My Humax Forum » Freeview HD » HDR FOX T2

Terrestrial vs Cable

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    SwissToni

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    I have an HDR Fox T2 which i used in the UK for a few years. I now have an apartment in Switzerland where i would like to use this if possible. The TV signal into the building is cable and is delivered into my apartment via an RF connection.
    I connected my T2 to this and then by both RF and HDMI to my TV. I can see the TV signal in this way - as well as watching programs that were already recorded on the box while in the UK. I, however, cant get the box to tune in to any channels...which is what i thought may happen!
    My question is, in general, what is the difference between standard DVB-T2 and DVB-c (which i assume my cable input is). I was of the opinion that this might just be a difference in frequencies, but have trawled the internet and cant find any explanation of this at all.
    My cable provider gives the following info which i used to set up the TV -
    Frequency 514,000,
    Symbolrate 6.900
    Const. 256QAM
    Network-ID 00577

    Is there any way i can get this box working here or should i just repatriate it!!
    Many thanks for any help.

    | Sun 22 Oct 2017 12:58:49 #1 |
  2. grahamlthompson

    grahamlthompson

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    Your HDR-Fox-T2 is designed to work with DVB-T/T2 broadcasts from a terrestrial aerial and the frequency has to be in the UHF band (21-68). DVB-C is totally incompatible as is satellite DVB-S/S2. It's possible that it might work with a Swiss DVB terrestrial service given they use use the same channel bandwidth as the UK. It will be still usable as a network media player and server though.

    You would have to check locally what DVB-T/T2 channels are available locally.

    A dish may get you free to air channels from 28.2E using a suitable receiver, again local knowledge should tell if a Freesat box is feasible. You will need to get the Freesat home transponder on 11428 H to use a UK Freesat+ pvr. A quick look at the Astra UK spot beam footprint shows a dish in excess of 1 metre would be needed depending on how far west you are.

    | Sun 22 Oct 2017 13:17:26 #2 |
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    SwissToni

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    Hi Graham. Thanks for your quick reply!
    I actually receive around 20 UK Channels (as well as most other international channels) through the cable system here so the only reason to use the Humax was to record programs as it has been replaced at home in the UK about a year ago due to it working increasingly inconsistently. I guess ill just have to take this one home and see if i can find a cheap 2nd hand DVB-C box from somewhere. Any idea if a UK one would work in Switzerland, or is this a different standard? If it would work, are there any second hand sources that you could recommend?

    | Sun 22 Oct 2017 21:28:09 #3 |
  4. grahamlthompson

    grahamlthompson

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    SwissToni - 11 hours ago  » 
    Hi Graham. Thanks for your quick reply!
    I actually receive around 20 UK Channels (as well as most other international channels) through the cable system here so the only reason to use the Humax was to record programs as it has been replaced at home in the UK about a year ago due to it working increasingly inconsistently. I guess ill just have to take this one home and see if i can find a cheap 2nd hand DVB-C box from somewhere. Any idea if a UK one would work in Switzerland, or is this a different standard? If it would work, are there any second hand sources that you could recommend?

    Hi SwissToni. My knowledge of DVB-C and generic cable tuners is next to zero. As you likely know cable TV in the UK is pretty well tied up by companies like Virgin. However there might be a way to get the HDR-FOX-T2 to record from your cable setup (assuming this has HDMI out).

    It's not cheap but might work for you.

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edision-HDMI-Modulator-Full-Distribution-Black/dp/B00KBXKJ2A

    This requires a HDMI splitter and produces a single DVB-T Full-HD channel using the UHF channel of your choice. The HDR-FOX-T2 should be able to manually tune this single channel Mux and therefore record it using manually set timers. If you try it make sure you buy from someone like Amazon so you can return it if it fails to work. Perhaps a member here might have tried something like this. As it not's a Freeview generated channel it should be free of the copy restrictions and the encryption enforced by the Freesat epg. This would mean you should be able to view these recordings on a home network on anything with a DLNA client.

    | Mon 23 Oct 2017 9:17:52 #4 |
  5. aldaweb

    aldaweb

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    grahamlthompson - 7 hours ago  » 
    However there might be a way to get the HDR-FOX-T2 to record from your cable setup (assuming this has HDMI out).
    It's not cheap but might work for you.
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edision-HDMI-Modulator-Full-Distribution-Black/dp/B00KBXKJ2A
    This requires a HDMI splitter and produces a single DVB-T Full-HD channel using the UHF channel of your choice. The HDR-FOX-T2 should be able to manually tune this single channel Mux and therefore record it using manually set timers. If you try it make sure you buy from someone like Amazon so you can return it if it fails to work. Perhaps a member here might have tried something like this. As it not's a Freeview generated channel it should be free of the copy restrictions and the encryption enforced by the Freesat epg. This would mean you should be able to view these recordings on a home network on anything with a DLNA client.

    Just to add to Graham's point, I've tried one of these HDMI modulators with my HDR-T2 and both a Virgin cable box and a Fire TV. Whilst it works in that it records the output on the created DVB-T2 channel, the file size is much greater than on a Broadcast channel so some extra processing may be necessary to manage hard disk space.

    Edit: this is the one I tried https://www.amazon.co.uk/Technomate-TM-RF-HD-HDMI-Modulator-Black/dp/B01HOZKVFW/ref=pd_sim_23_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TH8CCX9E79WCQ4Q2EQKK which is slightly cheaper than the one Graham linked to, and I notice there is now a newer version.

    | Mon 23 Oct 2017 17:13:28 #5 |
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    SwissToni

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    Hi Guys,
    Thanks for your helpful and considered replies! I am not sure whether i really want to go into that level of DIY on this as i dont have alot of spare time due to work commitments at the moment. I will however look into the HDMI modulator options that you suggest a bit further and, if i feel that its a viable option i'll have a go! If i do this successfully i'll come back and let you know how it goes! Thanks once again for your help!

    | Tue 24 Oct 2017 22:13:35 #6 |

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