Humax DRT800 Owner's Club [Text View] - Page 2

guppy737

12-21-2004, 12:10 PM

I bought the Humax a few days ago, hooked it up, and thought the video was pretty atrocious. I'm using S-video to an LCD projection TV. The picture is darker with crushed blacks as everyone has been commenting here, the video is grainier, and even the menus are grainier. Live TV on this thing looks like something between a Basic and Medium recording on a Series 2. I'm certainly not going to set special contrast/brightness settings for this machine when my other components, including my Series 2, work fine on my default settings.

It will be going back, and it's a shame because the machine seems to be pretty well built overall and of course the TIVO functionality is awesome. Had the PQ been equivalent to the Series 2, I guarantee I'd be keeping it. I will say I got a pretty nice DVD burn after recording to the Humax hard drive from my Series 2 drive. However, this program was recorded at "Best" on the Series 2 and then "Best" on the Humax -- 1 hr capacity on the DVD.

I will be buying the Pioneer 810 to see if the PQ is any better. If that fails, I'll buy a standalone Panny DVD recorder and just use the "Save to VCR" function on the Series 2.

ashu

12-21-2004, 12:14 PM

Wait - a transferred show was successfully burnt on the Humax?

guppy737

12-21-2004, 12:15 PM

By the way, Sony DVD-R worked fine and played great on 2 different laptops, a 1 yr old Panny player, and an ancient Panny player from 1999. So compatibility for the Humax burns with Sony media appears to be really good.

guppy737

12-21-2004, 12:17 PM

Ashu

To clarify, I did not transfer the show from the S2 to the Humax digitally. I used "Save to VCR" on the S2 to save to the Humax via S-video.

skanter

12-21-2004, 01:19 PM

Originally posted by guppy737
I bought the Humax a few days ago, hooked it up, and thought the video was pretty atrocious. I'm using S-video to an LCD projection TV. The picture is darker with crushed blacks as everyone has been commenting here, the video is grainier, and even the menus are grainier. Live TV on this thing looks like something between a Basic and Medium recording on a Series 2. I'm certainly not going to set special contrast/brightness settings for this machine when my other components, including my Series 2, work fine on my default settings.

It will be going back, and it's a shame because the machine seems to be pretty well built overall and of course the TIVO functionality is awesome. Had the PQ been equivalent to the Series 2, I guarantee I'd be keeping it. I will say I got a pretty nice DVD burn after recording to the Humax hard drive from my Series 2 drive. However, this program was recorded at "Best" on the Series 2 and then "Best" on the Humax -- 1 hr capacity on the DVD.

I will be buying the Pioneer 810 to see if the PQ is any better. If that fails, I'll buy a standalone Panny DVD recorder and just use the "Save to VCR" function on the Series 2.

It's a shame that they can't seem to achieve the same PQ on the Tivo/DVD recorders as the basic SA2 models. Until they do, I'll also have to stick with my SA2/Panasonic DVD-recorder combo. The main inconvenience with this setup is that one cannot burn while watching a different Tivo recording...

:(

rb_9999

12-21-2004, 01:47 PM

Can't they address the picture quality with a program update? I bought my Series 2 about two years ago and received several updates that addressed the picture quality. I know that it all probably boils down to the hardware, but I would think you could tweak these things programmatically.

wpatters1229

12-21-2004, 02:23 PM

I heard something about the ability to span two or more DVDs if a high quality recored program whould not fit on a single DVD....is this true? I know if I select more programs to burn than one DVD will allow it will not let me add the other programs. It puts a red x through them.

GT1Boy

12-22-2004, 11:55 AM

Yes, if it works like the Pioneer 810, you can span discs. However that option is only available if use the "Copy to DVD" function when viewing the Program information screen from "Now Playing".

wpatters1229

12-22-2004, 12:50 PM

In other words don't select save to DVD from the main menu but go to 'Now Playing' and start selecting items? I thought that was the only way you could select multiple programs to record to DVD....I'll have to go look again at the menu items. Last Time I did a selection it locked out everything else as soon as the disk was full. All the other programs had red x's.

GT1Boy

12-22-2004, 02:47 PM

Sorry if I wasn't clear.

1. From "Now Playing" list arrow to the program you wish to record and press Select button.

2. Arrow down to "Save to DVD or VCR" and press Select.

3. Arrow to "Save to DVD" and press Select.

It will now allow you to span discs if the ONE program you are recording to DVD is too big for a single disc (e.g. a four hour long show recorded at High would need 2 discs). That's the way it works on the Pioneer. It should be similar on the Humax.

wpatters1229

12-23-2004, 03:46 PM

I saw that when I went to burn a program that was 2hrs long at the default quality. I was told somewhere that you could also spam multiple disks is you want to batch burn to disc several programs of smaller size. It appears that is not possible. Oh well can't have it all :)

Jakbrud

12-23-2004, 10:29 PM

I just got a DRT-800 and I notice, only on some channels, a few artifacts. Otherwise the quality is virtually the same. I noticed that the channels that look great generally stay that way and the ones that dont look as good are more prone to artifacts.

dwiller

12-23-2004, 11:04 PM

I don't know what to do...the dark picture really bothers me, but I like the functionality of how easy it is to burn DVDs. Plus my TV is getting old...I wonder how much of the darkness is due to that. I am planning on getting a new HDTV set....I'm just worried I'll get a new set and the Humax will look worse.

wpatters1229

12-23-2004, 11:17 PM

I had to buy a new tv for the bed room where I put the humax and it looks great. I think it is your TV. make sure to hook it up with the Svideo connection. That will give best quality. The other way to test the dark pic is to take the DVD you burned to another persons equipment who has a DVD player and see what it looks like. Also greatly depends on your signal coming in to the house. Even if you have cable like comcast don't think that the signal is always great. We had squirrels chew through the outside of the cable and the picture was terrible. They will come out and check the signal for free. That may also be your problem. Remember in all these cases the TV is really nothing more than a monitor. Most of the work is long before it gets to the set.

fz1234

12-24-2004, 12:44 PM

Hello All,

I am a tivo newbe thinking of purchasing a drt-800 as my first tivo and I have a few questions?

Does anyone know if it will support a seagate 400Gb drive?
Can you do a dual drive setup?

Thanks,
Fz

ashu

12-24-2004, 02:54 PM

Supposedly ...
1. The upgrade tools can't handle over 300GB (yet?)
2. No space for a second drive.

Ask in the upgrade forum to be sure - check with weaknees and ptvupgrade - both are in the business, and will undoubtedly have tried it by now - and both are VERY helpful!

You are no doubt considering adding the 400GB drive that's on sale this week at Compusa - 200 after rebate! Incredible deal, but I'm resisting the UMF to buy :)

mlevin

12-25-2004, 02:18 PM

Originally posted by pigonthewing
Anyway, I just burned another DVD (to the same kind of media) of a recorded program, and that seemed to go at 2x.

Both my personal video and the television show were recorded to the TiVo at "High Quality", I believe, not "Best" as some people seem to be reporting as the only way to achieve 2x.

Essentially though, what we've learned is that the burner seems to operate at 1x or 2x depending on what kind of mood it's in, I guess?

So it seems like only "best" burns at 2x (everything else at 1x), but with "best" the tradeoff is you can only fit an hour on a disc? Is that accurate?

Thanks

mlevin

12-25-2004, 02:21 PM

Originally posted by pigonthewing
What do you think would be involved with (or is it even possible) swapping out that DVD drive? I'd love to put something faster in mine. As for upgrading the hard drive, why bother? I mean, seriously... isn't that what DVD-R capability is for?

I saw these 200+ hour boxes in the store, and I was very confused by them. I can see pushing a Series 2 to its maximum, but when it comes to these, if I run out of space, I'll burn a DVD and delete some stuff. That's kind of, uhm, the point, no? =)

Well, it is still nice to have a larger drive if you don't need to archive *all the time* (but want to be able to do so *sometimes*). Discs are expensive and take up a lot of room (especially if in "best" mode you only get 1hr/disc). It is nice to be able to keep a lot of stuff on the TiVo itself...

mlevin

12-25-2004, 02:23 PM

Originally posted by pernar
I burned a full disc combined with med/high quality shows, and it took a bit less than half an hour.

And how was the final quality on the DVD with a med/high setting? I've heard that on the Humax, anything less than "best" is pretty bad (due to its using MPEG2 instead of tystream).

mlevin

12-25-2004, 02:29 PM

Originally posted by rb_9999
I bought a Humax DRT 800 a few weeks ago and put a 160GB Maxtor drive in and it is functioning fine. I also have a Tivo Series 2 that I have had for several years.

Is it me, or does the recording quality of the Humax seem very bad compared to the Series 2? I used to record programs at Basic Quality on the Series 2 and they were watchable...not too bad. On the Humax, Basic quality it unwatchable and even Medium Quality doesn't match the quality of the Series 2 Basic quality!

I know the Humax has 4 quality modes and the Series 2 has 3. Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?

