[RonnieMarath]

I've had the HDR Fox T2 1TB since last year, and it been great, no problems.
But recently within rthe last month, we noticed the following issues.
1 - hard disk getting noiser when recording.
2 - recorded programs have missing sections , signal suddenly breaks up like corrupted data, and then skips several minutes and carries on ok.
3 - while watching recorded program, screen freezes and goes blank ,with message saying someting about no signal- channel scrambled . as if signal was lost during recording.

issue 2- seemed to be while the box was recording something, and disk activity was high(noisy). Once the activity subsided usually within a minute, the playback carried on ok.

I read another post about this issue somewhere, being related to 1TB version using 1.02.07 firmware, and to solve it temporarily stepped back to version 1.01.09.
Since doing so, the box has been working well, recordings seem to be ok, and the box is considerably quieter.
we have lost the tv portal, which was useful for iplayer, but have a wii that is better anyway.

Has anyone had similar issue to these, or any solution other than stepping back firmware?

[XxBlaKOuTZxX]

I also have on occassions suffered from the picture breaking up on recorded progs and i think the machine skips past the breakup and then continues playback. I assumed it was/had something to do with the signal to the aerial breaking up or being a bad reception. It only happened to me during wet or stormy weather but since full dso ive never had that same problem although i do still get the message that some recorded progs hadnt been recordered properly due to lack/loss of signal but they are fine when i watch them during playback. No breakup or signal loss at all.

[grahamlthompson]

Originally Posted by XxBlaKOuTZxX

I also have on occassions suffered from the picture breaking up on recorded progs and i think the machine skips past the breakup and then continues playback. I assumed it was/had something to do with the signal to the aerial breaking up or being a bad reception. It only happened to me during wet or stormy weather but since full dso ive never had that same problem although i do still get the message that some recorded progs hadnt been recordered properly due to lack/loss of signal but they are fine when i watch them during playback. No breakup or signal loss at all.

I think you may be confusing the message that you get with the failed recording message that happens if the previous recording programme overruns the start of the next recording which is going to use the same tuner. This just means you have lost a bit of the start of the second recording.

[trilobite]

Originally Posted by RonnieMarath

I've had the HDR Fox T2 1TB since last year, and it been great, no problems.
But recently within rthe last month, we noticed the following issues.
1 - hard disk getting noiser when recording.
2 - recorded programs have missing sections , signal suddenly breaks up like corrupted data, and then skips several minutes and carries on ok.
3 - while watching recorded program, screen freezes and goes blank ,with message saying someting about no signal- channel scrambled . as if signal was lost during recording.

issue 2- seemed to be while the box was recording something, and disk activity was high(noisy). Once the activity subsided usually within a minute, the playback carried on ok.

I read another post about this issue somewhere, being related to 1TB version using 1.02.07 firmware, and to solve it temporarily stepped back to version 1.01.09.
Since doing so, the box has been working well, recordings seem to be ok, and the box is considerably quieter.
we have lost the tv portal, which was useful for iplayer, but have a wii that is better anyway.

Has anyone had similar issue to these, or any solution other than stepping back firmware?

I have not had any problems like this.

Is your aerial reception good? Humax states that a signal strength of at least 30% and signal quality of at least 70% is required to make reliable recordings.

Maybe the aerial (if on the roof) has shifted in the wind, or maybe water has entered the coaxial cable. Or maybe the aerial lead plug has a short circuit (outer braid/foil touching the core wire).

[XxBlaKOuTZxX]

Originally Posted by grahamlthompson

I think you may be confusing the message that you get with the failed recording message that happens if the previous recording programme overruns the start of the next recording which is going to use the same tuner. This just means you have lost a bit of the start of the second recording.

Yeah ur rite. Thanx for the info

[RonnieMarath]

Originally Posted by trilobite

I have not had any problems like this.

Is your aerial reception good? Humax states that a signal strength of at least 30% and signal quality of at least 70% is required to make reliable recordings.

Maybe the aerial (if on the roof) has shifted in the wind, or maybe water has entered the coaxial cable. Or maybe the aerial lead plug has a short circuit (outer braid/foil touching the core wire).

