Can you save recordings after buying a new PVR.

[Derek F]

Our Humax PVR 9200T is reaching the end of the road. Presumably there is
no way to transfer recordings one wants to keep.
It would not be a problem with our Hitachi as it has built in CD and VCR.
Derek

[Roger Mills]

I don't know that model. Does it have a USB port to which you could
connect an external disk drive?
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

[Paul Ratcliffe]

On Fri, 25 Apr 2014 09:52:04 +0100, Derek F <lordp...@NOXgmail.com> wrote:

> Our Humax PVR 9200T is reaching the end of the road. Presumably there is
> no way to transfer recordings one wants to keep.

Yes there is. You can transfer over USB, but it's incredibly slow, error
prone and frustrating. The best method is to take the hard disk out and
attach it to a PC from where you can read at normal disk access speed.
What are you trying to transfer to?

[NY]

"Derek F" <lordp...@NOXgmail.com> wrote in message
news:Kmp6v.194376$YO.1...@fx03.iad...

> Our Humax PVR 9200T is reaching the end of the road. Presumably there is
> no way to transfer recordings one wants to keep.

I investigated this when our TVonics PVR packed up. I took the hard disk out
and connected it to a PC, but neither Windows nor Linux could recognise the
filesystem, let alone read the format of the files used for recording the
programmes. Looks as if a lot of PVRs use a highly proprietary filesystem
(and maybe recording file format).

I think the only option will be to play each programme and record from the
SCART onto another PVR, DVD or PC - very slow because it has to be
real-time.


The good news in my case is that the "dead" PVR turned out to be due to a
duff PSU which gave the rated 12V when tested with a voltmeter but only
about 9V when connected to the PVR: enough to power the electronics and
hence give on-screen menus, but not enough to spin the HDD. Replacement with
a new PSU restored normal service to the PVR.

[Derek F]

On 25/04/2014 10:01, Roger Mills wrote:
> On 25/04/2014 09:52, Derek F wrote:
>> Our Humax PVR 9200T is reaching the end of the road. Presumably there is
>> no way to transfer recordings one wants to keep.
>> It would not be a problem with our Hitachi as it has built in CD and VCR.
>> Derek
>
> I don't know that model. Does it have a USB port to which you could
> connect an external disk drive?

There is only a connection under the front panel.
Manual says
USB Device: Connect to PC port for moving the information on digital
album or MP3 to the PC.

To me that wording did not make much sense as how would I have got the
album or MP3 tracks on to the PVR HD?
Derek

[Derek F]

I had thought on that but was not sure how compatible the HD would be.
I seem to remember recently someone commenting on HD retrieved from
waste disposal sites.
Presumably it is not possible to transfer via the Scart connector.

What are you trying to transfer to?

Whichever make of PVR we next buy. Humax, Samsung or Panasonic are being
considered.
Derek

[Chris J Dixon]

There are ways to transfer to a PC, but as the somewhat arcane
transmission protocol is not error-correcting, it is not the way
I would go.

The simple, but time consuming way is to connect to a DVR and do
a real-time copy. I have many hundreds of hours stashed - some
for archive and others from when my Humax fills up. Whether some
of it will ever be watched...

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK
ch...@cdixon.me.uk

Plant amazing Acers.

[Derek F]

On 25/04/2014 10:45, NY wrote:
> "Derek F" <lordp...@NOXgmail.com> wrote in message
> news:Kmp6v.194376$YO.1...@fx03.iad...
>> Our Humax PVR 9200T is reaching the end of the road. Presumably there
>> is no way to transfer recordings one wants to keep.
>
> I investigated this when our TVonics PVR packed up. I took the hard disk
> out and connected it to a PC, but neither Windows nor Linux could
> recognise the filesystem, let alone read the format of the files used
> for recording the programmes. Looks as if a lot of PVRs use a highly
> proprietary filesystem (and maybe recording file format).
>
> I think the only option will be to play each programme and record from
> the SCART onto another PVR, DVD or PC - very slow because it has to be
> real-time.
>
>

I'll put a week aside to do that!

> The good news in my case is that the "dead" PVR turned out to be due to
> a duff PSU which gave the rated 12V when tested with a voltmeter but
> only about 9V when connected to the PVR: enough to power the electronics
> and hence give on-screen menus, but not enough to spin the HDD.
> Replacement with a new PSU restored normal service to the PVR.

