Recording from a Samsung Smart TV

Jolly_Roger

Uh, well, we did finally manage to connect the settop box to the Smart TV. This required a scart lead between box and TV, with the aerial cable plugged first into the box and then from the box to the TV's aerial socket using a separate aerial cable. HDMI from box to TV simply wouldn't work.

However, the TV certainly wasn't very happy with this arrangement and became randomly pixelated.

The recording schedule on the box was able to pick up the TV stations on its guide, from which it would have been able to record programmes, but no HD channel was located - probably because the box is not HD ready?

Given the TV's struggle to work happily with the settop box, we are wondering whether this might be obsolete technology and perhaps we need a more modern settop box.

The Humax is a PVR9300T.

Any further thoughts appreciated.

grumbler

"HD ready" is a term for TVs with non-HD tuner, but capable of showing HD video from external boxes.

Surely your Humax isn't HD and can't receive/record HD channels.

With the RF (aerial cable) loop through your TV is supposed to work the same way as without the box except the scart input (the box has to be plugged into mains).

It's unclear when this 'pixelation' happens, so there is no point in guessing why it happens.

droopsnoot

Jolly_Roger wrote: »

What I can't get my head around is why a brand new Smart TV has no inbuilt recording capability;

To be fair, that hasn't really changed - your old TV didn't have an inbuilt recording capability either, unless it was one of the very few combined TV/recorder boxes. It was only adding your PVR that gave it such a feature, just like adding a VHS recorder in the past would have done. But the TV has no input into the recording facility of the box, which is probably why (I'm not familiar with Humax stuff) you can't find any HD channels now.

Mirno

I have the 37" model of the same TV.
I put a 128GB USB stick in - it can record a program or two, and is fine for pausing TV. The thing to remember is check the speed it can read and write at. The TV will do a speed test when you first plug it in and tell you if it's not fast enough.

Mirno

Cornucopia

Not sure about some of the advice on this thread.

To start with, TVs have never (generally speaking) had a fully built-in recording capability. They were always devices for receiving TV broadcasts, and Smart TVs add to that by being platforms for "receiving" video-on-demand.

Some manufacturers have added USB sockets to allow for external memory/disk to be added to give a BASIC recording capability (because this was cheap to do, once Freeview tuners were installed). I'm not aware of any/many TVs that have 2 or more tuners (and therefore the TV will only be able to record the current programme - or, more technically, it could record a programme and show a different programme on the same multiplex but again, I'm not aware of the manufacturers allowing for that).

The term "Smart TV" refers to providing a platform for Video-on-demand. The term does not relate to any potential recording capability.

So back to the OP's issues. He already had a multi-tuner recording capability in his old set-up. I assume this is the Humax box now being referred to.

He's also now commented about using a SCART lead to connect a STB and the TV, which is obviously sub-optimal, and will not provide an HD picture, even if the STB is capable of it. It requires an HDMI lead - if this is not working, it may need the settings tweaking. The aerial lead will still need to be split between the TV & STB. If pixellation is occurring, then this is indicative of a fault in the wiring, or the aerial. It's unlikely that it is due to an old or faulty STB.

The Humax PVR9300T is a model that dates from 2009, and does not appear to have HD capability.

You can buy an HD-capable 2 tuner Freeview PVR starting from about £125.

grumbler

Cornucopia wrote: »

I'm not aware of any/many TVs that have 2 or more tuners (and therefore the TV will only be able to record the current programme - or, more technically, it could record a programme and show a different programme on the same multiplex but again, I'm not aware of the manufacturers allowing for that).

>> Panasonic adds twin HD tuners to its TV line-up
February 11, 2013

SAMSUNG SUHD UE48JS8500
Tuner: Twin Freeview HD & Twin Freesat HD
The same for UE55JS9000

>> Sony updates its 2014 4K TVs with twin tuner

Soon it will be a norm for all TVs except the most basic ones.

In the past PiP was pretty common for expensive TVs and required a second tuner.

The term "Smart TV" refers to providing a platform for Video-on-demand. The term does not relate to any potential recording capability.

Yes, but as it has a processor, adding this capability is easy and natural - unlike for non-smart TVs.

Jolly_Roger

Thank you everybody for your feedback.

I have been doing lots of experimenting, using the Humax PVR 9300T with the Samsung TV.

No connection of any kind is possible between the box and the TV using the HDMI slots. Only scart connections work.

Significantly, the box is able to recognise all the channels that the TV is tuned to, but not show them on screen live. All non-HD BBC channels work, but only a handful of the others can be watched live. ITV and Channel 4 programmes watched through the box generate a blank screen and two alternating messages: "No or Bad Signal" and "The channel is scrambled or not available".

Interestingly, the box will record programmes from the BBC; I haven't tried with the abovementioned "blank" stations, but suspect they won't.

The break up of picture I had earlier seems to have been cured, and could have been a poor cable connection.

As suggested, there are now Humax set top boxes that are adapted to work with HD TVs.

But before I go out and buy a new Humax, would the above description of how the 9300T is currently functioning suggest that it is "old" technology? Why are some channels visible and others not, for example? Will I still have this problem on an HD Humax - and I am not just talking HD channels, but normal ones, too - or should new technology have solved these glitches?

One thing that I haven't yet mentioned is that we are also using an aerial signal booster, without which no TV works in this area. Would that possibly be having a negative impact? I don't see why it should, but you never know...

Thanks again for any further input.

Cornucopia

Without seeing the set-up personally, it's difficult to be conclusive, but I stand by what I said previously, which is that it's unlikely to be a problem with the STB, but more likely a wiring or aerial issue.

That you say reception is marginal (and the no/bad signal messages) is probably significant. It's probably worth removing the signal booster from the aerial feed, if it's possible to do that.

It's entirely possible a new STB will suffer the same issues. Is there a signal strength meter in either the STB or the TV?

Jolly_Roger

More experimenting seems to suggest that one of the new aerial cables I purchased at Currys isn't quite tight enough and is causing part of the signal problem. Direct wiring to the TV, for example, gives perfect reception across all channels. So that was a red herring

However, the box is working and I think an up to date one, built with HD in mind, should work, as long, as you say, we can use an HDMI connection.

Thanks again.

droopsnoot

On the "unavailable channels" thing, note that there are some channels that use a more modern form of encoding which some older boxes cannot deal with. For example my old Techwood PVR will happily list "Motors TV" in the listings, but will not show any picture when I select it, and I read that it's because the signal is encoded in a newer form than my box will handle.