I *think* this is due to the fact that the Humax uses MPEG2 format while other TiVos use tystream format.

mlevin

12-25-2004, 02:45 PM

Originally posted by millertivo
Quality levels and fit on recorder times are:

Basic - 82 hours
Medium - 55 hours
High - 27 hours
Best - 18 hours

I defaulted to Medium because that is what I used on my Series 2. However, I have noticed (and it has been reported in this thread) that the Medium is more like Basic on the Series 2. I notice it mostly on sitcoms and sports. I usually bump up to High for those type of programs. Your mileage may vary. And if you are wondering, the fit on dvd times are:

Basic - 6 hours
Medium - 4 hours
High - 2 hours
Best - 1 hour

How does that translate into drive sizes? What drive size does the out-of-the-box unit have? If I get, say, 160gb, what will these numbers be (for the recording time -- I know this has nothing to do with the amount you can fit on a disc)?

Thanks

wpatters1229

12-25-2004, 02:56 PM

My experience since just getting the Humax 800 is that for most saving onto DVD the medium is fine if what you are interested in is the content and not how great it looks. For "looking" at things i.e. travel shows etc.. The default is fine. When it comes to coping to a DVD to preserve or just clear up space I used both medium and the default, best. I use RW discs unless I'm sure I want it forever. You can also take the discs in best quality and move them over to a PC and tweak them to whatever.... It basically amounts to how much time do you want to spend messing with the technology versus enjoying your shows that you normally would miss if you didn't have Tivo.. For it's original reason a function it can't be beat...we just gave two 40hrs models to our adult children because there work schedules are crazy and they are always missing out on some great programs.

Cheers

dvdmon

12-25-2004, 09:44 PM

Originally posted by mlevin
How does that translate into drive sizes? What drive size does the out-of-the-box unit have? If I get, say, 160gb, what will these numbers be (for the recording time -- I know this has nothing to do with the amount you can fit on a disc)?

Thanks

The unit comes with an 80GB drive, so just double the numbers listed for a 160GB drive. Also note that the Humax only has room for one drive, so you can't double-up like you can with many other TiVo's and DirecTiVo's to create mammoth 700GB+ systems.

mlevin

12-26-2004, 11:37 AM

Originally posted by dvdmon
The unit comes with an 80GB drive, so just double the numbers listed for a 160GB drive. Also note that the Humax only has room for one drive, so you can't double-up like you can with many other TiVo's and DirecTiVo's to create mammoth 700GB+ systems.

Oh? This link seems to indicate that there are upgrade kits consisting of two drives:

http://www.digitalrecorder.com/main/catalog/wrapper.php?file=humaxdrt800.html

and

http://www.9thtee.com/tivo-sadvdr.htm

Well, the digitalrecorder.com link shows two drives. The 9th tee one I'm just guessing based on capacity and price. There's no picture.

mlevin

12-26-2004, 11:38 AM

1equals0

12-26-2004, 03:22 PM

hi,
i just bought a humax dtr800 and its been a few years since i've modded any tivos.
looks like things have changed a lot.
i presume i cannot simply copy all my old binaries from my hacked series1 to my series2? if i recall...hopefully im wrong..but the chipsets are different?

hopefully this is not too big a pain...
whats the easiest way to do this?

do i have to modify the rc.sysinit to even get in or is that easier now?

i'd like to really move over my whole /var/hack dir from s1 to s2, including these working installations:

tivowebplus
tnlited
tivoftpd
vserver
TCS
binaries (vi, ls, top, etc)
hackman
tcs
jpegwriter
newtext2osd
displaytext
TSERVER
VServer
tystreams

I was hoping for a way where i wouldnt have to void the humax warranty so soon by opening it if thats possible these days?
if i do have to get all these binaries again, does anyone have them all in one nice spot you know will work with the humax?
thank you in advance

alexcue

12-26-2004, 04:20 PM

Originally posted by mlevin
Sorry, just want to make sure I understand -- 80gb = 80hrs at what quality?

basic quality

marcuscole

12-26-2004, 06:18 PM

Has anyone tried using the Firewire-1394 port on the front of the DRT800 to copy MiniDV tapes to the TIVO to burn a quick DVD?

I have a Sony DCR-TRV38 that has an Firewire interface that works great to send DV to my computer, but when I hook the TRV38 to the Firewire interface on the DRT800, nothing shows up. I can use the Composite cable that came with the TRV38 to the Composite (Video Audio-R Audio-L) ports on the front of the DRT800.

Just want to know if there is a trick to using the Firewire port.

dvdmon

12-26-2004, 06:43 PM

Originally posted by 1equals0
hi,
i just bought a humax dtr800 and its been a few years since i've modded any tivos.
looks like things have changed a lot.
i presume i cannot simply copy all my old binaries from my hacked series1 to my series2? if i recall...hopefully im wrong..but the chipsets are different?

hopefully this is not too big a pain...
whats the easiest way to do this?

do i have to modify the rc.sysinit to even get in or is that easier now?

i'd like to really move over my whole /var/hack dir from s1 to s2, including these working installations:

tivowebplus
tnlited
tivoftpd
vserver
TCS
binaries (vi, ls, top, etc)
hackman
tcs
jpegwriter
newtext2osd
displaytext
TSERVER
VServer
tystreams

I was hoping for a way where i wouldnt have to void the humax warranty so soon by opening it if thats possible these days?
if i do have to get all these binaries again, does anyone have them all in one nice spot you know will work with the humax?
thank you in advance

You might want to ask about this over in the hacks forum where such things are discussed

1equals0

12-27-2004, 01:48 AM

thanks, i just did.
its becoming clear to me tho that the humax isnt really a series 2 tivo, has anyone heard that?
apparently now theres something called series 2.5 which makes you really jump through hoops just to add tivoweb. that makes me very sad.

Flyin_Taco

12-29-2004, 12:05 PM

Originally posted by marcuscole
Has anyone tried using the Firewire-1394 port on the front of the DRT800 to copy MiniDV tapes to the TIVO to burn a quick DVD?

I have a Sony DCR-TRV38 that has an Firewire interface that works great to send DV to my computer, but when I hook the TRV38 to the Firewire interface on the DRT800, nothing shows up. I can use the Composite cable that came with the TRV38 to the Composite (Video Audio-R Audio-L) ports on the front of the DRT800.

Just want to know if there is a trick to using the Firewire port.

I had the same problem. Anyone? Buehler? Buehler?

ashu

12-29-2004, 12:13 PM

I finally bought a thin-socket (is it 4 pin, 6-pin?) Firewire cable over the weekend and tried my JVC camcorder. I was able to capture video just fine. The first few moments, nothing showed up on screen - I had to jiggle the socket/cord on the Humax end - perhaps a loose connection.

FWIW - (Picture and Sound) quality is stunningly tremendously awesome. Didn't burn to DVD yet, but added it to a fake project with a blank DVD in there - it computes duration/free space etc just fine. (I need to clean the heads and stuff to - hopefully - get rid of a regular sound squeak/video stutter my camcorder is introducing into playback, or perhaps recording - ugh)

And -not to sound like a Sony basher ALL the time - but perhaps your Sony camcorders do some non-standard stuff with the Firewire protocol, and send out data in a less-than-expected form? It wouldn't be the FIRST time Sony would be guilty of that kind of idiocy, eh? :)

deputydog95

12-29-2004, 11:10 PM

Holy Smokes. I've been away for while. Over 16000 views and over 280 posts. I'm glad I started this thread. Looks like our requests were answered with the new DVD Tivo Units forum. Definately a step in the right direction for the forum.

trojanrabbit

01-02-2005, 04:07 PM

New DRT800 owner (as of yesterday), increasing my TiVo stable to 4.

This purchase can be attributed to UMF on the part of the wife, as it will likely fall short of what I want it to do.

First impressions:

It's replacing a 40hr S2, so installation was reduced to swapping cables. I made the decision to leave my 5 disk Sony DVD changer in place and use the Humax strictly as a recorder, the fact that the digital output is optical only made that decision for me as I'm currently using coaxial. The Humax immediately picked up my MP3 and JPG files from my server without having to change any settings. Unfortunately, my relatively new Sony surround receiver cannot be controlled by the TiVo remote. Since I'm still using the Sony it doesn't really matter but it does seem to play my DVD+R disks OK, in addition to VCDs and SVCDs (using the VCD header trick).

When I want to archive something, I prefer to remove commericals, so the lack of any editing functions (even being able to specify chapter points) is a disappointment, though to be fair, TiVo may be walking a fine line with the TV industry on this one.

As with my other S2, the PQ is considerably worse than my two S1s in regards to artifacts. To get a sporting event on one DVD would necessitate recording at medium which on an S2 is barely acceptable on a 32" screen. This machine literally SCREAMS for a 3 hour recording mode.

The ability to record from DV does intrigue me, but I haven't had a chance to try it yet. Again, I prefer to edit my videos, and again, that has never been part of TiVo's repertoire. Since a Digital8 tape runs an hour, recording at best and archiving would be just about right.

