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Gave Humax my equipment details, here is their smart reply.:
Hi,
Unfortunately we only support the use of official Humax WiFi dongles and cannot guarantee other brands of model will work with our products. We also unfortunately cannot guarantee that WiFi dongles that have worked in the past, will work with any new software updates that we release.
My apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Best Regards,
AndrewG
Humax Customer Support
Thanks jdl – I have one usb stick, in the shape of a penguin – so whether that will have enough memory or not I don’t know!
I noticed last night that when asking the box (very nicely) to record it duly obliged but then didn’t switch the recording off when the programme finished.
I might try another unplug, and another factory reset because to be honest I feel out of my depth attempting anything else. But who knows, after a couple of small baileys I might have a go.
Totally fed up with all this. My betamax recorder never gave me all these problems – ha ha!
just to add my name to the long list, my wifi connection is no longer picked up since the software update. Have tried a factory reset and no joy. I have a non humax wifi dongle, but it’s been working happily for two years.
If I can install an older version of the software what will stop it updating and breaking again?
I hope humax can fix this, it’s not good customer service. I will contact official support too.
Faust – 2 hours ago »
I note people are still having problems with the wifi dongle.
I don’t know why people persist with wifi for streaming video, it is rarely as successful as Ethernet. I have a decent multi-band router (Airport Extreme) and get a pretty good signal in all areas of the house.
However, (eat your heart out Michael Gove
) I have now changed all my wireless fixed kit e.g. PVR’s Apple TV etc over to Ethernet. Even with a good signal wireless can stutter with HD and trying to fast forward one would literally run into the buffers.With Ethernet via Homeplugs (cue Winston) there are no such issues.
If you get WiFi set up optimally it is fine. I can happily stream high def. content from one HDR-FOX to another in opposite ends of the house with both connected to the router by WiFi. However, sometimes less is more: I use channel 13 (2.4GHz) as it is the least cluttered band in my vicinity and only use a single channel (Max. 65 Mbps). In my set up this is more reliable than dual channel (Max. 130 Mbps). Also the choice of dongle is important. I have no experience of the new Humax 300 Mbps dongle but high gain dongles (e.g. the original Edimax 7711UAN, and the Tenda 311U+) outperform the standard Humax dongle.
Welcome to our Forum pauly
You can roll back the software to previous version if you so desire, and currently it will not update to a later version as none is being broadcast.
However it should be noted that Humax have never stated or guaranteed other dongles would work, and whilst they will probably look into the issue, there is no guarantee of a fix, so with a future update you might be back to square one.
pauly – 8 minutes ago »
just to add my name to the long list, my wifi connection is no longer picked up since the software update. Have tried a factory reset and no joy. I have a non humax wifi dongle, but it’s been working happily for two years.
If I can install an older version of the software what will stop it updating and breaking again?
I hope humax can fix this, it’s not good customer service. I will contact official support too.
As I understand it, a new update (e.g.a fix for the rebooting problem) will as you say update all boxes automatically. It’s up to Humax if that new update includes support for previously unsupported dongles. Seems doubtful – might be worth being prepared and having an alternative, supported, setup ready, such as ethernet or powerline or a WiFi adapter with an ethernet port, or a Humax dongle.
Cambray31a – 3 hours ago »
Gave Humax my equipment details, here is their smart reply.:
Hi,
Unfortunately we only support the use of official Humax WiFi dongles and cannot guarantee other brands of model will work with our products. We also unfortunately cannot guarantee that WiFi dongles that have worked in the past, will work with any new software updates that we release.
My apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Best Regards,
AndrewG
Humax Customer Support
There is no way on Earth that Humax are going to stop supporting their own brand dongles. If they are saying that generic dongles which worked in the past might no longer work in the future, this does suggest that they have already, or they are planning to prevent dongles with the ‘wrong’ VID and PID values (vendor and product numbers) but the correct chipsets from functioning. I would ask them directly if they have done or are going to do this. If they deny this is the case ask them why a dongle with the correct chipset would otherwise cease to function.
thanks for the replies… I used to use homeplugs for my old xbox, one unit failed and I never went back, have been happy with wifi since then. Moved my router fairly recently so might be able to run a network cable to the box without too much fuss. Still disappointed with humax, could not recommend them again if they don’t fix this.
To add to the above, when I scanned the USB bus (Linux OS) to which an Edimax EW-7711UAN (v1.0D) and a late Humax RT3070 chipset dongle (essentially a rebadged Edimax EW-7711UMN, not the earlier rebadged Intellinet 150N, model 524438) were connected the only discernible differences were the VID and PID numbers:
Edimax – Vendor=7392 ProdID=7711
Humax – Vendor=148f ProdID=3070
The VID and PID values of the Humax dongle are essentially generic and also found in many RT3070 dongles. So if they have gone down the VID/ PID blocking route, many of the cheaper, generic dongles should still work.
