Humax box and DVD recorder

[Bob Williams]

I am waiting for an engineer mate to fit me a Freesat LNB atm, and have questions: can I connect a DVD recorder to the Humax HDR-1100S directly, or to the TV, which has 2x HDMI? Is it worth buying a DVD recorder nowadays, if there is some way to stream and record Freesat from the Humax box to my NAS? Then just a DVD player to the TV?

Also, I have a HDMI cable that has Ethernet and is longer than the Humax supplied cable. I understand that an HDMI cable with ethernet is what should be used for boxes such as the Humax, connected to the TV’s HDMI/ARC port, will this be OK to connect to the Humax box, which I am connecting via Ethernet? Ethernet cable is already in situ, tested this morning with SWMBO’s laptop, working and showing Gigabit.

Sky has already cut my phone, Plusnet say theirs starts sometime today.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[The Duke]

Wow that year flew bob, I remember when you was having sky installed. Re you technical question I don’t know the humax products. But I wouldn’t get a dvd recorder, they are so clumsy and slow.

In the summer i cleared out some crap and chucked 100s of movies I recorded on to dvd years ago, at a rate of 3 per night off sky. I could only queue/fit 3 on a disk Then loaded them onto a hdd.

Wiped the hdds years ago, and ditched the disks in the summer. It was actually a hard thing to do. Even when at the tip, spools in hand, I had se on thoughts of chucking this sd dvd recording, I’d only played once, and that was a rip not an actual play. They probably didn’t work due to age, 10-15 years old.

Think the recorder was binned the year before.

[blacklion1725]

ARC is the Audio Return Channel – only really relevant to an AV receiver or sound bar – don’t think it is ethernet related? So I’d use the HDMI cablethey gave you unless it won’t reach.

Regards a DVD recorder – really not worth the effort these days. Better ways to archive and better ways to share.

[Bob Williams]

Thanks guys. Sorry about the tardy reply, check my upcoming Rant for the reasons why I have been without Internet since the afternoon of the 26th.

Steve, I agree, what a fast year that was! Sky was an experience I will not repeat, but without experiencing it for myself I would not have known. You live and learn! I wanted a DVD recorder to play all the discs I have collected, some series are not easy to obtain now, including the BBC series “Rome” which I return to now and again. If I can get these onto my NAS via the desktop, I can stream them and dump or store the discs.

BL, I have had to use the HDMI – with – Ethernet cable to connect the Humax, as the one in the box is not long enough. I had Freesat with the Humax for half a day, until Sky Bband went off. Tomorrow I connect it back up, but I did notice how good the EPG was: much better than Sky’s. Off now to put my experience of Sky and Plusnet in a Rant….

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[The Duke]

Sky’s epg died the day they upgraded it to the fancier looking HD one. It looks 10x better, but was 10x slower to use.

The best epg set up I’ve seen is the one that comes with the TalkTalk tv box. It’s not proprietary to TalkTalk I just can’t remember its name.

I set the tv box up at my inlaws as I have no use for it, and it’s trully oap proof. It just works. Using on demand services without the user knowing about it. They just scroll back in time and hit play. It polls from the relevant od service. The epg is fluid and fast. The boxes only issue is its boot time. Which wouldn’t be an issue if my FiL didn’t insist on turning everything fully off when not in use. From standby is not bad, from off it must take around a minute to boot.

[Bob Williams]

Got the Freesat connected now. In the other Thread Steve, I comment on the Freesat EPG. To my amazement, our Gert learned how to use the remote and EPG in 10 minutes. I was gobsmacked! But it really is good, goes from standby to boot very quickly. We don’t turn anything off, I remember my mam going around the house before she hit the stairs, turning everything off and telling dad to make sure the TV and all sockets were off before he followed her. Now and again he would say “What, fridge freezer as well?” and get a withering look. The TV then actually sat on top of the fridge – freezer in their old NCB house, the old feller would not allow it in the front room. That’s where he escaped to the stereo I bought him for all his Country Music records, lubricated by a few Rums. He only watched snooker, football and boxing.

I also like the fact that I can delete all the channels I don’t want, which was not possible with Sky but used to be doable on Freeview. My next step is to connect the NOWTV box I have never used: there is another HDMI socket at the rear of the TV. As there is only one ethernet cable near the TV and Humax box, I will buy a small network switch and connect both boxes. Think that will work? There is also an ethernet socket in the rear of the TV.

That should sort out my evening couch – veggie time. ??

 

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[RSB]

Is the now box not wireless?

Americans: Over Sexed, Over Payed and Over here, Wat Wat!

[Bob Williams]

You’re right Lee it is wireless, but I like to use ethernet on as much of my network as possible, and I want to have at least one more ethernet port available in the corner where the Freesat box sits. I have more plans for that port, later. Space in our tiny bungalow is limited and I make best use of it.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[The Duke]

As Lee says the now tv box is wireless, it’s just a rebranded, cobbled roku. (original one was roku lt, they are broadly roku 3 based now.

Either way I can guarantee wifi is good enough for hd viewing on the box. All my rokus /fire tv/etc are wireless and never had issue.

