I have also just returned from vacation and found that recordings stopped exactly 7 days after my departure date. The PVR was left in standby mode. It would suggest that the EPG did not update. Any ideas on why this should occur? There was a message on the screen to rescan for channel changes - but this has been dismissed as a reason for failure in earlier posts in this thread.

I'm sure that wasn't a power cut during my absence - I know when this happens as other appliances need resetting if this happens.

I note also that any expired series links need to be deleted manually. Is this normal? The manual is not a great deal of help on this (and many other) matter.

Ian
Last edited by icoleman : 30-09-2009 at 11:01

First of all you have to delete expired series links manually unless you leave them for 13 wks. There is no end of series flag sent. Very strange I have recorded longer than 7 days without problems.

Yes, this is another example of what I was referring to in my 2 posts earlier in this thread & Caoimhghin confirms. There is a problem here for some.

I've just returned from 10 day holiday.

Looks like recordings during last weekend and Monday worked fine but none since then worked (Ugly Betty on E4 Tuesday and Later on BBC 2 Friday - I'm assuming they were both on). Recordings yesterday after we'd taken the box out of standby worked fine and the series links look to be sat waiting for the next week of programs.

I've not had any other issues with recordings recently.

No noticible power cuts (clocks ok) so not sure what the issue is. Would agree there could be something that arises when the box is left for a few days home alone.

In preparation for another long trip away I just noticed something odd. Channel 4 is not populated on EPG beyond 06:00 October 10th, but all other channels are. What would happen with a series link for Four if it was for Saturdays after that time? Would Channel 4 catch up or would it generate a failed recording?
Having just come back from another trip everything I marked for recording is all there. No padding used.

I couldn't believe it last night, when I got back from the weekend to find that both MOTD and MOT2 had actually recorded.

However I did the following a few days before:

1. Performed a Factory Reset.
2. Kept the "Automatic Standby" option to enable. I had this set to disable before. All other settings as default.
3. Manually tuned in the non freesat channels on Astra and Hotbird 13.0E.
4. Friday 6pm. Switched on to BBC1 and pressed the Guide button. Waited for 10 mins or so then set box to standby.

Return late Sunday night - MOTD/MOTD2 on a series link has recorded

I'll leave the box as is now and see if it records next weekend.

On all three occassions I have had failed recordings when on holiday.

The machine is left in standby and on EVERY occassion the first thing I see when I power up the machine is the found new channels message stuck there.

I went away on the 11th Sept and returned on 28th. Recordings made on the weekend of 12/13th were OK after than - nothing.

There was a channel change on 15/09/09. I had no noticable power cuts. I'll have to go back and re-read this thread as I understand the channel change has been discounted, but to me it seems too much of a coincidence.

I had expected the Humax to fail, so as a precaution I also recorded all the progs on Freeview as a back stop.

Reading back... maybe I must have had power cuts. We do get them frequently living out in the sticks... sometimes they are just quick cuts, not even long enough to reset some of the clocks.

Based on experiment short interruptions up to about 25 sec are OK as the stored energy in the power supply will keep the clock going. If you switch off the box at the rear and time how long the red light takes to go out it will give you a good idea. Imagine if low power sby is off the time will be a lot shorter

@Bart, failed recordings aren't always the box. Sometimes they indicate missing or improper epg markers and they are the responsibility of the broadcaster. Its entirely possible given that your missed recordings were restricted to MOTD that it was an epg marker problem with that programme rather than a wider problem with the box as a whole.

Were any of the last successful recordings on the 13th from a part-time channel like BBC3/4, i.e. a channel that closes down for a period during the day/night?

Rgds.


Les.

This is not the case if the box is within T-15 minutes of a scheduled recording. If there is only a breif interruption of power the box will obviously power down but the red light extinguishes immediately and then reboots on return of power then turns itself back off, and I guess the box then doesn't know what time it is to make any subsequent recordings.

