Just returned from hols in Tunisia to watch the F1 Grand Prix (that I am now downloading on iPlayer so dont tell me the result).

Not a single recording whilst i was away, yet it booted fine as if to indicate no problems.

The inkling as to the problem i have is that it asked me if i wanted to retune when i got in today and i said yes. I seem to recall someone asking Bob Cat if this was a bug that was going to be fixed in a future update as he would be very very annoyed to come back from holiday to find no recordings due to a tuner that couldn't make a default answer to a question that clearly wasn't being answered by a human.

If this is the case i am going to be very very very annoyed as opposed to just very very annoyed as i am now.

Either way the box was junk whilst i was away, unlike my Sky+ box of many years that never failed me on a major scale like the HDR just has. This isn't the first big let down either, having used Sky+ for donkeys years and the Humax HDR for almost a year there are more failures of recordings with the HDR than there were with the Sky+ box. Not good enough, we need an update asap for these problems.

First off though i'd like a confirmation of the prognosis...

Cheers - Jono

That probably wasn't the problem.

If you do not respond to the 'do you want to retune' message, after a few seconds, it just does it anyway. (Thus creating a further problem with ITV HD schedules).

Did you have a power failure whilst you were away? (i.e. Clocks needed reseting on return.)?

If you did then nothing would have been recorded until you booted manually.

Don't think you get the retune option anyway until you manually boot the box. AFAIK it wont retune itself while in recording sby, it has to be fully booted up. Pretty sure it must have been a power outage that stopped the clock

Yes I expect you had a little power cut while you were away.

The unit as we know gives very little information about why recordings were missed completely and may just list future episodes for any series links you had set.

Automan.

Headslap!

On the two occasions I have been away for more than a week, the Foxsat has let me down with missed recordings.

I am of the opinion that the EPG is not updated if the HDR is left to it's own devices, consequently, no programmes listed to be recorded can be scheduled after the EPG runs out of data.

That can't be true my hdr recorded everything I asked it to during a 2.5Wk holiday in August

Me too. Twenty-eight days to be precise.

I still don't like the retune behaviour at all - minor lineup changes seem very frequent on Freesat and more than once this dialogue has rescanned when i didn't want it to.

- The dialogue doesn't seem to stay on screen for long
- Seems to default to scanning (or registers 'buffered' remote commands from the boot process and responds to them)
- requires another input to save results
- clears the current memory BEFORE scanning so that if the process is interrupted you end up with no EPG

This completely fails the 'old parent' test - I couldn't give my parents my Humax box at the moment.
In my view:
- scan behaviour should be configurable (do not present this dialogue)
- it shouldn't clear the current memory until you choose to save a rescan to minimise the chance of an 'empty' EPG
- preferably it should automatically save a scan (why would you NOT want to give than the old one has been deleted?)
- should have a warning if the EPG/scan is empty
- if 'detect new channels' is switched on the scan should be fully automatic. ie rescan with no dialogue and save automatically.

First off, the prognosis (although I think you mean diagnosis), is not correct.

Both of these scenarios have been tested over at Hummy.org, predominantly by Barry, with others confirming. I have also posted the information over here on a few occasions in responses to these type of issues, and I'm sure some other Hummy.org members have, too.

Timers execute perfectly well in Standby until brought out of Standby when it will perform the "retrospective" scan. Also, the EPG does update in the background in Standby. There is no bug to be fixed here. You may be thinking of the power cut scenario, when Bob-Cat indicated it may be difficult to fix with the current configuration.

I was away for over a week, a couple of months ago - no failed recordings. I am away at the moment, home later today, been 10 days this time, and I expect all my recordings to be OK.

Rgds.


Les.

I must admit that I've noticed on a couple of occasions where the EPG hasn't been updated after coming out of standby and needed the 'guide' button pressing to force a refresh. The HDR is always left in standby and can be left in that state regularly for days on end.

I'm away every weekend and the box has never recorded Match of the Day since I bought it back in Dec 2008.

I sent this to Humax support last week:

-------------------------
Sent: 22 September 2009 10:45
To: 'uksupport@humax-digital.co.uk'
Cc: 'freesat@humaxdigital.com'
Subject: Foxsat HDR Major Bug - Scheduled Recordings not Recording

Hello,

I am still experiencing the Foxsat HDR failing to record scheduled recordings. Reading through forum posts on Digital Spy (www.digitalspy.co.uk), other Foxsat HDR owners are also having similar missed recording issues.

Please can you forward this to Bob Hannent, Chief Technologist at Humax.

Bob,
Here is a list of events as happened last weekend to give you a clear understanding of the non recording problem.

Friday 18th Sept
- 18:00. I bring the box out of standby and watch BBC1 for 10 mins
- 18:10. I set the box into standby mode and leave the apartment for the weekend.
- HDR successfully 'wakes up' and records Strictly Come Dancing and The Tudors.
- HDR goes back into standby mode, I assume.

