Hi

For programs recorded over the last couple of Weeks we have had instances while watching recorded programs, of brief image breakup, image freezing for a few seconds and then the recording carrying on, screen going blank ,with message saying someting about no signal- channel scrambled and then the recording carrying on. Live TV is fine.

I have done a factory reset and re-tune with no improvement.

Has anyone else seen this and can suggest a solution?

As live TV is fine and signal strength is fine, around 80% I am assuming the feed is fine and therefore this is a potential issue with the hard drive?

I could try reformatting the Hard Drive but this would mean losing our recordings? I believe you can backup up some/all of the recording to a USB stick first? If so are there any issues or limitations to this? For example, can I select which programs to backup? Is there a maximum size to the Pen Drive? etc. etc.

Hoping someone can help/advise.

I think a reformat is the way forward. Probably easier to enable FTP and copy all the recordings and support files off using an FTP client to a PC. The recordings will still be encrypted but this will not matter as they will be copied back to the same box.

Pen drives or USB Hard disk drives can be used for backup but if formatted to FAT32 for a P.C. there is a single file limit of 4GB. Not sure of Max. pendrive size but HDDs can be up to 2TB. Note if you format (up to 1TB) a HDD from your Humax, files bigger than 4GB can be used BUT this format is not compatible with a P.C., If would be O.K. to be copied back to the internal HDD though.

You can select which programs to backup using the OPT+ copy function on your Remote

Thanks Martin and Ezra. External H. Drive sounds like the best option but ideally formatted in a particular way by the Humax. I don't have a spare external hard drive or have my Humax coonected over the Internet so this is not n option for me. I will have a go at the USB option. Do you know if the Humax can also format USB pen drives to its proprietary format as there are bound to be some files larger than 4GB?

I managed to get hold of an External Hard Drive, and have sorted out how to do this. The instructions for this in the manual are vague (to me). Therefore, in case it is of use to anyone else here are some instructions I have put togetther. Please feel free to comment/correct. Hope this of use to someone else.

• You can back up to USB pen drives or an external hard drive via the USB port on the front of the Humax. One hour of HD recording equates to around 2GB or storage:
• Pen drives have to be formatted to Fat32 (typically they are by default). Fat32 has a 4GB file size limit and therefore OK for most recordings unless they are over 2 hours long.
• External HD acceptable formats are Fat32 and Ext3. The easiest way to do this is to plug your hard drive into a USB port on your PC and use something like Easeus Partition Master (Home edition is free). Give the “Top Level” folder a name like “Humax Backup”. The only disadvantage of EXT3 format is that Windows 7 doesn’t recognise Hard Drives formatted in this way and you won’t be able to easily view files on the external Hard Drive using your PC. (There must be a way to do this?)
• Note: For HD recording my understanding is that due to copyright protection you can only play back HD recordings on the Humax you have copped content from.

To Copy/Backup

Note if planning a long backup ensure none of the Power Saving settings on the Humax are On (System Settings).

• Suggest you do a trial run with one folder first and try playing it back (see below) if the process has worked OK
• Plug in USB device to front USB port on Humax
• Press Media on Humax remote
• Use the Red button to select folders/programs you want to copy (a tick appears next to selected folders/programs)
• Press OPT+
• Select Move/Copy
• It will display HDD (My Video) (the Humax Hard Drive) and the “Top Level” folder of your USB Drive, in this example “Humax Backup”
• Use arrow key to highlight Humax Backup and the Red Copy “Button” at the bottom of this screen will become “active”. (Note: you have to copy to folder on the USB drive otherwise the red button doesn’t become active)
• Press the Red Button on the Humax remote
• Humax will display "Copying" in the top right hand corner.
• Note: Copying is displayed for a set amount of time and therefore when no longer displayed it doesn’t mean the copying process has finished. To check if still Copying press the Media button on the Humax remote again. On my machine it takes around 10mins to copy 1hrs worth of recording

To Playback Copy on External USB Drive

• Press Media on Humax Remote
• Press Blue button on remote (Storage)
• Select USB, OK.
• Navigate to your copy of a recording and play as normal using your Humax Remote

May I just pick up on a point in the first post in this thread? Our Humax - Fox T2, bought Aug 11 - sometimes has the digital breakup, usually we miss a sentence or two of dialogue (very irritating in crime programmes), the picture jumps, sometimes we just get blotches on screen. We have retuned ourselves and had it retuned "professionally" by the antenna installers. [We had new aerial last year when East Midlands did the digital switchover.]

Is it possible our problem is a hard disk one? Is it possible that reformating will fix it? (We have almost given up on the box so losing what little we have stored is not an issue.) Do we do the reformat by Menu-Settings-System-Data Storage?

thanks in anticipation

[quote=jrswb;57730631]We have retuned ourselves and had it retuned "professionally" by the antenna installers. [We had new aerial last year when East Midlands did the digital switchover.[/quote
What are the signal strength and quality readings on the affected multiplexes?


If you only get the problem when watching recordings and not when watching live via the Humax then I think there is a good chance thet a reformat will work.

Yes.

Thank you, Martin. We hardly ever watch TV live so am not sure about problems on live watching, certainly since it was professionally retuned. We aren't very technical, but watched the aerial installer do it and the Waltham transmitter channels he was setting up all seemed to have good strength and quality. We will try to watch the few things we have recorded that we care about and then reformat. Having bought the Humax from Best Buy when they opened, we are a bit stuck for a replacement. As far as we know our neighbours don't have these problems, although many of them are on cable or satellite. Thanks for your help.

If it is important, I can try to find the strengths and qualities.

I would expect that Humax would honour the warranty.