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Bluddy Humax PVR

3K views 39 replies 9 participants last post by  raynipper 
#1 ·
Our 11 year old Humax Foxsat HDR has worked flawlessly up to last night. 320GB and twin tuners with two ariel leads.

But last night as we were recording two channels there was a 'conflict' and it decided to select channel 998 or similar. But today after booting it up it won't change from 998. Every button on the remote brings up the PVR light but the box does nothing at all.
I have been online and read many people have had a similar problem and their answer is to unplug, wait and reboot but still nothing happens. I did read and follow the instructions to unplug power and ariel cables and reboot pressing the 'menu' button to enter set up and retune after reconnecting the ariels but after that is done the box just sits on BBC1 and again nothing you do with the remote or onboard buttons does anything.

Just called Humax help line and after saying it was 11 years old they lost interest and said but a new one. Great tech help.

Anyone else had similar problems with their Humax?

Ray.
 
#2 ·
Cant help Ray but the one Mrs D uses (I never go near it) is a complete PIA. Does what it likes, records some stuff and not others, freezes. I have been saying for years to get a new one but she just says she cant as it has three zillion programs on it she recorded that she will never watch.

Bring back the old analogue VCR I say. You knew where you were with them. If it didnt record it was because you cocked it up. Progress? Not really.

11 years is not bad for a piece of tech these days Ray. Surprised a mechanical hard drive has lasted that long. Maybe thats whats knackered.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Thanks Baz but that not really what I wanted to hear. 11 years is bugger all in my book. We had TVs that lasted 40 years and telephones again 40 years.
Yes my wife will be upset to loose all those B&W WW2 recordings.

But it won't even turn off with the power button.

Ray.
 
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#6 ·
Thanks Baz but that not really what I wanted to hear. 11 years is bugger all in my book. We had TVs that lasted 40 years and telephones again 40 years.
Yes my wife will be upset to loose all those B&W WW2 recordings.

But it won't even turn off with the power button.

Ray.
:D I have a 30" Sony Surround sound TV in the front lounge here. I reckon it will be 25 years old. Its a room that never gets used anymore but it still works. Sounds amazing. someone gave me it years ago. I think it was over £1000 new. I would take it to the tip but I cant lift it. :lol:
 
#4 ·
Sounds just like my 10 year old Panasonic VHF to DVD recorder.... the burger won't turn on suddenly, no idea why, but several Panasonic forums say it is a common problem, but not how to sort it....

We gave sent it back to "a little man in Southampton" who delights in sorting these things out, well I gave it to my daughter as she was returning to the UK before quarantining so she may well have forgotten.

They seem to make things to die after that sort of time and then say "buy a new one" but you can't when they don't make it anymore....🤔. 😩. 😖😖😖
 
#5 ·
Ray, recently had a similar problem with our not nearly so old Humax, I resolved it by buying the new Freesat offering, which allows up to 4 programmes to be recorded at the same time with two cables.
The remote for it is bl**dy awful though, really weird shape, other than that very pleased with it.

Spend it, you can't take it with you, no matter how you try.

.
 
#7 ·
Ray, recently had a similar problem with our not nearly so old Humax, I resolved it by buying the new Freesat offering, which allows up to 4 programmes to be recorded at the same time with two cables.
The remote for it is bl**dy awful though, really weird shape, other than that very pleased with it.
Spend it, you can't take it with you, no matter how you try. .
That doesn't solve the wife problem John.
Can you elaborate on your unit please?

Ray.
 
#9 ·
It looks incredible John. I wonder why we haven't noticed this before?
Can you elaborate on the problems please? The Humax was 'wife' friendly.

Ray.
 
#19 ·
I have just got the Freesat PVR the same as John. A tip for you. Humax no longer make Freesat boxes, gave up earlier this year so Freesat are the only ones that make a PVR that will on freesat work. To get it to record 4 progs at the same timewhile you watch a 5th unless your satellite is fairly new you may need to change the LNB, the dish itself should be ok, the LNB is just a 2 cable one.