MontysEvilTwin – 34 minutes ago »
Faust – 2 hours ago »
I note people are still having problems with the wifi dongle.
I don’t know why people persist with wifi for streaming video, it is rarely as successful as Ethernet. I have a decent multi-band router (Airport Extreme) and get a pretty good signal in all areas of the house.
However, (eat your heart out Michael Gove
) I have now changed all my wireless fixed kit e.g. PVR’s Apple TV etc over to Ethernet. Even with a good signal wireless can stutter with HD and trying to fast forward one would literally run into the buffers.With Ethernet via Homeplugs (cue Winston) there are no such issues.
If you get WiFi set up optimally it is fine. I can happily stream high def. content from one HDR-FOX to another in opposite ends of the house with both connected to the router by WiFi. However, sometimes less is more: I use channel 13 (2.4GHz) as it is the least cluttered band in my vicinity and only use a single channel (Max. 65 Mbps). In my set up this is more reliable than dual channel (Max. 130 Mbps). Also the choice of dongle is important. I have no experience of the new Humax 300 Mbps dongle but high gain dongles (e.g. the original Edimax 7711UAN, and the Tenda 311U+) outperform the standard Humax dongle.
For most people that’s a big IF. Ethernet via Homeplugs trumps WiFi every time in my experience.
pauly – 17 minutes ago »
thanks for the replies… I used to use homeplugs for my old xbox, one unit failed and I never went back, have been happy with wifi since then. Moved my router fairly recently so might be able to run a network cable to the box without too much fuss. Still disappointed with humax, could not recommend them again if they don’t fix this.
I have heard people say they have had a Homeplug fail yet some of mine are quite ancient now – Devolo. They have never given me a minutes trouble, they cost more but they are very good.
I was trying to stream a HiDef movie to my Apple TV the other week, first the wife knocked it out by using the microwave then I think there were just to many of the neighbours on the same channel. It ended up as we daren’t move in case it stuttered again.
That was it, another network cable into the TP-Link network switch behind the TV and we haven’t looked back since.
We used to have similar issues with the Panasonic PVR upstairs serving our downstairs TV via WiFi. Again a Devolo quickly cured that issue too.
I had a tp-link nano router that would have done the job too, but I seem to have bricked that by trying to update the firmware a couple of weeks ago
I ideally don’t want to spend any more money to fix this issue, so will see if I have a cable that I can run neatly, or will try rolling back software.
Yes, well sorted MontysEvilTwin. It’s not a question of Humax not supporting non-Humax wifi dongles with the same chipset, they must have put a block on certain VID and PID numbers. Hardly the action to build the reputation of the world’s largest digital set-top provider. Perhaps more effort should be channelled in to testing software releases.
The cheapest RT3070 wifi dongle I can see on the internet is £3-89 and the cheapest price for a Humax dongle is £24-95 (both including shipping). Why is the Humax more than six times as much?
I am happy with my wifi connection to the 1000s (at present a Tenda 311U+). I have a wifi range extender in the same room and this gives me good streaming performance when using On Demand services on the 1000s including HD and fast forward requests.
Ethernet cable from router to 1000s is not practical in my house and the powerline adaptor solution is more plugs, cables and expense.
That would be an odd thing to do. Why go to the trouble of selectively blocking some non-Humax dongles, while allowing others. It would be much easier to just block all non-Humax dongles.
More likely (it seems to me) some non-Humax dongles have been unintentionally affected by changes in the upgrade. Not deliberate, but perhaps unlikely to be reversed since only Humax dongles are officially supported.
JeffA – 18 minutes ago »
Yes, well sorted MontysEvilTwin. It’s not a question of Humax not supporting non-Humax wifi dongles with the same chipset, they must have put a block on certain VID and PID numbers. Hardly the action to build the reputation of the world’s largest digital set-top provider. Perhaps more effort should be channelled in to testing software releases.
The cheapest RT3070 wifi dongle I can see on the internet is £3-89 and the cheapest price for a Humax dongle is £24-95 (both including shipping). Why is the Humax more than six times as much?
I am happy with my wifi connection to the 1000s (at present a Tenda 311U+). I have a wifi range extender in the same room and this gives me good streaming performance when using On Demand services on the 1000s including HD and fast forward requests.
Ethernet cable from router to 1000s is not practical in my house and the powerline adaptor solution is more plugs, cables and expense.
You say hardly the action to build a reputation on! My reply would be Apple have done very nicely out of doing just that sort of thing, though they are not the only ones by any means. Humax could put forward the Apple slogan of ‘it just works’ if they claim exclusive use of their own WiFi dongle.
Your use of the WiFi extender is a slight departure from WiFi direct from router solution. Sonos have something similar with their ‘Bridge’.
I looked at a WiFi extender some time ago but even that wasn’t straight forward as one had then to start using a PIN to access it. With my smartphone, tablet etc. I just couldn’t be bothered with the hassle.
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