Hi,

I have owned my 9200T since about Feb 2006.

Since updating to .21 I have had several recordings which simply failed to happen. They were all set as series link recordings with 'on time' selected.

I upgraded to .21 on Monday (I did do a default setting) and set Corrie to record on series link. I then looked through the guide to see that the correct instances of Corrie were flagged to record (and they were) and the schedule showed only the next due recording (as expected).

Mondays double episodes recorded fine however when we went to the programme list to watch Wednesdays episode, there was no entry in the list. It had failed to record. Fridays episode was now in the schedule as the next due episode to record. There were no other programmes scheduled to record at that time so programme clashes are not to blame. The HUMAX was not in standby at the time.

On Saturday morning I set 'You've been framed/TV Burp' and then 'Match of the Day', again all as series link. When I got back in later that night, none of the programmes had recorded. The next weeks instances were all listed in the recording schedule though.

Needless to say, I've gone back to autopadding for now.

Has anyone else experienced these failures to record. It is certainly the first time I've lost faith in this otherwise excellent little box.

Cheers

Mike

Have you done a reset to default settings since the update? Have you checked that all multiplexes are being received from the same transmitter?

I've had 1 failed recording so far on the .21 update ..... on Saturday Primeval started recording about 5 minutes before it was due to end and ended 8 minutes later.

All other series link recordings 'appear' to be working ok.

Hi Martin,

I did carry out a default setting. I'm not sure about the transmitter. I'm pretty close to the sutton coldfield transmitter and there is also one down the road in tamworth. I didn't realise that all muxes had to come from the same transmitter for SL to work?

Cheers

Mike

Hi Nickb,

Just to clarify, when I say 'failed recordings', i'm referring to a complete failure to record anything rather than an inaccurately timed recording (although, for the record, most of the AR recordings which didn't fail were 'in'accurate).

Cheers

Mike

That's weird on Crystal Palace I only had the first minute or so missing.

Seen this being reported a few times now, so have a read through:

Possible causes.


FAQ on re-tuning


or follow the advice contained in the release note.

Oddly my only 'problem' with Series link has been on BBC where it's recorded the Sunday repeat of MI High on CBBC in addition to the original.
ITV's metadata was all over the place on Saturday so I'm blaming them rather than the Humax.

I upgraded to .21 on saturday and tried out a timed recording with autopadding on Saturday night with total success. However, the smile has been well and truly wiped off my face since then with a litany of failed (IE TOTAL NON START) recordings and some that have started and then turmned themselves off very quickly thereafter (2 minutes of Randall & Hopkirk or 47 minutes of Mike Bassett!!) I've had more failures this week than I've had in the past 2 years - HUMAX really shouldn't have released this if it's not been thoroughly debugged - it gives them a poor reputation and will undoubtedly discourage any potential purchasers reading these forums. I'm still wrestling with the issue of "What do I do now?" as I don't have a laptop to allow me to backdate my OS. Any suggestions??

Usual suggestions. Have you done a reset to default settings? Have you checked that all 6 multiplexes are being received from the same transmitter? See also Barry's post two above yours. I can assure that a great deal of testing work was done and the release was postponed several times until all serious issues that had been discovered were resolved.

Thanks. I've just carried out a default reset and scheduled a variety of recordings for later to see if the problem reoccurs. I also note from the reset that I'm receiving 63 TV channels, so this may mean, according to HUMAX that I'm crossing between 2 transmitters (BLACK HILL and DARVEL I think) . From memory, back in the good old days, Darvel was my transmitter, but since the advent of my HUMMY and my HI GAIN DIGITAL Aerial, maybe I'm pulling in a stronger signal from the BLACK HILL transmitter. Can you explain to me how I view the MUX details to check that they're all from the same transmitter.? Thanks again

To check which transmitter you are receiving Mux1 from, first select Channel 1 - BBC1 then Menu > System> Signal Detection. This will tell you.

