Humax Foxsat HDR: twin tuner ignored?
Maurice Batey
strength/quality for both tuners is shown under System/Diagnostics),
it will not allow a recording to be set for overlapping programmes -
or to watch one channel whilst another is being recorded.
I thought that was the whole point of having twin tuners.
What have I missed, or omitted to do?
--
/\/\aurice
(Replace "nomail.afraid" by "bcs" to reply by email)
Maurice Batey
> it will not allow a recording to be set for overlapping programmes -
> or to watch one channel whilst another is being recorded.
It puts out a 'Conflict' window for the two programmes, and invites
me to cancel one of them.
Peter Duncanson
<mau...@nomail.afraid.org> wrote:
>On Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:24:08 +0100, I wrote:
>
>> it will not allow a recording to be set for overlapping programmes -
>> or to watch one channel whilst another is being recorded.
>
>It puts out a 'Conflict' window for the two programmes, and invites
>me to cancel one of them.
I've just experimented to confirm that mine does what it should. It is
recording two channels simultaneously and showing a third one. (The
channel being shown and one of those being recorded are on the same
tuner.)
It sounds as though your box is not getting signals to both tuners.
I suggest you try it with each of the satellite inputs disconnected in
turn. It is recommended that you switch the box off completely before
connecting or disconnecting satellite cables.
--
Peter Duncanson
(in uk.tech.digital-tv)
Bill Wright
> Although I have 2 satellite feeds to the Foxsat (and the
> strength/quality for both tuners is shown under System/Diagnostics),
> it will not allow a recording to be set for overlapping programmes -
> or to watch one channel whilst another is being recorded.
>
> I thought that was the whole point of having twin tuners.
>
> What have I missed, or omitted to do?
>
Suggest you re-install it as from new, and try again. It should report
that both feeds are working. If it still don't work it's bust.
Bill
Ian
Batey <mau...@nomail.afraid.org> writes
>Although I have 2 satellite feeds to the Foxsat (and the
>strength/quality for both tuners is shown under System/Diagnostics),
>it will not allow a recording to be set for overlapping programmes -
>or to watch one channel whilst another is being recorded.
>
>I thought that was the whole point of having twin tuners.
>
>What have I missed, or omitted to do?
>
--
Ian
Mark Opolo
"Maurice Batey" <mau...@nomail.afraid.org> wrote in message
news:pan.2010.07.26...@nomail.afraid.org...
mine does that only when set to record 2 x H or 2 x V formats overlapping
and I think it's while I am watching the same format.
Steve Thackery
news:pan.2010.07.26...@nomail.afraid.org...
>
Although I have 2 satellite feeds to the Foxsat
<
Forgive me, but these are definitely from two separate feeds from the LNB,
are they? A proper dual or quad LNB?
SteveT
Maurice Batey
> mine does that only when set to record 2 x H or 2 x V formats overlapping
> and I think it's while I am watching the same format.
Problem occurs even with 2 SD programmes.
Maurice Batey
> Do you have "padding" or "on time" set for recording?
Padded. Why might that cause the problem?-
Maurice Batey
> It should report that both feeds are working.
But it already does!
(Under System/Diagnostics, it shows the signal strength/quality for
both tuners:
Tuner 1: 80%/100%
Tuner 2: 85%/100% )
Is that what you meant?
Maurice Batey
> these are definitely from two separate feeds from the LNB,
> are they? A proper dual or quad LNB?
Yes, as understood from the local company who installed it recently for
the whole block of flats.
Maurice Batey
> It sounds as though your box is not getting signals to both tuners.
That seems to be the case.
> I suggest you try it with each of the satellite inputs disconnected in
> turn. It is recommended that you switch the box off completely before
> connecting or disconnecting satellite cables.
Just done that. With either cable connected from either SAT wall
socket:
To the "LNB 1 IN" socket: Get a picture
To the "LNB 2 IN" socket: Get "Bad or no signal"
(Curiously, with any connection to "LNB2 IN", System Diagnostics shows
a normal Strength/Quality signal for Tuner 2, whereas with nothing
connected to LNB2 IN it shows zero readings for Tuner 2.)
