Freesat Humax boxes have problems recording BBC Olympic stream channels

[satandpcguy]

Humax has acknowledged that a problem meant owners of its Freesat digital TV box could not use it to record any of the BBC's temporary Olympic channels.

The 24 live action streams cover every session of every sport across the duration of the Games.

Freesat - a subscription-free high definition digital TV service - said other manufacturers' equipment was not suffering the same fault.

Freesat's marketing materials heavily promote the "summer of sport".

Humax only sells one digital satellite set-top box recorder in the UK: the Foxsat-HDR. The South Korean firm said it believed it was the bestselling model in the UK.

The firms' UK service manager told the BBC the company was making efforts to resolve the fault.

"Humax were made aware of the issue when the problem was identified on Tuesday," said Michael Caughey.

"Unfortunately nothing could be done at the broadcast encoder end to resolve the issue so on Thursday we started working on the fix and are hopeful that it is imminent.

"However, we will not rush it out until we are sure it will not cause more issues and problems as customers will still be able to view all 24 channels - although they can't record them - and will be able to record the Olympic coverage shown on BBC 1 HD, BBC HD and the other standard definition channels as normal."

He added that a software update was unlikely to be broadcast to the equipment before "early next week".

Bob Hannent, senior technology manager at Humax, provided more detail on the MyHumax site.

"The problem exists because in the way that the stream is being encoded the box cannot build the required PVR [personal video recorder indexing correctly]," he wrote.

"This causes it to get confused and believe the recording is zero in time. Other devices use other indexing mechanisms. The problem is now understood."

"Releasing software too quickly is a risk to the consumers, we could easily accidentally break something else in the process."

'Huge disappointment'

Freesat posted messages to Twitter after users complained about the issue.

"We've tried really hard with Humax to sort out... all other Freesat+ boxes can record 24 streams," it said.

The organisation added: "It's been an Olympic feat in itself to get the 24 streams working and we really hope this doesn't stop you enjoying London 2012."

Messages on JoinFreesat, an internet forum, suggested users of another make of Freesat equipment had also experienced problems. However, Freesat's site only acknowledges a problem with Humax and a spokesperson could not be reached for comment.

Robert Wilson, a Sheffield-based IT worker who contacted the BBC, said he had bought two Humax boxes with a view to being able to record several of the streams at once.

"I'll be working and attending the Games myself and had wanted to record the channels while I am out of the house," he said.

"It's a huge disappointment because I will not be able to see some of the events I had wanted - events which have been advertised as being available for months."

source: www.bbc.com/news/technology-19015855

[satandpcguy]

A glitch which meant some viewers of Freesat digital TV could not record coverage of the Olympics has been fixed, manufacturer Humax has said.

Owners of the company's bestselling Foxsat-HDR set-top box will receive an "over-air-download" to solve the problem at 0300 BST on Tuesday.

"We've worked really hard with Freesat to make sure we can get this fix out as soon as possible," a spokeswoman said.

"We now have a fix that we know is working."

The spokeswoman added that software engineers had been working through the weekend to solve the problem which related to encoding issues.

It meant viewers could not record any of the BBC's 24 live streams from the Games - although they could still watch them.

"The problem exists because in the way that the stream is being encoded the box cannot build the required PVR [personal video recorder indexing correctly]," wrote Bob Hannent, Humax's senior technology manager, last week.

"This causes it to get confused and believe the recording is zero in time. Other devices use other indexing mechanisms. The problem is now understood."

Standby mode

Monday's update can be applied by simply leaving the set-top box in standby mode overnight, the company said.

"A software update has been sent to boxes via an OAD (over-air-download) so all Humax freesat+ boxes left in standby will automatically update overnight (around 3am).

"Once the update has finished, viewers will be able to record the 24 BBC Olympic channels (151 - 174) from the EPG as usual."

Alternatively, viewers can update the box manually by going to "Menu, Setup, Software Update and selecting Automatic Update".

Any existing recordings or recording schedules will not be affected, the company said.

source: www.bbc.com/news/technology-19053454