Good point, what a shame it does not work like it does when the box is fully powered. Presumably it will be the same if the recording had started when the cut occurred

I understand what you're saying but surely the recordings would have failed on my freeview 9200T too as the BBC would be sending out the same epg marker ?

Sorry I should have said that prior to my 'Factory Reset', other programmes as well as MOTD, consistently did not record over a weekend.

The meta data for freesat is not the same as for freeview

Agreed. But unlikely the BBC would send correct metadata out for MOTD on Freeview but not on Freesat since Dec 2008.

I wish I could share your optimism, but the BBC have previously demonstated their ineptitude over freesat meta-data issues. For example their transmission of series CRID data that has not been backed up with the appropriate programme CRID data on channels like BBC Alba and programmes like 'Click' on BBC News, to name a few.

Missing recordings after 7 days. Been away for 2 weeks. Switched on box and found all recordings for week 1 were good. Nothing recorded in week 2, however all series timers have updated to next week! Really strange.

No power cuts whilst away, all other clocks good and checked with neighbour.

On powering up box EPG appeared almost empty, never seen it like this before. Took about a minute of receiving data before populated.

I left box in stby, with power saving enabled.

My conclusion is that EPG failed to update whilst I was away, not sure why all the timers updated though - would have expected them to be out of date. Thinks.. however I probably checked them after watching the EPG populate so I guess they updated at the same time?

Bobcat (if you read this). Would leaving the box 'on' or stby without power saving help? Is this a fault that has been considered in the 2012 update (only joking?)

I have just returned from my new year's break, the first over 7 day absence since the new software upgrade 1.00.12, and can report that the EPG was fully populated at turn on & no recordings were lost. Things are looking up. Now there's just this green screen bug!!

I returned from an 11 day holiday on Saturday 2nd Jan. All recordings were fine and to reduce the likelihood of a power cut I set the HDR to switch off at 2:55 AM and switch on at 3:20AM (on channel 986).

However I did notice that although all scheduled timers had updated bringing up a cached EPG showed that there was no EPG data for any channels on the following Tuesday or Wednesday (only one day - can't remember which). All the other days were fully populated. Pressing Guide sorted it out - but very odd why 1 day was completely blank.


And the power cut bug

Bob,

Can we take you to be confirming that there WILL be future software releases for the current Foxsat HDR, and that they will be more than the most basic maintenance releases? I'd got the impression that we'd just about had all we were going to get with the current model, and all the goodies Humax are working on are for future hardware models.

It would be helpful if you could confirm that, without giving too much away? (Actually, it would be helpful if you gave lots away (!), but I understand of course that you don't want to talk about the detail of what will and won't be in future software releases).

p

Sorry - just noticed that this is an old thread from months ago that had been revived, and realised that the "next software release" Bob referred to was one we've already had ....

p

Hence my decision to get a refund for my Humax and return to Sky.

Given the technical nature of this issue i bet you will never get a fix for it.

I waited almost a year for 'the update' and was very disappointed to see it didn't address essential functionality for a PVR.

In my opinion this rendered the box unusable and unfit for purpose.

I am much happier now i am back with Sky, but yes, i do have to pay for what i am now getting.

You get what you pay for!

I am currently pondering getting rid of the Humax and either:-

1. Get a Goodmans (or maybe splash the cash and go for a Panasonic) Freesat PVR.
2. Supplement my ancient Thomson DHD4000 Freeview PVR with a non-Humax Freeview HD PVR when they are available in a few months time.
3. See what the Virgin Media and Tivo partnership come up with and possibly upgrade the Virgin Sevices to replace the normal V box in my room with a V+ (although I am already on one of the top packages paying £85 a month).

Decisions, decisions...

Edit: How long had you had the Humax before you returned it? You see I tend to agree that a basic function of a PVR is that it should be able to recover on its own with no user intervention as soon as power is restored. They gave us iPlayer functionality* which I didn't pay for (or want) yet they can't fix the basic problems.

*Before anyone corrects me, technically the BBC gave us iPlayer Humax just provided the necessary MHEG extensions etc.