My Humax Forum » Freeview HD » FVP 4000T, 5000T

First impressions - glitches vs. pro's

(16 posts)
  1. ricke17

    ricke17

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    So I have had this now for a week and figured I'd just do a quick write up.

    A few glitches:

    - Sometimes the red light on the front remains red despite the box being on.
    - I have numerous recordings now, and I am finding it difficult to manage - it would be good to have an option to get rid of the thumbnails and have the recordings listed (similar to Youview)
    - The box hangs when searching manually for a s/w update (have to switch off at the mains)
    - Annoying method of skipping ads (compared to youview)
    - Sometimes there is stuttering especially when multiple programmes are being recorded at the same time
    - Using a Mac makes it impossible to view recordings
    - A Freeview App needs to be developed so recordings can be set that way (Humax have told me one is in the works)
    - Using a Harmony universal remote is neigh on impossible - Logitech have not identified that this device has the ability of changing the IR language yet!

    Pro's:

    - Ability to record 4 programmes at once and watch a 5th - this is truly awesome!
    - Good to have a 'recent' section
    - Good to be able to manually pad scheduled programmes
    - The UI is pretty user friendly
    - Good that there is a 1TB model as I often record programmes and watch them in a binge style months later
    - The Humax remote app is quick and easy especially when setting scheduled programmes (via the search option)
    - Good (and prompt) UK support via email and they are super friendly when I have called them

    Cheers,

    Rick.

    | Thu 19 Nov 2015 6:04:46 #1 |
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    JohnH77

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    I have just got mine to replace my trusty old 9200T. Before I give a list of "prefer it wasn't like this" whinges let me say it is a very nice machine and the User Interface is, in the main, good, and I am pleased I got it. I don't think the UI is as good as the 9200T, but it is much better than the awful UI on the HDR-FOX T2 - I bought one and sent it back! Mind you, anything with an EPG which populates without blanks and a remote control which doesn't freeze will seem good after the 9200T

    Bear with me if some of these turn out to be user error - recall that the definition of User Friendly is "something, however difficult, but with which you are familiar". The manual is very slim - and written in grey ink in about 9 point font so buy a magnifying glass and a strong reading light.

    1 Red light - me too.

    2 Managing recordings - it's next to impossible! I think I must be missing something because I haven't worked out an easy way to navigate recordings or find what I want without laboriously stepping through them all or using the SEARCH on the title. It needs a better organisation of the recorded programmes and a screen with ten or twenty recordings shown with one line to each recording. The mini images are a waste of screen. Fortunately I have discovered that WHILE a recording is playing, pressing STOP takes you to the folder containing that recording. Before I discovered that I was hunting high and low for what I had been watching so I could delete it.

    3 Ad skipping - you have to make sure the "time" is in focus to get the > arrow to skip by the preset amount.

    4 The black background to the EPG etc screens is too dark - please bring back the blue-grey - it was lovely. An option for the user to choose his colour would be lovely.

    5 Remote control. It's too difficult to locate the correct button by feel - it needs dimples on, say, OK and HOME. Having it black on black makes it impossible to see anything unless you wear a head torch. As a plus, there seem to be proper "clicking" micro switches under the > and < keys - not the soft rubber squelchy switches.

    6 No i = Information for more info about a programme you are watching or a recording.

    7 The EPG begins "from now" even if "now is 7:30pm" without the ability to push it 30 mins forwards to begin "on the hour".

    8 The EPG "rolls through channels" continuously and does not jump to the top / bottom channel as it does in 9200T

    9 No ability to use >> button to jump the EPG by 2 hours

    10 List of recorded programs. It creates one folder for each program title, so I have folders for HIGNFY from BBC and a different folder for HIGNFY from Dave. I haven't yet seen what will happen when a broadcaster names episodes 1, 2 and 3 "New: Fred" and episodes 4, 5 and 6 "Fred" - presumably they will get different folders.

    11 The channel names in the EPG are far too small to read easily which makes the continuous rolling even worse.

    12 Say Fred is on both normal and HD. I set to record the HD version of Fred and it gets an icon in the EPG. But there is nothing showing in the normal channel EPG to say that Fred on HD is being recorded, so I keep on saying "That looks good - I'll record it" forgetting I have scheduled the HD version.

