I recorded a programme which was in 4:3 and when I copied it to my PC it was in 16:9 with thick black border lines left and right. If I have to go through all this trouble downloading a program, cropping the movie, saving it, re-encoding it. Well you can imagine why I'm getting frustrated. I would have thought they caould have included an encoder on the Humax disc or at least a program to convert to DVD else what's the point in being able to transfer files to your PC if you can't do anything with them.
My experience is :
numerous lockups
incomplete/interrupted recordings (set to record from the EPG with padding - 1min/+ 5mins)
intermittent slow/no response from the remote
One other "bug" I have picked up that I haven't seen reported before - while in the RADIO EPG if I press the button to go forward 24 hours the box crashes and reboots (works fine in the TV EPG). I have tried this several times always with the same result.
I appreciate that this is a function that many people wouldn't have tried, or even want to use, but I would be interested to know if anyone else has had the same experience.
Despite recommending Humax PVR's in the past I will NOT be buying any more Humax products and would not now recommend them to anyone.
Same story here, I've had a 9300 for a few months and despite a few hic-ups it worked fine until recently... it now locks up frequently, in standby and when watching programmes. It's very annoying, it seems to lock up every monday evening when i'm at work and want to record 'life' and 'flash forward' :-(
I love my 9200T, which is still working fine, and which I consider about the best bit of home technology I ever bought.
Spurred on by my admiration of it, a friend is showing an interest in getting one too (they don't have Sky or any other PVR).
The 9300T seems to be the current equivalent. I realise that you can't transfer off recordings via USB anymore, and it has some sort of high-definition compatibility. I've also read some 'noisy fan' complaints. I this still a problem? Has the 'commercial skip' function on the remote survived un-nobbled by outside pressures?
Is there anything else I should know before recommending it to a friend, or anything else they ought to consider first?
I wouldnt recommend ANY Humax PVR.
Both my mother and my aunt have a humax pvr (purchased in Nov 2008 and both are unreliable; failing to record, freezing and rebooting all the time.
Based on the Humax level of customer service, I wouldnt bother spending the extra money on the Humax brand, instead by something cheaper which does the same thing.
Mine used to pick Fridays for it's 'off day' for some reason it would never record the Jonathan Ross show and other programmes on that night.
I don't know about other models but the remote is pretty unresponsive and you need to point it directly at the receiver or else it won't work and it's the only model wich which has refused to work with my One 4 All remote so I have to put up with big the grey brick.
It's been 3 days now since the retune and I still can't the EPG toload past Sunday. I've had it on BBC overnight and tried it on ITV and 4 and it's still won't load the whole 7 days on all the channels. Really annoying cos when I retuned, I lost all my scheduled programmes and havn't been able to put next weeks programmes in.
I would have thought they caould have included an encoder on the Humax disc or at least a program to convert to DVD else what's the point in being able to transfer files to your PC if you can't do anything with them.
Do any makes supply an encoder or converter? I did not get any with my Sagem, Wharfedale (Vestel), or Topfields despite the models I bought having HDD to USB/PC export functionality.
Why then, would Humax not providing additional software be reason for not recommending it?
I don't know what's wrong but I posted in this thread but It's failed to appear. The list says the last person to post was me at 13.22pm but it's not showing up.
I'm posting this to see whether it shows up.
EDIT: Yes that seems to have pushed it through. Don't know what happened there.
I don't know what's wrong but I posted in this thread but It's failed to appear. The list says the last person to post was me at 13.22pm but it's not showing up.
I'm posting this to see whether it shows up.
EDIT: Yes that seems to have pushed it through. Don't know what happened there.
Occasionly you get a stuck posting and it needs another to give it a bump (as you have discovered )
I have had my 9300T since May. It was fine for a couple of months and then started to lock up intermittently.
I contacted Humax Tech Support and they sent me the default reset procedure. I have had to do this several times
since then. After the recent retunes it seems to have got worse. I tried the default reset and manual retune as some people have recommended. It locked up twice yesterday and once this morning.
I have now given up and sent it back for a refund.
I think this is the end of my association with Humax.