And now the GOOD news! The boxes themselves were rushed out and the original firmware was not the best, that resulted in a lot of sh1t reviews and returns. That means that there are a lot of "refurbished" ones on ebay in original retail packaging with full warranties. They have been just take out of the box and had the firmware reblown.

I bought one for £129 that retails at £260plus and can't fault it. Look for an established refurbisher on Ebay Ray.

Only critisism I have is that the "favourite" channels list is much more clunky than my old samsung PVR
 
#10 · (Edited)
The unit itself is very similar in most aspects other than the ability to record 4 different channels with only two LNB connections.
Some of the Humax remote functions work with the Freesat box but not the record function buttons.
You'll find the menu somewhat different but easy to get used to, my biggest gripe with the remote is its stupid shape, it tapers down towards its base and nowhere so easy to hold onto as the Humax one.

.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Well I am tempted John.
The 1TB + P&P comes out at £235 so not much difference to the Humax.
I guess iPlayer and ITV Hub must be via the net?

Ray.
 
#12 ·
Funny you should post this this week. My less than 4-year-old Humax box lost sight of all our recordings last week just like it did last November. Last year I sent it off to be repaired at a cost of 75pounds. After that repair, I had access again to all my 1Tb of recordings and it worked fine up to last week. The price of repair has gone up now and I'm not keen to pay out that sort of money on a yearly basis.
For nearly 2 years I have also had a zgemma h2s satellite recording box which records onto a separate usb drive.
I have decided to abandon the Humax and buy another more recent zgemma. The big advantage of the zgemmas is that control and all recordings are accessible on my home network via OpenWebif and Kodi. Programmes play on any PC, tablet. smartTV or Firestick etc.
If there are any recordings I would like to keep forever I can copy them to a regular drive for storage.
The one I've ordered with 1Tb drive is half the price of a new Humax.
One downside is that it is a little more difficult to navigate than the Humax but since Cathie has not yet got to grips with the Humax I don't think she will notice the difference.
 
#13 ·
We are and have been very happy with the Humax Paul as my wife manages it quite well. Another system will take her years to master as she is not really interested all the time I do it.
John's Freesat recorder appeals to me if it can record 4 progs at the same time. But not a lot of difference in price to sway me either way.

We find the Humax easy to see 8 day program guide, recorded progs, record whole series, sub titles, prog info, etc. I'm wondering if another system will be as good and convenient?

Ray.
 
#14 ·
Humax no longer make Freesat boxes, and have not since mid 2019.
So if you want a Freesat HD box from Humax, you have to look for a used one on Ebay and Amazon, where the very high prices for the unit reflect their popularity and scarcity.
The new 4k Freesat box from Arris has very mixed reviews - quite a few people have returned the units with in a week
I too dislike the remote.
Picture quality seems the same as the Humax, but i do seem to have to reboot the box regularly.
I also have the non recording 4k box, and that was just bad. Slow, slow response to the remote, inbility to "store" non freesat channel like C4hd, and having to go throught the whole freesat set up when you swicth between non freesat mode and freesat. Oh, and since the firmware update in June, about half of the functions now no longer work. Even the firmware update in August did not fix. (Dont a few youtube videos on this box and its problems)

The 4k recording box seems a lot of money when there is no 4K live content, and that 4k content is only on Netflix and Youtube.

Also, for recording 4 things at a time, this is ideally for a "wideband" / "SkyQ" LNB. Otherwise, it will only do 4 channels if they are on the same frequency groups...(VH, VL, HH, HL), eg record bbc1 and record bb2, but may not allow you to watch say Sky News, which is on a different frequency group)

Not a fan of the new units...
 
#15 ·
Thanks very much 'Guy'.
Thats great info thats swinging me back to the old Humax again and maybe I need to be quick and grab one.
I'm actually bidding on a couple on e-bay right now but older and cheaper 500GB ones as space is not a problem and my wife is familiar with the old RM-F01 remote as I am.
Friends have the later 1100s 1TB and she can't get on with the new remote as it's so different but I don't know any better.

Thanks again 'Guy' bidding is fun but can be frustrating after four days being pipped at the post.

