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Any Humax HDR-FOX-T2 experts out there?

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Roger Mills

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Jan 3, 2012, 11:11:36 AM1/3/12
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Having had my Fox-T2 for a little while, I've just started exploring
what else it can do - besides simply recording and replaying TV programmes.

Today, I connected it to the internet for the first time in order to use
the BBCi player - using a very long ethernet cable draped all round the
house. This worked fine - but is a trip hazard, and installing it
properly would cause a lot of disruption. I'm thinking of using a couple
of powerline ethernet adapters. Is there any reason why these from
7-dayShop at £30 a pair wouldn't do the job?
http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_9&products_id=113205&PHPSESSID=svj2u1i3i95ho9mt6lg3j3mm17

I notice that on the T2's Network Setup menu, there's a greyed-out
option to configure Wi-Fi or somesuch. I can't find any mention of this
in the manual. Is this something which only applies to a different
product, or does it need some external hardware to be connected before
the menu item is usable? If so, what?

Once a network connection is in place, should I be able to communicate
with the T2 from my computers? I can ping it from my W7 laptop but it
doesn't show up as a network device. At the other end, in the T2's Media
menu, it can see my W7 laptop but not my wife's XP Desktop. When I tell
it to connect to the laptop, it goes through the motions for a couple of
minutes, and then gives up. What should I expect to happen?

The T2 also has a menu item to Enable FTP Server, or somesuch. What does
this do? When I try to use FTP to connect my laptop to it, it seems to
want a username and password - neither of which I know. I can't find
anything in the manual about this. Any clues, please?

It says in the manual that you can't copy recorded video to an external
storage device, but I just have - sort of! What gives? I told it to copy
a recorded TV programme to a USB memory stick. When I plugged the memory
stick into my computer, it showed that it had created several files -
all with the name of the programme, but with different extensions. The
main one was a .ts file but there were also much shorter ones with .hmt,
.nts and .thm extensions. When I double-clicked on the .ts file, it
opened Windows Media Player - but that stopped responding before
anything had happened. I've subsequently made two failed attempts to
convert the .ts file to .avi using Format Factory - but that ran for 9
or 10 minutes before saying "Fail to decode". *Should* I be able to play
this file on my PC and, if so, how?

TIA!
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

Brian Gaff

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Jan 3, 2012, 11:47:14 AM1/3/12
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Apart from a posse of local radio hams descending on your house who knows.
I'm still awaiting to see if anyone gets prosecuted over the jammer designs
someone published a while back. Its gone very quiet...
Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________


"Roger Mills" <watt....@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:9mgncv...@mid.individual.net...

snot

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Jan 3, 2012, 12:34:56 PM1/3/12
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On 03/01/2012 16:11, Roger Mills wrote:
> Having had my Fox-T2 for a little while, I've just started exploring
> what else it can do - besides simply recording and replaying TV programmes.
>
< Snip >
anything had happened. I've subsequently made two failed attempts to
> convert the .ts file to .avi using Format Factory - but that ran for 9
> or 10 minutes before saying "Fail to decode". *Should* I be able to play
> this file on my PC and, if so, how?
>
> TIA!

The recordings made on the Fox-T2 are encrypted and can (in theory) ONLY
be played back on that individual Humax.

There are work-arounds.
You need to study the contents of:
http://myhumax.org/
and
http://hummy.tv/forum/threads/alternative-firmware.390/

All the stuff and all the answers you need are there.
Dave

--
Blow my nose to email me

Michael Chare

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Jan 3, 2012, 1:17:41 PM1/3/12
to
On 03/01/2012 16:11, Roger Mills wrote:
>
> Today, I connected it to the internet for the first time in order to use
> the BBCi player - using a very long ethernet cable draped all round the
> house. This worked fine - but is a trip hazard, and installing it
> properly would cause a lot of disruption. I'm thinking of using a couple
> of powerline ethernet adapters. Is there any reason why these from
> 7-dayShop at �30 a pair wouldn't do the job?
> http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_9&products_id=113205&PHPSESSID=svj2u1i3i95ho9mt6lg3j3mm17
>

If you have Wifi I think that these might be an alternative:

http://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/Networking-WiFi/Tenda-150Mbps-Portable-Wireless-Access-Point-Router-Wireless-wifibridge-WIFI-W150M

(I have not used them myself.)

--
Michael Chare

Woody

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Jan 3, 2012, 1:54:50 PM1/3/12
to
Suggest you think very carefully before you go down the mains
cable route.

My experience is that they will only work successfully on one
ring and then only if the meter is not in the way. If the only
connection between the upstairs and downstairs rings (as my be
the case here) is at the meter there is a good chance the meter
may soak up the signal. I had a pair that I needed to get from
one socket by my PC to the socket of the router just two outlets
along the same ring but with the meter in between. Could I get it
to work? Could I heck. Put the PC end on the socket the other
side of the meter and next in line to the router and it worked a
treat. I gave up.


--
Woody

harrogate three at ntlworld dot com


Scott

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Jan 3, 2012, 1:56:17 PM1/3/12
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I believe they can also interfere with radio reception, particularly
short wave.

Bagpuss

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Jan 4, 2012, 6:26:50 AM1/4/12
to

"Roger Mills" <watt....@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:9mgncv...@mid.individual.net...
> Having had my Fox-T2 for a little while, I've just started exploring what
> else it can do - besides simply recording and replaying TV programmes.
>
> I notice that on the T2's Network Setup menu, there's a greyed-out option
> to configure Wi-Fi or somesuch. I can't find any mention of this in the
> manual. Is this something which only applies to a different product, or
> does it need some external hardware to be connected before the menu item
> is usable? If so, what?
>

You need to add an external WiFi adapter to the USB port. When this is
detected by the T2, the extra options are ungreyed.

A cheaper alternative to the official Humax dongle is something using the
same RALink RT3070 WiFi chipset. One possible device is the Edimax
EW-7711UAN which is available from Play and Amazon for £10.99. 7DayShop is
selling the Edimax EW-7711UMN for just £6.99 delivered.



Paul D Smith

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Jan 4, 2012, 7:47:02 AM1/4/12
to
...snip...

I use a DLink DAP 1160 to connect my Panny TV and Humax HDR to my WiFi
network. Not quick for file transfers, but more than fast enough to watch
HiDef iPlayer via the Humax.

BTW, "encrypted" HiDef is barely encrypted. There are a couple of steps
involving copying off to a PC, running a little applet (see other links from
other posters) to "unset a flag", copying back to the Humax (and maybe
another copy?) and then the "encryption" is removed. Only tried it once as
a proof-of-concept as I have no other way to play the files but the "lock"
vanishes which implies it worked.

Paul DS.

Roger Mills

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Jan 4, 2012, 12:36:01 PM1/4/12
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Thanks for the info. I currently have a wireless to ethernet bridge on
order, which I'm hoping will connect the T2 to my network without
requiring a long cable - but this USB device from 7DayShop is the next
thing to try if that doesn't work.

Roger Mills

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Jan 6, 2012, 5:22:08 PM1/6/12
to
On 03/01/2012 18:17, Michael Chare wrote:

>
> If you have Wifi I think that these might be an alternative:
>
> http://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/Networking-WiFi/Tenda-150Mbps-Portable-Wireless-Access-Point-Router-Wireless-wifibridge-WIFI-W150M
>
>
> (I have not used them myself.)
>

Many thanks for the suggestion. I'm now the proud owner of one of these,
and have a working wireless connection between the T2 and my network.
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