@RichHumax – My problem has gone away (I put it like that because I dont believe it is fixed) by virtue of me unplugging the power for a minute or 2. I did contact Humax support who first asked me to tell them what “channels” were on ‘channels’ 11, 34 and 45. I replied that they were tuned to Sky Arts, ITV+1 and Channel5+1 respectively. To this they replied that I should do a factory reset (their procedure copied below). They never said if those channels are what they expected to see, but I know from experience that retuning in my location can be difficult because I am in a direct line between two conflicting transmitters and I end up with BBC1 on ch800 and S4C instead of C4 if I do automatic tuning. With this in mind I decided to do the power off/on as a first step trial. As that worked I have not gone on to do a factory reset.

As for your formatting problem, could you remove the drive and plug it into your PC via a USB-Sata cable and format it there?

Here is Humax’s factory reset procedure:-

Good afternoon Steve.

Thank you for confirming those details. Please follow these instructions to perform factory default on a Freeview Play unit. Performing a factory default can help with picture/sound, signal and recording issues.

Please NOTE: System settings such as screen ratio will be reset and your schedule will be deleted but recorded programmes will be saved.

Press Home/Freeview Play button on the remote

Using the directional buttons move up (top right hand corner) and select Settings

Select System Settings then Factory Default

Choose Reset All Settings with the OK button

Select ‘YES’

Enter Password 0000

The unit will restart, please allow up to 2 minutes for this to happen

Please select ‘Start now’ & choose your preferred language

Select Next and allow the automatic search to reach 100%

When the option SAVE becomes available, press OK

Please choose your Internet Connection Method

Select Next on confirmation Screen

Select “I agree to the privacy policy” and press OK

Select “I agree to the terms and conditions” and press OK

Choose Next

Next, select your “Power Saving In Standby” preference and press OK

Then select Next and press OK

Then choose Exit

Software check will take place

Once finished scroll through the onscreen guide and press OK on the last screen

This completes the setup

Best Regards,

Chris

Humax Customer Support

stevem1960 – 19 mins ago  » 

PS forgot to say that email from Humax support was on 29th Jan, and I have just checked my software build which was built on 13th Jan 2021 and is build UKTFAE 1.03.53. I dont know when this actually updated but I dont remember noting that it was such a recent build when I emailed support

That is the YouTube fix version which began a phased roll out 08 Feb 21 followed by full roll out the following week.

RichHumax – 8 mins ago  » 

Hi all, thank you for your responses. Firstly, apologies for getting the latest software date wrong, it’s the 13/01/2021 not 21st as I said, so is UKTFAE 1.03.53 like you mention. My machine is a 5000T 1TB but suspect that makes no difference. I had wondered about the ‘back up copy’ of the software allegedly living on a partition on the hard drive for the very reason you stated about swapping out the drive. I even challenged Humax about that but they said I was wrong! It’s extremely unlikely that the currently loaded software managed to update to the very latest and report as such if the hard drive is faulty/corrupted and is involved in the process.

Unfortunately, I have tried several factory resets as described but everything returns to normal except the instant record. On further ‘testing’, it does sometimes record for a minute or two beyond what’s in the buffer. I should also add, as it has sometimes been suggested as an issue, it’s not channel specific. I have also tried the hard mains reboot a couple of times without success but currently trying a longer electron starvation diet on the machine!

I suspect the inability to reformat is a red herring. I could take it apart and connect it to a PC but I still don’t see how it can logically interfere with the instant record, which must be entirely software driven and set from EPG data. Especially as no errors are reported for the recording, unlike when a transmitter goes off once in a blue moon mid recording or there’s a power glitch.

Finally, it would be great if someone who has a 5000T with the Jan 21 software, who importantly doesn’t have anything valuable saved to their hard drive, could confirm that their instant record behaves correctly and that they can format their hard drive. Graham, I think you’re trying the instant record? I still believe the narrow nature of the issue points to a weird software bug, but as you say Graham, I probably need a new hard drive, may be the hard drive can’t successfully copy/add to its own buffer recording. But to fail in such a way without an error message feels illogical. Thanks again.

There is no software on the hard drive. The epg is also in nvram. If you change the HDD you of course lose the recordings unless you copy them to the new HDD but you still have the recording schedule. The last time I had to replace the HDD I had no errors. I disconnected the HDD and the box booted fine. The new HDD was setup completely automatically. As the HDD had failed completely I lost the old recordings. It’s a bit tricky to get at the hard drive as there are some clips you need to disengage.

This is described in the faq’s.

I have software version 1.03.53

Thanks Graham, I fear you must be right. At the very least it’s worth a look at the hard drive through a PC to see what’s going on with it. As soon as I have a little free time I’ll start investigating!

Fyl – 11 mins ago  » 

My FVP 4000T is doing this as well. If you set an instant record going, it will record exactly 1 minute then stop.

Firmware is 1.03.53 13 Jan 2021

Mine is also an FVP 4000T. Did you try unplugging power for a minute? I am sure this is not a permanent fix, probably it causes a full reboot which re-initialises some variable or other that is not being properly managed in the sw. I agree with RichHumax that it feels like a s/w problem. Just reading Martin Liddle’s reply #22 I disagree, it may be related to the disk usage but that would still be software related. If it were the hardware of the disk drive it would be a more permanent OR a more randomly widespread issue, not this very specific single issue.

Martin Liddle – 1 hour ago  » 

stevem1960 – 4 mins ago  » 

If it were the hardware of the disk drive it would be a more permanent OR a more randomly widespread issue, not this very specific single issue.

I disagree with your analysis. Starting an instant recording will access the partition that is specifically for holding the buffer for pausing live play. Any problems with the file system for that buffer are likely to cause a problem with a live record.

You seem to know a lot more about the Hummy than I do (are you a Humax employee?) but from what you say, pausing live TV would also be affected. In my case it was not. Also, this is still likely to be s/w because it is s/w that controls the partitions etc, if a disk were faulty, it is likely to be faulty across all partitions, or only on certain sectors (much smaller than partitions) which would cause intermittent problems which is not how it manifested itself for me. It was a fault that always occured, but purely when trying to record the current being-watched program.

stevem1960 – 3 hours ago  » 

Martin Liddle – 1 hour ago  » 

stevem1960 – 4 mins ago  » 

If it were the hardware of the disk drive it would be a more permanent OR a more randomly widespread issue, not this very specific single issue.

I disagree with your analysis. Starting an instant recording will access the partition that is specifically for holding the buffer for pausing live play. Any problems with the file system for that buffer are likely to cause a problem with a live record.

You seem to know a lot more about the Hummy than I do (are you a Humax employee?) but from what you say, pausing live TV would also be affected. In my case it was not. Also, this is still likely to be s/w because it is s/w that controls the partitions etc, if a disk were faulty, it is likely to be faulty across all partitions, or only on certain sectors (much smaller than partitions) which would cause intermittent problems which is not how it manifested itself for me. It was a fault that always occured, but purely when trying to record the current being-watched program.

Nobody here works for Humax. Many years ago in a former incarnation when the Foxsat-HDR was new. The then technical director of Humax used to post under the member name Bobcat.

I am convinced that the advice I gave originally that the time shift buffer file is corrupt. The Foxsat-HDR had the same problem. However the custom firmware available for this box had a simple solution. Rename the file named 0.ts to say 0.old. This forces the box to recreate a new 0.ts on a different area of the hard disk.

Constantly writing and re-writing to the same area of the HDD can easily cause write errors to that area of the HDD.