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Hi
Right then I have made the decision to void any warranty and get to the bottom of this myself.
Firstly the reasons are I got No help from Humax.
I couldnt face going back to an awful shop that firstly tried to rip me off.
I spent too long in delusional shock thinking this noise cant be happening as Ive owned Humax products for years.
Sooooo I know what Im doing and with cotton gloves for the casing and antistatic measures not to touch anything incorrectly inside I set about it
with the seal removed it was easy to open and I can keep my casing cosmetically as new.
I take pictures as I go along for reference. It has a basic but generally neat interior housing a SEAGATE ST3500312CS. “Video 3.5 HDD” on the left side. Theres not much in there and its pretty basic bit the board looks well made. The casing and the mounting will only help amplify the noise as it stands
The mountings look very basic and undamped but luckily the connectors are easy to remove from the main PCB.
I will be soundproofing the casing and politely contacting Seagate and Western digital for research purposes. The plan is to install a new hard drive after trying damping and soundproofing on this unit.
I will post more but I will enjoy trying to sort this and I dont care about the guarantee. If it goes wrong I will take great pleasure in chucking it into an enviromentally friendly recycling centre. If I cant sort the noise its going anyway
I probably wont buy Humax again but Ive spent enough money last year and I can take a hit for £148. If I sort it I will have the pleasure of a quiet unit and probably the best 2000t out there.
If I dont sort it well I live to fight another day and buy something else
Best wishes to the forum users
Ah I seem to be getting results.
With the top off and watching it tonight its much quieter, Im almost certain the reason for this is there is a red data cable which goes up vertically from the PCB and the hard drive which must have been touching the lid.
Theres nowhere for it to go as its virtually on the lid within the first cm or so of travel. Im looking at it now and it loops above the unit way higher than the lid and the lid must have been forcing it down
Its so sturdy that it must have been against the lid as there is no way of routing it without securing it down in some way. Really poor design as it should have been taken horizontally out or on right angle connectors
I think that was creating an echo reverb against the lid. The lid must just have been amplifying the hard drive functions which would make sense if this stiff cable has been against it. The noise has dropped by over a half to two thirds and thats with the lid off!
I can still hear it when its recording but it acceptable and more in line with what other people say about their units now.
I have some pictures if they go on here.
By the time I add some sticky back soundproof 6mm foam and use some rubber washers in the hard drive mount and dampers under the unit feet I reckon I will reduce it significantly more.
I had been pricing new hard drives but that can now wait
As long as I keep this data cable isolated from the casing I reckon that was the main problem. I will be a bit miffed if something so badly thought through has lost my warranty but very glad Ive got a much quieter and acceptable unit.
I will get some pictures on when Ive got them on photobucket
Four of my photos showing whats under the hood of a 2000t. Note the red data cable which is clearly a problem. Really badly designed in terms of routing. Picture 1 was when I lifted the lid and all that cable is doing is trapped connecting the hardrive directly to the lid. The lid forced it down onto the drive
I have proved that removing the lid stops the hard drive echoing through the unit and its way quieter even with the hardrive exposed.
I will bend the cable down towards the back and get some isolated and secured routing
All your comments are welcome especially about what hard drive would be a nice replacement. Im thinking more western digital then seagate. There are loads of these seagate pipeline drives on the used market I tend to wonder why?
but I wont buy a used hard drive
I will be very surprised if the cable really is the culprit. I don’t think you have demonstrated that it is responsible yet. My guess is that it is the lid resonating that is responsible. Gluing some sound deadening material to the lid should help by changing the frequency and providing some damping.
I placed a paperweight on the top of my box. It is about 0.75 of the way front to back & in line with ethernet port. Reduces what noise there was significantly. Conclusion: In my case the lid is at fault.
Interesting Minstral – hope your investigations and alterations prove useful.
As an aside I recently got one of THESE I got mine free as I have subscribed to BT for 12 months – cost £60.
This box is basically a 2000T albeit in a much smaller case. It also uses a smaller 2.5″ HDD and is fanless. Very impressed with it so far. It’s quick it’s small and totally silent. Perhaps this might have been a better purchase for you?
Interesting to see one of these opened up. The 500GB Seagate drive installed (ST3500312CS) has also been used in the HDR-FOX T2 and the DTR-T1000. I have several and I would not say that it is an unusually noisy drive. However in both of those older units the drive is suspended in a plastic caddy, using large head screws and silicone rubber gromits to isolate the drive from the case.
As the software is similar to the HDR-FOX, I presume that a disk of up to 2TB could be installed, though I have not confirmed this.
You want to use a drive specifically for PVR use. Seagate also make the ST1000VM002 (1TB, 3.5 inch) and the ST2000VM003 (2TB, 3.5 inch). Western Digital make the WD10EURX (1TB, 3.5 inch) and the WD20EURX (2TB, 3.5 inch). You could also use the Seagate ST500VT000 (500GB, 2.5 inch) or the Western Digital WD10JUCT (1TB, 2.5 inch). The 2.5 inch drives would run cooler and be quieter. You would need an adapter to fix a smaller drive in place but you can get these for a few pounds. When doing this you could use rubber washers between the adapter and the case to dampen the noise a bit, and you could tie the SATA cable to the adapter frame with a cable tie to keep it clear of the lid.