    13 If I am watching a recording and I stop half way through, when I open the recordings list, it doesn't open at that recording. I can see this being a problem with, say, a film recorded 6 months ago where I watch half of it, stop, and watch the other half the next day. If I cannot remember the name or spelling so I can search on it I won't be able to find it.

    14 The have swapped the position of STOP and RECORD buttons on the remote control compared with the 9200T so I keep pressing RECORD when I want to STOP and vice versa.

    15 The remote control button press time is very short? sensitive? so I keep on sending double presses.

    Some nice things include ...

    1 I like the folder arrangement where the list of future episodes yet to be recorded is listed as well as those already recorded.

    2 Auto tuning was a breeze - I previously manually tuned the 9200T because of the multiple transmitters I can see.

    3 Picture quality on SD and HD is excellent to my eyes.

    4 It's smaller and silent. I would prefer a front display rather than just a red/blue LED.

    5 The EPG is good and fast. I like that an in-focus 30 min program label expands to be an hour long so you can read it - others are more annoyed that it obscures the next program (until you move the focus).

    6 The EPG goes a week backwards and you can choose to download programmes.

    | Sat 26 Dec 2015 23:28:43 #2 |
  3. Barry

    Barry

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    1. The Led will remain red when switched on if the unit is recording.

    2. Order by Channel or Day of Week are options, this not a concern for me.

    3. As per our FAQ posted in August.

    4. Agree, needs to be same background as used in the recordings list for instance.

    5. I have no problem with the remote, finding the OK button easily in the dark, slightly indented in comparison to the arrow buttons around it.

    6. Agree for watching a recording, watching live press OK twice.

    7. Pressing guide initially displays the now and next for all channels.

    8. Ch up/down will page up/down in the Guide, again as per our FAQ posted in August.

    9. In guide, as stated in para 7, initial display is now and next, press right arrow and then you can use << >> for 2 hour skips, again as per the FAQ mentioned in last para.

    10. This will depend on what meta data (series/programme crids) the broadcaster applies to the programme.

    11. Can understand it maybe an issue for some, does not bother me.

    12. Can understand comment, though does not bother me.

    13. Can understand comment, but I can live with it as it is.

    14. Button reassignment can be a pain until you get used to it.

    15. Have not come across this one myself - to date.

    | Sun 27 Dec 2015 0:03:29 #3 |
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    pharmacologist 51

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    This was very helpful. I'd found number 8 intuitively... "Page up/down - as usual for Humax use the CH up/down key." But although it was in the FAQs, I had totally missed... "9. In guide, as stated in para 7, initial display is now and next, press right arrow and then you can use << >> for 2 hour skips, again as per the FAQ mentioned in last para."

    What a relief, I used to dread the arrival of the forthcoming week's TV listing as it took me so long to enter everything. So thanks for a reminder of that answer.

    I have a question about something else that I may have missed, but I'll mention something that I was asked in a PM in case this rings a bell with Barry or anybody. I had said that I was going to put the box at the back of the cupboard until it was fixed with as/w patch, but I keep popping up and am obviously using the 400T. I get asked why if I went back to my "old" box - why not just use that for, say 6months before getting the 400T out again.

    The answer is that I have two "old" boxes that are currently connected and usable (a couple of much older ones are at the back of the cupboard. One is the FOXSAT-HDR. I currently have a dish problem there, nothing to do with Humax , but I have parked that for the time being.

    The reason I bought the 400T was to replace the "FOX-T2" which until a year or so ago was the best box I'd ever had. Then things went wrong.

    (I will apologise in advance for referring to another box on the wrong forum and want to flame me, but I think it is fair as Humax would want to know details like this. So thanks to all who managed to control their flaming desires).

    So question number one, the FOX-T2 reached a point where the sub-titles were out of sync by 10-20 seconds. In other words you had to say that the box no longer had usable subtitles. Anybody else; anybody know of a solution. (Of course I had done all the usual stop it, wind back a bit etc.)

    I apologise for that deviation from the norm. and can now get back to the 400T.

    I, as have many of us, found the two red/blue lights misleading and Barry has done his best to explain that "mistake" in the box's design. ( Also I think many of us would have liked a front panel?)
    I, like many others on the forum have found that if it is evening and the red light is on and you think that is because it is recording, well, just go to the pub or to bed. It is most unlikely that you can switch on the box.

