Hi Guy's. Been enjoying having the Humax Foxsat-HDR and not had a lot of problems. I am having one problem though which try as I might I cannot resolve. My wife and I only watch TV from 6pm through to around 10pm. We do record an assortment of programs to watch during this period. If there is a program being recorded at the time we switch the TV on, I find that we are unable to watch the TV or alter the sound or anything. This only happens when a program is being recorded when we switch on. If there is no program being recorded then we have no problems at all. Why are we shut out when a program is recording? If a program is et up and starts to record whilst we are watching the TV we do not have any problems at all. We watch our program and the other program records. I must apologise if this sounds a load of gibberish, but hope that someone will recognise what is happening and be able to advise us. Many thanks for any help with this.

It sounds like the TV is set to the wrong source - try changing it on the TV remote.

Is the HDR connected to the TV using a SCART lead or an HDMI lead?

Thanks for the reply. Had a look behind the TV and I can see an HDMI lead plugged in. Hope that this helps you to help me further. As I said earlier, I have no problems if a program begins to record whilst I am watching TV. The only problem comes if it is already recording and I want to watch TV. I can do nothing untill the recording finishes and then I can view as normal. Thank you.

Hi,

Is the box recording in the stanby mode when this happens. If so switch the box on first and then switch on the TV.

I find that if I am recording in stanby and switch on tv I get a blank screen.

Marina

I am thinking is that for some reason the TV is auto-switching to the HDMI input when the HDR wakes up to record. This shouldn't happen but as my TV doesn't auto-switch I can't say if the issue would be at the TV end or the HDR end. The OP could try moving the HDMI lead to another socket on the TV and see if that fixes it but I suspect they would then lose the auto-switching they have become used to when wanting to watch the HDR. Better perhaps to find the button on the TV's remote control which switches the source back to the TV's internal tuner.

I also get the same 'problem' when recording in standby - I get round this by selecting the 'tv source' on the remote.

Hi you lovely people. I just tried an experiment. Set up a program to record. Turned the set off and waited. When the recording started, I tried to switch on the TV and the Humax. They switched on okay but I was totally unable to do anything to get a picture or program.

I waited until the recording had finished. Switched on the TV and Humax. sorted out the channel I wanted to watch. Found a program to record and set the recording up. I sat and watched my program whilst the Humax recorded another program elsewhere. I was able to change channels and eventually switched the whole lot off. Waited a few minutes, then switched the Humax and TV back on again with no problems anywhere. I could change channels and the recording was unaffected. It finished the recording and that was it.

Why then can I not get this performance if the recording starts before I switch the set on? Something must be blocking everything out, but I am blessed if I can fathom out what it might be. Just hope that this will help a little.

The problem is most likely down to HDCP used on the HDMI output of the box. In order for the box to send HD pictures it has to undergo a process known as handshaking. Basically the TV tells the box it's a TV not a recorder. If handshaking fails it's down to some incompatibilities in the hdcp implementation between the TV and the HDR.

Possible fixes to force hdcp renogotiation.

Cycle through the vformat output options using the vformat button on the hdr remote.

Change the input port used by the TV using the button on the TV remote (probably a little TV with an arrow pointing in or marked AV) and back to the hdmi port the hdr is connected to.

Are you saying that you can't change the TV input port while the hdr is recording ?

What make and model of TV do you have ?

Hi Graham. The model of TV is Panasonic TX-L32D25B. Does that help?

Yes indeed, at a guess you have the hdr connected to hdmi1. On Panny tv's this has a non standard setup that auto selects on port activity rather than the standard CEC hdmi control that the hdr has. It's probably this that is causing the problem. If you use a different hdmi port hopefully it will solve your problem but after making this change to watch the hdr you will have to manually select the hdmi port on the TV you are using.

Most interested in 'Port Activity' as our Panny TX-L42E30B i had assumed a 'priority system' Quirk of it's own.
Without a thought I accorded Pride of Place to the HUmax by using HDMI1 when we set it up over 3 months ago..
the Sky is plugged into the SCART..AV1
The Humax records and deletes about 6 progs every day..very few are actually watched..and i have never experienced the problem described
With being in a happy rut with all the 4HDMI ports ..i am reluctant to move the cables around unless i would see an obvious benefit.However..
The quirk is when i have a Musical like a Doris Day film set to record on the Panny USB....the TV set assumes that janet obviously wants to watch it too.. and switches off the Sky input..She is not then amused or impressed..We then have all the symptoms described
Although in our case the Scart Input is preordained in Hotel mode to be Priority start at switch on..
Would this be an extended element of the Port Activity control that you mention please? I cannot find any mention of such in the Manual...hence i am keen to learn more..