I must admit that I cheated and used a small screwdriver to scrape the paint off.

My fingernails weren`t really up to the job.

I`ve never had appendicitis either.

I would agree with you. I have never had a problem with the Humax Remote. I removed both plastic strips when I acquired the PVR.

I can bounce the signal off the walls, ceiling and even off the dogs bottom if he is lying at a 45 degree angle to the PVR. All at well over a distance of 12 feet.

I wonder if the composition of the lacquer is different on some boxes. Mine has always been pretty directional (not a problem in my case as my Harmony sits on the arm of an armchair facing the box )

What an interesting and informative set of posts, and it's reassuring to know that I am not alone in having difficulty using the Humax remote.

Anyway having investigated I found that I had, in fact, already removed the protective film from the display etc. under the front flap, or that it had never been there in the first place, so I'm afraid that that has not provided a solution. I did, however, find that the protective film under the flap on my son's machine hadn't been removed so I did that but again with no noticeable improvement. I will now try to remove the coating from the aperture for IR sensor and report back.

Many thanks again to everyone for their help with what is clearly a pretty widespead problem. GSD.

Outstanding,removing the coating works great,i can point the remote almost anyway.The best tip i've seen on here.

I couldn't remove the film from the small circular window with my finger nail, but a tissue with a little of my wifes nail polish remover worked a treat.

Nail polish remover is made from acetone. I'm surprised you didn't melt the plastic!

Did you get that from the Kama Sutra ?

No, sniffing too much of the wife's nail varnish remover!

Finger nails didn't work.
I tried meths but it didn't remove it completely. So I resorted to acetone on a bit of tissue.
Acetone doesn't dissolve the transparent plastic, but does soften the opaque plastic & the adhesive between clear plastic & opaque plastic.
I finished up by using a tiny bit of abrasive material used to clean so called "non-stick" pans.
That finished it.
It made it considerably better !
I can now bounce it off the ceiling & walls (apologies to lyrics writers of "The Telephone Man" & the "Kama Sutra")
This was with a Harmony 100 & the remaining working functions of my Humax remote.

During earlier problems with the Humax I pondered using a 12mm drill, but didn't for cosmetic reasons.

David

Must say I have never really had a problem with remote, however, if you look at where the sensor on it is mounted, it does not really point forward, but the window is under it's "belly". So, point the remote approximately 45degrees up towards receiver and I have found it works a bit better.

Also, I bought mine a month or so ago and again, never really had a problem with the "guide" button. Always, and still does, shows the EPG straight away, all but, without a background picture.

Is this normal, ie, no background pic for about 30 secs?

Under Diagnostics it says that the Software Version is HPRSFCI 1.00.17 and the Update date is 20 Sept 2011.

Is this as it should be?



Cheers

TC

Should? I would not go that far. It is the way it is but not they way many would like it to be.

To avoid the delay, access the cached EPG by pressing Schedule then Red instead.