Review of new Humax 9200TB

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Grannygrunt

20-06-2007

Originally Posted by TonyW:
“If you have it set to turn onto BBC1 at first, you should see a vast improvement. When my machine comes out of standby, it has been set to start on BBC1, and the 8-day guide is loaded in less than 10 minutes.”

Yes TonyW I am aware of this, but I would argue that you shouldn't have to do this. I have Freeview in my TV, guide is there on that immedietly, have also had other PVR's and set top boxes,and the guide has been immedietly available when coming out of standby. It is the only thing that lets the Humax 9200t down (and it's predecessor that I also owned. Once Humax have fixed this, it will be nigh on perfect!!

GG

wgmorg

20-06-2007

That's good... that'll take it from the 8 Mbps I get to 12Mbps USB full speed.

Originally Posted by asjonesuk:
“But there is a post elsewhere on either this forum - or the hummy forum that says that someone has found an "un-necessary" CRC check - which when removed speeds up USB transfers by as much as 20%

in fact here is the post: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...hp?t=595366#14

Andy”

Grannygrunt

20-06-2007

Well if that is so, then it has had some work on it, I timed it today with me staying on Sky Three and the eight days fully populated in 5 minutes!! So Humax are getting there!

GG

son_t

20-06-2007

Originally Posted by Grannygrunt:
“Well if that is so, then it has had some work on it, I timed it today with me staying on Sky Three and the eight days fully populated in 5 minutes!! So Humax are getting there!

GG ”

This is consistent with the Accurate Recording facility... That the Hummy comes on in 'stealth' mode 15mins before a schedule timer to that it can check the EPG after 5 mins and leave the 10mins window open for changes in the schedule...

(The new firmware must be using the 2 channels PiP trick and some optimisation to populate the EPG

)

Grannygrunt

20-06-2007

Originally Posted by TonyW:
“On the subject of accurate recording/auto padding, I see it like this: accurate recording should account for schedule changes, like say Coronation Street starting 15 minutes later, but you'd still not want to miss the start at 7.45 so padding surely would take care of that if you set it to start 1 minute beforehand? Or have I misunderstood completely?”

TonyW, I don't quite know how this accurate recording will pan out, I think honestly that we will all just have to try it out, so don't quote me, but I think that it works by flagging the recording set and not starting until it 'encounters' that flag, and same with the ending. It states in the leaflet that comes with the new box, and I quote....
Auto tracking can track the changes of the reserved programme. Even when the broadcasting time of the reserved programme is changed, you can still record the reserved programme with the auto tracking feature. (quoted from Humax Auto Tracking guide.) So it really is meant to be used instead of padding and to eliminate any need for padding at all.

GG

wgmorg

20-06-2007

Its is USB 2.0 ... FULL SPEED ... Hi-SPEED was never claimed.

Are there any USB Hi-SPEED devices that achieve 480 Mbps ... most you can really expect is 80-100 Mbps.

Originally Posted by son_t:
“With a dedicated cross over cable you could get throughput near 100Mbit/s (give or take ) Just to confuse even more. If the USB link was Hi Speed, then you could get a theoretical 480Mbit/s throughput! So imagine how everyone got upset when the Hummy was first released promising USB2.0 transfers and no one could transfer at this (Hi)speed! Imagine that 1.2Gb file transfered to your PC in 20 seconds ! (give or take )”

TonyW

20-06-2007

I think the problem with accurate recording/tracking may well lie with the fact not all channels are delivering the relevant flags. Until we have assurances they all do this, it might be safer to just use padding.

son_t

20-06-2007

Originally Posted by wgmorg:
“Its is USB 2.0 ... FULL SPEED ... Hi-SPEED was never claimed.

Are there any USB Hi-SPEED devices that achieve 480 Mbps ... most you can really expect is 80-100 Mbps.”

I know... I said, when it first came out, everyone was expecting USB2.0 Hi Speed transfer... also the theoretical word was said... and the

was clearly seen...

PowerStorm

20-06-2007

I've received my Humax today.. and it's the Playback version. Huzzah.

Had some initial problems due to there being 3 transmitters in the area (2 of which are strong and so were conflicting) but a call to the help desk later and everything was sorted.

One thing I am unsure about... is there a way to schedule a repeated programme, even if it's on different times each week (I'm thinking Doctor Who). Or do I have to set up each one?

David.

Cactushead

20-06-2007

Originally Posted by TonyW:
“I think the problem with accurate recording/tracking may well lie with the fact not all channels are delivering the relevant flags. Until we have assurances they all do this, it might be safer to just use padding.”

This has always been the problem with PDC which has been with us for years and only a few channels actually use it - and even then they are often wrong.
It is basically a useless feature because it involves channels making sure to update their PDC flags correctly - which they seem incapable of achieving.
I have no confidence that things will suddenly change now that it's a freeview feature.

jxp

20-06-2007

Originally Posted by PowerStorm:
“One thing I am unsure about... is there a way to schedule a repeated programme, even if it's on different times each week (I'm thinking Doctor Who). Or do I have to set up each one?
David.”

There is no current way to do this on the Humax. However this feature (called Series Link) is due in a software update planned for next month.

You can add standard weekly timers (e.g. 6:30pm - 8:30pm BBC1 every saturday should always get Dr Who) until the new feature arrives.

PowerStorm

20-06-2007

I'm sure it's covered in the manual, but I assume there's a way to upgrade it on-air like my Sony Freeview box?

