Humax box recordings

cx6

If the box completely breaks then you have nothing to lose by taking out the HDD, putting it in a caddy and plugging it into your Windows PC as an external drive.

It is formatted using the Linux file system so Windows will not be able to read the drive unless you install something like Ext2FSD or another Windows Linux driver.

However, once you have done this you should be able to see files on the HDD that you can copy to your flash drive.

The HD program files will be useless as they will be encrypted but you should be able to view the SD ones.

Something to try on a rainy afternoon if your box fails!

womble12345

I have a custom firmware installed on my Humax box, details on that forum linked above. I can decrypt recordings and copy them to any other device to play there.

debitcardmayhem

womble12345 said:

I have a custom firmware installed on my Humax box, details on that forum linked above. I can decrypt recordings and copy them to any other device to play there.

I think you are a little confused, you can't decrypt them, the firmware(well the patch) actually stops the box from encrypting them before recording.

@ripplyuk you can copy the recordings you have by using a USB flash drive or USB HDD/SSD. It is not too difficult , just slow. 

Heedtheadvice

Once upon a time in a Humax box far far away......

I copied recordings by plugging in the disk drive via a caddy in my PC. Files were in ext format.

Maybe things have changed since then.....?

debitcardmayhem

Heedtheadvice said:

Once upon a time in a Humax box far far away......

I copied recordings by plugging in the disk drive via a caddy in my PC. Files were in ext format.

Maybe things have changed since then.....?

Nope they have always been extfs

Norman_Castle

ripplyuk said:

The box has started to be a bit unreliable. At times it fails to record for no apparent reason. Sometimes it wipes the recording schedule before the programs have even started. Also, occasionally I’ll turn the tv on and there’s no picture, just sound and a green screen. This happened with both my old and new TV’s so it’s the box that’s the problem, not the TV. It also shows channels as ‘scrambled’ when they should be working. Turning it on and off usually solves that. Ultimately since the hard drive is almost full, I’ll need a new box to keep recording stuff. 

From memory a poorly connected scart lead often resulted in a green screen, if you still connect via scart try checking the connections or substituting the lead. Use HDMI where available.

Failing to record can be due to the channel not sending the signal the programme is starting which is not the fault of the box. Other odd behaviour can be due to updates not being done.

GDB2222

ripplyuk said:

Thanks for the replies. Swapping the hard drive is too complicated for me. I wouldn’t have a clue. I don’t want to watch all these shows in SD and I don’t want DVD’s cluttering up my house. I was really hoping this was something I could take the box to a ‘computer guy’ for and he could put it all on a flash drive. Clearly it’s not that simple. 

The box has started to be a bit unreliable. At times it fails to record for no apparent reason. Sometimes it wipes the recording schedule before the programs have even started. Also, occasionally I’ll turn the tv on and there’s no picture, just sound and a green screen. This happened with both my old and new TV’s so it’s the box that’s the problem, not the TV. It also shows channels as ‘scrambled’ when they should be working. Turning it on and off usually solves that. Ultimately since the hard drive is almost full, I’ll need a new box to keep recording stuff. 

So, let me see if I understand?

The HD recordings are encrypted and can only be watched on this particular box, regardless of whether you replace the drive or copy to a flash drive.

The box is failing, and when it eventually gives up the ghost, you will lose access to those HD recordings.

 You don’t want to watch in SD, so copying them off to another device isn’t good enough, and you would rather lose the recordings altogether.

So, that’s it. 

cx6

You could get a new box now before the old one fails and then the recordings would be 'saved' on the old box

There are HD-encryption defeat methods so a computer-guy may be able to play your recordings in real-time and connect the HDMI out to a PC via a defeat mechanism and save your HD recordings to a 'flash drive' but since the recordings are played in real-time it would take many many hours and not sure what they would bill you.

Heedtheadvice

debitcardmayhem said:

Heedtheadvice said:

Once upon a time in a Humax box far far away......

I copied recordings by plugging in the disk drive via a caddy in my PC. Files were in ext format.

Maybe things have changed since then.....?

Nope they have always been extfs

Ah yes, bad memory! The utility bit of software coped with both!.........wonder where it is now........

debitcardmayhem

To replace/remove the HDD look here http://www.astra2sat.com/freesat/hard-drive-upgrade/

You could  install the custom firmware to  allow you to copy the existing recordings via ftp to your pc, and more options including using the box as a dnla server.

look here https://www.avforums.com/threads/raydons-custom-firmware-for-humax-foxsat-hdr.2320116/ or here https://hummy.tv/forum/forums/foxsat-hdr-customised-firmware.38/