangover from the video function). This is especially annoying as the e-Linker is so shoddy that I usually have to make several attempts just to upload one album, which then means it's played out of sequence. Grrrr!
2. e-Linker reliability, obviously. I can cope with it being slow (just) as I can always do an overnight job-lot transfer, up or down stream. Why oh why oh why did Humax not partition the disk to a common standard, rather than glorious HumaxFS, then just expose it as a USB drive? Oh the pains that could have been avoided...
3. Auto-padding, as per other people's comments. It's annoying to lose a recording just because it comes directly after one on the same channel. Especailly so seeing as the buffers are global settings, not per recording.
4. Edit record time on reserved recording (as commented here, this is already possible on 'instant' recordings).
5. Dumping of the buffer - yep, let's have that sorted out.
6. My box does the "flick back to current time when watching in timeshiffted mode" at random points sometimes, even if a recording hasn't just finished :-/ Anything that resolves this kind of behaviour would be great.
7. Navigating around the mp3 menus should not stop the current mp3 from playing. Simply wait for another audio or video recording to be selected for play, or for the menu to be exited. A ludicrous limitation, especially given the lack of playlist support.
8. I'd second the "Program information should be available from anywhere that a program can be selected". It's great that the box stores the sumamry for a film, for example, but rubbish that the only way I can get at that information is by starting to play the film. The list of recordings should work just as the EPG, allowing you to press 'i' and go to a view that shows the info for the currently selected recording.
9. Caching of EPG - agree, it's a real pain. I have a Sony Freeview box, from before I bought the Humax and it manages to display the guide instantly when brought out of standy, so it can't be that hard.
10. Minor gripe, but IMO transferring a file to the Humax should be called "Uploading" and transferring from the Humax to a PC should be called "Downloading". Makes much moee sense to me, but they've labelled it the other way around in the e-Linker.
Christ, that was easy. "In 1989... no one died. I could go on..." The Humax is a great box, but with these improvements/fixes, it could be even better.
Ive only had my hummy a few days but what Ive found to be a major irritation is the record start text messages that appear on screen. If one is generated while you are in the epg or the epg find mode, it dumps you out of the epg before displaying the message.
If this has been fixed in 1.06, please correct me.
The audio passthrough works very strangely indeed. The only time it works properly is if a recording is taking place and it is in standby.
I have the Humax setup in the same way as I had the Sony box.
The DVD player SCART goes to AV2 on the Video. The AV1 SCART on the Video goes to the VCR SCART on the Humax, and then the TV SCART on the Humax goes to the TV. Then the Audio sockets on the Humax go to my Stereo.
If the Humax is in Standby and recording then everything works fine. So if the video is on then the sound on the stereo is of the Video. If the DVD player is on then its sound also comes out on the stereo.
However if the Humax is in Standby and not recording then nothing ever comes out the stereo.
If the Humax is on, then you can use the source button on the remote to swap the audio on the stereo from the Humax box to the DVD sound, but the same cannot be said of the VCR sound. This is even though the DVD Player isn't directly connected to the Humax, and is actually being fed through the VCR.
I have tried swapping AV1 and AV2 on the VCR, but that even stops the source button from doing anything.
As matter of interest, are we still at rev 1.06 or has there been a further update I have missed?
There is a mini update since then (1.00.08) thats just been put on Humax' web site. The next main update is still probably a month or two at least for over the air updates accross the main customer base.
Comments
Fortunately, I don't really have any issues with box so my ramblings aren't going to be of much value. Still, here goes...
Thanks for listening!
Nxman
1. Auto-padding can miss (not record) programs when presented with back-to-back recordings. Missed recordings also seem to trigger the "always recording bug". So hopefully by fixing the padding, you'll fix that too.
2. Error Correction and speed enhancements for USB transfer (not a feature, a fix - it's unreliable at the moment!)
3. The box seems to lose the buffer extremely easily and sometimes unnecessarily. For instance, two scheduled recordings start while you're watching TV from the buffer.... bam, you lose the buffer. Even if your show has been fully recorded in the buffer, you still lose it. I can understand the buffer no longer being updated, but just dumping it is stupid.
4. When a recording ends, often when both turners are in use, the channel you're currently watching will black out and then resume (I presume this is when channel buffering commences) - this is a pain, not just because you get a black screen for a few seconds, but because it also loses any interactive services you may be using.
5. Auto-padding, if you make a last minute scheduled recording (via the EPG) and your 'xx before program starts' has already rolled by, the program never records. I.e., You set auto-padding to start 2 minutes before your programs.... it's 20:59, you suddenly realise you want to record a program at 21:00 and select it in the EPG. Every thing seems fine, but the program will never record since with the padding settings, the recording should have commenced at 20:58 - which has already past. You're not alerted to this.
6. Make the 'List' button on the remote control open your Recorded Programs list, not the TV channel selector thing. After all, the 'OK' button right next to it currently does exactly the same thing! (This is a fix!)
7. Remote Responsiveness. The commercial skip buttons were greatly improved with the previous software update. However, the fast forward and rewind buttons (etc) are still very sluggish. I've also noticed that when using Chase-play, the commercial skip buttons behave like they used to, very slowly and often skipping to the same location several times.
There’s probably loads more that have slipped my mind.
However as it is it's definatly a niggle - playing recordings is most of the point of having a PVR rather than an STB, but the button to do so is tiny and under a flap whereas
I say they should amke it an option - just changing what a button does utterly from what the manual says without asking or telling the owner isn't a good idea.
The two prominent buttons each side of OK would give access to the key functionality of the 9200T...