David.

18days

20-06-2007

Originally Posted by WorsleyBaz:
“Can you use FormulaNeo or WDN4OAK to extract the v15 firmware so we can all have a play??”

Granny Grunt.

Have you tried this.....can it be done.

A little bit cheeky i know

PhilipL

20-06-2007

Quote:
“A little bit cheeky i know”

Cheeky yes, but what a good idea!

Regards

Phil

Stereo Jack

20-06-2007

I can’t see it being possible with WDN4OAK, but it looks like it may be possible with FormulaNeo.

http://www.humaxdigital.com/hcsa/Dow.../PVR-9200T.asp

Grannygrunt

20-06-2007

Well these next few weeks I will be using it constantly so I will keep you all posted, as I never use padding, never have felt the need so I'll let you know how it shapes up.

GG

Grannygrunt

20-06-2007

Originally Posted by PowerStorm:
“I'm sure it's covered in the manual, but I assume there's a way to upgrade it on-air like my Sony Freeview box?

David.”

Yes David, your Humax will be updated OTA , just like your Sony did. Humax have stated that the Group 2 specs of Freeview Playback will be available as a OTA end of July, so not long!!!

GG

-GONZO-

20-06-2007

Originally Posted by Fantasy1337:
“I can't believe they've released this when they can't be bothered releasing the latest firmware OTA for the existing customers”

Well from the post Humax gave on Hummy.org they did say that the OTA update would come at a later stage after the new unit has been released.

Grannygrunt

20-06-2007

Originally Posted by 18days:
“Granny Grunt.

Have you tried this.....can it be done.

A little bit cheeky i know”

I wouldn't have a clue where to start! You will just have to be patient, you are supposed to be getting this software end of this month according to Humax (post on Hummy forums)

GG

Or if you can't wait, they are £179.00 from Martin Dawes!!!

Grannygrunt

20-06-2007

Originally Posted by jxp:
“1. If you use Auto Padding and schedule a recording - is the name of the programme truncated to 17 chars.

2. (Again with Auto Padding enabled) If you schedule two recordings for a time and then add one immediately prior to this, do all 3 recordings occur?

These are my biggest problems with v10.”

Right jxp. looks like this is still the same I'm afraid, did a recording for you so that I could test this recorded 'The Babysitters Seduction' on Five this afternoon, and in recorded programs list is now 'The Babysitter's' so sorry!!!

GG

The1andonly

20-06-2007

Originally Posted by Grannygrunt:
“The Accurate Record Feature.
This can be set in both the set up menu, or when setting recordings. Humax have referred to it as the Auto Tracking Feature, there is an additional paper included which explains it in detail and how to use it. So in the Main Menu, in the Record section where the setting up of paddings usually is, you can now set ON TIME for the start of a recording, and ON TIME for the ending of a recording. If you select the ON TIME for both, then if there are any changes of a reserved program, this will still be recorded even at the new time and will finish at the new time. However, you still are given the option to pad if you should prefer to do this.
As I never pad recordings, I have mine set (default) to ON TIME, so I will report whether this works or not.”

What happens if you don't chose "on time"?[LIST=1][*]Does it not track changes to EPG and ignore start/end flags compleatly (IE do exactly what it did before, perhaps with bug fixes)[*]track changes to the EPG, but ignore the start/end flags[*]or track changes to the EPG, and extend recording beyond the padded time if flagged to do so.[/LIST]I'm guessing 1, maybe even 2, but probably not 3?

If you can set individual recordings to be auto tracked (which I'm guessing overides the padding settings) then that won't be a big bother, but still 3 would have been nice.

wgmorg

20-06-2007

No promising was made of any specific speed ... it was declared as USB 2.0 which it is... so

and a

Originally Posted by son_t:
“I know... I said, when it first came out, everyone was expecting USB2.0 Hi Speed transfer... also the theoretical word was said... and the was clearly seen...”

dazbarber

20-06-2007

Originally Posted by Grannygrunt:
“No jxp, it will no longer allow you to do this, and I am more or less sure that this is part of the Freeview specs, that the user has to be informed if there are going to be any conflicts regarding setting of recordings, either with padding or with the accurate recording method. So this will no longer ever be a problem because the recorder is now set to stop you from setting a recording that would conflict with two recordings already set.
GG”

This is putting me off of the new firmware. I quite regularly record something on Channel A followed immediately by 2 programmes at the same time on Channels A&B. Is this really now impossible? Surely the 9200 should work out that all it needs to do is to drop the autopadding for 2 of these recordings. Have I read this wrongly?
Daz

stonehenge8

20-06-2007

Originally Posted by son_t:
“

Thanks for your efforts BTW. Much appreciated by all I would say...”

Hear hear

PhilipL

20-06-2007

Quote:
“This is putting me off of the new firmware. I quite regularly record something on Channel A followed immediately by 2 programmes at the same time on Channels A&B. Is this really now impossible? Surely the 9200 should work out that all it needs to do is to drop the autopadding for 2 of these recordings. Have I read this wrongly?”

It is probably the case it doesn't work when accurate recording is set on in the setup menu as the recorder doesn't know when the first recording is going to end, as it's under control of the TV company sending the signal. If it cut it off to start one of the next two recordings you have lost the point of the accurate system! So it makes sense you are prevented to setting timer recorders when there is a probability of 3 overlapping.

Regards

Phil

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