Ours is not dead but frozen. Keeps on freezing when in stand by or
before or at the end of recordings. When it freezes at the end we
usually end up with a recording without sound. A couple of times
recently on daily half hour Soaps without sound the recording has
finished at the right time but shows recording time of about 1440
minutes. 24 hours was it stopped waiting for tomorrows episode?
Derek

[Roger Mills]

On 25/04/2014 11:14, Derek F wrote:
> On 25/04/2014 10:51, Paul Ratcliffe wrote:
>> On Fri, 25 Apr 2014 09:52:04 +0100, Derek F <lordp...@NOXgmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Our Humax PVR 9200T is reaching the end of the road. Presumably there is
>>> no way to transfer recordings one wants to keep.
>>
>> Yes there is. You can transfer over USB, but it's incredibly slow, error
>> prone and frustrating. The best method is to take the hard disk out and
>> attach it to a PC from where you can read at normal disk access speed.
> I had thought on that but was not sure how compatible the HD would be.
> I seem to remember recently someone commenting on HD retrieved from
> waste disposal sites.
> Presumably it is not possible to transfer via the Scart connector.
>

You *can* but the problem is that SCART is analog - so the recordings
will be converted to analog and then back to digital when you record
them on another digital device - with subsequent loss of quality.

There are specialised forums which deal specifically with Humax devices,
where you'll probably get better information/advice than here. Have a
look at: http://hummy.tv/forum/forums/pvr-9200-freeview-recorder.6/

[Max Demian]

"Chris J Dixon" <ch...@cdixon.me.uk> wrote in message
news:4rckl9po82s5690c4...@4ax.com...

> Derek F wrote:
>
>>Our Humax PVR 9200T is reaching the end of the road. Presumably there is
>>no way to transfer recordings one wants to keep.
>>It would not be a problem with our Hitachi as it has built in CD and VCR.
>
> There are ways to transfer to a PC, but as the somewhat arcane
> transmission protocol is not error-correcting, it is not the way
> I would go.

The user-developed Media Controller from
http://www.enigma.eclipse.co.uk/humax/HumaxMediaController.htm has error
correction. That is a command line program, but there is a GUI version (or
wrapper) that I use on Windows 7. It's still going to take a long time if
you have a lot of stuff. PVRs are really only intended for time-shifting or
short term storage.

The program to transfer files directly from the HDD is HumaxRW, documented
here: http://humaxdisk.wikispaces.com/HumaxRW (I haven't used it.)

> The simple, but time consuming way is to connect to a DVR and do
> a real-time copy. I have many hundreds of hours stashed - some
> for archive and others from when my Humax fills up.

That's what I do, via SCART, but, of course, you've got to have a DVDR. (If
I think I'm going to want to keep a copy of a film I get the DVDR to record
directly from its built-in Freeview tuner.)

The reference in the manual to MP3s refers to the 9200T playing MP3s
previously transferred to a 5GB partition of its HDD. Menu->Record->MP3,
which I suspect you haven't noticed. That's the original purpose of the USB
socket on the front.

--
Max Demian.

[Steve Thackery]

Derek F wrote:

> Ours is not dead but frozen. Keeps on freezing when in stand by or
> before or at the end of recordings. When it freezes at the end we
> usually end up with a recording without sound. A couple of times
> recently on daily half hour Soaps without sound the recording has
> finished at the right time but shows recording time of about 1440
> minutes. 24 hours was it stopped waiting for tomorrows episode?

Those odd freezes are typical of PSU capacitor failures. Noise on the
power lines.

--
SteveT

[Steve Thackery]

Paul Ratcliffe wrote:

> The best method is to take the hard disk out and
> attach it to a PC from where you can read at normal disk access speed.
> What are you trying to transfer to?

Doesn't the 9200 use a proprietary disk filing system, unreadable by a
PC?

--
SteveT

[Johny B Good]

The situation is very similar to the Toppy except the usb transfers
_are_ reliable and about twice as fast if turbo mode is enabled (which
disables the remote for the duration).

The only 'Gotcha' with this method being the invalid characters such
as ":" and "/" which can appear in the file names (you need to rename
any such files to eliminate the invalid characters _before_ starting
the transfer to a windows PC 'cos you only find out _after_ the
transfer of the offending file completes with a cryptic error message
and no file transfer to show for your pain).

