Humax Hard Disk recorder problem

psychic_teabag

It's a 9200T I have, and it does have a USB socket, but the software on the device cannot write to it. Instead, it was supplied with a program you could run on a pc to retrieve programs. But that only came for windows, and I don't have that. There was a 3rd-party linux version, which worked initially, but became very flakey. (I think I was using it originally on a pc with usb 1, but later usb 2, and they didn't seem to work well together.

Instead, there was some other 3rd-party software which allowed you to read the disk directly. (Remove it and attach it to pc.) It's formatted in a proprietry filesystem, so can't just use standard programs to copy files off. (I think newer humax devices may use a native linux filesystem.)

Undervalued

psychic_teabag wrote: »

It's a 9200T I have, and it does have a USB socket, but the software on the device cannot write to it. Instead, it was supplied with a program you could run on a pc to retrieve programs. But that only came for windows, and I don't have that. There was a 3rd-party linux version, which worked initially, but became very flakey. (I think I was using it originally on a pc with usb 1, but later usb 2, and they didn't seem to work well together.

Instead, there was some other 3rd-party software which allowed you to read the disk directly. (Remove it and attach it to pc.) It's formatted in a proprietry filesystem, so can't just use standard programs to copy files off. (I think newer humax devices may use a native linux filesystem.)

There is no USB socket on mine.

If I end up replacing the recorder then I probably will extract the HD, put it in an external housing and connect it to a PC to get to any important recordings.

I will try it for a few weeks with the auto program time adjustment turned off. That may well be sufficient for my limited use.

SteveJW

The early Humax machines had a history of skipping recording various programs. Humax promised an update but it never came
My 9200T is still going strong, bought at a car boot sale for £10. It occasionaly skips programs, I find a retune sometime helps.
Rarely use it now with a smart TV.
I'm not sure if Humax records in a strange format and although a PC will read the disc you cannot play the files, may be wrong

D_M_E

There is a program called HUMAXRW which will get the recordings off the disk and put them on your PC,but, as you say, you have to remove the Humax drive and put it in a caddy to be able to use it.

Have a 9200T here, not used for a good while but it had the problem you describe.
Don't know why but it had a fault on the power supply and once that was fixed the problem went away.

psychic_teabag

If you do decide to replace it, since you only record occassionally, what you could do is get a USB freeview tuner for your PC, and get it to do the recording. Saves you having to run something with a dedicated hard disk. You can get an SD tuner for under £10, though HD look like they're a bit more.

Undervalued

psychic_teabag wrote: »

If you do decide to replace it, since you only record occassionally, what you could do is get a USB freeview tuner for your PC, and get it to do the recording. Saves you having to run something with a dedicated hard disk. You can get an SD tuner for under £10, though HD look like they're a bit more.

Interesting thought, thanks.

Currently my main PC is nowhere near a TV aerial feed although obviously that could be remedied with a bit of work.

Obviously the need for a recorder is less than it was with the various catch up services and I already have a Chromecast which generally works well.

Do middle market TVs these days have a second tuner and the ability to record to an external HD or USB stick? If so, that may be money better spent than replacing the Humax box. My current TV is a seven years, fairly basic 32in Samsung and doesn't have any in built smart functions or the ability to record.

psychic_teabag

Undervalued wrote: »

Interesting thought, thanks.

Currently my main PC is nowhere near a TV aerial feed although obviously that could be remedied with a bit of work.

Depending on how good your reception is, an indoor ariel might be good enough. (The tuner I got came with a little ariel.)

Do middle market TVs these days have a second tuner and the ability to record to an external HD or USB stick? If so, that may be money better spent than replacing the Humax box. My current TV is a seven years, fairly basic 32in Samsung and doesn't have any in built smart functions or the ability to record.

According to https://www.avforums.com/article/smart-tv-pvr-personal-video-recorder-freeview-freesat-features-explained.10724 most are single-tuner. It also says that they tend to format the disk in a proprietry format, to prevent you from copying files to another device.

I have no experience with TVs that can record. My MIL has one, and IIRC, the stick could be formatted as either FAT or proprietary, but the tv could only offer pausing live tv with the latter. (Or something like that.)

Mr_Meanie

Does your 9200T always show the correct time when in standby mode ?

As I remember there was a common fault with the clock module on the 9200T which made scheduled recordings unreliable.

The fault was due to ageing of the electronic components on the clock pcb and usually only happened on units which had been in use for more than about seven years.

psychic_teabag

There was a common problem with 9200 where the display would just show '--:--' - mine did that. It turned out that there was a very simple fix - you had to clean the circuit board ! There was some sort of film left by the manufacturing process, and cleaning it off worked for many people (inc. me).

https://myhumax.org/forum/topic/the-9200-problem

(It would record fine while powered up - it was only going into standby that made it lose the time.)

Undervalued

psychic_teabag wrote: »

There was a common problem with 9200 where the display would just show '--:--' - mine did that. It turned out that there was a very simple fix - you had to clean the circuit board ! There was some sort of film left by the manufacturing process, and cleaning it off worked for many people (inc. me).

https://myhumax.org/forum/topic/the-9200-problem

(It would record fine while powered up - it was only going into standby that made it lose the time.)

Mine obviously isn't a 9200 as it has no LCD display.

However I remember helping a friend to do exactly as you describe with, presumably, a 9200 some years ago!

I also seem to remember that the difference in power consumption between "On" and "Standby" was about six watts. So if you couldn't be bothered to strip it down and clean the board you could get round the problem by just leaving it on at a cost of about 10p per week.