I recorded a programme which was in 4:3 and when I copied it to my PC it was in 16:9 with thick black border lines left and right. If I have to go through all this trouble downloading a program, cropping the movie, saving it, re-encoding it. Well you can imagine why I'm getting frustrated. I would have thought they caould have included an encoder on the Humax disc or at least a program to convert to DVD else what's the point in being able to transfer files to your PC if you can't do anything with them.
You simply needed some software to reset the pixel aspect ratio flag (PAR) which tells the display how it should look.
Do any makes supply an encoder or converter? I did not get any with my Sagem, Wharfedale (Vestel), or Topfields despite the models I bought having HDD to USB/PC export functionality.
Why then, would Humax not providing additional software be reason for not recommending it?
You want a list? My reason for not recommending it is because...
. It constantly locks up and can only be restarted by unplugging it from the mains
. Crashes at least one a week
. Remote is unresponsive
. Generally slow to think about things especially when surfing the EPG
. Fails to pick up programmes on series link
. Fails to record sometimes despite it being set
. Chops programmes short despite it being set to "on time"
. Duplicates then corrupts recorded programmes
. Has once been known to record over pre-recorded programmes (i.e went to watch Dr Who which I'd recorded 12 months ago and found it had recorded family guy over it)
. The 15s backwards skip feature doesn't work during live tv playback only the rewind button will work.
. The gimiky games feature is too slow and responsive to play anything (why would you even bother)
. The EPG fails to load properly
. The fan runs constantly and is permanently noisy
. If your recording a show and decide to start watching it before it's finished, it will swich itself off when it finishes recording even though your still watching it and you have to restart it from the beginning and scan to where you were up to.
. The USB transfer feature is tempremental and keeps losing/terminating the connection and any 4:3 programmes it records it does so in 16:9 by padding it out with black lines either side so it can't be viewed on your PC without messing around and cropping it.
Since the latest retune the EPG totally refuses to load the entire EPG no matter how long I leave it or on whatever channel and when looking through the guide it will freeze or lock up or crash altogether and It's slow changing channels.
If I didn't know any better i'd say it was made by Sony Ericsson. IT's bacically not fit for purpose.
You simply needed some software to reset the pixel aspect ratio flag (PAR) which tells the display how it should look.
I did but all it did was squash the entire image. Basically it's a perfect 4:3 image placed inside a 16:9 box with black bars either side to pad it out. In other words no matter whether the transmission is in 16:9 or 4:3 it still records a 16:9 frame. When I altered the flag to 4:3 it squashed the whole movie inwards including the black bars so it looked out of proportion.
I checked on my TV last night and the reason I don't see the back bars is cos my TV automatically zooms in (centre cut) to fill the screen on a 4:3 transmission but this feature isn't available in media player.
You want a list? My reason for not recommending it is because...
. It constantly locks up and can only be restarted by unplugging it from the mains
. Crashes at least one a week
. Remote is unresponsive
. Generally slow to think about things especially when surfing the EPG
. Fails to pick up programmes on series link
. Fails to record sometimes despite it being set
. Chops programmes short despite it being set to "on time"
. Duplicates then corrupts recorded programmes
. Has once been known to record over pre-recorded programmes (i.e went to watch Dr Who which I'd recorded 12 months ago and found it had recorded family guy over it)
. The 15s backwards skip feature doesn't work during live tv playback only the rewind button will work.
. The gimiky games feature is too slow and responsive to play anything (why would you even bother)
. The EPG fails to load properly
. The fan runs constantly and is permanently noisy
. If your recording a show and decide to start watching it before it's finished, it will swich itself off when it finishes recording even though your still watching it and you have to restart it from the beginning and scan to where you were up to.
. The USB transfer feature is tempremental and keeps losing/terminating the connection and any 4:3 programmes it records it does so in 16:9 by padding it out with black lines either side so it can't be viewed on your PC without messing around and cropping it.
Since the latest retune the EPG totally refuses to load the entire EPG no matter how long I leave it or on whatever channel and when looking through the guide it will freeze or lock up or crash altogether and It's slow changing channels.
If I didn't know any better i'd say it was made by Sony Ericsson. IT's bacically not fit for purpose.
I'd bin it, glad my 9200 works like a dream although I have noticed the occasional sluggish response to the remote since the September 30th re-tune.
