Acceptable, yes. "Wonderful", "Brilliant", "Super", "Great" - well, maybe not.


Wikipedia (and a number of on-line dictionaries) defines myriad as "a classical Greek name for the number 10^4 = 10,000".

Fixing those one at a time, assuming a release rate of 1 per week, would take some 200 years. Maybe that's why the update is taking so long to arrive



Are you really, positively, certainly, unambiguously sure that you have removed BOTH bits of film that cover the IR receiver (one on the outside of the flap, and one on the display itself behind the flap)?

...and your point is?

Touchy arn't you? All together now 'why do we come to foum's' ...to talk about shared experiences...

It has been helpful coming in to this forum to diagnose issues I have had as a dodgy box, before going back to ARGOS, (no one mentioned Currys) to exchange the box.

Calm down dear it's only a forum! Free and open exchange of ideas.

J

We actually watch very little TV but we do use the Foxsat a lot for the radio channels. Something rarely mentioned is that the radio facilities on the Foxsat are streets ahead of Sky. The Foxsat has a 7-day EPG for radio & one can schedule recordings including series links. Despite the latest Sky+HD makeover all that platform has for radio stations is a 'Now' not even a 'Now & Next'.

My neighbours can't even see my dish as it's on the ground tucked away in front of a hedge. Far from being enormous it's only 90cm. If I wasn't fussed about losing signal in a thunderstorm* I could use a 60-70cm dish like my neighbours use for Canal Satellite

*contrary to popular belief the annual rainfall here is much the same as Southern England it's just it rains far less often & consequently rains much heavier when it does rain.

If I remember correctly the only Radio channels that offer series link are

724 Absolute
725 Absolute Classic Rock
726 Absolute Xtreme
728 WRN
777 Insight Radio

however as has been pointed out the radio programmes can be scheduled to record and those that aren't series linked can be set to repeat from the schedule list using the yellow button.

[quote=nigelbb;33426087]We actually watch very little TV but we do use the Foxsat a lot for the radio channels. Something rarely mentioned is that the radio facilities on the Foxsat are streets ahead of Sky. The Foxsat has a 7-day EPG for radio & one can schedule recordings including series links. Despite the latest Sky+HD makeover all that platform has for radio stations is a 'Now' not even a 'Now & Next'.

My neighbours can't even see my dish as it's on the ground tucked away in front of a hedge. Far from being enormous it's only 90cm. If I wasn't fussed about losing signal in a thunderstorm* I could use a 60-70cm dish like my neighbours use for Canal Satellite
QUOTE]
Sounds ideal.... here in Paris my wife has the old Skybox tuned permanently to Radio 4. It's nice to hear that I don't have to invest in a big dish if I were to come further south.

It's great that the Foxsat can record radio as well as TV, but for regular BBC radio programmes I find it easier to use the internet and listen to the podcasts. Many networked media streamers will enable you to build a list for playback (cheapest being the Zyxel DMA-1000), and there's a great little program for Windows PC's called RSSRadio if you want to record and save to disk (http://www.dorada.co.uk/).

Well, beg my pardon, but when did the message "press F2 to enter BIOS" stop meaning "go-on, press F2, you know you want to, you will be master of the Universe and every single option will suddenly become understandable to you, despite your sub-100 IQ. Go on, you MUST press it and at least alter the FSB settings, go on, you big wuss! A man or a mouse?"?

I see that version of the message EVERY TIME I am slightly bored and it was obviously the right advice to follow because it has exposed serious faults in at least three previous PCs that had been working perfectly well before!

[quote=Nick123;33433993][quote=nigelbb;33426087]We actually watch very little TV but we do use the Foxsat a lot for the radio channels. Something rarely mentioned is that the radio facilities on the Foxsat are streets ahead of Sky. The Foxsat has a 7-day EPG for radio & one can schedule recordings including series links. Despite the latest Sky+HD makeover all that platform has for radio stations is a 'Now' not even a 'Now & Next'.

My neighbours can't even see my dish as it's on the ground tucked away in front of a hedge. Far from being enormous it's only 90cm. If I wasn't fussed about losing signal in a thunderstorm* I could use a 60-70cm dish like my neighbours use for Canal Satellite

If/when you move further south don't forget to look on eBay for one or two of the now discontinued Sky Gnome devices so that while lounging by the pool you can still listen to Radio 4

So ..... my faulty Humax FoxSat HDR was returned to me on Monday after sending it back to them for "repair" under warranty due to all the lock up / freezes it suffered.