Using USB is ok when only a few hour's worth of program material is
involved (an hour's worth takes about 15 minutes or so to transfer - a
piss poor transfer rate compared to what you see when using an
external usb hard drive with a PC where an hour's worth might transfer
in as little as a minute's time).

If you want to transfer a large chunk of your recordings, it's much
better to pull the drive and attach it to the PC (directly via a spare
IDE port is the fastest but even using an IDE to USB2 adapter will be
a good 10 to 15 times faster than the Toppy's own USB link - probably
20 to 30 times quicker than over the Humax's USB link).

The Filesystem might be based on a Linux or BSD FS or an entirey
proprietry one optimised for best streaming/minimum cpu overhead
performance[1] (not necessarily proprietry to explicitly stop users
from copying the recordings via a direct attachment to their PC).

For Toppy users, there's a little utility for dealing with this
situation (direct attachment of the HDD to a PC) called "TopfHDRW".
I'm pretty sure an equivilent exists for Humax users but I can't say
without googling for the info the OP can google for himself. Hint: for
the OP, it _will_ be worth googling for such a utility if you're going
to pull the HDD out of the PVR and attach it more directly to a PC.

[1] I believe the Toppy was built around the same reference design as
the Humax. From the relative performance (abysmal lack of in _both_
cases) of USB transfer speeds, it looks as though the Toppy uses a
more powerful CPU than the Humax (and, judging from the more
successful firmware upgrades and the ability to run TAPs, a larger
helping of ram).

The USB performance issues are a supreme exemplar of the shiteness of
Intel's spawn of the devil USB interface designed to soak up CPU
cycles for so little return (adding yet another pressure point to
drive the sales of newer and more expensive CPUs).
--
Regards, J B Good

[Peter Duncanson]

On Fri, 25 Apr 2014 11:07:55 +0100, Derek F <lordp...@NOXgmail.com>
wrote:

Using the USB connection to a PC you would have copied MP3 tracks and or
digital albums from the PC to the PVR.

From the manual:

6.6 MP3
2. Downloading MP3 files
You can download MP3 files stored on the PC via Universal Serial
Bus (USB). ... refer to 6.11 File Download from PC.

6.7 Digital Album
2. Downloading Photos
You can download photos (only JPEG files) stored on the PC via
Universal Serial Bus (USB). ...refer to 6.11 File Download from PC.


--
Peter Duncanson
(in uk.tech.digital-tv)

[Derek F]

Thank you. I should have gone to Specsavers:-) Actually I did last year
for the first time and they were surprisingly good.
I probably read that when I bought the PVR and forgot about it as the
PVR is not in the same room as the computer and I have other means of
playing music.
Derek

[Derek F]

I am not proficient enough to replace them and I guess that we have (or
rather my wife) has had good use from it since February 2008.
Derek

[Derek F]

Thank you.
Derek

[Derek F]

On 25/04/2014 11:22, Chris J Dixon wrote:
> Derek F wrote:
>
>> Our Humax PVR 9200T is reaching the end of the road. Presumably there is
>> no way to transfer recordings one wants to keep.
>> It would not be a problem with our Hitachi as it has built in CD and VCR.
>
> There are ways to transfer to a PC, but as the somewhat arcane
> transmission protocol is not error-correcting, it is not the way
> I would go.
>
> The simple, but time consuming way is to connect to a DVR and do
> a real-time copy. I have many hundreds of hours stashed - some
> for archive and others from when my Humax fills up. Whether some
> of it will ever be watched...
>
> Chris
>

That is the problem. I have masses of video tapes with things I thought
that I wanted to keep. And as many again of holiday videos that I later
copied to DVD when warned that the tapes would eventually 'self
destruct' After up to thirty years they all play Ok.
Derek

[Derek F]

As a matter of interest how do you create a partition on the PVR HD? I
don't see an option for that in HDD control.
Derek

[Max Demian]

"Derek F" <lordp...@NOXgmail.com> wrote in message

news:FNz6v.119719$Dp4....@fx26.iad...

The 5GB partition (for MP3s and JPEGs) is available by default. You don't
have to do anything.

--
Max Demian

[David Monksfield]

> The program to transfer files directly from the HDD is HumaxRW, documented
> here: http://humaxdisk.wikispaces.com/HumaxRW (I haven't used it.)