The aerial signal is good, no problems with the picture on any other TVs or my other Humax 9200T. Haven't checked the cables.
Since reverting back to the previous software, the box has become much less noisy.
I have still encountered an occasional lockup during playback, which has occurred while a recording is taking place in the background, i get a black screen with message saying channel is unavailable or scrambled, i hear lots of activity on the box , then after a minute or two it unlocks and the playback continues. This was happening regularly with the latest software, but has now been reduced to occasionally. I have not encountered any missing sections in any recordings so far since reverting back.

[trilobite]

Originally Posted by RonnieMarath

The aerial signal is good, no problems with the picture on any other TVs or my other Humax 9200T. Haven't checked the cables.
Since reverting back to the previous software, the box has become much less noisy.
I have still encountered an occasional lockup during playback, which has occurred while a recording is taking place in the background, i get a black screen with message saying channel is unavailable or scrambled, i hear lots of activity on the box , then after a minute or two it unlocks and the playback continues. This was happening regularly with the latest software, but has now been reduced to occasionally. I have not encountered any missing sections in any recordings so far since reverting back.

No problems here, but from day one (Christmas Day 2010), I was aware of the hard disk making searching "tick-tick" sounds. You can even feel them through the casing. I wonder how good the disk suspension cushioning is. Is there any at all?

The fan is occasionally noticable but not obtrusive to my dull ears.

[OwenSmith]

Originally Posted by trilobite

No problems here, but from day one (Christmas Day 2010), I was aware of the hard disk making searching "tick-tick" sounds. You can even feel them through the casing. I wonder how good the disk suspension cushioning is. Is there any at all?

The fan is occasionally noticable but not obtrusive to my dull ears.

The hard disc is held by screws with very broad flange heads and the screw shafts are mounted in rubbery bushes. So in theory there is some suspension. BUT, the screws are too short (in my opinion) so when screwed fully into the disc mounting holes the flanges compress the rubber bushes quite severely. As a result any cushioning ability the bushes might have is ruined. I've unscrewed all of mine by a full turn on all four of the flanged screws so that the drive is held only lightly in the left/right direction, allowing the rubber bushes to expand to their full size and not be held rigidly. This has reduced the vibration transfer from the hard disc to the HDR Fox T2 chasis.

I find the fan a pain, it is too loud when running at full speed. What really irks me is that it is completely off for the first 1.5 hours, then decides that things are too hot and comes on full blast to cool the box down. If the fan never fully turned off but always ran at some minimum speed, I believe this would very much delay the onset of needing to run the fan faster. It should also not suddenly jump to full speed, it should see the temperature going up and increase fan speed slightly. The only way to reach a stable equilibrium on the fan speed is to leave the box on all the time, which is ridiculous.

If I knew more electronics I'd do something about the fan. I don't want to reduce the max speed as the box may at times need it, I want to force a minium speed when the box is on (or recording from standby) that the fan will never drop below. This is probably much easier as a software change but I don't want the faff of messing about with variant software.

[trilobite]

I know what you mean. My old Thomson DHD4000 pvr had a degree of speed control, and you could watch the speed altering itself in the hidden technical menu. There were also temperature monitors for the unit itself, as well as the hard disk. Although if you replaced the original disk with another, larger capacity disk, the temperature of the disk was always stuck at 100° Celsius. Just a discrepancy in the temperature calibration. Didn't seem to mess up the fan speed.

'Tis a pity about the HDR T2's suspension; another of those good ideas that has been poorly executed. As you mentioned earlier about feeling the vibration, I can feel the whole unit move slightly to the left and right as the disk heads swing back and forth. All for the want of slightly longer screws. Dear, oh dear.

I notice that the Sky+ box, a Mk3 Pace, has very soft spongy foam, sticky-backed feet. They seem to work very well at reducing vibration transmitted to the glass shelves of the tv stand. I might see if I can buy something similar.

[MO70]

Ronnie, I get the same problems too, along with many "failed" recordings. I've now tried the new software (1.02.20) and it's made no improvement.

