This tale has a happy ending... nice to start on a positive note eh?
I have been really frustrated at the amount of times I've had a blank screen (although with sound) on startup of the T1010, and apparently there are others out there who have experienced similar problems (the same problem also plagued my outgoing Fox T2 - only lasted 3 years). The only way out of it was to completely shutdown all connected components and disconnect then restart which 9 times out of 10 would cure the problem.
I have a 6 year old Pioneer 32 inch Kuro tv connected with an HDMI cable from the T1010 to an input on the back of the tv. I methodically swapped inputs with other items of av equipment in my surround setup to eliminate the possibility it could be the HDMI cable and the input socket. Tried also setting a startup delay for the Humax (using a Logitech One universal remote - like gold - wouldn't be without it). Also adjusted the resolution to 720p - none of which cured the problem.
After a good bit of research I found that I probably had a HDMI hot-sync problem. Apparently it seems that some HDMI devices do not happily re-sync after a change to the signal path which is most likely a weakness in the tv - particularly as it's an older, earlier hi-def model.
So, my thought process was rather than connecting the HDMI cable from the Humax to the tv, connect to a DVI compatible HDMI input on my receiver... that way it is the receiver doing the switching and not relying on the tv.
I'm therefore happy to report that now the Humax is not connected directly to the television the problem has resolved itself - no more blank startup screens.
I hope this may help someone that suffers with a similar predicament when connecting to a home cinema system and is perhaps ready to return their Humax box thinking it or your cables may be faulty.