Sat 19th Sept
- 22.30. The HDR should now 'wake up' and record the scheduled Match of the Day programme on BBC1. It has not done so. Note that since 22:00 hours on Friday, the box has been in standby.

Sunday 19 Sept
- 22:30. The HDR fails to record 'Match of the Day 2' and 'Trinity' on ITV2.

It appears as though if the HDR stays in standby for more than X (12 ?) hours, it has trouble "waking up" to record scheduled programmes.

Pls let me know your thoughts and if this software bug will be fixed in the next OTA update.

Many Thanks.
-----------------

Note all the all settings for "Automatic Standby" and "Power Saving in Standby" are the defaults and I've performed a system default reset several times.

Back home now, and just checked the box. All recordings successful, a very extensive list, the HDD is nearly full

The box was in Standby throughout the 10-day period.

Rgds.


Les.

I am away for a 5-6 day period at least once a month and recordings take place reliably.

My HD is 70% full.

Bartholomew,

I won't be handling your email because that is an issue for customer services and they will manage the issue in the way that best suits the problem. Our next software release is really rather extensive and should help many people with their issues but as yet I will not confirm what it will do.

Can I just say that it is not my role to respond to customer faults or issues individually, nor is it actually to track each issue. I come on to Digital Spy to attempt to correct people where there has been some miss-understanding and I have also attempted to use DS as a method of communicating news. I am not here in an official capacity and my presence here is not always particularly popular with colleagues; I visit this forum because I want to do these things to benefit the consumers so please don't take me for granted.

Bob

Graham, on the two occasions I was away for more than a week, on turning on my Humax and pressing Guide, the EPG had missing data, and recordings to do with this missing data had not been made. After the EPG then became fully populated, the programmes to be recorded were then scheduled. At the time my firmware was 1.00.02, & I have 'Power Saving in Standby' set to ON.

Well, the power cut scenario is enirely possible and the most likely it would seem.

I am still very very annoyed though at such an obvious flaw in the design and implementation of a device clearly aimed at this sort of task.

What an absolute crock for this to have not been covered at the design stage of the device or for an update to have been issued.

I am not happy and seriously considering going back to Sky+ (and the small amount i would have to pay each month for basic package) PURELY for ease of use.

Never mind the old people test, what about the wrath of wife test?! I proposed that I spend 300 quid on a new PVR last year that would pay for itself (over Sky+) in 1.5 years. We decided to go for it and frankly have been disappointed.

This may well be the final straw. Bob Cat I hope you are reading and feed this info back to your team. I am delighted that you respond to the comments on this forum which i readily admit is not the official Humax feedback site but as i know you frequent this forum, please take note - one very dissatisfied customer!

Jono

That would not be a sensible decision purely based on the power fail issue.

You can get a UPS for less that £40. How many months of the cheapest Sky package is that?

Yes it's an annoyance but returning to Sky would be cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Pressing guide dumps the buffered epg data and loads a new one from scratch so it's not surprising there was missing data. Try pressing schedule and red which will instantly display the buffered copy of the epg.

Bob Cat,

The response I got from Humax customer services the first time I reported this was nothing. The second time I mentioned it they told me to reset the box through the default settings.

I respect your knowledge and comments and just thought it might be beneficial, for Humax customer services, to mention the matter to a more senior Humax employee on the development team.

I'm deeply sorry if I have caused you any offence...

Bart.

@ Savvy/Tern,

Glad to hear your recordings worked.

During the time you were away, at any point was the box doing nothing (i.e not recording) for more than a 24 hours or so?

I think the issue with mine is that if it sleeps for x hours, it just can't wake up again until I intervene.

I would be very surprised if the box recorded something every night over the ten or so 5-6 night absences during the last 10 months.

However, I couldn't 100% guarantee that this was not the case.

I can't see any logical reason why this should be a problem as I believe the box turns itself on at 3am every day for housekeeping. I've certainly seen it do that on a number of occasions so there should never really be a >24 period when it is off.

Tern,

Yep there's no logical reason for the box to behave in this manner.

I have no issues Mon-Fri with any recordings. I did some more tests this wekend:
-------------
Friday 25th Sept
- 18:15. I bring the box out of standby and watch tv for 1/2 hour or so.
- 18:45. I set the box into standby mode and leave the apartment for the weekend.
- Strictly Come Dancing records
- The Tudors records
- HDR goes back into standby mode.

Sat 26th Sept
- 12:00 Football Focus Records
- Strictly Coming Dancing - Does not record
- MOTD - Does not record

Sunday 27th Sept
- 22:30. Match of the Day 2 - Does not record
--------------

As mentioned previously, I can back up what sedum55 has quoted. As an example, on Sunday morning, I brought the HDR out of 'power saving standby' to check the EPG (schedule - red button) and noticed that quite a few of the 'time slots' were empty. I didn't check fully to see the full gamut of degradation, but this has happened before. The EPG was only populated by pressing the 'guide' button.

No, Mine recorded lots each day, so no gap of more than 24hrs, but I really can't see how this can impact.

Rgds.

Les.