I will admit that if I wasn't so picky about editing out commercials, this would be a huge time saver. Since my wife doesn't seem to care about editing the commericals out, this is OK for archiving her stuff.

Out of the 3 recordings I tried last night, one aborted with an error, all recordings I did with the supplied TDK DVD-RW disk.

The big question now is what to do with the 40 hour S2. Ideally it would go in the bedroom getting a larger hard drive from one of the S1s, and that S1 would be deactivated. It's a bummer that shows shared over the network can't be saved to DVD, but I guess that's what TiVo-to-Go is for (?).

JaxDomino

01-03-2005, 09:56 PM

My wife bought me one for Christmas and I couldn't wait, so I have been using mine for about 3 weeks now. I love it! I have held back from getting a Tivo because you couldn't burn to DVD. This removed that barrier. I'm in love! I'm looking for a bigger HDD as this one is really too small. I love the fact that I can hook up to my home network and do all the great things with it, such as listen to music (fails sometimes though) and the picture watching is cool. I think it really sucks though that Tivo is making us wait for Tivo To Go until "later this year".,

moosefang

01-23-2005, 09:33 AM

bump

Hank

01-23-2005, 09:36 AM

Why?

wpatters1229

01-23-2005, 02:33 PM

Good luck getting tivo to go to work. I've been on the phone with their support and can't tell me why everything works fine with the 1.3 desltop but when I use the 2.0.....the music photo viewing gets a 34-100 error which no one can tell me what that is and the tivo to go can't see any of my DVRs. I put back the 1.3 desktop and all is well. Can't blame my network or anything else. They don't have an answer. I'm running XP pro with SP1 not 2. I would think they could at least lookup the 34-100 error when I try to access music or photos. Those code are written for a reason that the programs know. Support has a lot to be desired.

dvdmon

01-23-2005, 03:57 PM

Uh, William, do you have a DRT 800?? We're not getting the updated system software (7.1) to be able to use TiVo ToGo for some time. But you seem to be talking about the Home Media Option, not Tivo ToGo. Couldn't it be the case that the latest desktop software, which is meant to work with the latest system software 7.1, is not going to work well with earlier system software?

juanian

01-24-2005, 04:50 PM

Originally posted by trojanrabbit
... Unfortunately, my relatively new Sony surround receiver cannot be controlled by the TiVo remote. ...

IMHO, the best learning remote (for the price) that has TiVo functionality is the Philips PMDVR8, usually $25-30 at Best Buy. It supports up to 8 kinds of devices, has buttons for all of the standard TiVo buttons (but I'm not sure about the couple of new HUMAX remote buttons), and can change the code sent from nearly any button on the remote (by 'learning" the code from an existing remote). It can also remember up to 3 9-step macro commands. If you have multiple TiVos in the same room, this won't work for you, because (as far as I know) it only does "TiVo 0" (which every TiVo will respond to). (Some models say "Philips Magnavox" on the bottom of the remote; I think the newer models say "Philips Universal".)

Juan

dtai

02-12-2005, 01:07 AM

1. 2hr movies require 2 dvds to copy to. unfortunately, you can't fill the remainder of the second dvd with additional, shorter programs. humax customer service told me it's not possible but has anybody figured out a workaround?

2. they also told me they'd experienced burning problems with sony and memorex media. they recommended i stick with tdk, verbatim and imation.

3. by the way, i have RCN cable in manhattan. does anyone know what happened to the sundance channel. i know i used to get it but now i don't.

wpatters1229

02-12-2005, 11:43 AM

rick_klau

02-13-2005, 12:11 AM

Hi -

Have a Humax T800. Have a Phillips DirecTV receiver w/S-Video into the Humax & RCA plugs for audio into the Humax. Fiber-optic out from Humax to receiver; component video plugs from Humax to TV.

I've noticed a slight a/v sync problem on playback of TiVo recordings; reported this to Humax support who simply sent me a new one. (The replacement one was faulty -- wouldn't respond to the remote well, so I'm sending the replacement back.)

Before I go another round with Humax support, has anyone else experienced any playback issues? Any suggestions on anything that might be causing this that I could fix/adjust?

Thanks,

Rick

Hank

02-13-2005, 01:24 AM

Yes, I have some audio sync problems, but it's my TV - a Dell W3000 LCD which is the source of the problem.

dvdmon

02-13-2005, 10:11 PM

to DVDMON: I have two tivos one a series two and a humax. The series two has the latest v7 software but the desktop software v 2 has never worked. It kills the music and photos not to mention the tivo2go. Using the old desktop everything works fine except no tivo2go. I am using WindowsXP pro SP1. I wonder if it works OK with Windows 2K....

Hmmm, for some reason I'm not getting notified of new messages here even though I'm subscribed to the thread... Anyway, I guess at this point TiVo ToGo is not my big concern anymore. I am interested in getting the new system software so that I can start playing with all these new HME apps, though!

poppy

02-16-2005, 10:18 AM

Just bought a HUMAX DRT800. So far I think the unit has amazing features, but the live TiVo picture quality, as well as the playback picture quality is absolutely horrible (when compared to my plain old series 2 TiVo).

I am working on trying to figure out if I have a defective unit or not, I will keep you posted.

Take care.
LM

Hank

02-16-2005, 10:40 AM

Welcome to the club. :(

rkester

02-18-2005, 03:14 PM

1. 2hr movies require 2 dvds to copy to. unfortunately, you can't fill the remainder of the second dvd with additional, shorter programs. humax customer service told me it's not possible but has anybody figured out a workaround?

Only at Best Quality compression. If you use High, a 2 hour movie fits perfectly fine on a single DVD-R.

Only work around I could see would require recording the same movie 2 times, recording the first 1 once and then the 2nd hour once. Then putting each part on a seperate DVD-R. But that seems awfully silly when you can put the same movie whole on 1 DVD-R.

Or am I missing something here?

eddie2

02-19-2005, 10:20 PM

eddie2

02-19-2005, 10:30 PM

Yup!! much too oftern for my taste, I'm trying to find a way to fit a 2 hour movie on a 2 hr disc.

vinmoe

02-19-2005, 11:24 PM

By the way, if you've got a Humax, post that you've got one. I figure if we get enough activity on here, maybe we can a DVD burner tivo forum.
I just bought a HUMAX DRT800

Poogie

02-20-2005, 02:39 PM

When burning DVD's most movies require 2 disks; I'm recording high quality and should be able to fit 2hr films on disc but doesn't happen to often. Tivo'd movies sometimes contain promos before and after the film that add an additional 5 or 6 minutes. Then when I burn the DVD, I need 2 disc. Is there a way to clip these?

I run into this problem when I record off of premium channels. When the program runs 5 or 6 minutes long, I just burn the first disc, which contains the movie. I never burn the second disc, as it just contains 5 minutes of promos.

After the movie has recorded to the TiVo, fast forward to the 2 hour mark. You can then see if the last 5 minutes just contain promos.

bluesmusic

02-20-2005, 04:02 PM

I have been using the Humax DRT 800 for about a month and love everything about it except for one thing- I had been using the Tivo Series 2 80 hr. and could record almost everything on medium quality and and it looked great. The only exceptions were that for nature shows with fast moving water or clouds I had to use a higher recording quality in order not to get pixillation. (The same for boxing events.) However with the Humax I have to use high quality for everything. Medium is not good enough for hardly anything. It is not terrible but it is not nearly good enough. High quality on the Humax looks great and is about the same as medium was on the Series 2, (maybe slightly better). This is very dissapointing because it means I only have about half the recording capacity that I wanted and expected.

Do I have a defective unit or is this just the nature of this product? Humax customer service said I should send the unit in for replacement because medium should be looking good. Should I replace the unit or is the customer rep. mistaken? Does the Pioneer and the Toshiba have the same problem or should I switch to one of them? If I have to I will just get used to a smaller recording capacity and do more dvd burning than I had anticipated. As I said, I love everything else about the Humax and will keep it if there is no fix for this situation.

Thanks for any knowledge or advice.

jony

02-20-2005, 04:31 PM

My DRT-800 had been working fine for several weeks, then started having monentary freezes (the video image would freeze for a moment) while watching live TV. As per the manual, I went to the main TiVo menu and back to live TV, but this didn't help (in fact, I also noticed that the menus displayed very slowly). I restarted the unit and initially got the "Welcome to TiVo...Powering Up" screen followed by a persistent blank grey screen (and the TiVo main menu never comes up). I've restarted repeatedly (by unplugging it) and it always stops on the blank grey screen. Humax support says its "defective" and has no solution to offer. This is my third unit (the previous 2 had DVD burning issues that Humax support also deemed "defective") and I'm about to give up on the Humax in favor of a Toshiba, as I'm near the end of the retailer's return period and don't want to get stuck with what seems like an unreliable brand (Humax). Any suggestions before I give up on the Humax?