Do the above findings prove that Tuner 2 is faulty?
Any other explanation? If not, will return the Humax to Amazon under
warranty.
Many thanks for all help.
--
/\/\aurice (Retired in Surrey)
Peter Duncanson
<mau...@nomail.afraid.org> wrote:
>On Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:46:02 +0100, Peter Duncanson wrote:
>
>> It sounds as though your box is not getting signals to both tuners.
>
> That seems to be the case.
>
>> I suggest you try it with each of the satellite inputs disconnected in
>> turn. It is recommended that you switch the box off completely before
>> connecting or disconnecting satellite cables.
>
>Just done that. With either cable connected from either SAT wall
>socket:
>
> To the "LNB 1 IN" socket: Get a picture
> To the "LNB 2 IN" socket: Get "Bad or no signal"
>
>(Curiously, with any connection to "LNB2 IN", System Diagnostics shows
>a normal Strength/Quality signal for Tuner 2, whereas with nothing
>connected to LNB2 IN it shows zero readings for Tuner 2.)
>
> Do the above findings prove that Tuner 2 is faulty?
>
>Any other explanation? If not, will return the Humax to Amazon under
>warranty.
>
It does sound like a faulty box.
>Many thanks for all help.
--
Peter Duncanson
(in uk.tech.digital-tv)
Dave Thorn
>strength/quality for both tuners is shown under System/Diagnostics),
>it will not allow a recording to be set for overlapping programmes -
>or to watch one channel whilst another is being recorded.
>
>I thought that was the whole point of having twin tuners.
>
>What have I missed, or omitted to do?
>
the installation when only one feed is connected (intentionally or
unintentionally) and later connect the other cable.
You can get to a hidden menu to confirm by pressing :-
RED GREEN YELLOW BLUE GREEN YELLOW BLUE .
Antenna setting should say Fixed Antenna
Connection type should say two cables
IF these are wrong exit,do a factory reset and try again - you should
get a message saying 2 cables detected.
HTH
--
Dave
Maurice Batey
> You may be running in single cable mode. This can happen if you complete
> the installation when only one feed is connected (intentionally or
> unintentionally) and later connect the other cable.
Actually, that did happen!
(the 2nd cable was faulty, and had to be replaced.)
> You can get to a hidden menu to confirm by pressing :-
> RED GREEN YELLOW BLUE GREEN YELLOW BLUE .
When I tried that nothing happened!
Do any other buttons need to be pressed first, perhaps, Dave?
Peter Duncanson
<mau...@nomail.afraid.org> wrote:
>On Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:24:24 +0100, Dave Thorn wrote:
>
>> You may be running in single cable mode. This can happen if you complete
>> the installation when only one feed is connected (intentionally or
>> unintentionally) and later connect the other cable.
>
> Actually, that did happen!
>(the 2nd cable was faulty, and had to be replaced.)
>
>> You can get to a hidden menu to confirm by pressing :-
>> RED GREEN YELLOW BLUE GREEN YELLOW BLUE .
>
> When I tried that nothing happened!
>
>Do any other buttons need to be pressed first, perhaps, Dave?
Yes. Press Menu and scroll up/down to the Setup screen. Then press the
coloured buttons.
Mark Opolo
ummm SD still broadcasts as H and/or V.
Maurice Batey
> SD still broadcasts as H and/or V.
I don't understand the implication.
Maurice Batey
> Press Menu and scroll up/down to the Setup screen. Then press the
> coloured buttons.
Ah, right! It says 'one cable'.
That's not reflecting the current physical cable connection
situation, is it - rather the situation that applied at the original
initial setup. Right?
Now, let me see if I can find how to do a Factory reset, as you
suggested...
Maurice Batey
> Actually, that did happen!
> (the 2nd cable was faulty, and had to be replaced.)
I then did a Freesat retune, so that the system would then
pick up the 2nd cable - a reasonable assumption, I thought...
Mark Opolo
"Maurice Batey" <mau...@nomail.afraid.org> wrote in message
news:pan.2010.07.27....@nomail.afraid.org...
