Hi

I have an old PVR-9200T and I would like to copy some of the recordings from it.

I tried following the instructions here, http://www.andrewdsmith.plus.com/hummy/, but could not past the Run "qmake humaxGui.pro" stage.

I also tried humaxrw, https://myhumax.org/forum/topic/humaxrw, but could not get it to work.

Any advice on what method I should use would be greatly appreciated.

Also, currently I am attaching my Humax via USB cable to my Ubuntu desktop.

Would the better approach be to find a powered IDE to USB adapter? If so can anyome recommend a cheap one?

Thanks.

Originally posted on Digital Spy June 2010.

I’ve been interested in this clock problem for a while but as my clock is working fine I didn’t have the opportunity to investigate it. Earlier this year a forum member sent me his failed clock display board and for the last couple of weeks I’ve been investigating the problem. I have found the failure mechanism and repaired his board which has been running in my 9200 for several days doing various test recordings from Standby with complete success. I was going to post my finding early in July after a few weeks of running but earlier this week I had the opportunity to look at a second display board which I have now done and repaired this morning. The failure mechanism on both boards is identical so I am reasonably confident that this is the failure mechanism on the majority of failed boards. I have therefore decided to post now.

One of the circuits on the board is a Real Time Clock (RTC), this is responsible for keeping the time during Standby and also in the event of a power failure. I say power failure but in reality the time will be maintained for over a week, maybe more. One of the components of the RTC circuit is the RTC integrated circuit (chip). This chip contains a very low power oscillator which, with the 32.768kHz crystal, provides the basic time keeping accuracy in Standby. It is this oscillator that fails but not due to any component failure. The input to the oscillator (pin 1 of the chip) is very sensitive and is being affected by random small voltages on the surface of the board. The cause of these voltages is a contaminant on the surface of the protective lacquer covering the board in the area of the RTC. I am guessing the voltages are being caused by a chemical reaction, but the end result is that the oscillator is turned off. The repair is to simply clean the RTC area of the board.

Anyone who feels confident to change the board will be able to effect a repair, all you need is cotton buds, a small artist’s paint brush (mine had 2 on it, I assume that’s a size) and a cleaning agent, and of course a fair amount of care. A tutorial by JefUK on how to change the board can be found here. The cleaning agent I used in the lab was ethanol, you probably won’t be able to buy ethanol but surgical spirit looks like being a good alternative. I looked in Boots and their surgical spirit is a mixture of ethanol and methanol so should work fine. Rubbing alcohol contains additives such as perfume so don’t use that. Certainly don’t use acetone based compounds such as cellulose thinners or nail polish remover as they will strip off the protective lacquer and melt any plastic parts they come into contact with.

Take reasonable static precautions, most electronic components are quite robust but can be easily destroyed by static discharges. Remove the board and hold it the right way up (display at the top, white cable at the bottom) with the display facing you. The area you need to clean is the left hand end of the board. The 12mm round component labelled CE921 is the super capacitor (think of it as a small rechargeable battery), the black square component with eight legs labelled U923 is the chip and the silver cylindrical component 8mm long labelled Y921 is the crystal. These components together with the very small components above and below the chip form the RTC circuit. If you’ve just taken the board out of the 9200 the super capacitor will be charged and have about 3 or 4 volts across it but this should not be a problem.

Start by cleaning the back side of the board with a cotton bud dampened with surgical spirit. Don’t worry about removing any felt tip pen markings, they will smudge immediately the fluid touches them. Clean an area from the left hand end of the board to about 30mm in, pay particular attention to the area around the connections to the super capacitor and crystal. Repeat this several times with new cotton buds until the cotton bud stays clean, but remember you are only removing contamination not trying to remove the protective lacquer. Also note that the contamination may be invisible, as it was on the first board I repaired, but my lab equipment picked up the surface voltages. Now clean the component side of the board being very careful not to cause mechanical damage to the components, although they are quite tough. Hold the board with the left hand end down so any excess fluid can run off rather than into the rest of the board. Again clean from the end of the board to about 30mm in paying particular attention to the area between the chip, super capacitor and crystal. Use the brush dipped in fluid to help clean around and under the super capacitor and crystal. The components above the chip don’t really need any attention but don’t worry about fluid getting on them, just dry the brush on tissue and brush the fluid away. Repeat the cleaning process several times. I have the advantage of being able to detect when the stray voltages have been eliminated but cleaning 3 or 4 times should suffice. Dab off any excess fluid from awkward areas with a tissue and lightly blow dry.

The success of this repair will depend on how thoroughly you do the cleaning. I used exactly the above procedure on the second board and I could see with my lab equipment that the oscillations were getting stronger with each cleaning process. I will be pleased to hear your success/failure stories but obviously you do this procedure at your own risk.

