I've had a look through some threads on this topic and from what I can gather, there's no way i can just plug my sb stick into my box and play video files downloaded from the internet.

The file I have is an AVI file (I don't have any more details than that because there is nothing in the properties of the file to give more details on the type of file).

I read somewhere that Humax boxes CAN understand MPG's. Is this correct? If it is correct then am I right in saying that all I need to do is find a way of converting my AVI file into a MPG file?

search the web for AV2HDR it's a free utility that converts video files to a format that the HDR will play. It won't convert avi files so you'll have to convert then to the correct format. There's plenty of threds on here and other places that will help you out

Thanks for taking the time to post. I'll give it a go.

I found some instructions here http://foxsat-hdr.blogspot.com/p/av2hdr.html that describe in more detail how to do what you are suggesting.

also try this link http://www.avforums.com/forums/frees...-transfer.html

should give you some more info

Have you got a BluRay player that plays these formats from a source on the network ? If you have then avoid the trouble of converting them (they'll get bigger) and keep them on HDR disk, play them from the BluRay.

If you have an alternative place to put them, i.e. a network drive (NAS) then even better place to put them,

Most of my one hour recordings on the Humax have only 15 mins or so i [my wife actually] want to keep ..so my Autumn project is going to be to Raydonise the Box as it is now out of guarantee.. I noted with interest the NAS drive comment and wondered if that would encompass mine as it was a Cheapo some time ago.. hence I always thought that it had limited facilities.
.It works Ok thru' the BT HH2 for the Laptop and other Win XP PCs.. but the Panny TV never seems to see it when it looks for a Media Recorder..
The poor beast seemingly has no name other than...' NAS Dongle' ..I would settle for SD progs and have more space to keep the HD recordings..Is it a likely goer please?

Stan