That’s a very good point Monty. I would be minded to put a 2.5″ HDD in there as a replacement. As you say it would run cooler quieter and plenty of scope to further dampen any noise.
Minstrel SE – 12 hours ago »
Four of my photos showing whats under the hood of a 2000t.
Didn’t the early production models have a fan?
Thanks everyone
I didnt expect that removing the lid would make any difference and I was ready for a long repair investigation. I still have a fair bit of work to do
I agree with you Martin that Im clutching at straws a bit regarding that cable. Ive reset a few connections and wiggled the hard drive to find it is a quieter hard drive than I thought it would be with the lid off. Its a head scratcher really and Ive had to listen over a long period to make sure Im not deluding myself
Good pont in maybe the lid is a large resonator on its mountings but I cant feel the hard drive resonating with head noise. Its a much softer sound now. I can not hear it when playing a recorded file and its very quiet when watching one channel. I can still hear it sometimes but its an acceptable functioning noise
When its recording one or two channels I can hear it because the heads are working overtime. It is much quieter than before though.
Ive lived with the unit for months and now its suddenly much quieter with the lid off…thats really all I know for now. I must have had a faulty unit as something to do with that lid in place or perhaps a connection I have reset has really helped.
I have to be careful to give it some air breathing/cooling but I will put some 6mm car foam sheets in there and mount the hard drive on rubber washers between drive and caddy. Its a bit more difficult betwen caddy and case but I will think on. Obviously it cant be too wobbly so its fine balance of stability vs some isolation….it will help
My unit now corresponds with others saying their unit is quieter. I could now read a book in the room unless two channels were being recorded but I havent finished with it yet. I will route that cable through some adhesive cable ties at the back.
If I take the sound down a notch or two with proofing I can live with that long term while I decide on my next purchase
Best wishes to everyone
Faust – 6 hours ago »
Interesting Minstral – hope your investigations and alterations prove useful.
As an aside I recently got one of THESE I got mine free as I have subscribed to BT for 12 months – cost £60.
This box is basically a 2000T albeit in a much smaller case.
Really? I would have thought that the T2100/T2100 would be closer to a T2000 rather than a 2000T.
Oh Thanks Monty for the excellent advice on drives. I was looking on the internet but its very difficult to make a choice.
I thought it will be getting a new drive in future but maybe not if I can get this working better for now.
Quite a few people have had this problem with the 2000T. Reviews on Richer Sounds and elsewhere show people can hear it loud from metres away so Im not the only one.
I wish I had bought it from Richer Sounds because it would have been a better experience and I wouldnt have felt the anxiety of taking it back.
As I said the chain store I bought it from tried to palm me off with a damaged used unit first and I just couldnt stomach facing them again (to my cost!)
I feel there must be many others who havent even bothered reporting it.
Anyway I like to do these things myself…thats me even if I cut my own nose off to spite my face
Best wishes
On the subject of the lid Ive had a Porsche 1/18 model on it on protective paper and that didnt damp it (or cause it). I will keep items off the top while I test it out
I recon with a foam lining and foam dampers in key places I can isolate and damp the lid. I will take that out of the equation.
Its still a head scratcher why a hardrive could set up a sharp echo chamber or transmission line that I could hear through in my kitchen over 6 metres away. It was like every noise from the head was given amplification and cutting sharp noise.
Now its much softer and quieter I can hear the natural disc spinning with my ear close up but thats not a problem and never was.
In a way I dont care as long as my tweaking resolves the problem.
Best wishes
Luke – 5 hours ago »
Minstrel SE – 12 hours ago »
Four of my photos showing whats under the hood of a 2000t.
Didn’t the early production models have a fan?
I seem to remember the advertising that this unit was good because it had no fan and therefore no fan noise. I dont know about earlier versions but its been in production for a good few years
Theres clearly a fan cutout there but I will assume it needs a bit of air venting and not block everything off.
The general area of soundproofing will be the lid and nearer the front and side of the drive. Maybe something along the inside bottom when Ive removed the drive mount. I dont know if the unit could overheat but it seems best not to block too much of the natural ventilation.
The noise is already reduced so I dont have to smother the unit in foam sheets…just enough will do and its sticky back away from the electrical contact areas.
Ive just spent £5 for three sheets of this foam
Luke – 14 hours ago »
Faust – 6 hours ago »
Interesting Minstral – hope your investigations and alterations prove useful.
As an aside I recently got one of THESE I got mine free as I have subscribed to BT for 12 months – cost £60.
This box is basically a 2000T albeit in a much smaller case.
Really? I would have thought that the T2100/T2100 would be closer to a T2000 rather than a 2000T.
From my reading about both models on various forums they basically share the same underpinnings. Similar to Skoda Fabia VW Polo etc.
The point is that if you are happy to use Youview and why wouldn’t you be, then it’s possibly a better buy in terms of compactness silence etc. Plus at £60 (years subscription) whence the box is yours, it’s also a bargain as it will continue to work even if you no longer subscribe, albeit you will lose the subscription only channels.
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