I am on my second remote handset now, and it has started to go the way of the first, with, buttons either not working at all or multiple operation when pressed once.

Is this a common Humax feature, or am just unlucky?

Hi Ardee
it must be a common fault as i have 2 Humax HDR,s and the two remotes dont work
cant press button 2 and 6
ive been intouch with customer suport and they said email them my recept and they will send a new one but sadly never recieved any after sending the reciept
i had to go out and buy a logitec remote in the end

I agree it's a common failure, the most used buttons become very unresponsive and need a very hard push to do anything. The cheapest Harmony universal is actually cheaper than a genuine replacement.

I bought the Harmony 300 for around £12 - best £12 I've ever spent!

No more aggravation trying to line the Humax remote mm perfect with the box! No more frustrations with unresponsive buttons!

It does seem a bit sad that Humax cannot make a decent handset, though. I have 15 year old handsets which work perfectly. Humax really know how to spoil the ship.

I've always wondered why virtually all remotes use the cheap 'membrane' switches and thus have at least some buttons fail or partially fail long before the controlled item expires.

And yet perfectly good switches are available cheaply as witnessed by calculators which can go on working for decades even though heavily used ones can have their buttons used thousands of times a day.

Why can't they use decent switches on zappers?

[quote=alsatian;47617031]I bought the Harmony 300 for around £12 - best £12 I've ever spent!

Could i ask if the 300(i) is just as suitable ?..as it seems to be nearer £20..perhaps it's the updated model? as i see somewhere in google that it is programmed via the USB of a PC..I usually pop to local Argos..

[quote=stanandjan;47623076]
AFAIK the only difference between the 300 and 300i is the 300 has a matt finish and the 300i a gloss finish!

When my TiVo (s1) handset failed U prised it open, cleaned the accumulated grease from between the membrane and the circuit board and it all worked perfectly.

They should just make handsets easier to open up. Even my old Harmony went a bit duff on the commonly used keys after a few years constant use.

Or just use decent switches in the first place.

Even they fail and if contact cleaner does not cure it your looking at £130 for a replacement (cheapest quote for my Denon RC 884)

Hi,

Yes, they're identical except the 'i' has gloss finish. They normally sell at around £30, but Play.com currently have the matt version for £17.99 (less than £18 saves VAT/duty). One of the reviews implies that they've previously sold it at around £15. For a period just before Christmas their price droppped to £12.99 and (briefly) to £9.99, but there's no guarantee that those prices will ever be repeated.

Yes, it's programmed via USB/PC which has to be connected to the internet to manage your "account" (RC codes and settings are on their web server). This approach has both Pros and Cons which could be discussed at length.

Cheers, Alan.

One thing to note with this device is that you cannot program more than one action to a button. (E.g. Power, 0 ) which you can with more advanced models.

This is a major pain because that feature is very useful for getting over the Humax's various UI annoyances.

It's particularly annoying as the 300 has more buttons than the 555 which would have made it better for these 'macro' commands.

Also it does not have the screen and light of the 555 which could be good - I find them positive annoyance (the light comes on randomly when you walk in the same room, wasting the battery, but often does not come on when you want to use the device).

It is nonetheless, a good device in other respects.

After move to Win 7 and 2 family drive replacements i am looking forward to more rewarding graft on the video stuff.
I am grateful to all who have inputted ..


Stan

hi again,jus. t tried to set timer to record a programme on wed .scrolled to wed listings and remote froze.the remote would not take any commands.i went to humax box and tried to set box manualy,still no joy.tried to switch of box with remote,no response,i had to switch of box at mains,did that powered up box and lo and behold box started taking commands again.have also noticed box is taking about 1minute to boot up when i initially switch on.is it a problem with my box or remote? i have a humax foxsat pvr,thanks in advance,bye the way great forum,i really enjoy reading all your knowlegable answers to people like me who dont have much of a clue about sat tv.once again a big thank you to you all

sorry i should have mentioned,humax pvr is 8months old.

John, it might be worth performing a factory reset at some point in time. Make a note of your scheduled recordings so that you can re-enter them after. Also you will need to reset any personal preferences like screen res and aspect and the sound will need to be ramped back up from its default 50%. A manual scan will restore channels in non-freesat mode.
Check the batteries are charged enough. A tip worth trying is to perform a soft reset on the remote by pressing the red and OK button together until the opaque pvr button blinks.

Undocumented feature of the remote:

If the white buttons at the top (PVR, TV, DVD, Amp) flash three times rather than once when you press a control, your batteries are flat.

thank you gaseusclay for your very quick reply to my problem with remote,did as you suggested and done soft reset,all working fine now ,thank you once again.

Hello, new to this forum and not sure if I should add my handset problem here or start another thread?

Anyway, here is a brief description and hope it is ok.

Have had our new Humax Foxsat HDR 500GB just 3 days.
It has replaced an older working Sky digibox to enable both HD tv and to record programs while watching another.

Have recent good quality dish and LNB which has worked fine with the Sky box.

After the initial straightforward set-up of the Foxsat HDR with just a single cable (and without the loop through) all worked well although some of the commands from the remote didn't appear as logical as the Sky handset and I had a little difficulty deciphering the Humax manual, but I put this down to unfamiliarity.

After 2 days decided to make a cable for the loop through and fit it, also managed to record something too although again the commands didn't appear very intuitive.

A bit later yesterday evening a couple of commands weren't working as they should, even to the point that I couldn't switch the Humax set off.

By the end of the evening the handset will not operate any command on the Humax set although the tv lamp lights whenever a button is pressed.

I haven't tried to enable the handset to operate any other equipment, it's just as it arrived.

Initially I couldn't even switch the set off manually but after switching off at the mains it works with all the manual buttons on the front of the set,

Have tried the following (though it's not much!) Changed handset batteries - removed batteries for 10 minutes and re-fitted - switched off all AV equipment at the mains for 10 minutes then reconnected - removed the link through co-ax cable

Went to bed and tried again this morning with same negative results. tried to create a factory default reset but as I couldn't key in the pass code (no facility on the machine front panel) it's not possible to do this. Then found this thread.

Am using the supplied HDMI cable to a 4 month old Samsung LE40C530 40" Full HD 1080p LCD TV. The tv hasn't given one moment of trouble since purchase.

So a 3 day old Foxsat set that I can barely operate, is this just a handset problem or as I am new to this equipment have I missed something very simple.

Many thanks indeed.

The Humax remote control system is very insensitive, and will seem appalling if you are used to the Sky handset, which only has to be in the same room to work perfectly.

Have you removed the second protective film from the front panel behind the front flap? Even if you have, the handset has to be accurately aimed to work reliably. Boring a large hole in the plastic filter in front of the handset LED helps a lot, but you will not want to do that with a new unit.

The fact that the indicator on the handset lights when you press a button eliminates another common problem that some of the buttons stop working, but this usually takes several months to appear in any case.

On the other hand, you may have a genuinely faulty unit.

Usual advice is try a factory reset. There are manual buttons under the flap. If you have recording reservations make a note of them you will need to put them back

Press the button marked PVR thats what you want to control not the TV.

Thank you all and in particular REPASSAC, you were spot on!

I'm afraid that I'm not very well versed in electricals and electronics as never had too much interest in hi fi or tv, so made an elementary mistake of not understanding that I had inadvertently changed the the device the remote was trying to operate. The basics are all working perfectly now...

I really appreciate all who have taken the time to help, hope to do the same some time.

I can tel you most of the poster just did not register the two words I highlighed - I had the same problem once.