[RonnieMarath]

After stepping back to 1.01.09 Still getting problems with missing sections in recordings and playback lockups while recordings are starting up or ending.
Noise (disk activity) has reduced to almost nothing, and the problems i get are now occasional, nowhere near as much as before. My auto OTA update hasn't worked, not sure why, so i'm going to update via usb, but as MO70 has tried this with no change, i'm not too hopefull.
I should probably contact HUMAX support, but i don't really want to lose my recordings.
Can recordings be backed up to a drive, and then restored to the hummy once drive has been formatted?

[grahamlthompson]

Originally Posted by RonnieMarath

Noise (disk activity) has reduced to almost nothing, and the problems i get are now occasional, nowhere near as much as before. My auto OTA update hasn't worked, not sure why, so i'm going to update via usb, but as MO70 has tried this with no change, i'm not too hopefull.
I should probably contact HUMAX support, but i don't really want to lose my recordings.
Can recordings be backed up to a drive, and then restored to the hummy once drive has been formatted?

Do you currently get the HD mux ? Although the dtg site does not say so I think the OTA is on the HD mux. And yes you can copy the recordings to a usb drive and replace them after a format. In fact doing so will remove the encryption from SD files.

[MO70]

Originally Posted by RonnieMarath

Can recordings be backed up to a drive, and then restored to the hummy once drive has been formatted?

This thread is a good place to start, although I'm struggling a bit with EXT2FSD. Seems a bit slow and clunky. Had a couple of blue screens on my PC.

[grahamlthompson]

Originally Posted by MO70

This thread is a good place to start, although I'm struggling a bit with EXT2FSD. Seems a bit slow and clunky. Had a couple of blue screens on my PC.

There's no need to involve a PC, the box will format a usb drive EXT3. Assuming it's big enough you can copy the files to the usb disc. Reformat the internal drive and copy them back again.

[RonnieMarath]

Unfortunately i don't have HD yet, reigate seems to be last on the list, so won't get it until next year
I thought the box did an auto update on last OTA, version 1.02.07, maybe that wasn't just on the HD signal?

File copying Looks helpful, i have copied a few programs to USB before but not put them back on again, doesn't look too difficult, might give it ago this weekend, then i can reformat the drive, see if that helps anything.
Is there encryption on SD files, i thought that was just HD?

[grahamlthompson]

Originally Posted by RonnieMarath

Unfortunately i don't have HD yet, reigate seems to be last on the list, so won't get it until next year
I thought the box did an auto update on last OTA, version 1.02.07, maybe that wasn't just on the HD signal?

File copying Looks helpful, i have copied a few programs to USB before but not put them back on again, doesn't look too difficult, might give it ago this weekend, then i can reformat the drive, see if that helps anything.
Is there encryption on SD files, i thought that was just HD?

Everything the HDR FOX T2 records is encrypted, the .htm file associated with each recording has a flag. This flag tells the box to decrypt SD recordings when copying to usb.

Thanks to Raydon you can switch the flag on HD recordings and fool the box into decrypting HD ones as well.

I can't give you a link, hint search HummyTV for Foxy

[RonnieMarath]

upgraded to 1.02.20 last night, via usb.
So far youtube works ok. didn't try iplayer yet.
hard disk noise seesm ok so far, have to monitor over the next few days.

But while playing back a recorded program, a scheduled recording started, and after 10 minutes and 25 minutes i got the blank screen with message - channel is scrambled or unavailable - for about 30sec-1minute, then playback continued.
When i checked the recording, there were 2 places where the recording skipped, corresponding to 10 and 25minutes,when i got the messages on screen.

[MO70]

My 1TB box is behaving itself at the moment, but I'll let you know if it starts skipping. That's on 1.02.20 and after backing up anything I wanted and reformatting the hard drive. I've only put a fraction of what was on it back on so far, so I'll run it like that for a week or two before filling it back up.

[RonnieMarath]

Think i'm going to have to do the same, i've been going through clearing off unwanted recordings, then i'll backup whats left, and reformat.
A pain to have to do it though. Still have about 450GB i'll have to backup and then restore again.

[RonnieMarath]

Haven't had time to reformat yet, but had several lockups again whilst watching a recorded program and recording another at the same time. 3 in the space of 10 minutes, each one corresponded to skipping in recording.

Also noticed some skipping on a program that was recorded unattended with no playback over that time.
So its not just while recoding and playing back at the same time.