H = horizontal polarization
V = vertical polarization.
if recording 2 different channels that are both broadcasting horizontal
polarisation then you cant watch a third channel thats broadcasting on H.
Same applied for V
Maurice Batey
> if recording 2 different channels that are both broadcasting horizontal
> polarisation then you cant watch a third channel thats broadcasting on H.
> Same applied for V
OIC. But I was only trying to record 2 (overlapping) programs.
I can always watch a 3rd via the TV's Freeview tuner.
Dave Thorn
Batey <mau...@nomail.afraid.org> writes
>On Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:42:29 +0100, I wrote:
>
>> Actually, that did happen!
>> (the 2nd cable was faulty, and had to be replaced.)
>
> I then did a Freesat retune, so that the system would then
>pick up the 2nd cable - a reasonable assumption, I thought...
>
--
Dave
Maurice Batey
> the situation where a user
> has to know secret codes to get to a hidden menu, just to find out the
> reason that this bizarre set of symptoms was it being in "single cable"
> mode was bad enough. Now it's compounded by a dumb design such that only a
> full factory reset will restore the other cable? Good grief, it's so
> unnecessarily user-hostile.
Amen!
I shall try emailing Humax again, although two earlier emails a
couple of weeks ago on other matters have brought no response
whatsoever.
Dave Thorn
<{$mrtickle$}@nospam.demon.co.uk> writes
>In <5hxoxzV57$TMF...@billnot.com>, Dave Thorn <dave...@secureix.com>
>wrote:
>has to know secret codes to get to a hidden menu, just to find out the
>reason that this bizarre set of symptoms was it being in "single cable"
>mode was bad enough. Now it's compounded by a dumb design such that only a
>full factory reset will restore the other cable? Good grief, it's so
>unnecessarily user-hostile.
I didn't mean it wasn't a reasonable assumption, just that it was a
wrong one.
--
Dave
Ian
Batey <mau...@nomail.afraid.org> writes
>On Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:46:25 +0100, Ian wrote:
>
>> Do you have "padding" or "on time" set for recording?
>
> Padded. Why might that cause the problem?-
>
over if the first one was still recording when the second started.
I see from the rest of the thread that the "Single Cable" setting is the
likely cause.
I remember when I installed my second cable, I had to choose two cables
in the initial set-up.
--
Ian
Maurice Batey
> I had to choose two cables in the initial set-up.
Choose?! I assumed that the Humax simply discovered 2 cables and
reflected that in the hidden menu.
Are you saying that initial setup wil ask how many cables you want it
to use?
Alan White
<mau...@nomail.afraid.org> wrote:
>
> Choose?! I assumed that the Humax simply discovered 2 cables and
>reflected that in the hidden menu.
Ignore the hidden menu. Use the normal menu hierarchy to do a factory
reset.
--
Alan White
Mozilla Firefox and Forte Agent.
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, overlooking Lochs Long and Goil in Argyll, Scotland.
Webcam and weather:- http://windycroft.co.uk/weather
Maurice Batey
> Ignore the hidden menu. Use the normal menu hierarchy to do a factory
> reset.
Ian was talking about Initial Setup (which is presumably what Factory
Reset resets to) asking him to make a *choice* of 1 or 2 cables.
If you read my post again, you will see that I'm querying the
latter, as seems surprising to be asked to choose how many cables to
use (though I suppose it could be useful in certain circumstances).
Rather than ignore the Hidden Menu, surely it's useful to see what
the Humax *thinks* the cable situation was at Initial Setup/Factory
Reset.
PeeGee
The question is: Why does the Hidden Menu allow you to choose between
one cable, two cables (same) and two cables (different) if it has no effect?
--
PeeGee
"Nothing should be able to load itself onto a computer without the
knowledge or consent of the computer user. Software should also be able
to be removed from a computer easily."
Peter Cullen, Microsoft Chief Privacy Strategist (Computing 18 Aug 05)
Alan White
<mau...@nomail.afraid.org> wrote:
>Rather than ignore the Hidden Menu, surely it's useful to see what
>the Humax *thinks* the cable situation was at Initial Setup/Factory
>Reset.