NewYorkJosh

02-24-2005, 11:07 PM

Is it me, or does the recording quality of the Humax seem very bad compared to the Series 2? I used to record programs at Basic Quality on the Series 2 and they were watchable...not too bad. On the Humax, Basic quality it unwatchable and even Medium Quality doesn't match the quality of the Series 2 Basic quality!

I know the Humax has 4 quality modes and the Series 2 has 3. Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?

The Humax DRT800 (and presumably all DVD burner/Tivo combo units) use mpeg2 video compression, which is the native format of DVDs. Regular Tivos use Tivo's proprietary "tystreams" compression scheme which is better all around. The mpeg2 compression scheme has more visible artifacts than the tystreams, and has 4 quality modes. I, too, find that medium quality on the DRT800 isn't as good as Series 2 Basic. Basic and medium on mpeg2 are useless - presumably included because the format exists for Internet video streaming over slow WAN links - and possibly useful for cramming lots of low-res talking heads content onto single DVD.

So why did Humax have the DRT800 use mpeg2 instead of tystreams? Having the HD record in the same format as the DVD burns is the only reasonable way of having the HD burn to the DVD at all. Otherwise the DRT800 would have to do some messy video reformatting before burning to DVD. Anyone who has used a PC to convert a video from any other format to mpeg2 will know what I'm talking about - the conversion is very CPU intensive and is very slow.

I think this mpeg2 issue explains why watching live TV on the tivo has grain - it's using the "high", not "best" quality mpeg2. I wish this were user selectable. Like others, I've solved the space issue mandated by the necessity of using high quality all the time by getting a big (300gb) HD, but this doesn't address the live TV issue. Over time I've learned to live with it. The benefits of Tivo are so great I consider it a fine compromise. Next time, however, if money is no object, I'll get a separate DVD burner with good editing features (the Humax DRT800 has none) and a separate Tivo. Granted, this kind of setup will cost hundreds more than the DRT800.

citadel

02-24-2005, 11:21 PM

Any ideas folks?

I just bought a DRT800.

I have a Sony HD Wega TV and the Dish Network 811 HD satellite tuner.

I would like to also still watch HD programming on my TV as well as have the Tivo functionality.

Any help would be appreciated!!! :)

skanter

02-25-2005, 01:32 AM

Next time, however, if money is no object, I'll get a separate DVD burner with good editing features (the Humax DRT800 has none) and a separate Tivo. Granted, this kind of setup will cost hundreds more than the DRT800.

I have the setup you describe, but remember that it is not as convenient to burn Tivo content to DVD -- you cannot watch other Tivo recordings when burning.

On the plus side, a separate DVD burner with HD gives you a second PVR for conflicts.

NewYorkJosh

02-25-2005, 06:04 PM

I have the setup you describe, but remember that it is not as convenient to burn Tivo content to DVD -- you cannot watch other Tivo recordings when burning.
Excellent point! :up: I'm feeling great about have the DRT800!
On the plus side, a separate DVD burner with HD gives you a second PVR for conflicts.
Wow - that's starting to get excessive - but you'rie right. With an extra cable box I'd be able to Tivo multiple shows simultaneously, burn while watching, and basically have my cake and eat it too. Lets figure this out:
1) extra cable box ($200?)
2) another Tivo (can be small, since it's only for conflicts) $99
3) another lifetime subscription $299 (actually Tivo basic would probably suffice for the rainy day box)...
4) extra fee from cable company ($?)

The more I talk about this, the more it sounds reasonable!

skanter

02-25-2005, 11:37 PM

Excellent point! :up: I'm feeling great about have the DRT800!

Wow - that's starting to get excessive - but you'rie right. With an extra cable box I'd be able to Tivo multiple shows simultaneously, burn while watching, and basically have my cake and eat it too. Lets figure this out:
1) extra cable box ($200?)
2) another Tivo (can be small, since it's only for conflicts) $99
3) another lifetime subscription $299 (actually Tivo basic would probably suffice for the rainy day box)...
4) extra fee from cable company ($?)

The more I talk about this, the more it sounds reasonable!

Not sure of your numbers, but I have extra cable box ($6/mo), only one Tivo (HD on DVD burner can record conflict shows) so my extra cost is only $6/mo. DVD burner w/HD can be used as PVR for conflicts -- not a s convenient as Tivo but works!

mountaineer

02-27-2005, 12:48 PM

I've had my DRT800 two months now. While I love the home media options and the overall TiVo service, the live tv picture quality and subsequent recordings quality is unacceptable to me. I have a Aldelphia DVR in a bedroom and its picture quality is far superior to that of the Humax. Does anyone now if this is an issue that Humax can fix in a firmware update and do you think that is someting they will do? If not, I am going to wait until my rebate check comes, deactivate this unit, and try to unload it.

Thanks!!

ashu

02-28-2005, 03:12 PM

mlevin

02-28-2005, 03:53 PM

No - the Humax (DRT800) always does cable pass-through. It is probably the only TiVo that REQUIRES the use of at least RCA (Red/White/Yellow) cables if not SVideo with RCA audio, or Component with Digital Audio - to view both DVD and TV/TiVo-ed stuff!

Works out perfectly for me - one less splitter in my cable path! It feeds my other TiVo.

Interesting -- I'll have to try that since I have two TiVos and a splitter now.

I, too, thought that the pass-through would only work on standby. I wonder if all DRT800s behave this way.

I also wonder if it physically has a built-in splitter or if this is more of a "virtual" splitter (the machine is just outputting the same signal it takes in) and some later firmware update could suddenly change this behavior -- maybe I shouldn't count on it (and risk missing recordings).

Does the pass-through work when the DRT is powered off (that is, not plugged into the wall at all)?

Hmm...

ashu

02-28-2005, 03:58 PM

TiVo's are to remain forever plugged in (except when disconnected for hard disk upgrades). Seems you haven't heard about the new laws :p

mlevin

02-28-2005, 04:00 PM

TiVo's are to remain forever plugged in (except when disconnected for hard disk upgrades). Seems you haven't heard about the new laws :p

Oh, believe me, I know the law, and I always obey it! My TiVos have always been, and will always be, hooked up to a UPS.

Hank

03-01-2005, 04:35 PM

Just for those keeping rebate score, I got my $100 Tivo rebate today (on the BB UPC error deal).

Mailed rebate on 12/19. ~11 weeks from start to finish.

sfeezell

03-10-2005, 03:39 PM

rkester

03-10-2005, 04:23 PM

Are you by chance using dual signals, say antenna and satellite?

When I used an antenna (for locals) and a satellite, sometimes when it autoswitched to the antenna source I got the same thing.

But it sounds more like it is failing to get a actual video signal. You might try and test your signal via the settings and see what happens.

sfeezell

03-10-2005, 04:57 PM

No, I just have a cable box, Tivo box and the tv. Earlier today, I was reading in this forum and discovered a couple of posts dated 3/9 about this same problem, but I left the forum, and now I can't find them again. Thanks for your reply!

d-dub

03-11-2005, 03:21 PM

On a different topic, BestBuy is selling Memorex 4x DVD+RW 25-pack spindle for $20 (much less than normal price). Hopefully they will be selling DVD-RW media at a similar price soon!

Also, the HUMAX manual says:
The Recorder is compatible with DVD-RW Ver. 1.1 and Ver. 1.1/2x, and DVD-R Ver. 2.0 and Ver. 2.0/4x.

Juan

So far, I haven't been able to find DVD-RW media *anywhere* in my local area (far west Chicago 'burbs). I've looked at all the computer/electronics stores (except Frys, which is a pain to get to), and all the mega stores (Wal-Mart, etc.). Nobody seems to carry them, although DVD+RW are available almost everywhere.

rrman

03-11-2005, 06:43 PM

Staples sells DVD-RW. Did you try them?

lwsexson

03-11-2005, 07:01 PM

So does Office Depot. I have found some reasonable prices especially on sale.

stujac

03-11-2005, 07:27 PM

mldolan

03-12-2005, 03:29 PM

Hello all,
great forum glad to see one so specific to what I have questions about. I already have an older replaytv stand alone unit with a lifetime subscription, (I know, I know they are evil, bad, inferior etc ;-) but I want to be able to transfer shows and movies to DVD for later viewing.

1. I could buy a standalone dvd recorder but for about the same price I could get a humax tivo/dvd recorder on sale, and have double the recording options.

2. I was wondering if I bought the humax unit, could I use it like a VCR and not have to buy another subscription?

3. Can I transfer movies from my old PVR to my new humax for dvd burning?
thanks in advance
Mike in MD

ashu

03-12-2005, 04:59 PM

flybird74

03-13-2005, 12:39 AM

Hi, If you have upgraded your T800 ( replaced HDD, enabled telnet, ftp etc ), could you please share what you did?