[RonnieMarath]

Finally backed up the Hard drive, after several attempts at formatting external 1TB drive to fat32.
Had about 550GB to back up, took about 36hrs in the end, very slow process :-(
Next time i will try the backup method avoiding decryption. (forgot how quick the old 9200t was with the USB modification)

Finally got everything off the box with 1 exception, larger than 4GB, so i left that. Shame there is no edit functionality as there was on the 9200T, i could have just split that one

One big problem occurred while trying to get the last file off the box.
I had a 60GB 2.5" sata external HD which i managed to format to EXT3, but whe plugged into the Humax it was detected, but when i tried to copy to it, i got error message saying "not enough room on the destination drive". HD was empty so this was not correct. i Tried both front and rear ports but no difference. So then i thought the HD with external PSU may help, so added a 5v PSU to the HD, but there was a polarity problem, and the drive died, (not the enclosure though, so not sure what's gone there) .
Now the humax USB ports don't respond to any devices, so i think something has gone internally.

As for the box so far, tried recording and playback at the same time, chase play, and various tests, the original problems seem to have gone. But no external usb access.

Rang humax about it, and the box is being exchanged under warranty so hopefully all will be well again.

[grahamlthompson]

Originally Posted by RonnieMarath

Finally backed up the Hard drive, after several attempts at formatting external 1TB drive to fat32.
Had about 550GB to back up, took about 36hrs in the end, very slow process :-(
Next time i will try the backup method avoiding decryption. (forgot how quick the old 9200t was with the USB modification)

Finally got everything off the box with 1 exception, larger than 4GB, so i left that. Shame there is no edit functionality as there was on the 9200T, i could have just split that one

One big problem occurred while trying to get the last file off the box.
I had a 60GB 2.5" sata external HD which i managed to format to EXT3, but whe plugged into the Humax it was detected, but when i tried to copy to it, i got error message saying "not enough room on the destination drive". HD was empty so this was not correct. i Tried both front and rear ports but no difference. So then i thought the HD with external PSU may help, so added a 5v PSU to the HD, but there was a polarity problem, and the drive died, (not the enclosure though, so not sure what's gone there) .
Now the humax USB ports don't respond to any devices, so i think something has gone internally.

As for the box so far, tried recording and playback at the same time, chase play, and various tests, the original problems seem to have gone. But no external usb access.

Rang humax about it, and the box is being exchanged under warranty so hopefully all will be well again.

The hdr fox (and HD Fox) will format a usb drive to EXT3 for you. You do realise that any HD recordings you copied to usb without using Foxy you won't be able to play on a replacement box ?

[RonnieMarath]

Programmes are all SD, no HD content.
I don't have HD in my area til next year.
So i'm hoping (really hoping!) i am correct in saying that the SD recordings are decrypted when copied to USB?

Also, where is the option to have a usb device formatted? i haven't found that one yet.

[grahamlthompson]

Originally Posted by RonnieMarath

Programmes are all SD, no HD content.
I don't have HD in my area til next year.
So i'm hoping (really hoping!) i am correct in saying that the SD recordings are decrypted when copied to USB?

Also, where is the option to have a usb device formatted? i haven't found that one yet.

Yes SD is decrypted so no problem. You should be able to play them on a PC. Try Splash lite. EXT2FS will let you use the drive on a PC in windows.

I don't have a HDR Fox T2 only a HD FOX T2 but it ought to be similar.

Menu/Settings/System/Datastorage/FormatStorage

[RonnieMarath]

i used that option to reformat the internal HDD, i wasn't sure that it would list all available drives to format, Thought that was only for reformatting the internal one.

I have a laptop with linux on, so i did format a drive as EXT3 but the humax saw it as full, not enough availalbe storage space available. So i eventually went with Fat32.
Will have to experiment when i get the new box before i put anything back on.

Is there a faster way to copy everything back to the unit? Would telnet be quicker or does it need to encrypt everything again?

i tried ftp to see if i could see whats currently on the box, but there seem to be only 3 folders i can see, My Video, Pictures, and Music ( as i recall) , but each time i tried to go into teh Video folder it disonnected the session .