Ray.
 
#18 ·
Now you see why the Bush is cheaper than the Humax Baz.:grin2:

Ray.
 
#22 ·
Well, I still feel a bit of a newbie when it comes to satellite PVRs. Having been a fan of Linux on PCs I have been attracted to Linux based Enigma 2 boxes of which there several manufacturers, zgemma being my choice. These boxes don't usually have a recording disk included but allow a standard external USB or Sata drive to be connected. My existing one has a 1Tb USB and the new one a slot for a 1Tb hard drive.

I set up and manage recordings on my laptop.
 
#24 ·
Just managed to buy a Humax HDR-1000S 500GB DVR off e-bay for £53 p&p.

Ray.
 
#29 ·
I have ended up with three Humax RM-F01 remotes. Two came with the units and because one was playing up I bought another.
Recently with all the extra use over Christmas and confinement they have all three been playing up. The most used buttons like 'OK' and '0' end up needing multiple pushes getting harder and harder.

So opening them up using the method shown on Youtube with a CC slid down the sides, I have now cleaned all three with alcohol and lint free cloth. So far so good and all buttons are working like new. I wonder how long before the problem reoccurs.?

Ray.
 
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#30 ·
Here we go again.
My new ish Humax decided not to output today. I can power it up and apparently change cannels and volume via the remote but nothing appears on the TV via the HDMI cable. It was working fine last week when I set it to record some programs.

I have tried another Humax just to check the coax inputs and HDMI cables and all OK. So it's something daft in the box. I can see a small clock icon in the small screen and the channel.

Ray.
 
#32 · (Edited)
Ironically I did have one in a collection of remotes dumped on me Drew I can't remember if it was taken to the dump with other unwanted stuff or might be buried in the come in handy box in the garage. Give me a day or so and I will see if it's still on the premises.

Well amazingly I have just found it in a box of old Sky remotes. Is this the one?

Ray.
 

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#33 · (Edited)
Now I find the Humax will play or output via the old SKART socket to the TV.
So box OK but somehow output via the HDMI is not working. Any ideas please?
Google says there are lots of people in the same boat with dozens of suggestions.

Ray.
 
#36 · (Edited)
Try a different HDMI cable ! I had exactly that issue a year back. How a cable can suddenly stop working is beyond me, but that's what happened.

Also try another TV to make sure it's not the TV that's faulty.

Humax no longer do Freesat stuff! If your box packs up there is a company in Scotland who offer a fixed price repair service. I have used them and was very pleased with the service provided

I thought it was the HDD that had failed so bought a 1Tb replacement, still got it, unused, it was the motherboard that had died :rolleyes::rolleyes:
(so if anyone is interested in a 1Tb Western digital made for video HDD drop me a PM )
 
#35 ·
Ah, thats the same as my Humax remote except it doesn't have Youview at the bottom but does have a "Y" button.
I did buy a replacement a year or so ago from Holland I think about €9.99.

Ray.
 
#37 ·
Thanks Andy. I have tried one other HDMI cable so far without success. Will try another later today.
It seemed to happen soon after I added a ROKU box to the next HDMI input socket. Maybe necessary to remove everything and start again. But for now the Skart works.
As it's in my office and not main lounge it's not urgent being a second system. Two years ago when my old Humax decided to go on the blink I did find Humax had stopped making them so managed to get two used ones in mint condition. This is one of them. So as always I do have a spare just in case.

Ray.
 
#38 ·
Sorry if you have tried this but.......

Have you made sure you have the TV input set for the correct HDMI input? My TV has two inputs and you need to go into the TV menu and select the correct one (One for Humax and one for Roku box???)

If your TV has a single HDMI input, and you have two HDMI leads going into a “switching box” (like me) make sure they are in the correct sockets in the switching box (yes there is a sequence for them) AND be sure the secondary input device is turned off! If I try and watch something from the Freesat and the Blu Ray player is powered on then I can only “see” the Blu Ray player because that “over-rides” The Humax box output, turn the Blu Ray off and I can see the Humax output. Took me a loooong time to work that one out

Andy
 
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