Now tv is great bob, £7pm for basically what sky now charge around £21pm for. That’s what we have, the entertainment package had all the main sky channels you need. And the option to pay £6 if forrest are ever on sky sports. ?

[RSB]

No, SGB. Just good clubs on sky ?

Americans: Over Sexed, Over Payed and Over here, Wat Wat!

[Bob Williams]

Just answered Lee on the other thread: I like as much as possible on my network to be ethernet, and I need a network switch in the corner where the humax box sits, to give me at least two more ports for plans I have for later.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[blacklion1725]

That Entertainment pack at £7/month (cheaper if you buy say a 6 month code) is good value – and you can share it across 4 devices with up to two watching simultaneously. It is also very good streaming quality – better than SkyGo extra for sure – I have one of my mum’s SkyGo logons now (my Sky is gone) – quality not as good as Now TV by a distance. I rarely watch it though to be honest and am not missing Sky much at all.

I’m wired all over the house too – its just one less variable for streaming – only phones/tabs/laptop use wireless

[Bob Williams]

Thanks for that BL, looking into using NOWTV. I have same situation as you:

” I’m wired all over the house too – its just one less variable for streaming – only phones/tabs/laptop use wireless.”

I used to have a lot of bandwidth loss when too many grandbrats visiting at once, clogged up my living room and accessed their various devices. In the last couple of years their visits have been infrequent, as bf’s, mates and a gf have appeared. They also played havoc with my Hovis biscuits, but that’s another story. ☹

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Dave Rice]

I’m now totally wireless (apart from the workshop).

A single Ubiquiti UAP-AC-LR http://tinyurl.com/ya42qwgd on the top floor landing (3 storey town house) wired back to a Gigabit switch easily handles everything. 802.11AC 450mbps 2.4Ghz and 867mbps 5Ghz. POE either through the supplied 24v injector or through a standard 802.3AF/a 48v POE switch.

It doesn’t hang about. Transferring an Ubuntu ISO from my Lenovo V110 laptop to the Synology NAS.

The Sky box is attached using a £23  TP-LINK TL-WA801ND 300 Mbps Wireless N Access Point and it connects at the full 300mbps. The PCs use either a £10 WOSUK Wifi Dongle 600Mbps Dual Band 2.4G/5G AC600 Wireless Usb or £12 CSL – 300Mbps PCI Express (PCIe) WLAN card

It all just works.

[The Duke]

Bob, we have 5 kids, and there is always Atleast two other kids, either family or friends, and I’ve never seen any drop in my wifi. That’s with all out tv on wifi too.

If you have an n class router you’ll be fine. If you are getting speed drops, it will be your actual Internet speed not being up to serving that many devices at once, not your WiFi. So being wired or wireless wouldn’t make any diffence.

What you should do, which I did in the older 6mb days, is set my devices and tvs to have priority. I pay the bill so I don’t want slow downs. Lol.

With “just” 20meg, That may be what you need to do, set your tv boxes to priority. So it will be the phones/tablets etc that get nobbled. Given they don’t really need more than 3mg each, it should leave lots for your tvs and of course your PC. You pay the bill after all.

[blacklion1725]

I’ve got no beef with wireless, my setup is as follows

• Asus RT-AC87U router running Merlin firmware (allowing selective VPN routing)
• Each gigabit port of the router feeds an 8 port gigabit switch (home office, lounge, kitchen, upstairs/bedrooms)
• Wifi Home Networks, Wifi Guest Networks
• Ubiquiti exterior A/P serving the garden (and also most of south-east Essex if they had the password!)

I have no performance issues with any devices using Wireless, but for me if you can wire up then why not – I did mine at the same time as running decent coax everywhere for TV distribution (WF100 fed from an HDMI->DVB2 modulator).

Wired just takes any variables like house construction, neighbouring networks out of the equation. I could get by without it but for me it is still the belt and braces way to network for streaming. Been testing the iPlayer 4K tests of Blue Planet – not sure about bit rate but I’m not worried as I’m cabled up (it is stunning by the way) – likewise my Roku Ultra and a 4K tour of the Grand Canyon.

[Bob Williams]

RSB wrote:

No, SGB. Just good clubs on sky

Not Bradford City then Lee? ?

Would it be me if there were no problems with the Humax setup? Of course not! ??? I am having remote & sound issues: I have emailed Humax.

Setup: Sony 40RD453 BU TV, into a Samsung HW-J250 simple little soundbar via optical cable. This worked fine with Sky Q Box and soundbar remote. TV into Humax HD-R 1100S Freesat box, via HDMI cable. Issues: HD 1080p channels work only with the soundbar remote. Non-HD 1080i channels work only with the TV remote. TV turns on with the Humax remote, but only partially off with it: have to use the TV remote to turn it off completely. A handfull of remotes is not good, defeats the object! ☹

This is what I asked Humax: Do I need to connect the soundbar directly to the Freesat box? There is only optical connection on the soundbar. If so, I need a longer optical cable.

Into every life, a little rain must fall… As the Travis song: # why does it always rain on me? #

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

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