For other muxes repeat this on the channels listed below

Mux2 use Channel 3 - ITV1
MuxA use Channel 5 - five
MuxB use Channel 9 - BBC4
MuxC use Channel 11 - SKY THREE
MuxD use Channel 18 - The HITS

If you find that not all of the muxes come from the same transmitter then look up the channel numbers to tune in manually from your strongest transmitter, on the DTG website and tune each mux in individually manually on the Installation Menu.

Before doing this first select and delete all TV and Radio channels on the Edit Channels Menu.

Okay - this is now beginning to get irritating!! I've reset and retuned manually and all MUX's are coming from the same transmitter (although , interestingly, not the transmitter nearest to me, if the labelling is correct) and still the HUMAX does it's own thing when a tomed recording is set - sometimes it will record the whole show without a problem, sometimes it will record the opening few minutes and sometimes it just ignores the entry in the programmed recording schedule all together. I'm now totally stuck and I appear to have ruined, what was a perfectly good HUMAX PVR by "upgrading" to the latest software. As per my earlier post, and despite Martin's assurances (3 posts above this) that extensive user testing was undertaken, it is obvious from my own experiences as well as those detailed throughout these forums by others, that this release is unstable and requires refinement as a matter of urgency. For those of us without laptops, does this now mean that I'm lumbered with a tempremental Hummy until the next OTA update - and we know how infrequent those are??? Answers on a postcard please.

I appear to have missed Shameless 4 - last night at 10pm on C4. It was still in the Recording Schedule when I checked tonight.

Last night the Hummy was set for Mistresses BBC1 9 to 10pm and Medicine Man C4 9 to 10pm - then Shameless C4 10 to 11.05.

I have no padding or other timing changes.

When auto tracking is on is it possible that an overrun on BBC and C4 because of late starts - resulting in late finishes - might affect the follow on prog.

Any ideas - Oxford Beckley Transmitter

The thing that I don't understand about your post is that if you retuned manually it was up to you to decide which transmitter to tune the Humax into, not something that the box tells you afterwards. Are you sure that you are actually doing a manual retune?

Darvel uses the following channels

Mux1 - 22
Mux2 - 25
MuxA - 32
MuxB - 28
MuxC - 30
MuxD - 34

Black Hill uses the following channels

Mux1 - 41
Mux2 - 47
MuxA - 44
MuxB - 51
MuxC - 55
MuxD - 65

To manually tune into either of these transmitters you have to go into menu > installation (password 0000) > manual search. Then you have to enter each of the above channel numbers for your chosen transmitter in turn and store the results each time.

I would suggest that you should first tune in Mux1 from each transmitter and see which gives you the strongest signal under Menu > System > Signal Detection. Then you can decide which transmitter to tune into.

I have been doing manual tuning with the Humax for two years as I get signals from two transmitters (Crystal Palace and Hannington) and if I do an automatic tune I always get a mixture of Muxes from the two transmitters which causes all sorts of problems.

A restore to defaults, which you have to do first, includes an automatic tune and in some of the advice I have seen you are told to stop this. I have found that this has caused me problems in the past so what I do now is always let this procedure complete. I then delete all of the TV and Radio channels using the edit channels menu before I do the manual tune into Crystal Palace which is my strongest transmitter.

I have to say that I have not so far had any of the problems that you are getting with V21 of the software.

If you follow the above procedure of a default setting, deleting all channels, then tuning manually the 6 muxes to your strongest transmitter and are still getting problems my only suggestion then would be to contact Humax as you must have some sort of corruption in your system. With a laptop you can reload the software but with OTA I don't believe that you can force it to download again when you already have the latest version.

Good luck.

Clanchief - thanks for your help. Sorry I wasn't too clear in my earlier post - I was beginning to get irritated. I have actually retuned manually, using the MUX details for Darvel (which is my strongest signal) but when I review the channel details afterwards, Darvel is not the transmitter name which is quoted on screen- instead Blackhill comes up. I know Blackhill uses different channels, as I tried them earlier to see what sort of signal strength I could get. Very quickly I noted that Darvel was clearly my strongest transmitter.

