Colin my Humax loops through my Sony set box and I have no problem .Whichever one I start Second takes over Then I just use the source button on the Humax if I wish tochange

Sorry double take

The EPG takes 8 minutes to populate from switch-on. I know this is an eternity for some people but I really don't consider it a problem.

Yes I discovered that shortly after I posted the earlier post. Actually sometimes I have to press the Source button on the Humax twice. I'm not certain why that is but thinking about it again I think that if initially both the Vestel and Humax were outputting their own signal but the Vestel being nearest the TV is displaying its signal, then the first press of the Humax source button just disables it's output and the second press then activates it's signal and sends the Loop Through switching signal. Had the Humax not been active initially then the first press would send the Loop Through switching signal.

Colin

Yes probably, I always leave it standby anyway being as the fan stops !

I just don't see the point in it's full power saving mode when you can't watch the TV without turning the Hummy on first ?

Mine can take the full 15 mins to populate right through to day 7/8 on some channels.

Loop through is a great idea. Unfortunately, Humax seem to have a blind spot in implementing it properly. Both the PVR9200t and the F2-FOX-T Freeview tuner have loop-through bugs.

For the PVR9200t, there are circumstances when it will suppress the sound but not the vision of the signal being looped through.

For the F2-FOX-T, when you switch off the device looping through, the F2-FOX-T continues to signal on the SCART lead, even though there is no signal to display and the F2-FOX-T is in stand-by. Consequently, the TV never switches aways from that AV input, and you end up with a blank screen.

I gave up using loop through, and now use a Trilogy 1 remote-controlled SCART switcher (it does auto-switching too, which is how I mostly use it).

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

That is good news... will wait a while for the Units to bed in and the first update comes - hopefully with HDMI aspect ratio switching. Then happy to upgrade from 9200.

Diff people have diff key requirements... amoungst mine were correct ratio switching and componant ouput. As the later was removed at short notice and the HDMI switches is an issue I was happy that my 9300 arrived damaged and the decison was clear to send it back.

I'll be holding off getting a 9300 until I find out what they intend doing with the USB port.

One thing most people havnt picked up on is the physical difference in the USB ports on the 9200 and 9300.

The 9200's port being a device port.
The port on the 9300 is a host port to plug in storage devices.

My concerns are *IF* they activate this port, what they use it for. The problem being that the attached drive will be under the control of the PVR. The fact that it is hidden on the back might exclude certain uses for example it would be impractical if the intention is for it to be read only for the playback of MP3s and jpegs, if read only its only likely use would be for software updates via a flashdrive.

If on the other hand the intention is to attach a decent size harddrive, this raises further questions. Assuming the max disc access will be recording 2 streams while playing a 3rd, it is unlikely that the box will ever be enabled to record to a usb drive directly. The drive is more likely to be used for archival and playback.

If this is the case, the big question is wether they will use FAT32 so that it can be connected to a PC and read natively as a mass storage device of if they are going to use a proprietry disc format or god forbid try encrypting the data.

They could be even more awkward (due to patent restrictions) and use the USB port in a none standard manner locking you into proprietry expansion drives

Until I know more, I'll just be upgrading the HD in my 9200.

One other point someone raised a few pages ago on the network port on the foxsat and its likelyhood to be added to a later version of the 9300, I doubt it. As the foxsat can handle mpeg2 and 4/h264 the network connector is most likely for future use for IPTV either out of the box or bundled with IPTV subscriptions.

DD

It could be that USB hosting is far more difficult to achieve than anticipated, due to the vast range of devices that may be connected.
It would be nice if they made it possible to wireless-LAN the PVR with a normal WiFi dongle (and turn the PVR into a wireless media streamer with UPLOAD capability too).
As to the socket being situated on the back, if you need access to plug-unplug devices, USB-A extension cables are easy to come by (untidy admittedly).