I hope someone from Humax is reading this. Serves them bloody right as well, the tech support is lazy and inadequate.
I would have expected more from a premium priced product and brand, but it seems they are deep down a budget brand who dont support their customers or sell stable reliable, quality products.
Mine has worked as sweet as a nut since August 08, until yesterday, it has locked up three times since and has missed numerous recordings (including Eastenders last night - I'm not the most popular person right now!!) I've done a factory reset, and it has locked up since.
My question is ...... is it just a problem with my box or is it something on a grander scale caused over air?
Mine has worked as sweet as a nut since August 08, until yesterday, it has locked up three times since and has missed numerous recordings (including Eastenders last night - I'm not the most popular person right now!!) I've done a factory reset, and it has locked up since.
My question is ...... is it just a problem with my box or is it something on a grander scale caused over air?
Humax have stated that they have found a problem in the broadcast data, causing intermittent problems with 9150/9300s, and they are working on a fix, to be OTA shortly.
Humax have stated that they have found a problem in the broadcast data, causing intermittent problems with 9150/9300s, and they are working on a fix, to be OTA shortly.
Rgds.
Les.
Thanks Les, is there a link to explain the problem?
My 9200 has just recorded a programme about Jenson Button's season that must have been series linked to the F1 GP series, how good is that especially as I didn't know it was on. Series-Link at its best.
Mine is acting so slow today and when I pressed the rewind button it didn't work. Then I pressed volume up, didn't work. Then I hit the channel button several times, nothing. Then after about 15 seconds it jumped and did all 3 tasks in one go like it took all that time to think about what it wanted to do. It's like it's lacking memory or struggling to cope. The EPG still isn't loading properly after 4 days. This has only happened since the retune and I think it's probably struggling to cope with the higher quality data stream on MUX 1.
Would I recommend a Humax? Here's my experience of two 9300s purchased in March 2009 and installed in different locations 200 miles apart.
Since March, my 9300 has:
- locked up 22 times
- rebooted spontaneously three times
- failed to make a scheduled recording on three occasions
- lost all settings and returned to default, including losing the recording schedule, on three occasions
My mother's 9300 has locked up 20 times. My mother being a technophobe, I expect there have been other problems she hasn't noticed.
So, no, I wouldn't recommend a Humax to anyone. They are entirely unreliable, and what use is an unreliable PVR?
Would I recommend a Humax? Here's my experience of two 9300s purchased in March 2009 and installed in different locations 200 miles apart.
Since March, my 9300 has:
- locked up 22 times
- rebooted spontaneously three times
- failed to make a scheduled recording on three occasions
- lost all settings and returned to default, including losing the recording schedule, on three occasions
My mother's 9300 has locked up 20 times. My mother being a technophobe, I expect there have been other problems she hasn't noticed.
So, no, I wouldn't recommend a Humax to anyone. They are entirely unreliable, and what use is an unreliable PVR?
I take it that you are aware that a fix for the lockup problem should be broadcast OTA in the next couple of weeks?
I take it that you are aware that a fix for the lockup problem should be broadcast OTA in the next couple of weeks?
If that fix appears and works - and I'm not holding my breath on either - then it will of course be welcome but it wouldn't change my answer to the OP's question. I couldn't recommend to a friend an item of equipment which has so many problems.
Meanwhile, my 9300 has locked up twice more since my last post.
Comments
My experience is :
numerous lockups
incomplete/interrupted recordings (set to record from the EPG with padding - 1min/+ 5mins)
intermittent slow/no response from the remote
One other "bug" I have picked up that I haven't seen reported before - while in the RADIO EPG if I press the button to go forward 24 hours the box crashes and reboots (works fine in the TV EPG). I have tried this several times always with the same result.
I appreciate that this is a function that many people wouldn't have tried, or even want to use, but I would be interested to know if anyone else has had the same experience.
Despite recommending Humax PVR's in the past I will NOT be buying any more Humax products and would not now recommend them to anyone.
I wouldnt recommend ANY Humax PVR.
Both my mother and my aunt have a humax pvr (purchased in Nov 2008 and both are unreliable; failing to record, freezing and rebooting all the time.
Based on the Humax level of customer service, I wouldnt bother spending the extra money on the Humax brand, instead by something cheaper which does the same thing.