So where does that leave me? I've reset and retuned and I'm sure that I'm getting all 6 MUX's from the same transmitter - although which transmitter that actually is, is still unclear (maybe the transmitter names are agenerated a bit like RDS station id's on your car radio - and the one for Darvel is sending out the details for Blackhill??) Anyway, if the Humax hasn't mended it's fickle ways by the weekend, then I feel an e-mail to the manufacturer coming on. Maybe the upgrade works better on newer machines (mine is just over a year old)?? Thanks again for your help - and if anyone else has any fresh ideas about how to tame the fickle antics of my Hummy, I'd be more than happy to listen.

Hi Black Arrow

I don't really know why the transmitter name is not being properly shown on the Humax, unless perhaps one of the transmitters is a relay for the other.

However I do think that you can rely on the transmitter information on the DTG website and that should confirm the transmitter signal that you are receiving from the actual channel numbers shown.

http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/tx_cscot.html

My machine by the way is over two years old bought a month or so after release in October 2005, so I don't think that that is the answer.

An extreme measure that my daughter had to take when she was getting a lot of weird problems on her machine was to reformat the disk. That actually solved her problems, though of course she lost all of her recordings. In her case it was worth it as she was getting so many problems. I am not recommending that to you other than if all else fails and Humax agree that it might solve your problems.

Again good luck and it would be interesting to hear what the solution to your problem is when you find it.

That's a bit harsh. Many of the bad experiences are due to the broadcasters not transmitting the correct data. Unfortunately this leaves users with one of the corollaries to Murhpy's Law: 'Where more than one party is involved, the blame will never be placed'. It may be some time before things are worked out - I'm certainly keeping with Autopadding until (if) I'm convinced the broadcasters have got their act together.


No. Just turn on Autopadding and AR and Series link will go away, effectively giving you a debugged version of the pre-20/21 software.

1.00.21 is working OK on my 9200T ... bought January 2006.

My > 2 year old 9200T was totally stable on 1.006 but now either fails to record or just records bits of programmes on AR.
I need to try the retuning muxes to the same transmitter.
Having tuned to the 6 muxes, the above instructions say delete all other channels.
Is this done before the manual tune ?
Then having got the muxes sorted how do you retune all the other channels you deleted?

Yes delete all channels before the manual tune. Each MUX carries multiple channels so you should end up with a full set by tuning a single channel from each MUX. Good luck. Please let us know how you get on and whether it helps with any problems you were experiencing.

Just to make it totally clear as I obviously have not done above.

This procedure is only relevant if when you do an automatic tune you get a mixture of multiplexes from more than one transmitter. This will stop you getting a consistent EPG and can cause some recordings to fail as has been noted above.

To overcome this problem what I do is

1 Run a reset to default status and allow this to complete.

This will achieve the reset necessary after a software update, but if you are receiving signals from more than one transmitter you may have a mixture of muxes from different transmitters

2 Using the Edit Channels procedure select and delete all TV channels, then select and delete all radio channels.

This leaves you with a box reset to defaults but recieving no channels

3 Check on the DTG website the channel numbers you need to tune your box into your preferred transmitter.

http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/transmitters.html

4 In the installation menu manually tune the six channels which will load the channels from the six digital multiplexes onto your box.

This leaves you with a box reset to defaults and tuned into the six muxes from one transmitter.

5 Alter any settings to suit your preferences, such as widescreen and the forward or back skip times.

Hopefully you will then have a box that works properly.

Just in case someone picks this up via a search and hasn't read the previous comments there is also step 6, which is re-booking your scheduled recordings as they will be deleted when you system reset.

Good point

For completeness step 1 should read

1 Take a note of any scheduled recordings set up on your box, as a reset to defaults will delete this schedule.

steps 1 to 5 above become steps 2 to 6

7 Re-book your scheduled recordings which you noted in step 1

I always do this but did not think to include it in this procedure, as it is not actually part of fixing the 2 transmitter problem.

Many thanks Martin,Clanchief and Michael will retune and report back after a further test period.