My Humax Forum » Freeview HD » Aura UHD

Is Aura a beta test for hardware and software?

(26 posts)
  1. Paul Bton

    Paul Bton

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    boogersa - 8 mins ago  » 

    Asus1964 - 23 hours ago  » 

    Paul Bton - 20 hours ago  » 

    Asus1964 - 2 hours ago  » 
    If I was in the same position again, that is looking to purchase a freeview STB. Then I definitely would save my money & purchase something else.
    The main issue for me is the picture breaking up, especially when I have set a recording.
    For now my main goto dvr is the Humax YouView box that I paid a tenner for on Marketplace & it never let's me down.

    You may have posted elsewhere about pixilation problems, but what are they and when do they occur? Have you checked signal strength and quality? What are they in percentage terms on one of the HD channels?

    A lot of the channels that I watch are not broadcast in HD on freeview, eg Yesterday.
    Just checked on Yesterday & the signal is 98% & quality 100%,using the Winterhill transmitter.
    We have 5 freeview tvs & a youview box & never experienced any break up issues with these.
    I have also tried an attenuator on the Humax as suggested & this made no difference
    I believe what another user suggested in another thread that the issue is with the tuners in the Humax Aura.

    I had an issue where it would break up on SD channels. But if I rebooted into an SD channel it was fine until I changed channel and either back to the SD channel or a different SD channel there would be break up. I replaced the unit. Can you check a reboot onto an SD channel but without changing channel and see what the picture quality is like.

    Is it fare to say you found an interesting but short term fix for a defective unit by rebooting onto an SD channel? But the ultimate solution was replacing the Aura?

    What I have heard from Humax is that they think 98% signal is too high, causing picture freezes or picture break up. I don’t think people are getting that point. Humax say the tuners in the Aura are especially sensitive. (Why they made them more sensitive than previous tried and tested models I don’t know). If the signal strength is fluctuating that could be a sign of a defective unit. Other random dropouts (screen goes black or flashes off and on) can be HDMI issues. I have experienced them all. But all solvable or replaceable.

    | Wed 11 Aug 2021 13:32:27 #11 |
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    Dino_

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    poshsimon - 2 days ago  » 
    I've been considering Aura, but before I jump in, having read the forum I see lots of issues for the device. I really don't want to end up with issues and challenges to get the unit working properly.
    Are users now beta testers?

    I've had the unit for several months and not really had any issues. There was one that served software related early on that was resolved with one of the updates. Other than that no worse than any other computer device that occasionally throws a wobbly for no apparent or repeatable reason.

    On any forum, people will generally post problems to find solutions. Would be a bit weird to start a thread to say absolutely nothing is wrong.

    Would I buy it again? Absolutely. Wish it has Netflix built in, but just use the Firestick I had previously for that, so not a big deal. Others that had Netflix were missing other features, so there's still no 'one box does everything off the shelf' box.

    | Wed 11 Aug 2021 18:26:38 #12 |
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    Asus1964

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    REPASSAC - 23 hours ago  » 
    A signal strength of 98% is high, I would try a variable attenuator reducing the signal while keeping 100% quality on the problem channels.

    I have tried a variable attenuator as I mentioned in my post but with little success, by reducing the signal strength for one channel I then found that other channels on different frequencies suffered.

    What I wanted when I purchased the Aura was a plug & play box, not one that I had to mess around with adding 3rd party bits of kit to make it watchable. If Humax thinks that a 98% signal strength is too high, then they should have considered that issue before releasing the box.

    Humax are clearly capable of producing a reliable box as the Humax Youview box proves

    | Thu 12 Aug 2021 12:23:13 #13 |
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    Asus1964

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    Paul Bton - 1 day ago  » 

    Asus1964 - 19 hours ago  » 

    Paul Bton - 20 hours ago  » 

    Asus1964 - 2 hours ago  » 
    If I was in the same position again, that is looking to purchase a freeview STB. Then I definitely would save my money & purchase something else.
    The main issue for me is the picture breaking up, especially when I have set a recording.
    For now my main goto dvr is the Humax YouView box that I paid a tenner for on Marketplace & it never let's me down.

    You may have posted elsewhere about pixilation problems, but what are they and when do they occur? Have you checked signal strength and quality? What are they in percentage terms on one of the HD channels?