They told me it was a loader fault but in fact just upgraded the firmware to V1.00.03

Guess what ? ........ yes, it still has the fault

It locked up Tuesday and again on Thursday.

I have of course contacted Humax Support again and now await their decision whether it is best for them to "repair" it again or replace it.

Before anyone tells me the problems are a result of user error all I do is watch freesat channels, watch recorded programmes and sometimes transfer recordings onto an external hard drive (ext3)

The box is put into standby when I am not actually watching something.

Meister,

Def ask for a replacement. I got my box in December & have not had a single lockup freeze or in fact any fault at all. I have transfered music & images to the box and taken recordings off it. Still no issues, so it seems to me that it's the box at fault for you. I have the .002 loader.

Good luck.

Regards

Nick

Try using a proper dictionary. It means "countless" unless specifically used as a number.


Yes. The problem is that if you put an opaque panel with a hole in it in front of the sensor you restrict its angle of view. Quite simple really.

Will you accept the Oxford English Dictionary?

• noun 1 (also myriads) an indefinitely great number. 2 (in classical times) a unit of ten thousand.

• adjective innumerable.

— ORIGIN Greek murias, from murioi ‘10,000’.

Using your "countless" definition, then the foxsat will never get fixed (doing them one at a time), at least the Greeks would limit the time to the 200 years.


It's not a problem that my unit has, presumably based on similar, if not the same, construction techniques. If it's any help, walking down the side of my lounge, and operating the remote the unit stops responding at approx 45 degrees (sorry, I don't have a protractor handy). From my viewing distance, the unit responds from any position (up/down, left right) across the room. It's only when I hug the wall and move forward a couple of paces does it stop receiving.

Although I usually use a Harmony I did this with the original remote/batteries.

I doubt it would help him. It is know that the current software is riddled with bugs. Now the frequency of the problems very and lock up etc may be increfuent but its the sum of this bugs that turn it into a significant issue.


It's worrying that Humax have not yet managed to resolve the issue. The excuse that they want to incorporate iplayer functinality does not really hold up. Thats new functionality and not a bug fix.

They could go on for ever not releasing updated because more bugs are found or they want to but new functionality in to it


The standard way to work is to have a design freeze at some point. The more bugs you try to fix in one go the longer it takes to develop the software & the longer it takes to test it. In the early stages of a prouct its sensible normally for patches to be released 6 monthly.

Agreed, they should have fixed the bugs months ago, then started working on the iplayer.

Except as you will read on several responses, freezes/lockups are not common to everyone. There are lots of small problems which Humax have termed as 'niggles'. We all get them because they are in the firmware. Where a problem exists on only a small number of units it is unlikely to be fixed by a firmware upgrade.

My unit, like many others, is solid in its basic operation - recording and playback of programmes. It sits there for months going from standby for most of the time to operational in the evenings. I watch programmes, I record programmes. The only recordings it has missed are ones that others have also missed and is down to the broadcasters not sending the correct info.

Elsewhere Bob-Cat made it clear it is only the universal 'niggles' that you can expect to be fixed in the release - when it comes. If you have any problems that stop the unit from doing the basics you should exercise your consumer rights and get the unit replaced with one that works, or get your money back. Posting one here about freezes will not get it fixed.

It could be that there are bugs in the firmware.

It could be that the way I use the box (I'm on my second) causes those bugs to become apparent.

It could be that the way you use the box causes those bugs to remain hidden.

If Humax were to release a more up-to-date firmware we may get an answer to the above.

However, the more bugs they try to fix and the more additional functionality they include in one single large update, the less successful that update is likely to be.

All I can do is to point you to someone who "knows" what is going on (he has also signed himself as Bob @ Humax elsewhere). It's about as official and diplomatic as you are going to get. Bob_Cat is very careful about what he says, or does not say. You have to do some reading between the lines.


Now if you consider the box freezing several times a week as a niggle, go on and wait for it to be fixed by a firmware upgrade. Personally I think that Bob_Cat is saying that you can expect the things that everyone complains of to get fixed (or at least they will be different, we all have our own opinion of what constitutes a fix ), but if you are one of the few who are experiencing more fundamental problems, get the box changed.