Well, most people won't know about the hidden menu anyway. I'm just
trying to make it easy for you and the easiest way to sort it out is to
do a Factory Reset which will set your Humax in the state in which it
left the factory. All else flows from that.
Maurice Batey
> Why does the Hidden Menu allow you to choose between one
> cable, two cables (same) and two cables (different) if it has no effect?
Who said the Hidden Menu offers the choice?!
It was Ian who said that *Initial setup* offered a choice, and it was
*that* that suprised me.
My guess is that Hidden Menu only *shows* information - but I may be
wrong.
PeeGee
> On Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:55:26 +0100, PeeGee wrote:
>
>> Why does the Hidden Menu allow you to choose between one
>> cable, two cables (same) and two cables (different) if it has no effect?
>
> Who said the Hidden Menu offers the choice?!
>
> It was Ian who said that *Initial setup* offered a choice, and it was
> *that* that suprised me.
>
> My guess is that Hidden Menu only *shows* information - but I may be
> wrong.
>
I think I said it :-) At least, it does on my unit. You can also cycle
round the "antenna" settings. However, as I have only a single cable (at
the moment) I cannot do any tests - and I would need to know which two
cable option to select. It is not clear what the two "two cable" options
are, but I surmise that it refers to satellite clusters.
If it does allow the settings to be adjusted, then it could hold the
channel setup already in place, avoiding the need to remove the unwanted
entries you get with the "initial setup".
Maurice Batey
> have you now finally got your
> full functionality back, by performing that full factory reset?
As I said earlier, I shall do that when I get back to the flat!
I shall then tell all here - but it may be a few days yet...
Ian
<trie...@yahoo.co.uk> writes
>On 29/07/10 15:37, Maurice Batey wrote:
>> On Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:44:42 +0100, Alan White wrote:
>>
>>> Ignore the hidden menu. Use the normal menu hierarchy to do a factory
>>> reset.
>>
>> Ian was talking about Initial Setup (which is presumably what Factory
>> Reset resets to) asking him to make a *choice* of 1 or 2 cables.
>> If you read my post again, you will see that I'm querying the
>> latter, as seems surprising to be asked to choose how many cables to
>> use (though I suppose it could be useful in certain circumstances).
>>
>> Rather than ignore the Hidden Menu, surely it's useful to see what
>> the Humax *thinks* the cable situation was at Initial Setup/Factory
>> Reset.
>>
>
>The question is: Why does the Hidden Menu allow you to choose between
>one cable, two cables (same) and two cables (different) if it has no
>effect?
>
the dish to input lnb1, or "two cables (same) with a loop through cable
from lnb1 out to lnb2 in, or "two cables (different) from the dish into
lnb1 and lnb2.
--
Ian
PeeGee
Thanks, that explains the differences, though my manual has no mention
of these selections on page GB16; just that there are two antenna modes
and how to connect one or two cables, plus that a link cable has some
benefits with an otherwise single feed.
I obviously made the wrong selection when setting up (though I don't
remember three to select from) as the Humax is set for "one cable" but I
have a short link cable attached (and I did RTFM).
Maurice Batey
> I shall try emailing Humax again, although two earlier emails a couple of
> weeks ago on other matters have brought no response whatsoever.
This time I sent an email to their "uksupport" address and had a swift
response, which was:
"To resolve this issue you need to either perform a factory reset
on page GB54 of the user manual,
OR you can follow the hidden menu instructions below to force the
unit to pick up two satellite connections"
( plus description of how to get to the Hidden Menu.)
The only thing that puzzles me is that - in he Hidden Menu, he says:
"Then select two cables (same) and press ok,"
"Same" suggests using only one input, copying LNB1 OUT to LNB2 IN,
so have asked him for confirmation of that.
He then continues:
"Press Exit on the remote control and you will be prompted to
change antenna system. Press ok on yes.
