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My Humax Forum » Freeview HD » HDR 1800T, 2000T

11. 

    damian
    

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    I'd be surprised if the drive weren't on some sort of anti-vibration mounts; however it's not going to stop a noisy drive.

    Thanks Galatic for confirming your drive to be 1TB, I'm guessing Stewpy and Beej78 also have 1TB models and not the 500GB.

    The drive is spinning and recording all the time when the Humax is on, the heads will be postioned over the section where the 2hr chase-play/buffer is on the disk enabling the pause/rewind function. When a scheduled recording starts the heads have to move backwards and forwards from the buffer section to the new recording section many times a second.

    Some drives are simply noiser than others and there'll be clackety-clack or clickity-click noise as the heads constantly move to reach different sections on the drive. Anti-vibration mounts, blu-tack or similar measures may help (worth a try before condemning), but will be of limited benefit as they mainly help against the constant whirr or drone vibration noise of the drive motor.

    As Faust points out, noise is very personal and it's impossible at lower levels to say whether it's excessive or something to worry about or not. If it can be heard over the TV then I'd be worried and investigate further.

    The original poster (OP) mentioned a noise every 10 seconds on average and the replacement box does exactly the same. Humax will be getting drives in different batches from several manufacturers and even the same drive will have different firmware over time and hence operate differently.

    It's possible that the current batch of drives has a 10 second head auto-park function (a bit like lifting the needle/arm off a record/lp/vinyl whilst it's playing and putting it back on its rest/stationary postition every 10 seconds before moving it back to play again) set in its firmware.

    On a pc, laptop or similar it would be dead easy to confirm this however; Humax have locked down the boxes making it impossible to check even the most simplest of things.

    If the OP can confirm a regular 10 second or so hard drive noise that sounds like the heads are being parked then I'd suggest contacting Humax CS as it would seem to be a hard-drive firmware (not Humax firmware) issue that will prematurely wear the drive out.

    | Wed 14 Jan 2015 13:37:31 #11 |
12. 

    Beej78
    

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    Hi damien,

    Thanks for your reply. My box is a 500GB, and while I'd say the noise is every ten seconds or so on average, it's not actually regular. It does increase in frequency when properly recording something as opposed to just buffering for pause/rewind.

    Either way, I reckon I've decided to send it back and get a refund. I've already got a "quirky" Humax box that this was intended to replace, I don't need a second one!

    | Wed 14 Jan 2015 13:44:39 #12 |
13. 

    damian
    

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    If you're looking for a bog standard reliable freeview HD box that works well then take a look at the older hdr-fox-t2:

    http://humaxdirect.co.uk/Direct/Prod/e4cdfbf3-14c2-4f8f-ac60-b08241aeacef

    It won't do any of the unreliable apps/internet nonsense that my tablet does when its not constantly updating itself, but will do bbc's iplayer reliably.

    Put custom firmware (CF) on it and upgrade to a suitable 2TB when you're ready and enjoy...
    (this is where you tell me your 'quirky' Humax is a hdr-fox-t2? ooops, shouldn't be quirky if it is, put CF on it)

    If you're after a reliable apps/internet all singing/dancing box that also doubles as a freeview/freesat HD pvr then personally I don't think it's even possible to make one at the moment.

    Manufacturers stopped using the term 'future proof' a few years ago and any that still do also have a good line in snake oil

    | Wed 14 Jan 2015 14:18:55 #13 |
14. 

    Beej78
    

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    Heh, the old Humax is a 9300t - has the odd senior moment with recordings where the sound goes (and remains) wonky. I appreciate the suggestions, though with the amount we now watch through catch-up on the various PS3 apps I think the only thing I'd miss now is pausing live tv, so I reckon I'll just hook the old one back up and tolerate its lovably unreliable nature.

    | Wed 14 Jan 2015 15:23:15 #14 |
15. 

    damian
    

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    not too sure what you've tried so far however; make sure the 9300T is on the latest software/firmware, factory reset it and if you've nothing worth keeping on the hard-drive then format it as well. Make sure the box is only tuned to one transmitter, take a look here:
    http://www.ukfree.tv/maps/freeview or elsewhere and pick the channels you actually want to watch, channels are grouped in Muxes and manually tune the 9300T to these only. Two or more transmitters definitely cause problems and the concensus is that on the older boxes too many Muxes do as well.
    The drive may be failing however; unless it's terminal you're not going to know without taking it out and testing on a pc or similar, new 500GB drives aren't that expensive. There's plenty of information regarding manual tuning and drive replacement in this forum. If you've a full HD TV then it's probabley worth while looking for a newer box instead of repairing the old one and if you've a HD or HD ready TV then there's no problem sticking with the 9300T. As lovable as it is, the 9300T shouldn't really be quirky

    | Thu 15 Jan 2015 1:55:15 #15 |
16. 

    Galactic
    

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    Thanks for such a comprehension reply Damian - it's good to have some idea of what's going on in the box when you're a technical novice.

    I think I've got used to the noise now and it is very low really; I certainly can't hear it over the programme sound, only in the quiet parts. I have even come across one benefit - I've realised I can tell now whether it's recording when in standby

    | Thu 15 Jan 2015 18:00:58 #16 |
17. 

    Faust
    

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    I have just ordered a 2000T to act as a backup to my Freesat 1000s and will replace a much loved Panasonic DVDR which is showing signs of age. I won't be putting the 2000T on my home network as I just want/need an extra recording option. I have already downloaded the loopthrough update file in readiness.

    | Fri 16 Jan 2015 15:28:09 #17 |
18. 

    Minstrel SE
    

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    Hi

    I deserve my place on this forum because Ive had an 8000T 40gb for countless years still in mint condition It will be getting a custom job as I have 160GB Seagate hardrive from a 9200

    I have a new HDR 2000T and I cant see that the hard drive twitterinng every 6 seconds is within acceptable design parameters for this unit.

    I know what the hard drive is doing but I feel its obtrusive when the telly in on low and I can even hear it during quiet passages when Ive got my PX100 headphones on.

    I think Im going to contact Humax and start a new thread here.

    Can anyone tell me please if the hard drive can be swapped for a better unit?

    In my mind a hard drive shouldnt be making this kind of noise for this application. Its like the sort of noise a game console disc reader makes when reading heavy information.

    I dont feel its acceptable on pvr. Its a shame because otherwise the picture, features and sound are lovely.

    Im technically minded but may have to return this. I dont want to return it but surely this noise isnt right.

    | Sun 4 Sep 2016 10:58:28 #18 |

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