    BTW, you can read all the previous suggested solutions regarding HDMI cables but these seem to be red-herring. I have replaced my HDMI with a scart, no HDMI anywhere and all the problems are the same?

    Thanks for your patience - the final problem.

    I had finally learnt that if I wanted to use the box at time "x" then it must not be recording at time "x".

    I changed my "plan" to just going in each day to an "empty" box switch on, get the blue light, set the programmes to be recorded.

    This worked for about a week.

    Over the last week I have got up, the box would either have a red light or a light so faint that I couldn't see it.

    I would switch on via the remote and a blue light would appear.

    I was then able to watch, say, BBC1 (or anything else) on the TV.

    However, if I changed the source to "the box" I would only get a blank screen (plus 2-3 seconds confirming that my source was the box.)

    For the first few days my frustration led to the usual method of removing the plug to force a hard re-boot.

    Later, I thought what will happen if I leave it for a day or more.

    The answer is nothing.

    I'd really be interested to hear if anybody has answers or similar problems.

    I hesitate to offend Barry yet again, but in my opinion ths box IS a dog and was released before full QC had been completed.

    This is very sad. I have never looked at any box other than Humax in the past but I think my my next one is likely to be a Panasonic.

    Thanks everybody for taking the time to read this.

    | Sun 27 Dec 2015 10:45:53 #4 |
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    JohnH77

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    I have already had something I didn't understand with powering it on/Red light; and also one occasion when it went to a black screen and after quite a bit of fiddling about with the remote it eventually rebooted itself and I got the HUMAX splash screen.

    I put them down to finger trouble on my part but I will try to analyse them if? when? they repeat themselves. I am connected by HDMI to my TV.

    I shall be availing myself of the option of registering my purchase within 30 days to get the free 2nd year warranty.

    | Sun 27 Dec 2015 11:24:45 #5 |
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    pharmacologist 51

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    Thanks for that. Just to confirm:- I started with HDMI, there was a lot of correspondence saying HDMI was the problem, one forum member said, "rubbish" - I'm using scart and have all the same problems.

    I tried just scart, had all the same problems so have gone back to HDMI and eliminated that from the equation (rightly or wrongly?).

    | Sun 27 Dec 2015 11:50:01 #6 |
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    JohnH77

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    pharmacologist 51  » 
    I had finally learnt that if I wanted to use the box at time "x" then it must not be recording at time "x".

    I have just done that specific test

    1 Set recording to start in about 10 minutes
    2 Power box off with red button on remote control
    3 Go back 20 minutes later - box has bright red light showing
    4 Power box on with red button on remote control.
    The Humax springs to life as normal.

    It suggests you have a faulty box. Incidentally, the 4000T I have does not have a SCART outlet.

    Also, propping the box up slightly so I look straight down the "tube" at the red/blue LED makes the dim setting more visible - I need to work out what they mean.

    | Sun 27 Dec 2015 18:50:05 #7 |
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    JohnH77

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    15 The remote control button press time is very short? sensitive? so I keep on sending double presses.

    15. Have not come across this one myself - to date.

    Press and hold the GUIDE button for a fraction of a second. It opens the guide (good!) ... and promptly closes it (d*mmit!). Or hold it down and it quickly sends repeat commands flickering the guide on and off. Or press and hold the Channel UP or DOWN button - it rapidly flicks through the channels. If you want to go to station 3, and press 3, it quickly displays 3, then 33, then 333. This is too fast for my liking.

    | Sun 27 Dec 2015 18:55:25 #8 |
  9. Barry

    Barry

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    Well I can replicate if I press and hold guide/number button etc but I do not do that...

    Press guide/number release and wait a second.

    | Sun 27 Dec 2015 19:01:18 #9 |
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    JohnH77

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    Maybe I have a slightly sensitive remote control. If not, older people with slower reactions will be sending double presses which will confuse them greatly.

    I don't have to hold it for long - if I press it and say "one potato" as quickly as I can, and release it, it switches to the guide ... and straight back to TV. As there is a small, but significant, delay before the guide appears, I think I probably need to release the button before the guide appears if I don't want it to close.

    | Sun 27 Dec 2015 19:08:58 #10 |

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