humax & TV set up

[devonwoody]

After my recent living room renovation I needed to put the tv and bits back. Set up works except I do not get independent TV operation. I have to have the Humax recorder switched on.
I have external tv aerial that feeds directly to the Humax tv in and then the humax has an out aerial which I take to the TV.

Is this normal, I would have thought that the aerial lead would daisy chain from recorder to tv even if it was not switched on? I think it did it before the renovation.

 

[nev]

how you have it is how it should be, double check??

 

[devonwoody]

how you have it is how it should be, double check??

Thanks for confirmation.

The TV states it has no service when the humax is switched off (and I have tv set to operate on tv only and not an AV setup), so that's why I cannot get an independent tv viewing. I have tried twice to do automatic retuning at the tv, did get a service but it lost it again when tried a repeat operation.

 

[nev]

so
aerial direct to tv = tv works fine
aerial into 'aerial in' on humax then 'aerial/tv out' to tv = no tv .
does humax tune in ? (connect to tv with av lead) if yes, check that its not an iffy lead from humax to tv , if no check aerial connections at lead ends and at wall socket etc.
(sometimes a tv will tune in using just the cable hanging out the back as an aerial, but the humax requires a decent signal.)

EDIT: just re reread and if all works well when humax is on, but not when off then either aerial ins and outs are mixed up or the humax is not letting the signal pass through when off.
which is either a setting in the humax menu somewhere or a possible fault.

is there a setting on the humax for this? no little switches on the back of the box for pass through or similar?

 

[Lons]

Do you have a scart or preferably HDMI cable connected between them. Preferable if you can as it can give you a better signal sometimes. Otherwise your connections are correct and from memory when we had our Humax 9300 (2 of them) they needed to be powered on to get a signal through.
If you don't have the instructions, I may still have them on a hard drive or they can be downloaded from the Humax site.

Bob

 

[John Brown]

You do have a digital TV, I take it? Remember they've turned off the analogue transmissions.

 

[devonwoody]

Lons. it appears that you did also not get an independent tv unless the humax was switched on.

So it is my grey matter that is not upto date.
Yes I am hdmi and scart leads.

Yes I am digital OK and wified which is working better this time on humax.

Thanks all.

 

[CHJ]

Due to the way we use our Humax, (it's on a network as a media server) we have an aerial splitter before both Humax and TV so they both have a shared feed with no feed through.

That way If I'm playing around with file transfers, recording two channels simultaneously etc. or otherwise occupying the Humax the TV can be used independently.

 

[devonwoody]

Thanks Chas. I definitely did not have that.

However our humax will record two different channels at the same time and in fact if I do put up a third record request it gives me the option to play the third but perhaps I loose one of the other channels I recorded.

 

[John Brown]

With two tuners in the Humax(even my antique 9200) you can record two programmes simultaneously. You can only watch a third if:
a) You recorded it earlier.
b) Two out of three of the channels are on the same muliplex.

Having had the Humax paired with an old analogue TV for so long, I often forget that now I have a shiny digital TV I can watch a third programme whatever multiplex it's on. In fact, it is extremely rare that we ever watch anything that hasn't been through the Humax. If we ever watch anything live, we find ourselves trying to fast-forward through the ads.

 

[devonwoody]

Yes recording with the humax on those advert channels is now a much better experience, so quite happy to record and not watch live anymore .

 

[bugbear]

In fact, it is extremely rare that we ever watch anything that hasn't been through the Humax.

Ditto, albeit with a Topfield. I not only skip any adverts, but I also find myself recording programs that sound as if they MIGHT be interesting.

If they're evidently very bad after a few minutes, they simply get deleted. If they're just a bit weak, I may fast forward bits (some documentaries can be good, but rather padded). If they're good I watch the whole thing, obviously.

This is all much easier from a recording than "live".

BugBear

 

[CHJ]

Thanks Chas. I definitely did not have that.

However our humax will record two different channels at the same time and in fact if I do put up a third record request it gives me the option to play the third but perhaps I loose one of the other channels I recorded.

If you provide an independent aerial feed to the TV with a splitter you can still record two channels and watch a third on the TV via its own tuner when the odd occasion crops up.
Worth a try if your signal is good, signal strength not a problem here as we have a distribution amplifier feeding all rooms.

 

[RogerS]

...... If we ever watch anything live, we find ourselves trying to fast-forward through the ads.

Same here. On average, you save between 15-20 minutes of your life per hour on the commercial stations! I like the fact that most breaks are now exactly four minutes long and so four simple presses of that button on the Humax controller and you're ready to start watching again.

My two niggles with the Humax are that (a) they haven't implemented the start-recording codes properly and so often miss a fraction at the start of the programme and (b) the list of Recorder Schedules never clears down one or two that have been and gone. Apart from that it's slick.

dw...do you switch your Humax completely off or into standby?

 

[CHJ]

...My two niggles with the Humax are that (a) they haven't implemented the start-recording codes properly and so often miss a fraction at the start of the programme and (b) the list of Recorder Schedules never clears down one or two that have been and gone. Apart from that it's slick....

Don't think you can hold that against the Humax or whichever PVR you use, they rely on the TV Channels transmitting CRID codes at the correct, or should that be a convenient time.
Often the higher priority to try and fit in the maximum number of adverts seems to take president.
Or it could just be lazy rushed editing of the transmission sequence recordings and poor integration across feeds.

On the odd occasion when we have a real desire to 'get it all' I try to remember to set manually by time with some padding each end rather than by EPG.

 

[RogerS]

...My two niggles with the Humax are that (a) they haven't implemented the start-recording codes properly and so often miss a fraction at the start of the programme and (b) the list of Recorder Schedules never clears down one or two that have been and gone. Apart from that it's slick....

Don't think you can hold that against the Humax or whichever PVR you use, they rely on the TV Channels transmitting CRID codes at the correct, or should that be a convenient time.
Often the higher priority to try and fit in the maximum number of adverts seems to take president.
Or it could just be lazy rushed editing of the transmission sequence recordings and poor integration across feeds.

No, none of the above holds water. It is the fault of the Humax and recognised as such. The Hitachi that we have is spot on thus eliminating outside factors.

On the odd occasion when we have a real desire to 'get it all' I try to remember to set manually by time with some padding each end rather than by EPG.

Doing that prevents Series Recording.

 

[devonwoody]

Roger the humax is on standby.

Chas. our humax lets us watch the third program I suppose because I would switch to TV from AV(4), so I suppose that's the answer to my original enquiry and Lons answer, humax needs to be on, unless I split the aerial lead as you suggest.

Our humax lets me use the internet for things like utube etc. which is a later generation system.

If anyone cannot think of a Christmas present I can recommend. :wink: :wink: :wink:

 

[thick_mike]

I can confirm that the humax needs to be on in order for the aerial signal to get to your tv...ours is just the same (this wasn't the case for our old 9200T)...a bit of a pain.

It's not a fault, it's designed that way...annoyingly you can't change settings to make it work without the humax powered up.

 

[devonwoody]

OK, I accept.

Its just that occasionally the humax needs to be rebooted and it would have been quicker to get back to tv if the aerial was daisy chained.

I suppose I could pull the lead out of out humax, and pull the in lead out as well and join them together for a quick fix.,

 

[CHJ]

Should be available for £3 or so, one of those and a spare connector cable must be worth a try to meet your needs.

Why are you needing to re-boot the Humax ? I find that a very rare requirement.