Blooming PVR hard drive failed...

prowla

(Presumably opening the unit and removing the drive will invalidate the warranty.)

D_M_E

As you managed to watch some of the recordings then the drive itself may not be faulty.

Yes, breaking any seal WILL invalidate any warranty, which is why I said to only remove the drive only if there is absolutely no sign of any seal on the thing - on the one I had the seal was on the rear but mine was 7 months out of warranty when it went wrong and the fault on that was a dodgy power supply - not supplying enough power for the decoder and the drive but without the drive the decoder worked fine and I got the recordings off using humaxrw as the drive itself was fine, just not getting enough juice from the unit's power supply.

worried_jim

DavidP24 wrote: »

If you step back and look at all the hassle you will have to get back to a working system this may be the time for change.

Whether a PVR or Sky Box you are ransomed to the timetable of what was broadcast and recorded or the mortgage payments of Sky.

For around the cost of the annual TV licence you can buy a PC without monitor that is capable of running the Plex.tv server.

You can then watch the content you put on that Plex.tv server on ipads and laptops or on your TV.

Removing live broadcasts from your TV and not using BBC iplayer will save you the licence fee for years to come.

You can get your content from Amazon or online and it is there waiting for you, you can watch it on your mobile on the train home or in your living room.

Or you can use Netflix and the on demand channels.

This way of working means you watch what you want when you want rather than depending on kit like Humax or Sky. It is a dramatic a change as Tivo was to scheduled TV and it is equally liberating because instead of spending hours going through listings of drivel you only settle for high quality programming.

The very little I view on the linear channels I record so i too can fast forward through the ads, the coming up, the what you've missed, the recap, on last weeks episode etc so I can enjoy the actual 17 minutes of original programming.

For everything else there is the superb Prime and Netflix. Gave up on VM TV and phone line six months ago and went BB only, just got a second hand youview box for £48 of ebay- can see myself packing in the TV license soon.

almillar

Why bother with PVR, stream or download whatever you want, use Netflix, Amazon and Plex.tv to supplement.

Easier to download than waste time recovering.

Slow internet, just one example.

Gers

almillar wrote: »

Slow internet, just one example.

Yep! I've already posted that we are in a remote area and upload broadband is, on a good day, 1.7mb.

And there are programmes which I want to keep - sorry, I mean 'wanted' and watch again. And I like to watch series in a oner sometimes... so many reasons.

Phoned JL and got a helpful person who rang Humax. Now the machine is going back to JL for an attempt at a repair although the agent posited that a replacement looks like being on the cards.

Can't do more and even though it's bloody annoying it's just technology and my life won't come to an end because I've lost a whole load of my favouite TV programmes - not a snowflake. :rotfl:

Gers

The recordings are back this morning!

Found out that recordings can't be moved to an external hard drive - I searched for info on internet as I could go it and read this:

I have today spoken to Humax who confirmed that both the newer models of their Freesat and Freeview boxes have no longer got the facility to transfer data out from the boxes. They tell me that this is the decision of 3rd party software providers but wouldn't be pressed on the reasons why.

So, back it goes.

Rubidium

Gers wrote: »

The recordings are back this morning!

Found out that recordings can't be moved to an external hard drive - I searched for info on internet as I could go it and read this:



So, back it goes.

Your problem sounds like it is the power supply failing rather than an actual hard disk fault.

The later models no longer allow recordings to be transferred via USB to a PC and this has been imposed on Humax for copyright/distribution reasons, so that the various catch-up features could be added. This does not prevent a cable being connected directly to the hard drive to transfer recordings off the hard drive.

Gers

By power supply do you mean electrical power supply - as is the power cable?

Someone else mentioned this earlier, however I can watch TV through it fine, the machine just won't record now and sometimes the recordings are there and sometimes not. I managed to watch most of one programme the other day but it failed to finish (not failed to record just the playback stopped suddenly)

Could it be just a matter of a new power cable?

Rubidium

Gers wrote: »

By power supply do you mean electrical power supply - as is the power cable?

Someone else mentioned this earlier, however I can watch TV through it fine, the machine just won't record now and sometimes the recordings are there and sometimes not. I managed to watch most of one programme the other day but it failed to finish (not failed to record just the playback stopped suddenly)

Could it be just a matter of a new power cable?

Sadly not that simple. The power supply is an internal switched mode power supply that generates the various voltages required for the device to operate e.g. 5V 12V 28V etc. The hard drive is the component that will draw the most current from the power supply and a failing power supply is very likely to cause the hard drive to fail to operate reliably. I know that certain electrolytic capacitors were known to fail in some Humax boxes and once replaced these boxes worked perfectly again. Basically it is likely that the recordings are still there and could actually be recovered by connecting the drive to a PC if they were important.

Gers

Rubidium wrote: »

Sadly not that simple. The power supply is an internal switched mode power supply that generates the various voltages required for the device to operate e.g. 5V 12V 28V etc. The hard drive is the component that will draw the most current from the power supply and a failing power supply is very likely to cause the hard drive to fail to operate reliably. I know that certain electrolytic capacitors were known to fail in some Humax boxes and once replaced these boxes worked perfectly again. Basically it is likely that the recordings are still there and could actually be recovered by connecting the drive to a PC if they were important.

Thanks for that, it makes sense now and does seem the most likely explanation.

TV programmes are, I accept, not that important in the scheme of things. Just some that I hadn't yet viewed and others which I wanted to keep to rewatch.