    A lot of the channels that I watch are not broadcast in HD on freeview, eg Yesterday.
    Just checked on Yesterday & the signal is 98% & quality 100%,using the Winterhill transmitter.
    We have 5 freeview tvs & a youview box & never experienced any break up issues with these.
    I have also tried an attenuator on the Humax as suggested & this made no difference
    I believe what another user suggested in another thread that the issue is with the tuners in the Humax Aura.

    You have done a lot there. Did you try setting the attenuator to around 85% signal strength in the HD channels (apparently Humax have said the tuners are more sensitive in the Aura). Alternatively if you noticed the signal fluctuating up and down in the SD channels (as I did) then you might have a defective Aura and you have grounds for getting it replaced or repaired under consumer law. I replaced mine as under 14 days since purchase. The second Aura had none of these issues in SD Channels. Does either of these scenarios fit your situation?

    I will monitor the signal strength on the affected channels & post back my results. Thanks for the advice.

    | Thu 12 Aug 2021 12:36:48 #14 |
  5. Paul Bton

    Paul Bton

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    Asus1964 - 1 hour ago  » 

    REPASSAC - 23 hours ago  » 
    A signal strength of 98% is high, I would try a variable attenuator reducing the signal while keeping 100% quality on the problem channels.

    I have tried a variable attenuator as I mentioned in my post but with little success, by reducing the signal strength for one channel I then found that other channels on different frequencies suffered.
    What I wanted when I purchased the Aura was a plug & play box, not one that I had to mess around with adding 3rd party bits of kit to make it watchable. If Humax thinks that a 98% signal strength is too high, then they should have considered that issue before releasing the box.
    Humax are clearly capable of producing a reliable box as the Humax Youview box proves

    Yes a good point about plug and play. A fix is coming for the freezing issue in the next software update I am told by the beta software group. So this is just an interim fix. If you complain to Humax direct they will probably send you an attenuator as they did for me. Or just wait for the update.

    | Thu 12 Aug 2021 14:16:47 #15 |
  6. Paul Bton

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    P.S. I found when using the attenuator I turned BBC1 HD (101) down to 86% signal strength (signal quality 100%) the channel Yesterday was still at 90%. So doesn’t affect the SD channels as much. No freezes yet even on 5.1 to stereo change over on live broadcast.

    | Thu 12 Aug 2021 15:08:53 #16 |
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    Asus1964

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    I monitored the signal & quality levels on the GB News channel on 37 which does regularly break up.

    The signal level was a solid 96% but the quality level would stay steady for a short period at 100% & then fluctuate to levels as low as 60%.

    I presume at the lower levels are when I experience the picture breaking up.

    | Thu 12 Aug 2021 18:09:56 #17 |
  8. Paul Bton

    Paul Bton

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    Asus1964 - 10 mins ago  » 
    I monitored the signal & quality levels on the GB News channel on 37 which does regularly break up.
    The signal level was a solid 96% but the quality level would stay steady for a short period at 100% & then fluctuate to levels as low as 60%.
    I presume at the lower levels are when I experience the picture breaking up.

    Humax are saying 96% is too high and overwhelming the Aura (should be 85% on HD channels as I understand it, using an attenuator, can maybe be higher on SD?). What is percentage on HD channels? When you say channel 37 you are talking about the MUX.

    But fluctuating is not a good sign. You could try a reset and retune. But I had fluctuations on my first Aura and had to return it. Sorry to be barer of possible bad news

    | Thu 12 Aug 2021 18:30:19 #18 |
  9. Mars

    Mars

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    Asus1964 - 20 mins ago  » 
    I monitored the signal & quality levels on the GB News channel on 37 which does regularly break up.
    The signal level was a solid 96% but the quality level would stay steady for a short period at 100% & then fluctuate to levels as low as 60%.
    I presume at the lower levels are when I experience the picture breaking up.

    I had varying signal quality on SD channels on an Aura box that did not happen with a replacement box. Setting recordings on Sky Arts, Drama and Yesterday allows you to observe signal quality on all three tuners. You probably need a replacement box.

    | Thu 12 Aug 2021 18:34:14 #19 |
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    Asus1964

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    Thanks for your comments, I will contact Humax tomorrow & mention what had been said & see what they say.
    What's the best way of contacting Humax?

    | Thu 12 Aug 2021 19:08:48 #20 |

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