My Humax Forum » Freesat HD » HB 1000S, 1100S

By-pass Signal Test?

(6 posts)
  1. SpiderJon

    SpiderJon

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    Our satellite dish isn't currently connected. This isn't a huge issue for us, at the moment, and we've just been using the Humax STB for its "On Demand" broadband streaming services (BBC iPlayer, Netflix, etc).

    Yesterday, the On Demand services weren't loading -- we just got a blank 'page' on the STB. Power-cycling didn't fix the problem. Eventually, I did a Factory Reset.

    (I've since seen https://myhumax.org/forum/topic/cant-see-on-demand-qppa but waiting for the issue to be fixed at Humax's end sadly isn't an option now.)

    The problem now is that the Humax box boots-up into its set-up routine, and I can't get past the "Signal Test" stage to even just use the "On Demand" services — it gets stuck at "Searching for satellite signal", which of course it can't find.

    Is there any way to 'by-pass" the Signal Test and just use the STB as a streaming device?

    Many TIA.

    | Mon 6 Jul 2020 14:01:42 #1 |
  2. grahamlthompson

    grahamlthompson

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    SpiderJon - 3 hours ago  » 
    Our satellite dish isn't currently connected. This isn't a huge issue for us, at the moment, and we've just been using the Humax STB for its "On Demand" broadband streaming services (BBC iPlayer, Netflix, etc).
    Yesterday, the On Demand services weren't loading -- we just got a blank 'page' on the STB. Power-cycling didn't fix the problem. Eventually, I did a Factory Reset.
    (I've since seen https://myhumax.org/forum/topic/cant-see-on-demand-qppa but waiting for the issue to be fixed at Humax's end sadly isn't an option now.)
    The problem now is that the Humax box boots-up into its set-up routine, and I can't get past the "Signal Test" stage to even just use the "On Demand" services — it gets stuck at "Searching for satellite signal", which of course it can't find.
    Is there any way to 'by-pass" the Signal Test and just use the STB as a streaming device?
    Many TIA.

    You must connect it to a working dish. A friends without Sky-Q or Freesat would resolve this.

    The box needs a dish connected to keep the channel line up up to date. Without this your channel database will get more and more out of date.

    | Mon 6 Jul 2020 17:17:25 #2 |
  3. SpiderJon

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    grahamlthompson - 26 mins ago
    The box needs a dish connected to keep the channel line up up to date. Without this your channel database will get more and more out of date.

    Thanks Graham.

    As I say, we're not overly bothered by the lack of Freesat channels — we've been using it just for "On Demand" for about 3 months now and it's been fine.

    It was only when I (stupidly, in retrospect) did a Factory Reset to fix a problem that I later learned lay elsewhere that the problem occurred.

    Thanks again.

    | Mon 6 Jul 2020 17:48:06 #3 |
  4. grahamlthompson

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    SpiderJon - 5 mins ago  » 

    grahamlthompson - 26 mins ago
    The box needs a dish connected to keep the channel line up up to date. Without this your channel database will get more and more out of date.

    Thanks Graham.
    As I say, we're not overly bothered by the lack of Freesat channels — we've been using it just for "On Demand" for about 3 months now and it's been fine.
    It was only when I (stupidly, in retrospect) did a Factory Reset to fix a problem that I later learned lay elsewhere that the problem occurred.
    Thanks again.

    When you factory reset. The unit connects to the Freesat home transponder.

    It downloads a temporary copy of the postcode allocation table to your box.

    At this point if it cannot locate the home transponder you cannot proceed.

    It then asks for a postcode. Depending on the answer it allocates your regional channels to the lower end logical channel numbers (lcns). In the case of the BBC channels it also adds all UK SD regions and UK Nations-HD channels using higher end lcn's

    For ITV - channels you get your local ITV-HD region (ITV want you to watch local adverts).

    You also get ITV-London SD because it's the only one that has the audio described audio channel for the visually impaired.

    This worked OK for a long time, till the BBC decided to take over the creation of the codes used to control series recordings (CRID - Content reference Identifiers).

    They now use the same series crid for all HD-nations and SD regions.

    As a result this can create multiple recordings from one reservation. I have tried to persuade the BBC to use different series CRIDS for especially the other NATION-HD channels. The BBC won;t change it, Humax won't issue a software fix to confirm to the proper spec.

    Result is only way is to delete all other BBC - HD SD and nation region epg channels from your epg.

    You still need a dish connected 24/7.

    The Humax Freesat boxes have a bug that fails to identify duplicate recordings of the same content (thanks to Luke for this info).

    | Mon 6 Jul 2020 18:09:24 #4 |
  5. grahamlthompson

    grahamlthompson

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    There are many other ways to get on demand services not requiring a dish.

    Amongst the best is a Amazon 4K firestick connected to a HDMI socket on your TV, or even better a HDMI input on a AV receiver.

    If you have 4K TV it's a must. Also great for Full-HD TV's though of course you are restricted to FULL_HD 1920 x 1080 content.

    | Mon 6 Jul 2020 18:40:56 #5 |
  6. SpiderJon

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    grahamlthompson - 4 hours ago  » 
    There are many other ways to get on demand services not requiring a dish.

    We use Chromecast, which we got when Humax removed C4's "All 4" on-demand service.

    It's just slightly less convenient than using the Humax box (or maybe it's just because that's what we've got used to for several years).

    At some point we'll (probably) get the satellite dish connection fixed, but tbh we haven't missed broadcast TV much.

    Anyway, thanks for your help and explanations — much appreciated

    | Mon 6 Jul 2020 23:13:30 #6 |

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