I am new with TiVo, and the information that I got was kind of confusing. So it would be great to hear from someone who actually did it. Thanks.

juanian

03-14-2005, 01:36 AM

So far, I haven't been able to find DVD-RW media *anywhere* in my local area (far west Chicago 'burbs). I've looked at all the computer/electronics stores (except Frys, which is a pain to get to), and all the mega stores (Wal-Mart, etc.). Nobody seems to carry them, although DVD+RW are available almost everywhere.I have been buying DVD-RW media in 5-packs on sale for $9.99 (the cheapest I have found so far). I have seen Fuji, TDK, and (I think) Memorex sold like this.

Best Buy has Fuji 5-pack for $9.99: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=5394352&type=product&productCategoryId=cat01163&id=1051384726582

and Sony 10-pack for $18.99: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=5388421&type=product&productCategoryId=cat01163&id=1051826235112

CompUSA also has some TDK 5-packs for $9.99: http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=302380&pfp=BROWSE

and Memorex 5-packs for $9.99: http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=304499&pfp=BROWSE

Staples has some, but they're slightly more expensive. Have you tried these stores?

Juan
(not the 'other' Juan)

juanian

03-14-2005, 01:56 AM

I have a Humax DRT800. I've had it for only a couple of weeks. Beginning yesterday 3/9, even though I had multiple things programmed and I thought they had recorded, suddenly they are gone. When I looked at the recording history, many of them said THIS PROGRAM WAS NOT RECORDED BECAUSE THE VIDEO SIGNAL WAS UNAVAILABLE. Nothing had changed, I hadn't turned anything off. Does anybody have a clue about this? The same thing happened to things that should have recorded last night and this morning. Thanks!There could be a number of reasons that problem occurred.

Aside from the 'standard' reasons (cable was out, problem with channel switching, ...), let me pass on this oddity that occurred on my TiVo (once) about a year ago.

I had prepared to go away for an extended weekend, and there were a number of shows I had set to record. I left my TiVo in Standby mode before I had left. When I had returned, I pressed the TiVo button, and I was surprised to see that none of the shows that were in my To Do list were recorded, and there was no mention of the missing shows in the history. A show that should have been recording at that time was also not recording. I restarted the TiVo, and when it finished restarting, it immediately started recording the current show. I checked the history, and it now showed the missing shows (as not recorded). (I don't recall if the reason given was 'no video signal' or 'not powered on'.) The only other thing that I had done was tried to use the "Online Scheduling" to try and schedule a show. (Although the update appeared to have been received in time, it didn't record the show because the show was "not available" in the guide.)

I called TiVo support, and they said that they hadn't heard about that problem (big surprise). I was told to let them know if it happened again.

One other note: Since then, I have tried to restart my TiVo about once a week, just to make sure that there are no problems lurking in the background. This does seem to have reduced the number of oddities that I used to experience with my TiVo. (I also have not used standby mode sonce then.)

Not a solution to your problem, but I hope it helps. I wonder if anyone else has had this problem?
Juan
(not the 'other' Juan)

d-dub

03-14-2005, 01:38 PM

I have been buying DVD-RW media in 5-packs on sale for $9.99 (the cheapest I have found so far). I have seen Fuji, TDK, and (I think) Memorex sold like this.

Best Buy has Fuji 5-pack for $9.99:

and Sony 10-pack for $18.99:

CompUSA also has some TDK 5-packs for $9.99:

and Memorex 5-packs for $9.99:

Staples has some, but they're slightly more expensive. Have you tried these stores?

Juan
(not the 'other' Juan)

Tried everywhere except Staples... not sure there are any nearby. I might try another business store (e.g., Office Max) and see what they have.

Thanks for the info!

rkester

03-14-2005, 02:40 PM

Curious... why not order them online? They are much cheaper and you can get yourself a nice supply in a few days.

I order DVD-R and RWs from either americal.com or allmediaoutlet.com all the time and always have great luck with them. Also get my DVD cases from them, much cheaper than buying locally.

I think last time I paid about 70 cents each for a 20 pack of -RW on a spindle.

GT1Boy

03-14-2005, 05:50 PM

rkester, are you using the Optodisc 2X DVD-RWs at www.allmediaoutlet.com? If so, are you able to burn at 2X speed with them in your DRT800?

A while back I purchased some 4X Ridata DVD-RWs that won't even burn at all in my Pioneer 810 , and have been trying to find some cheap 2X DVD-RWs that will work in the 810. More than likely if the DRT800 likes them, the 810 will also.

mldolan

03-15-2005, 04:46 PM

Mike - before anyone else attacks you REALLY REALLY harshly for asking question that have been asked before (and are asked everyday), without using the search function first - I'll just say it nicely.

Answers

- Humax NEEDS a sub. Toshiba and Pioneer (which cost over 100 more) have TiVo Basic for rudimentary (but incomplete) sub-less use.

- Yes, by using the front panel SVideo/RCA inputs. Not digitally.

I think I'll just stick to my replay TV and get a standalone DVD recorder. I just hate to have to buy a subscription again for what I am already getting essentially for free. I know I'm not making friends here by sticking to my replay tv but it makes the most sense for me. great forum folks, keep up the good work. when replaytv finally goes the way of the betamax, I guess I'll be back, hat in hand.
take care
Mike in MD

ashu

03-15-2005, 05:01 PM

And the ReplayTV is free (unsubscribed)? :)

peteypete

03-18-2005, 02:03 PM

of the menu of a DVD made by the Tivo Humax.

TIA

rkester

03-18-2005, 02:10 PM

THe discs I got previously were Ridata, and they seemed to work fine. I used most of them for my Mac, but the ones I did use on the Tivo burned no problem. I didnt real pay attention to the burning speed. If I remember when I get home I will test and see how long it takes.

Kaokulk

03-19-2005, 09:45 AM

of the menu of a DVD made by the Tivo Humax.

TIA

It is literally a TiVo menu with a "1." in front of the first item, "2." in front of the second, etc.

If I get a chance, I'll see if I can get a screenshot.

TBoyd

03-19-2005, 01:21 PM

Here are two, one at the top menu and another drilled down to a program.

Sorry for the crappy resolution.

KROKUS12

03-21-2005, 02:45 PM

ashu

03-21-2005, 03:13 PM

I got the HUMAX/TIVO combo with the DVD recorder - I recorded a DVD & tried to play it in another DVD player & it wouldn't work -- there is NO mention in the book OR documentation of incompatibility issues of TIVO recorded DVD's & other DVD players -- this is crap -- wasted that money for nothing as I already have a DVD recorder in my puter -- thought this would be great BUT, not if you can't play in any DVD PLAYER :(

Don't feel too blue ;)

Older DVD players MAY be incompatible with burnt DVDs. Try a different brand of blanks. Also - does a movie burnt on the same brand of DVDs on your PC work in the DVD player? I'd doubt it ;)

Methinks you need a newer second player!

peteypete

03-22-2005, 02:13 AM

Thanks for the screenshots. Is it as easy to use as the tivo? Is it bleep bloop too?

Also does Fastforward use the indicator bar?

Thanks,
Pete

crazy4TiVo

03-22-2005, 05:12 PM

I think it would be wonderful if you got a humax owners club. I have a Humax DRT800 that I got at Sam's Club about 2 weeks ago. It works great although I can't get any lights to come on on the front of the recorder except forwhen its recording TV and DVD and when it recieves a signal from the remote. The component video doesn't work either. Any help?

ashu

03-22-2005, 05:37 PM

Crazy ... the lights are ONLY supposed to be on when recording (to disk or DVD) or when the remote is pressed. As designed.

Component Video - check your TV's capabilities (progressive or interlaced) and the crresponding setting deep in the TiVo Settings->Video Menu, I believe - for consistency.

ashu

03-22-2005, 05:38 PM

Thanks for the screenshots. Is it as easy to use as the tivo? Is it bleep bloop too?

Also does Fastforward use the indicator bar?

Thanks,
Pete

Yeah, its bleep bloop :D

And the indicator bar is used. Even for DVDs! The DVD Navigation via the Info menu is excellent! Wish my ToshiVo (SD-H400) were the same!

MP3 playback off CDs and DVDs even uses the HMO-style Music and Photos Interface from the main TiVo menu!

retroblu

03-22-2005, 05:53 PM

TiVo got me laid....i got a DRT800 for a birthday present, she loved it...well now i cant even watch my tv...damn what did i do...no but really this thing is awesome(besides the gripe about TV PQ) i only had one problem w/ it and the was the audio for DVD's (Dolby Digital and DTS) well i called Humax and the tech support dude told me some things to do that didnt help, so he claimed the unit was defective and i had to ship it....well i didnt feel like it so i went poking around settings and such and i found it...well know i have bullets flying all around me....whee!...Humax Tech's need to read there product info...so thats my story and im sticking to it...just purchased another Hrt800 today....for like 100

crazy4TiVo

03-22-2005, 07:56 PM

Ashu,

I have the setting for the lights set to on so the lights should be on all of the time.