"Saving the results" will be displayed, a notice will then
be displayed asking you to rescan the channels,
Press ok and then press ok on Freesat Tune, your postcode will
then be verified, and then you can move down to search channels,
Once the channels have been searched there will be a 100% search
and a save option, press ok on save,
To finish this process simply press exit on the remote control,"
So it seems there is no need for a Factory Reset to pick up the 2nd
cable.
Maurice Batey
> Press Menu and scroll up/down to the Setup screen. Then press the
> coloured buttons.
I've seen a comment elsewhere that the coloured buttons also work
at the 'Manual Tune' option.
Maurice Batey
> "Then select two cables (same) and press ok,"
>
> "Same" suggests using only one input, copying LNB1 OUT to LNB2 IN,
> so have asked him for confirmation of that.
The reply was:
"Please just follow my instructions.
This will force the unit to understand two satellite cables
therefore resolve your issue."
Ian
Glad it helped.
--
Ian
Owen Rees
<mau...@nomail.afraid.org> wrote in
<pan.2010.07.30....@nomail.afraid.org>:
>"Same" suggests using only one input, copying LNB1 OUT to LNB2 IN,
>so have asked him for confirmation of that.
My understaning both from a little exploration of the menu and from some
things I have read in various forums is that 'same' here means 'pointing
at/tuned to the same satellite'. I did not want to risk actually making
the change but when I selected "Two Cables (Different)" an extra display
appeared showing "Tuner 1 freesat 28.2 E" and "Tuner 2" (with a blank
space after it). The implication seems to be that you could select a
different satellite for the other tuner.
Reading around elsewhere suggests that that is what you can do but the
disadvantage is that if you select 'different' some features do not
work, apparently because the system will then act as if there is one
freesat input and one 'something else' so features that need two freesat
inputs do not work.
--
Owen Rees
[one of] my preferred email address[es] and more stuff can be
found at <http://www.users.waitrose.com/~owenrees/index.html>
Maurice Batey
> have you now finally got your
> full functionality back,
Yes - did that today!
> by performing that full factory reset?
No - by using the Hidden Menu (+ full re-tune) as described in the response from
Humax posted in here earlier. Worked fine, and it wil now allow me to record 2
overlapping channels.
So no need to do Factory Reset.
Maurice Batey
> "two cables (same) with a loop through cable
> from lnb1 out to lnb2 in, or "two cables (different) from the dish into
> lnb1 and lnb2.
This is where I am going to ask Humax for clarification.
Although I have 2 separate cable inputs, Humax confirmed I should select "2 cables
(same)" - not "2 cables (different)".
I want to know when "2 cables (different)" is appropriate.
John Legon
news:pan.2010.08.02...@nomail.afraid.org...
> On Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:34:12 +0100, Ian wrote:
>
> > "two cables (same) with a loop through cable
> > from lnb1 out to lnb2 in, or "two cables (different) from the dish into
> > lnb1 and lnb2.
>
> This is where I am going to ask Humax for clarification.
>
> Although I have 2 separate cable inputs, Humax confirmed I should select
"2 cables
> (same)" - not "2 cables (different)".
> I want to know when "2 cables (different)" is appropriate.
The answer, I believe, has already been given. It's when the two LNB inputs
are for different satellites. But you'll only find out about the options
that follow on from that when you select the option...
Maurice Batey
> I want to know when "2 cables (different)" is appropriate.
As posted by Owen & John, Humax confirm that "different" and "same" refer to
satellites, i.e. "2 cables (same)" means 2 cables from same satellite.
Maurice Batey
> Press ok and then press ok on Freesat Tune, your postcode will
> then be verified, and then you can move down to search channels,
> Once the channels have been searched there will be a 100% search
> and a save option, press ok on save,
After changing from one cable to two, it will actually do *two* re-tunes
- one for each cable.
Roy Tracey
> On Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:17:33 +0100, Bill Wright wrote:
> > It should report that both feeds are working.
> But it already does!
> (Under System/Diagnostics, it shows the signal strength/quality for
> both tuners:
> Tuner 1: 80%/100%
> Tuner 2: 85%/100% )
> Is that what you meant?