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I have cancelled my Sky subscription and have recently bought a new Humax 1Tb, HDR-1100S box in order to receive Freesat. For normal viewing , recording, pausing etc it is excellent but I cannot get On Demand or Showcase to work. The icons for all the On Demand players have downloaded but when I select any of the players I get a rotating circle with the caption ‘Checking Internet Connection’ followed about 2 seconds later by a blank screen. However long I wait the screen remains blank. Similarly when I select Showtime I get the caption ‘Showtime not available’.
However, when I use the TV Guide and select Channel 903 I can load the ITV Player and watch ITV on demand programmes. Unfortunately this doesn’t work for BBC iPlyer via Channel 901. When I select Channel 901 I again get the ‘Checking Internet Connection, followed by a blank screen.
I have connected to the home network using Wifi, Home Plug Ethernet and via Ethernet cable directly to my BT Home Hub 5. In all cases I get the same result. My internet speed is 18 Mbps and my satellite signal is 100% on both inputs.
I have spoken to Humax and followed their advice to do a factory reset on the HDR-1100S and to turn of my BT Router wait 15 mins and then restart the router and then power up the HDR-1100S. None of this made any difference. Humax then said I needed to ‘Open Ports’ on my Router. They sent me an email stating the Port Numbers that I needed to open as: 80, 8080 and 443. I found out how to do this and have opened these ports on my BT Home Hub 5. Unfortunately this made no difference. Finally, Humax advised exchanging the HDR-1100S for a replacement box. John Lewis have been very helpful and I now have the replacement. Unfortunately, I have exactly the same problems with the new box!
The new box had an older software version (Jun 15) so I have successfully updated it to the latest version (Jul 15).
As I can load the ITV Player through Channel 903 and download the software update I can only assume that I am successfully connected to the Internet. So why won’t the the On Demand Services and Showtime work? Any advice will be gratefully received.
What happens when you use the backwards EPG? In other words, go into the EPG, select BBC1 chan 101, scroll left.
This sounds like the previous on-demand and showcase problems which were at freesat’s end and thought to be load related.
However 901 not working is strange and suggests it may not be the same.
I would check the router settings looking especially at DNS settings – normally set by DHCP. I would also test using a DNS of 8.8.8.8 (Google).
The ports Humax mentioned 80 and 443 if not opened would block HTTP and HTTPS activity 8080 a proxy server – can’t imagine any router not having them open.
I would do all testing with a cable connection to rule out other possibilities and force the Humax via system network settings to connect automatically again (reselect it again) before trying.
We do know that there are some tests the Humax carries out at the end of boot where it determines if on-demand and showcase are available or not. Freesat’s advice to reselect connect automatically implies this forces a retest.
Check also you can get IPlayer from a PC/Tablet.
Hi Pollensa1946,
I have tried the backwards EPG on Channel 101 (BBC1) and Channel 103 (ITV1) for ‘Earlier Today’ and for ‘Yesterday’. In all cases I get the ‘Connecting to the Internet’ caption and then a blank screen after 2 to 3 seconds. I have then waited a couple of minutes to see if it loads but the blank scree continues until I press the Home Button and return to the EPG.
This may be a red herring, but there seem to be quite a few reports of problems with the Home Hub 5 router. There’s some suggestions for tweaking at http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/networks/1403054/bt-home-hub-5-settings-guide-how-to-get-more-speed-and-make-it-less-annoying, maybe worth having a look.
Hi Repassac,
Thanks for your detailed reply. The family have a number of iPads running BBC iPlayer and the other On Demand players and they all work. We also have IPlayer apps on two IMacs – one connected via Ethernet and one via WiFi – and both work. I also have full On Demand services on my Sky+ box (until my contract runs out in two weeks time) connected via the Sky WiFi adaptor.
My Home network is provided by a BT Home Hub5 but with the WiFi turned off. The BT Hub is connected via Ethernet to an Apple Time Capsule which provides the WiFi. However, the Home Plug System is connected to one of the Ethernet sockets on the BT Hub and when I tested using a long Ethernet cable directly to the Skysat box it was also connected to Ethernet on the BT Hub. I also have an older model Apple TV connected via its own Home Plug at the same power socket as the Home Plug serving the Humax Skysat Box and I can stream Netflix from here with no problems.
The internal workings of the Router are a bit of a black art to me. I had to search the Internet to learn about opening ports. However, I now know how to get into the Home Hub control menu so I will check the DNS settings and come back later.
Thanks
Clearly your network is complicated. I would suggest all testing is cable to the main router and only if success to try other routes.
The problem could be as simple as response time to a message or much more complex.
Ethernet cable is so cheap now I always advocate testing using a 20m length.
http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/products/15544-esscable-urt-620/
I am already using a long Ethernet cable to test the Humax box connected directly to the BT Hub 5. However, thanks for the suggestion.
Experimenting with the Router settings is on hold today as daughter is working from home and needs the Internet! I will publish any results once I get a chance to access the Router.
Have just bought and installed same box … Ethernet connected … And have exact same problem. Bt router like above but with non complicated network. Worked perfectly with sky+hd box.
I have been away and haven’t yet had a chance to adjust the BT Hub5 settings as suggested by Repassac. However, On Demand via my Sky+ box was working fine until my subscription ran out last week. I have since connected an old Now TV box and all the On Demand players work well via this device with a wireless connection. I also continue to access all the On Demand players via iPad and computer.
I would be interested to hear from anyone who has bought a Humax HDR-1100S in the last few weeks and has successfully connected to the On Demand services and Showcase.
Just a suggestion but on the webpage BT Home Hub 5 settings it gives instructions for turning off the ‘Smart Setup’ option as this sometimes interferes with certain devices.
Got mine to work tonight … Took out ethernet cable and connected by wifi … Started working. Then reconnected ethernet and worked !! Ethernet cable was def connected properly 1st time round so who knows !!!!
I suggest that if this works or not is down to an initial connection(s) to freesat’s servers. I speculate that on some hubs the fistime that an IP address is acquired is slower than expected. Just a guess because some have problems but not others. Of course the responses from freesat’s servers are also variable, depending on load, will also be a factor.
Some further clarity from freesat would be welcome. As would be their policy on a secure DLNA server addition that we would all welcome.
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