I posted a forum called no component video and one called no lights on front of TiVo. You can search for those names

markchang

03-24-2005, 05:39 AM

Any step-by-step guide to upgrading hard drive in the Humax DRT800?
I did it for my ReplayTV without a hitch so I hope this will be as easy.
Cheers,
Mark

GT1Boy

03-24-2005, 09:18 AM

WeaKnees.com has a great step by step guide here (http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com/).

wmock0

03-26-2005, 10:57 PM

Is there anyone here who has used the DRT800 to burn dvds of your home movies from your camcorder? How did the picture quality turn out?
I have burned DVD's of several 8mm tapes that I recorded at high quality from a High-8 deck via S-Video. The DVD image is indistinguishable from the originals'. I have been using (very) inexpensive TEON DVD-R 8x blanks -- they work fine.

njbaran

04-04-2005, 01:25 AM

Just bought a Humax DRT800 and having problems with DVD Players that can playback the Humax Burned CD.

I tried a DVD in my 2005 Lincoln Navigator and worked fine. But I got a disk error on myolder Toshiba DVD Player and it will not play on my 2004 Chrysler Town & Country Minivan.

Is there some type of Blank DVD Disc i should be using, as this was on the Toshiba DVD-RW 4.7gb that came with Humax DRT800.

If I can't play it on the 2 DVD Players I mentioned, not sure it's worth keeping.

ashu

04-04-2005, 09:23 AM

Try DVD-R's, they're more compatible than RWs! Pick a good brand (TDK or Fuji from Best Buy are excellent, especially if you ca find a Fuji that's marked Made in Japan - those are Taiyo Yuden's)

slaponte

04-06-2005, 06:50 PM

Well, 18 pages later on my forums setup, here I am. Just bought from Weakness at $449 - $100 Reb, no shipping. Registered this AM, but haven't setup yet. After all the reading the very best post I can find said : TiVo got me laid... :D :D

Through the thread I started a little text file with some of the gems of knowledge, like brands of media, the 30 sec skip, info on hard disks and 80 pin cables, etc, etc. All very usefull. I work in tech support and build PCs, so I am now thinking I might upgrade my HD before I setup since I probably want to run in Best PQ most of the time.

An avid collector, I plan to record many Nature and History programs and maybe some anime and some odd shows. So much stuff comes out on DVD these days. I also plan to move some older Hi8 video to DVDs as a side project.

I have a question, besides posting, Ashu, do you have a full time job??? ;) ;)

I am glad for the comunity here and hope to contribute usefull stuff in the near future.

Sergio
Miami, FL
Humax DRT800 - 80 Hrs (<== My first!!) :cool:

slaponte

04-06-2005, 07:19 PM

Now I do have a question :

Looking at the different upgrade sites it seems the only upgrade for the DRT-800 is to REPLACE the orig drive, there is no ADD option. Maybe I just haven't found it yet. Please confirm,

on the DRT-800, you CAN NOT add a second drive (even if you purchase a bracket)

I thought Hinsdale ofered it (with a remark to get a bracket and cut some foam), but seems they are taking about the non-DVD Humax...

Thanks.

smoknyreyz

04-06-2005, 09:15 PM

no room inside for an extra drive because of the dvd-r
gotta replace

ashu

04-07-2005, 10:40 AM

I should prolly not be email-subscribed to updates! Seeing an email with a question I can answer, or a discussion I can join is like showing a moth the light ;)

slaponte

04-07-2005, 01:31 PM

Thanks Smokn direct and precise. So I will go replace. Thanks.

Ashu, I moderate a 2 forum sites, and participate in 6 different forums for my car (350Z) and now this one for the Tivo... I am online so much I don't have time to watch TV!!! :)

ashu

04-07-2005, 01:48 PM

Ashu, I moderate a 2 forum sites, and participate in 6 different forums for my car (350Z) and now this one for the Tivo... I am online so much I don't have time to watch TV!!! :)

(and just to prove a point ;) ) Why not buy a Mazda RX-8 instead? (Sure you've regretted^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hheard that lots of times already! ;)

slaponte

04-07-2005, 01:57 PM

Leave it to Best Buy : TDK 25 pack 8X on sale, $9.99

or you can buy the 50 pack for $27... ???? :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
or you can buy the 100 pack for $56... ???? :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

(Irony aside, buy two 25s for $20 or four 25s for $40, ok??) ;) ;)

Note : I know 8x is too much, but hey, at that price, whatever...

slaponte

04-07-2005, 02:18 PM

Ha Ha Ha! An RX-8?? No thanks, love my Z... Dropped it 1", got a JWT Pop Charger, Intake Plenum, adjustable camber arms front and back, headers, HF cats, Y and Mid pipe... and a few more mods. Up to about 250hp at the wheels. :cool:

ashu

04-07-2005, 02:36 PM

[OT]

Ha Ha Ha! An RX-8?? No thanks, love my Z... Dropped it 1", got a JWT Pop Charger, Intake Plenum, adjustable camber arms front and back, headers, HF cats, Y and Mid pipe... and a few more mods. Up to about 250hp at the wheels. :cool:

Wrong discussion, wrong forum and successful bait :) Lets not go there. Although I must ask - Did you see the Top Gear and 5th gear comparison and reviews? :p

I only drew you into it because of your professed interest (6 fora, 2 your own!) in the Z.

[/No more OT]

scottk52

04-10-2005, 12:13 PM

Got mine today!! love it, really.

Bryan Crow

04-17-2005, 10:27 AM

Hi, gang.

I bet this has already been talked to death, but I don’t find it.

What DirecTV receivers work with the DRT800? The DirecTV installer came yesterday and installed a D10-300. I let the man leave without trying it with a Humax I just bought. (Dumb.)

The DRT800 doesn’t “know” the IR codes for the D10-300, so it can’t change channels. I called Humax. They said, “Sorry, we didn’t know about the D10-300 and didn’t include those codes.”

I called DirecTV, and they said, “Sorry, that’s the only receiver we’re distributing now.”

The local Circuit City, local Electronic Express, and all other local satellite receiver sellers are sold out of Hughes and other receivers and have only the D10-300 in stock.

I just bought an old RCA DirecTV receiver through eBay. Please tell me it’ll work.

Wait.

Only tell me it will if it will. And if it won’t, what will?

Bryan

steveru

04-18-2005, 10:38 PM

Good to see this thread going here - maybe I can get some feedback. I just upgraded to the Humax 80 hour. I have been limping along with a very old Sony Series 1 for some time now, and decided since no one was going to be making an HD standalone, that I would make the plunge and take advantage of the rebate offer on the Humax. I am wondering now if it was a good idea.

One annoying issue is the lack of the "List" button to take you directly to the Now Playing list. Another annoying issue is that each time I turn my TV and receiver on, it takes me to the Tivo menu and not directly to Live TV. I guess these are minor issues that I will get used to, but one very worrysome issue is the picture quality. In a word, it sucks. Even set on the best quality, it is horrible. The worst part is the alternating light and dark bands that run vertically through the picture. It is most noticable in the reds, but this means that a closeup on a person in the picture show alternating flesh and pink bands running up and down the screen. I am using the same exact setup as my Sony series 1. Gold Monster S-Video cables from the DT Samsung box to the Humax and between the Humax and the A/V receiver, and between the A/V receiver to the TV.

Also, the color saturation in the reds is way too high, and I have not been able to adjust it out using my TV controls.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? If this is "standard" for the Humax boxes, I am going to have to return it and go with a different brand - this is unbearable.

ashu

04-18-2005, 11:20 PM

Steveru - the quickest way to get to the NPL is TiVo-TiVo (hit it twice). For fun, also try TiVo-# (where # ranges from 0 through 9)

It shouldn't be in the menu when you turn yor receiver on. I sure hope you aren't turning your TiVo off too! All S2 TiVos lapse to live TV on the last viewed channel (or channel recorded from) from within the menu after some time (varies, 15-30 minutes, IIRC).

I have never heard the red, black and pick bands complaint before. And Monster cables are junk. Not saying they're causing it (while that is entirely possible), but they sure are a waste of money :) Your problem sounds serious enough for a call to (Humax, not TiVo) customer support, or a return/exchange if its easy to do.

Others have complained of not-light-enough (crushed) blackes and bad contrast. What TV and which connection are you using? (Component Progressive > Component Interlaced > SVideo > Composite. RF-out isn't even possible with the Humax) Is your input (cable or Sat) signal flawless and clear (without the TiVo in its path)?

steveru

04-19-2005, 12:50 AM

Thanks for the quick reply Ashu. No, I don't turn the tivo off - ever. I turn the A/V receiver (Pioneer Elite) off, and the TV off, but never the Satelite box or Tivo. This may be something that is being sent by my all-in-one remote. I haven't reprogrammed it since I installed the Humax. Hopefully that is the problem and it will go away after I program it.

I have satellite (DT), and a Sony Grand Wega rear projection LCD HD TV. My A/V receiver is a bit old and the best output I have on it is s-video, and that is what I am using. So, I am using s-video all the way from the set-top box, to the tivo, to the receiver and to the TV. I know Monster is not the best quality cable, but it is better than what comes shipped with the unit :mad: .