I used this to transfer all my recordings from a 9200T. I removed the HDD,
connected it to my PC using a cheap IDE-to-USB adaptor, and copied all
the files using HumaxRW.

The resulting .TS files played perfectly on VLC and on my new Humax PVR.

I also experimented with transferring the files via USB, but that proved
very slow and unreliable.
--
David
(to reply by email, remove the marsupial)

[Yellow]

In article <Kmp6v.194376$YO.1...@fx03.iad>, lordp...@NOXgmail.com
says...

Yes you can, using a transfer program.

http://myhumax.org/blog/?page_id=153

The trick is to select the game page on the Humax so the unit is not do
anything other than transfer and it should then work without errors.

[Derek F]

Thank you.
Derek

[Derek F]

I have a box somewhere with an IDE/USB adapter.
Derek

[Derek F]

Sounds a good option.
Derek

[Pete Forman]

It is a good option but not a panacea. Game mode gives the fastest
transfer rate but there are still errors. Humax Media Controller GUI
automatically recovers from those errors but that means multiple passes.

I tolerate that for a few radio programmes which I transfer off each
week. For any quantity of TV you should look to hooking the HD to a PC
and using HumaxRW.

--
Pete Forman
http://petef.22web.org/payg.html

[Yellow]

In article <86k3ac5...@gmail.com>, petef4...@gmail.com says...

For what it is worth it worked OK for me when I upgraded to my current
Humax from a 9200T. I just set it to go (I wanted it to transfer
everything) and just let it get on with it and didn't go back (or touch
anything) until it had finished.

I wasn't bothered how long it took - I just wanted the files.

As for radio - if your shows are on the BBC I would highly recommend
get_iplayer.

[Paul Ratcliffe]

On Fri, 25 Apr 2014 11:14:30 +0100, Derek F <lordp...@NOXgmail.com> wrote:

>>> Our Humax PVR 9200T is reaching the end of the road. Presumably there is
>>> no way to transfer recordings one wants to keep.
>>
>> Yes there is. You can transfer over USB, but it's incredibly slow, error
>> prone and frustrating. The best method is to take the hard disk out and
>> attach it to a PC from where you can read at normal disk access speed.
> I had thought on that but was not sure how compatible the HD would be.

Compatible with what? It's not a standard PC OS filesystem, but there is
software that can read it nonetheless.

> Presumably it is not possible to transfer via the Scart connector.

To what? Most PVRs only record transport streams off air and do not
have a video input. It's also very time consuming and produces crap
quality recordings.

> What are you trying to transfer to?
> Whichever make of PVR we next buy. Humax, Samsung or Panasonic are being
> considered.

That gets even more difficult. It is possible to a Humax T2 but that's
no longer available new.

[Paul Ratcliffe]

On Fri, 25 Apr 2014 06:44:34 -0500, Steve Thackery <nob...@nowhere.com>

Yes it does use such a filing system. I don't know why you think a PC
can't read it. It can with the right software. The right software is
not built in to any OS available, but can be added as an application.

[Paul Ratcliffe]

On Fri, 25 Apr 2014 11:23:32 +0100, Derek F <lordp...@NOXgmail.com> wrote:

> Ours is not dead but frozen. Keeps on freezing when in stand by or
> before or at the end of recordings. When it freezes at the end we
> usually end up with a recording without sound. A couple of times
> recently on daily half hour Soaps without sound the recording has
> finished at the right time but shows recording time of about 1440
> minutes. 24 hours was it stopped waiting for tomorrows episode?

It's probably just corrupted its filesystem - a common fault on
the 9200. It'll probably work if you format the disk (which just
re-initialises the filesystem), but obviously you lose all your
recordings.

[Steve Thackery]

Paul Ratcliffe wrote:

> Yes it does use such a filing system. I don't know why you think a PC
> can't read it. It can with the right software. The right software is
> not built in to any OS available, but can be added as an application.

Ah, yes, since writing that someone has pointed out products such as
HummyReadFiles, HDC and HumaxRW:

http://humaxdisk.wikispaces.com/HumaxRW

Good to know.

--
SteveT

[Pete Forman]

Yellow <no...@none.com> writes:

> As for radio - if your shows are on the BBC I would highly recommend
> get_iplayer.

Thanks for that suggestion. It does seem to be working well.

