Yes both 500GB. Did ask if the 1TB were better but Richer Sounds adamant it would make no difference, though they were also adamant the noise issue was due to a duff machine as opposed to design flaw.

I think the reason for some noisy drives is much more likely to be down to mishandling in shipment of individual units.

REPASSAC – 2 hours ago  » 

I think the reason for some noisy drives is much more likely to be down to mishandling in shipment of individual units.

Are you talking about shipment of the drives themselves or shipment of the Humax PVRs?

If you mean the actual drives that’s an interesting point as I can see no other reason why there should be such extreme differences between individual drives.

I returned my first 500GB 5000T because the drive was so alarmingly noisy that it seemed about to fail, yet its replacement is whisper-quiet.

And the Humax units are so securely packed in moulded styrofoam that I can’t see how they could be mishandled in transit without the damage being obvious from the state of the box.

So perhaps something happens to the noisy drives before they even reach Humax – unless the drive factory just lacks all quality-control, but that seems unlikely because they wouldn’t last long if that were the case.

On the other hand, you’d think the drives would be bulk-shipped tightly packed on industrial pallets and not rattling around loose in the back of a van.

It’s a mystery, for sure.

I was referring to the constructed PVR’s which go through possibly multiple shipment stages.

Hi

Yes there is definately an issue with batches of noisy hard drives and the problem is made worse by the ultra thin casing and no damping construction of my 2000. It wouldnt surprise me if this had carried on to the 4000 and 5000 because I will say that Humax were barely interested when I reported my problem. These hard drives will be built for cheap per unit cost and I dont think they are nearly as good as they should be.

Yes they work but when you can hear the thing chuntering and clicking from another room something is seriously wrong

So we are not going mad and this problem niggles when others(including Humax) say ours is fine thanks. Ive a feeling that some others have noisy units but think its fine because they accept any old noise in their front rooms like its normal or something…dogs probably barking and kids are screaming so they dont consider hard drive noise to be noise that bothers them.

I could hear mine from the kitchen and I spent time and money fixing the problem myself effectively doing what Humax should have done.

Do I sound annoyed because I was. I live with this unit calmly now but Ive never been fully happy with it.

My advice to anybody with this problem is take it back, try and get a proper response from Humax or buy from another manufacturer

GCDBONES123 – 21 minutes ago  » 

Ive been back in touch with Richer sounds and intend to return machine. (No reply from Humax) Sound was so loud on last nights tv it was unbearable, then again in the night with scheduled recordings, ended up switching off at mains and giving up.

I have made a recording to play them to prove its not my imagination. Have to say on both machines it would not let me format the HDD but kept saying unknown error whenever I tried to format. Maybe not connected but do wonder if there’s a faulty batch of HDDs gone into some machines?

I think Humax use Seagate pipeline drives on all models (subject to market shortages, as their was several years ago) – Hard to imaging a bad batch.

GCDBONES123 – 5 hours ago  » 

REPASSAC – 5 minutes ago  » 

GCDBONES123 – 21 minutes ago  » 

Ive been back in touch with Richer sounds and intend to return machine. (No reply from Humax) Sound was so loud on last nights tv it was unbearable, then again in the night with scheduled recordings, ended up switching off at mains and giving up.

I have made a recording to play them to prove its not my imagination. Have to say on both machines it would not let me format the HDD but kept saying unknown error whenever I tried to format. Maybe not connected but do wonder if there’s a faulty batch of HDDs gone into some machines?

I think Humax use Seagate pipeline drives on all models (subject to market shortages, as their was several years ago) – Hard to imaging a bad batch.

Your probably right. I just like to try and work out what could be causing the issue, especially as people seem to have different noise levels from same machine. Real shame.

This isnt our problem it is Humaxes problem. They should sort it out. If lots of people send them back then they will know there is something wrong. Or is it that they couldnt give a monkeys?

So unlike Andysue I actually got a response (2) back from Humax customer support yesterday. The first response just asked “Is it on a glass shelf?” That was it, no boiler plate were really sorry you’re having issues or were suprised to hear about that as our machines are thoroughly tested to prevent noise.

I wrote back and explained (Again) that it was on a tempered glass top on built in bedroom furniture but that putting felt feet or a cloth underneath or even lifting the machine physically made no difference when the HDD was chuntering. They wrote back again within minutes of my reply and said the vasy majority of complaints we get about noise is where the machine is on glass. END. No we can look into it for you, no were sorry, nothing!

Think it told me 2 things:

1) Humax are well aware and this is an issue of some volume (no pun intended).

2) They dont care, unless it hits their bottom line sufficiently they will carry on risking the odd return in order to skimp on build quality to hit a price point and achieve margin and just re sell the returns as graded machines rather than invest in getting it right out the gate.

Richer sounds however responded to my review and have been excellent. I have video and audio to demonstrate and will try and pop in after the snow clears. Machine is still doing it but less frequently so will monitor for a week and see how it goes. In ‘quiet’ mode its audible but bearable, when it has its little fits it make me want to return it straight away.