The vertical lines are definately worse in the lower quality settings, so it mostly happens when I am watching something recorded at anything lower than Best quality and gets progressively worse as I decrease the quality setting. I am used to the pixelization that occurs in the lower settings on my old Sony, and expect that sort of thing at the lower quality settings, but not the lines or the saturation issues. I calibrated my TV using Avai DVD, and the picture is flawless from my Sony HD receiver and more than acceptable from the Samsung set-top box, but garbage through the Humax.

meglet

04-19-2005, 04:16 PM

Steve-if you have your universal remote turning your equipment on with a macro, it may be sending the TivoCentral command somewhere in that sequence. You could either change the macro to include the "Live TV" command instead, or just take the Tivo command out altogether if you never put your TiVo in standby.

As for the color bands, that sounds horrible to deal with. You might try temporarily bypassing the receiver in the video output chain and see if that helps. If that doesn't work, maybe record a show to DVD and watch it on a different DVD player (if you have one) connected to the same tv to see if the problem is in the input to the TiVo or the recording.
Also, if you decide to replace the cable, check out the GE brand cable Target sells, I've always had good luck with them and they're not horribly expensive.

slaponte

04-21-2005, 10:21 AM

Ok, finally last night I... set up my Humax!!! :)

Everything went well, but I have a few small questions :

- My cable box (Bellsouth Digital, Zenith brand box) has a seriel connector in the back. But both it and the cable that came with the Humax are "males". Is it safe it is used for the same pourpose and use a "gender changer"?

- What do you do when you go to bed? Do you leave it on standby (keeps recording the current show), or what? For now I left it on standby and turned off the TV set.

Everything else worked great. I set it up with the phone line while my USB network adapter gets here, had to buy on the web. No hard disk upgrade yet. The Tivo did upgrade the DVD firmware to DVR-108RZ rev 1.15 :)

ashu

04-21-2005, 11:02 AM

NEVER TURN A TiVo OFF ;) Except when you're moving!

Not all cable boxes can be controlled. To find out whether yours can, search for the "Cable and Satellite Box ..." thread by ccwf. If only the mods would make it a stucky, 'twould be easier to find.

slaponte

04-21-2005, 11:21 AM

mattbugz

04-21-2005, 12:03 PM

ashu

04-21-2005, 12:21 PM

But I read that on standby it keeps recording the 30 mins of live TV show. If I am gone from the house for hours and hours, why do I want the Tivo constantly recording live TV? Isn't this unrequired "wear" on the drive, etc? Nobody is watching. And I asume I don't want to turn the cable box off, for recordings.

I thought there might be a "nobody watching" mode where it just keeps track of time for recordings, etc...

The GREATEST wear occurs on a drive when it spins up following a power-on. So that part is moot. Almost any current hard drive will last longer if it is NEVER turned off, even if it is constantly reading/writing (live buffer)

That said, TiVo works its magic and records my shows for me and I don't even know which DAY of the week shows I watch are on (leave alone time of day!) And I use 'Suggestions' to track free space.

There are a gazillion threads on this issue, and some people have the same opinion as yours. I guess its a matter of choice :) Although, in MY opinion, the choice is non-existent ;)

ashu

04-21-2005, 12:22 PM

Hello all, I'm looking to purchase the DRT-800. Aside from the PQ issues some have reported, are their any other common problems on this unit? I know a few months back, a major problem was that it was only writing @ 1X, but this seems to have been corrected.

No TiVoToGo yet. Its supposedly in the works.

And mine burns plenty fast with good blanks. 12-15 minutes for 4 hours at Medium Quality.

mattbugz

04-21-2005, 01:21 PM

No TiVoToGo yet. Its supposedly in the works.

And mine burns plenty fast with good blanks. 12-15 minutes for 4 hours at Medium Quality.

Quite alright. TivoToGo isn't a big concern since I can backup and play using the burner.

How well does file access from servers work? Specifically, Linux using Samba. Will the DRT-800 be able to access MP3/JPG without issues? Or do I have to use Windows file sharing??

ashu

04-21-2005, 02:34 PM

Quite alright. TivoToGo isn't a big concern since I can backup and play using the burner.

How well does file access from servers work? Specifically, Linux using Samba. Will the DRT-800 be able to access MP3/JPG without issues? Or do I have to use Windows file sharing??

Can't say I've tried it, but the TiVo Desktop application may be too far-reaching (DRM etc required/registered DLLs) to work within a Wine-like setup. You could always look into javaHMO and Galleon (search here in this section!) for a purely Linux-based (or platform indep - using the java stuff) solution!

I have more than one PC< and at least one (the media Server) always runs Windows wit my music/photos served for the household TiVos, so this hasn't been an issue for me.

BTW - even the pictures look WAY nicer with a Component Video connection, so I if your setup supports it, even interlaced) use those for Humax output!

mattbugz

04-21-2005, 02:57 PM

I have more than one PC< and at least one (the media Server) always runs Windows wit my music/photos served for the household TiVos, so this hasn't been an issue for me.

Does the Humax support user authentication in order to access shares containing music/image files?

Tivo is a modified Linux operating system so I'm sure the Samba client is what's being used in order for it to access files.

Separate question, in order to do online scheduling of the DRT-800, do you have to open any ports on your firewall to the Tivo? Or is it pull method as in, the Humax connects to Tivo and pulls any schedule updates as opposed to Tivo initiating the connection to the Humax. The former is my assumption. The Humax probably accesses Tivo on occasion to check for schedule updates.

ashu

04-21-2005, 03:37 PM

Some of these questions are going beyond the scope of THIS thread, emant for newbies to the Humax DRT800 ;) Dig through the forum, its all been discussed before!

Still ...
1. Music and Photos: The Desktop app (or javaHMO etc) sends out a Network Beacon announcing its availability, in response to which TiVo units visible on the same subnet (or external, depending on how you work things!) announce their capability to handle the data (M&P served by the app.)

2. Remote Scheduling: The TiVo unit connects to the mothership (TiVo servers) every xx (15?) minutes and aska it whether it has any new instructions for it. Including scheduling requests. This takes care of the privacy issues/concerns, and there are entire dsicussions about the pros and cons of such a system.

So there is no OS or file-system level sharing happening. At all. TiVo could be running Timbuctoo-ix instead of Linux, and as long as it was TCP/IP aware, things would work ...

<edit> Correspondingly, with Java, the functionality present in TiVo Desktop could very well be implemented (except DRM etc) on any OS (and it is/can), and TiVo won't know any better.
TiVo sees Beacon-from-server -> TiVo queries server for Music and Photos -> Server serves MP3 or jpg via TCP/IP -> TiVo displays/plays.

slaponte

04-22-2005, 05:43 PM

Hey Ashu, forum ettiquette question, you been here much longer than me.

I just bought a second Tivo (that didn't take long), and researching hard disks found a good 20 pak price. How are moderators here about "group buys"? Will I get in trouble if I try to find 18 others to go in the deal with me? Do I need speciall permission?

mattbugz

04-29-2005, 10:10 AM

I finally picked up my DRT-800 this weekend and connected it to a network. Since 802.11g cards aren't natively supported with the current code/firmware, I decided to just get a USB to Ethernet adapter. Then I connected that to an 802.11g Ethernet adapter. It's working out really well. I've tested some of the features of the Humax and thus far, I think it's excellent! I even tested IEEE 1394 video transfer from my camcorder. The first time I tried it, there were what I can only describe as horizontal artifacts appearing on the screen. After a reboot, I tried again and it worked better.

My only qualm is that the video quality is subpar compared to my Series 1 Sony. However, I did some calibration on my TV and the PQ is now acceptable.

1. Music and Photos: The Desktop app (or javaHMO etc) sends out a Network Beacon announcing its availability, in response to which TiVo units visible on the same subnet (or external, depending on how you work things!) announce their capability to handle the data (M&P served by the app.)
Yes, I log my routers so I can see what requests are being made. Tivo Desktop software performs a broadcast as does the DRT-800. This is how they are "network aware" of each other. I need find out if anyone has created an app for Linux.

2. Remote Scheduling: The TiVo unit connects to the mothership (TiVo servers) every xx (15?) minutes and aska it whether it has any new instructions for it. Including scheduling requests. This takes care of the privacy issues/concerns, and there are entire dsicussions about the pros and cons of such a system.
That's correct. Every 15 minutes, it does an HTTP POST to the Tivo servers. I found mine accesses a mercury.cgi page. I need to put a sniffer on this so I can determine contents...unless they encrypt the payload.

When an update is available such as online programming, I found it access these additional pages:
mlog.cgi - Uh...access log maybe?
TCD411.cgi
HServer.cgi - Actual scheduling data?
keydist.cgi - For encryption/authentication of data??
caprqst.cgi

So there is no OS or file-system level sharing happening. At all. TiVo could be running Timbuctoo-ix instead of Linux, and as long as it was TCP/IP aware, things would work ...
It's definitely a version of Linux. I queried the DRT-800 and it responded as a flavor of Red Hat.

mattbugz

04-29-2005, 12:20 PM

Yes, I log my routers so I can see what requests are being made. Tivo Desktop software performs a broadcast as does the DRT-800. This is how they are "network aware" of each other. I need find out if anyone has created an app for Linux.