I agree with you there.


I don't fully agree with that. The probability is that some of the problems are co-dependent. Fixing one may cause a problem elsewhere. Doing them as a batch is often more more efficient as the re-development of one common module may solve a number of problems.

But either way, it is certainly well beyond a reasonable period of time for some fixes to have been addressed, unless the problem has turned out to be so fundamental that the entire package is having to be re-developed.

Update:

Have had a conversation with Humax Support who have now agreed to exchange my Foxsat HDR for a brand new one as the "repair" they carried out didn't fix the problem of it freezing / locking up.

Despite what some on this forum would have us believe there HAVE been a LOT of cases of freezing / lock ups reported to support !

They are aware it is a major problem and NOT an occasional one so if your STB has this problem get it exchanged because it should not be doing it.

I think this has more or less made my mind up to return my (third) box back to Comet for a full refund as getting yet another exchange is no guarantee that that one will not lock up occasionally (since it is definitely caused by poor software in my view) as well...

[quote=CPN;33751851]I think this has more or less made my mind up to return my (third) box back to Comet for a full refund as getting yet another exchange is no guarantee that that one will not lock up occasionally (since it is definitely caused by poor software in my view) as well...[/QUOTE

My view is that most of the lock ups in my case have definitely been caused by poor software too.


Hopefully soon(ish) to be rectified!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since being careful not to do one or two things I have had zero lock ups - last one was at least 3 months ago.

I don't scan in non freesat mode.
Don't even go into non freesat if I can help it :.
Don't press any buttons whilst it is booting up.
Don't go back and forth to the media screen too quickly.
Don't press change channels too quickly.
Don't mess around with organising channels.
Don't record ITV HD
Don't do a reset.

I know I am probably being a bit too cautious but because I treat it with kid gloves - my box is recording and behaving ok for my purposes with most things now unless there is a mess up with the broadcasters signals..

It's NOT acceptable to have to feel that I have to do this but at least it works for me as a temporary solution.

Patrick

When you think about it, it's ridiculous that you have to tippy toe around it like that just to get a production box to behave!

Quite unacceptable in my view...

I totally agree with you - but it's that or get a little annoyed.. - I do want to keep the box if possible - mainly because of nothing else available at similar price...

Have you thought about waiting a little while longer to see if the firmware update arrives and fixes things? Which is possible..

Having said that, the end of Summer Humax time could mean next year!

Patrick

I too have had occasional lock-ups - they were getting quite frequent (two or three times a week), until I upgraded the hard disk.

After that all was fine for a few months, but I'm now getting occasional lockups again (only a couple in last few weeks so far)

Lock-up is always after pushing a button on remote box 'feezes' to other input (remote or front panel buttons), but continues to play current video/audio

Definitely has the look and smell of software rather than hardware to me.

What I find most concerning is that, from what I've seen to date, Humax have always stated that a lockup means the hardware if faulty and should be returned for a replacement.

That implies to me they haven't fixed the bugs (if they had I'd expect them to say 'we apologise for the occasional lock-ups but be assured they will be resolved in the next software update')

Would be really nice to know what bugs they've fixed in the forthcoming update as I'm sure that would make a lot of us feel happier that these issues will be resolved very soon(ish)

Humax FOXSAT HDR.

Here are some issues I would like to address regarding the FOXSAT HDR, I look forward to any advise and if I am incorrect in anything I have mentioned below advise is always appreciated.

Swapping between Freesat and None Freesat always defaults to the first channel in the list and there should be an easier way to swap between the modes like a simple press of a button instead of having to enter the menu each time.

Can’t swap channels around in Freesat mode.

EPG is very sluggish

When a scheduled recording is about to start and another channel is being watched it is changed to the channel that is being recorded unless the popup box on the screen request is selected to don’t change channel.

Boot Up time is slow.

Message informing of new channels after starting up pops up too often and without intervention the receiver starts to search for new channels and most occasions finds nothing new, there should be an option to disable the function.

I purchased my receiver earlier this year and to this day I have never encountered any lock-ups the receiver has been totaly reliable but after using Topfield 5800's (I still have two of them) for nearly four years I find the above issues with the Humax really irritating, does anyone know if and when there will be a firmware update and if so can anyone indicate what problems are likely to be addressed.