[Mark]

FWIW humaxrw worked very well to recover (most of) the recordings off
a corrupted HDD from a 9300T.
--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) If a man stands in a forest and no woman is around
(")_(") is he still wrong?

[Derek F]

On 28/04/2014 08:14, Pete Forman wrote:
> Yellow <no...@none.com> writes:
>
>> As for radio - if your shows are on the BBC I would highly recommend
>> get_iplayer.
>
> Thanks for that suggestion. It does seem to be working well.
>

Can you record from iPlayer?
Derek

[Paul D Smith]

"Derek F" wrote in message news:oqr7v.137953$dK.6...@fx07.iad...

+++++++++++
That's effectively what get_iplayer does. With 'real iPlayer' there is DRM
which expires your program after a certain number of days. get_iplayer
pretends to be a device that does not support DRM (such as some mobile
phones) but does it in a way that makes iPlayer believe that the device is
an HD capable phone!

iPlayer then allows a download of a program _WITHOUT_ the DRM, presumably
assuming that nobody is going to keep a copy at phone resolution (and not
spotting the amazing capabilities of this fake-phone).

So you end up with something you can stream to your TV etc etc.

Save me more than once when real iPlayer was buggered and deleted programs
BEFORE the official cut-off date and the Beeb would not restore them,
despite agreeing that there was a bug.

Paul DS.

[Derek F]

Brilliant little programme. It works but I had an error message that
LAME had not loaded.
Derek

[Derek F]

On 28/04/2014 13:52, Paul D Smith wrote:

It seems not to have regional programmes. Out of interest I looked for
the Scottish soap River City that my wife follows on iPlayer but a
search did not find it.
Derek

[Yellow]

In article <hdK7v.133202$1j7....@fx01.iad>, lordp...@NOXgmail.com
says...

I've just searched for "river city" and got a hit for the programme
broadcast 22 April.

I use the program directly, via the command prompt, and as I have set
the default feed to radio I need to select TV specifically so the
relevant command is -

get_iplayer --type=TV "river city"

[Derek F]

Thank you.
Derek

[Davey]

On Tue, 29 Apr 2014 21:28:54 +0100
Derek F <lordp...@NOXgmail.com> wrote:

> On 29/04/2014 19:14, Yellow wrote:
> > In article <hdK7v.133202$1j7....@fx01.iad>,
> > lordp...@NOXgmail.com says...
> >>
> >> On 28/04/2014 13:52, Paul D Smith wrote:
> >>> "Derek F" wrote in message news:oqr7v.137953$dK.6...@fx07.iad...
> >>>
> >>> On 28/04/2014 08:14, Pete Forman wrote:
> >>>> Yellow <no...@none.com> writes:
> >>>>

snip

> >> It seems not to have regional programmes. Out of interest I looked
> >> for the Scottish soap River City that my wife follows on iPlayer
> >> but a search did not find it.
> >> Derek
> >
> > I've just searched for "river city" and got a hit for the programme
> > broadcast 22 April.
> >
> > I use the program directly, via the command prompt, and as I have
> > set the default feed to radio I need to select TV specifically so
> > the relevant command is -
> >
> > get_iplayer --type=TV "river city"
> >
>
> Thank you.
> Derek

Opening up BBC iPlayer and searching for River City gave two episodes
and something else, so it is there.
My normal method of using get_iplayer is to find the program I want
using iPlayer, copy the URL, and then insert that into the command line
for get_iplayer. Using the Beeb site first allows for confirmation that
it is the correct episode, etc.
Note that a simple option also downloads subtitles as an add-on file,
and probably the same for Audio Description.

--
Davey.

[Mike]

In article <lkdua0$obr$2...@n102.xanadu-bbs.net>,
Davey <da...@example.invalid> wrote:

>> > get_iplayer --type=TV "river city"

>My normal method of using get_iplayer is to find the program I want
>using iPlayer, copy the URL, and then insert that into the command line
>for get_iplayer. Using the Beeb site first allows for confirmation that
>it is the correct episode, etc.

I find that using "--info" disgorges more information than I needed to
find out whether it's the right episode ... :)

E.g. for all episodes that match

get_iplayer --type=TV "river city" --info

or for a specific programme by number

get_iplayer --type=TV 12345 --info

--
--------------------------------------+------------------------------------
Mike Brown: mjb[-at-]signal11.org.uk | http://www.signal11.org.uk

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