I would like to thank Martin Liddle for providing the guinea pig board and Coulrophobe for providing the second board.

There are old entries pointing to 'Betelgeuse-Observatory...' but this is inaccessible.

Hi, I'm new here.
We have had this PVR since 2006 so it has given good service but several weeks ago it began freezing at times, just not responding to the remote. I would unplug it and plug it back in and it would be OK again maybe for a few days. We phoned the tech guys who were brilliant. They recommended a default reset, which we did and it seemed to work for a while. When the problem recurred we did a reformat of the HD.
Alas, the problem is still happening, so I'm about to buy a 1800 from Amazon for £139. I just really need to be reassured that we have tried everything before we take the plunge. Thanks in advance.

Using media controller v1.05 99 times out of 100 says error connecting to device. When it actually connects it has been fine. However now when it does connect 'X' to transfer operates but 'A' for video transfer cannot find the list. However going back and pressing 'L' brings up the list!.
I connected the disc in an external storage IDE case that outputs USB & tried humaxrw but it could not see it. Can I connect it to the IDE connector on the motherboard and set it as slave and would it be likely to work then. Please assume you are dealing with somebody who has very little computer knowledge in your replies.
Regards Steve

Hello I read biggles post on the issue of the clock not working in standby and his solution to the problem.
I carried out the cleaning process he described using; IPA, cotton buds and a No 2 paintbrush it didn't seem to make any difference the first time I did it. I removed the display board again and paid particular attention to getting the paint brush under the super capacitor and crystal. I reassembled the board back into the unit and found that the clock was now on in standby. There is a delay when switching the machine off, there is a number of asterix in the left hand side of the display but after a few seconds the clock is visible. I have made a number of recordings since carrying out the repair and it seems to work fine. However there is what appears to be the standard problem that the remote freezes occasionally and sometimes the main on/off switch has to be used to get the unit to work ok. I have tried to get a software update but there seems to be none available, I think the info page says the software version is .23 not sure if this is the latest version.I would be gratefl for any further advice/assistance with the remote freezing issue and software updates.
Many thanks for reading.
Andy

Hi all

first post here

Looking at his unit for my parents, as i'm more IT savvy
never used one of these recording type boxes before, but i said id take a look, as there is most likely a HDD in there

Got home and took the HDD out and put in my IDE caddy, with a view to just exploring contents or a checkdisk not realizing at first that the format was some kind of Linux

anyway are a bit of googling, i went into storage management on my win 7 machine, and the HDD was coming up as unallocated so i created a new volume without format

i have tried a few tools, linux reader etc but cannot seem to get anywhere, just errors about not being able to open/access

then i read about this humax check, and other tools which i cant seem to locate.

Am i able to rescue this disk, with the proper tools, or have i missed the opportunity by placing in my windows environment

it's not the end of the world if the data is lost as my parents have a new Humax, but i said i would attempt to get the data off if i could

any tips appreciated

Hi there

As an initial post I am sorry to say that I anticipate bringing coachloads of ignorance to this august website. This is partly due to asking questions on behalf of my elderly father (currently labouring with a 9300-T). My even more aged next-door-neighbour is grappling desperately with an HDR-2000T not helped, no doubt, by her devices being regularly switched off at the mains (I know, I know).

My first query is, though, just a need for understanding of something I noticed on the HDR-2000T yesterday, which is certainly not covered in the instruction manual. When setting programmes to record in the TV Guide a dialog box appears requesting whether the whole series is required for recording or just the particular programme. So far, so good. What is also prompted is the option of whether the user requires an HD recording (should a concurrent HD channel be available for said programme). Obviously the preference here would be to select the HD option. The problem herein is that once exiting the TV Guide there is no visual ‘icon’ pinned to the chosen recorded programme. In contrast to an SD selection having been made where a small red clock appears. The only option here is to access the schedule to list all selected recording times etc.

Is this a general Humax omission or could we, perhaps, have missed out on a firmware update?

Any advice much appreciated.

I was thinking of getting an HDR9200T and hoping to be able to upload files from this to my MBP and iTunes: looks like the software is all PC/DOS oriented?

Also, looking through some of the FAQs, this model appears to be under a cloud ("abandoned shortly after launch").

SO - where to from here then? My old Topfield PVR, now distinctly dodgy, has driven me to looking at alternatives and I was recommended the 9200T but is it really the dream machine? Or is there a better alternative. Please!
TerryB

Just thinking of another TV recorder
I currently have 2 x HDR_Fox T2 recorders which i must say have and are still great machines used daily.
Could I ask the forum what is the latest equivalent Humax product to the T2 and what are the additional features that come with it, like WiFi compatibility etc
Thanks