Guide - live telly
List - recordings.
Most people would be happy to find when they press the List button the recording list appears.
This could be something to do with the EPG being populated, but I'm not sure.
see this thread which also has some tips. If its a real pain following the advice let me know as i might be able to email you some test software that seems to have cured it. PM me. If its fixed completely it will be popped into the the next release which they are working on.
It's just this morning I was up early and didn't really have anything better to do than flick through the channels and see what was on!
Forgot link: http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=384856&highlight=something+strange
2. Channel number reordering, had it configured with only Channels 1 to 30, grouping each broadcaster together after the terrestrials are covered.
3. Increase the speed of epg loading, it isn't any way near as fast as my Sony, and it doesn't seem to do cross-mux epg loading (i.e it loads faster if I change channels as it only seems to load info for the mux it is on)
stone free my observations on your list
1) I dont see why this would be hard to implement and really do not see why it wasnt in the first place - or that the list button showed the 'next' as well as the 'now' that it does currently.
2) Agree. At the moment it is possible to reorder and rename channels if you bung them all in one of the favourites slots. But thats only a workaround.
3) saving the EPG to memory even when in standby will do the trick - and if there is not enough memory dumpt it to a section reserved for it on the hard drive so it jumps back into memory on resume from standby or always resides on the hard drive like on 4TV systems. It will need some sort of refresh cycle or check for changes cycle though, I would have thought?
As far as I can tell by the way the hummy behaves, it will allow other channels EPG data or for other MUXs to be loaded from the current channel. But there are a lot of ifs and buts about the channel in question on how it supplies EPG data for its and other channels.
Regards
David
I dont know what the big deal is about not having OSD on vcr scart full stop
Being 9200t owners we know all to well how EPG delivery is performed on all the channels. When the EPG from freeview is saved properly in memory all the time, even in standby, maybe we'll forget how bad freeview EPG is.
I agree, although from my POV i'd rather be able to turn it off on both scarts - I'm still messing about with the connections on my set up, but to get both DVD & PVR in RGB on mine will mean connecting the TV out Scart on the PVR to the DVD - so just turning it off on the VCR scart won't help
Regards
David
1. Sort order for mp3s should be alphabetical, not date (the latter makes no sense at all, and is clearly just a hangover from the video function). This is especially annoying as the e-Linker is so shoddy that I usually have to make several attempts just to upload one album, which then means it's played out of sequence. Grrrr!
2. e-Linker reliability, obviously. I can cope with it being slow (just) as I can always do an overnight job-lot transfer, up or down stream. Why oh why oh why did Humax not partition the disk to a common standard, rather than glorious HumaxFS, then just expose it as a USB drive? Oh the pains that could have been avoided...
3. Auto-padding, as per other people's comments. It's annoying to lose a recording just because it comes directly after one on the same channel. Especailly so seeing as the buffers are global settings, not per recording.
4. Edit record time on reserved recording (as commented here, this is already possible on 'instant' recordings).
5. Dumping of the buffer - yep, let's have that sorted out.
6. My box does the "flick back to current time when watching in timeshiffted mode" at random points sometimes, even if a recording hasn't just finished :-/ Anything that resolves this kind of behaviour would be great.
7. Navigating around the mp3 menus should not stop the current mp3 from playing. Simply wait for another audio or video recording to be selected for play, or for the menu to be exited. A ludicrous limitation, especially given the lack of playlist support.
8. I'd second the "Program information should be available from anywhere that a program can be selected". It's great that the box stores the sumamry for a film, for example, but rubbish that the only way I can get at that information is by starting to play the film. The list of recordings should work just as the EPG, allowing you to press 'i' and go to a view that shows the info for the currently selected recording.
9. Caching of EPG - agree, it's a real pain. I have a Sony Freeview box, from before I bought the Humax and it manages to display the guide instantly when brought out of standy, so it can't be that hard.
10. Minor gripe, but IMO transferring a file to the Humax should be called "Uploading" and transferring from the Humax to a PC should be called "Downloading". Makes much moee sense to me, but they've labelled it the other way around in the e-Linker.
Christ, that was easy. "In 1989... no one died. I could go on..." The Humax is a great box, but with these improvements/fixes, it could be even better.
If this has been fixed in 1.06, please correct me.
The audio passthrough works very strangely indeed. The only time it works properly is if a recording is taking place and it is in standby.
I have the Humax setup in the same way as I had the Sony box.
The DVD player SCART goes to AV2 on the Video. The AV1 SCART on the Video goes to the VCR SCART on the Humax, and then the TV SCART on the Humax goes to the TV. Then the Audio sockets on the Humax go to my Stereo.
If the Humax is in Standby and recording then everything works fine. So if the video is on then the sound on the stereo is of the Video. If the DVD player is on then its sound also comes out on the stereo.
However if the Humax is in Standby and not recording then nothing ever comes out the stereo.
If the Humax is on, then you can use the source button on the remote to swap the audio on the stereo from the Humax box to the DVD sound, but the same cannot be said of the VCR sound. This is even though the DVD Player isn't directly connected to the Humax, and is actually being fed through the VCR.
I have tried swapping AV1 and AV2 on the VCR, but that even stops the source button from doing anything.
Hi David. That one was fixed in the end.
Thanks, I must have missed that one in the last update. I have just tried it and it works a treat.
As matter of interest, are we still at rev 1.06 or has there been a further update I have missed?
There is a mini update since then (1.00.08) thats just been put on Humax' web site. The next main update is still probably a month or two at least for over the air updates accross the main customer base.