I don't know about other models but the remote is pretty unresponsive and you need to point it directly at the receiver or else it won't work and it's the only model wich which has refused to work with my One 4 All remote so I have to put up with big the grey brick.
It's been 3 days now since the retune and I still can't the EPG toload past Sunday. I've had it on BBC overnight and tried it on ITV and 4 and it's still won't load the whole 7 days on all the channels. Really annoying cos when I retuned, I lost all my scheduled programmes and havn't been able to put next weeks programmes in.
Why then, would Humax not providing additional software be reason for not recommending it?
I'm posting this to see whether it shows up.
EDIT: Yes that seems to have pushed it through. Don't know what happened there.
Occasionly you get a stuck posting and it needs another to give it a bump (as you have discovered
I contacted Humax Tech Support and they sent me the default reset procedure. I have had to do this several times
since then. After the recent retunes it seems to have got worse. I tried the default reset and manual retune as some people have recommended. It locked up twice yesterday and once this morning.
I have now given up and sent it back for a refund.
I think this is the end of my association with Humax.
You simply needed some software to reset the pixel aspect ratio flag (PAR) which tells the display how it should look.
You want a list? My reason for not recommending it is because...
. It constantly locks up and can only be restarted by unplugging it from the mains
. Crashes at least one a week
. Remote is unresponsive
. Generally slow to think about things especially when surfing the EPG
. Fails to pick up programmes on series link
. Fails to record sometimes despite it being set
. Chops programmes short despite it being set to "on time"
. Duplicates then corrupts recorded programmes
. Has once been known to record over pre-recorded programmes (i.e went to watch Dr Who which I'd recorded 12 months ago and found it had recorded family guy over it)
. The 15s backwards skip feature doesn't work during live tv playback only the rewind button will work.
. The gimiky games feature is too slow and responsive to play anything (why would you even bother)
. The EPG fails to load properly
. The fan runs constantly and is permanently noisy
. If your recording a show and decide to start watching it before it's finished, it will swich itself off when it finishes recording even though your still watching it and you have to restart it from the beginning and scan to where you were up to.
. The USB transfer feature is tempremental and keeps losing/terminating the connection and any 4:3 programmes it records it does so in 16:9 by padding it out with black lines either side so it can't be viewed on your PC without messing around and cropping it.
Since the latest retune the EPG totally refuses to load the entire EPG no matter how long I leave it or on whatever channel and when looking through the guide it will freeze or lock up or crash altogether and It's slow changing channels.
If I didn't know any better i'd say it was made by Sony Ericsson. IT's bacically not fit for purpose.
I did but all it did was squash the entire image. Basically it's a perfect 4:3 image placed inside a 16:9 box with black bars either side to pad it out. In other words no matter whether the transmission is in 16:9 or 4:3 it still records a 16:9 frame. When I altered the flag to 4:3 it squashed the whole movie inwards including the black bars so it looked out of proportion.
I checked on my TV last night and the reason I don't see the back bars is cos my TV automatically zooms in (centre cut) to fill the screen on a 4:3 transmission but this feature isn't available in media player.
I'd bin it, glad my 9200 works like a dream although I have noticed the occasional sluggish response to the remote since the September 30th re-tune.
Of course but I didn't know how to spell recycling centre.
I would have expected more from a premium priced product and brand, but it seems they are deep down a budget brand who dont support their customers or sell stable reliable, quality products.
My question is ...... is it just a problem with my box or is it something on a grander scale caused over air?
Rgds.
Les.
Thanks Les, is there a link to explain the problem?
Rgds.
Les.
Since March, my 9300 has:
- locked up 22 times
- rebooted spontaneously three times
- failed to make a scheduled recording on three occasions
- lost all settings and returned to default, including losing the recording schedule, on three occasions
My mother's 9300 has locked up 20 times. My mother being a technophobe, I expect there have been other problems she hasn't noticed.
So, no, I wouldn't recommend a Humax to anyone. They are entirely unreliable, and what use is an unreliable PVR?
I take it that you are aware that a fix for the lockup problem should be broadcast OTA in the next couple of weeks?
Meanwhile, my 9300 has locked up twice more since my last post.