Ok fellas, have searched through the thread but surpisingly very little details on the most important thing on these new Humax 9300T's PICTURE QUALITY .... so how does the upscaling of this box via HDMI compare to the Humax 9200 via scart - far superiour or not too much of a difference??
I will be viewing it via my new 32" LG Plasma btw.

The specs say that this has a card slot but will it work with TUTV?

Wow, this is an old thread - I'm amazed that anyone would post here.

The simple answer is: no, it won't work with TUTV. TUTV relies upon heavily customised box software for its end result. Very clever in theory.

TUTV would have been far more sensible to have bought space for a couple of decent premium channels which would work with standard CAMs and generic software.

TUTV is basically stealing air space from the Freeview platform - I hoped the company would go bust last year but they seem to be clinging on for dear life. With some success.

It will work but without the full TUTV functionality if you get the appropriate Conditional Access Module (CAM) such as the ESPN CAM (was Setanta). If you do this you will be able to subscribe to the ESPN sports channel.

Colin

Can I ask do any Humax 9300T owners, do you keep your STB all the time, or do you prefer to put them into standby when not in use...or do you use the timer for a specific time for the machine to switch on and off?

I'm just wondering how people use their 9300T...as what irritates me a little about the 9300T is the slow EPG download...but other than that I like the 9300T..it can be a pain in the ass with the pop up but Im sure that will be dealt with soon..and sometimes the STB still freezes with the new software...(not often though)!!..lol

Why is 8 minutes to fully populate the EPG such a problem, isn't paying the electric bill for leaving the box on continuously more of a problem, or maybe it's not. The EPG for the near future is populated very quickly so if you want to know what's on soon you've got the information there, and if you want a particular channel then tune to it.

I think it is good practice to put the box into standby when it will not be used for an extended period eg overnight. Using a wake up timer is a reasonable strategy if the EPG population time bothers you.

sorry didn't mean to upset people with my comments.....the EPG load time is just a minor irritation not a big thing and I think the 9300T is a great machine and I would recommend it to a friend any day even with the current pop up problem (as I think that will be sorted out)...I just wanted to know how people operate their machines..

Thanks Martin for your feedback..its interesting to hear what people think...

I found EPG population time to be a major problem for me. I found that my usage of the box usually consisted of turning it on to look through the EPG to see what was on over the next several days to record. Not having an EPG to look through straight away (or even after a couple of mins) was a frequent annoyance. I used to therefore leave the box on all the time (and it would lock up instead )

As for "it populates very quickly" arguments can we compare apples with apples please? I don't see any other PVRs that come in from standby with no EPG at all.

As for recommending it, I am surprised. Leaving aside many little irritating factors (like the EPG) I found that it would record perhaps 50% of what I asked it to, and miss the start or end of 90% of what it did record. That IMHO makes a poor PVR in anyone's book.

I've only had my 9300 for 3 weeks or so and I'm quickly discovering these nasty habits. I was initally dissatisfied with the picture quality and interface of the Humax box but never the less decided to stick with it. And now I discover it's not very good at it's primary function and it's left me extremely disheartened with the product.

Something is serioudly wrong if you are saying that the box fails to make 50% of recordings when in standby. I would say our failure rate is more like 2%, some of which will be down to broadcast problems.

Something is seriously wrong I agree! However the box was almost almost never in standby because of the long startup and EPG problems.

Of course, I included in this figure every time that it didn't record because it was busy displaying a frozen picture from many hours before with a high pitched squeal. For long enough that was pretty much a daily occurrence, although I'll admit more recently it was more infrequent. I'd come home late to watch some of the day's recordings and find nothing had recorded. I'm starting to think a 50% fail rate may have been a touch generous to the box.

Mine missed almost exactly half of everything I'd scheduled the first week and it was never in standby. I've tried restarting and yet it still doesn't hit every programme. The irritating thing is the failed scheduled programme sits there in the planner taunting me... And it also seems to just forget series links despite it working normally for a few weeks.

Why does that have any relevance ... you can put it into and out of standby every day using auto on/off even if it's only for a few hours ... very few people watch telly 24/7...