Ahh...Galleon, here I come!!

bird-mom

05-06-2005, 09:57 PM

:confused: My DRT800 is my first TIVO and I had such difficulty recording one movie that I eventually stopped trying. I have too much saved right now and just tried to save a mix of Simpsons and Southpark to one of a stack of 25 DVD-Rs that have (otherwise) been OK. It failed and (as after previous failures) does not accept disc as valid. Any advice?

ctrl-alt-del

05-07-2005, 01:05 AM

veck9972

05-09-2005, 04:07 PM

not like burning dvds. I just want to play a dvd movie from another dvd player through my Humax and copy just the movie. in other words can i trick my humax into thinking that my sony dvd player is a cable box and just press record now on my humax.

ashu

05-09-2005, 05:29 PM

veck, google macroVision. This (often considered evil) standard IS 'respected' and adhered to by the Humax. It will let you dump the file onto disk, no problems - but it will refuse to burn it to DVD, and if you play it back off the disk, the outputs will also include the macrovision tags so any (adherent) receiving devices also have it available.

Circumvention of this and discussion about doing so is beyond the scope of this board, and probably a questionable legal issue as well ... but if you're resourceful enough, you might discover a way.

IMO - its NOT worth all the hassle - just buy the DVD :)
[/tongue_in_cheek__kinda]

slaponte

05-10-2005, 10:21 AM

Last night was great. I finally got my wireless network working. I went and got two of these "Netgear MA111 802.11b Wireless USB WiFi Adapter TIVO!" on eBay for $17.95 each. They worked right away.

I also downloaded desktop, shared pictures and music, etc. I even got the 7.1b software for the Series 2 last night!! ;) ;)

So now I am building a Music Library from my CDs, since I can play them from the Tivos in the living and the bedroom. I also ordered another 300GB drive, this one for the Humax. I burned a -RW DVD and everything worked great.

This thread has been very helpfull. I have been prepared for most contingencies thanks to the info here and in other forum threads. Sharing with others what works, doesn't, and the "tips" you learn as you go along does make things better.

I know it must get very old to hear the same questions over and over. Is the nature of forums. There is a newbie every day. Thanks to all for your patience with this one.

gjm1065

05-15-2005, 09:39 PM

I use my DRT800 to record from my video camera, then burn to DVD. Once completed, I delete from the hard drive. I'd like to make a copy of the DVD, but my software only copies the menu, not the recording. I tried Nero, and HP Record Now. Anybody know of any way to duplicate DVDs?

ashu

05-15-2005, 10:06 PM

Nero (in Disc Duplicate mode) should have NO problems replicating DVDs burnt on the Humax or any TiVo-based DVDRecorder. Check your settings/burner.

gjm1065

05-15-2005, 10:11 PM

Nero Express? Have you done it? I'd think it should have NO problems, but it does. Like I said, it only copies the menu, not the actual recording.

gjm1065

05-16-2005, 11:15 PM

Tried it with Roxio 6, that worked! Doesn't play in all players though. Oh well.

rhenson

05-19-2005, 10:35 AM

Hey all,
I've got an upgraded DRT800, and the dvd drive has failed - it won't recognize any dvd's (even commercial). I've tried the reset but it hasn't helped. Of course Humax won't help as I've cracked the case and they won't sell me a dvd drive - has anyone out there replaced the drive with any success?
Thanks for any help!

slaponte

05-19-2005, 10:58 AM

Since you have opened the case, you might notice the DVD is actually a Pioneer unit, so you might just look for the unit to match...

(From Page 2 on this same thread : Pioneer DVR-108RZ rev. 1.08) :cool:

gopzebra

05-19-2005, 04:22 PM

Hello all. Just bought the HUMAX and was wondering if anyone out there has experienced problems with the 7.1 software update. I have read some of the horror stories, and don't want to update if I think it is going to be a problem. I have the 80-hr and a scientific atlanta digital cable box. Thanks!

slaponte

05-19-2005, 04:26 PM

The 7.1 upgrade is NOT available for the Humax DVD writer unit (or for any DVD writer units). They expect to make it available this summer. FOr now your unit will upgrade to 5.4 (latest) and stay there.

gopzebra

05-19-2005, 04:29 PM

Salponte, thanks for the info. I will await the upgrade, hopefully bug-free by then.

slaponte

05-19-2005, 11:16 PM

I have it on my series 2 and have noticed some lag when moving around menus, which is one of the complaints I have seen... Besides that, all else seems ok.

ElJefe

05-20-2005, 12:52 AM

Greetings,

I have a weird one. I have a Tivo'ed show recorded on my DRT800 that has perfect audio levels. When I record it to DVD and play it back the audio level is very very low. In fact, using Windows media player I have to increase the laptops hardware audio playback level to maximum and Media Player's audio setting to maximum just to be able to make out the conversation audio of an episode of 24.

On the same laptop I can playback a commercial movie (Tombstone, Platoon, Kill Bill) and the audio is loud! I have to scale it back. This also goes for games and downloaded MPegs and WMA/WMV files, etc. It appears that only the DRT800 generated discs have the low audio.

I checked in the DRT800 and it does not appear that there are any settings for audio level of streams recorded to DVD.

Has anyone seen this? Does anyone know how to increase the audio level when shows are saved to DVD?

Thanks!

Jeff

Hank

05-20-2005, 09:23 AM

I picked up a Region 0 DVD when in Ireland recently, and when I came home to play it on the Humax, it claims it's a PAL DVD and won't play. I can play it on my computer with WinDVD just fine.

I was under the impression that there was nothing inherent in a DVD recording that made it PAL or NTSC, and that was up to the playing device to output the right signal... a DVD is just digital info afterall, what's the problem?

ashu

05-20-2005, 11:10 AM

PAL is an encoding format, and not only do Region-incompatible DVDs differ, so do PAL/NTSC DVDs (or VCDs). PCs should be able to play them all (as long as Region isn't an issue!).

Two words - DVD Shrink.

<edit> Also hit up dvdrhelp.com (and a host of other incredibly massive fora)

ksatterwhite

05-21-2005, 10:30 AM

I have a Series 2 Tivo (w/o DVD) and love it! I have the TTG, but have had so many problems with many of the features. Trying to use Nero us just a disaster. Any, Sonic's software was a never ending battle with customer service/tech support. I've been wanting to get another Tivo anyway and was thinking about the Humax. Well, I was looking at Tivo's website and they have listed other DVD boxes by Pioneer and Toshiba. But, I see from their website's that they don't make them for Tivo anymore. Just a HD DVD-R. I've been recording most everything at Medium quality. A few shows at Basic. This is just to save space because I only have a 40hr unit. I've read that the video quality on the Humax is not as good as that on the Tivo units. Is this a noticeable difference? If I'm used to medium quality on Tivo and record (and then burn) on a Humax with Best quality, I'm thinking this should be acceptable for myself.

The one drawback is that MyDVD is supposed to be able to adjust a program to fit on a DVD if it is a bit too long. This will obviously decrease the quality of the video.

After burning a DVD on the Humax, can this be then imported via Nero on my PC, edit and re-burn? I'm thinking yes, but I just wanted to check with those who might have done this. There may be a few DVD's that I might want to edit out commercials and burn again. If this is possible, do you have to keep the Tivo menus, or can you create your own at that point? Another question...could I import video from multiple DVD's burned on Humax and then edit them down to burn on a single DVD? I think I would probably use this more for home videos. I think I read that you can transfer your home videos to the Humax and burn to DVD. I might want to then import to my PC and play around with and re-burn with new menus.

Thanks,

Keith

velbert

05-31-2005, 10:52 AM

Can someone confirm that the DWL-122 worked with the Humax Ser 2 DVR? If not, what can you recommend? I have the TiVo currently set up in my office, and cannot wait to move it out into the living room, with a nice TV.

slaponte

05-31-2005, 11:48 AM

I bought two of these and they worked right away. One for my stand alone Series 2 (V7.1) and one for the Humax DRT-800 (V5.4)

eBay Tivo adapters (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=45002&item=5778451160&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW)

KROKUS12

06-02-2005, 12:51 PM

[B] TRUTH is the only thing good about the Humax DRT800 - is the tivo part -- it's a shame you have to spend all that money to find out the DVD recorder is crap - only certain disks will work in ti & then you can't play them in any thing else - I had to go buy a stand alone DVD recorder on top of this -- just tell your friends to save their hard earned money - buy the stand alone 80 hour TIVO & then a stand alone DVD recorder - you will actually come out ahead on money & alot of aggravation -- HUMAX is crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

slaponte

06-02-2005, 01:35 PM

After many years of support work, I know that most customer diss-satisfaction comes from a gap between expectations and realities. I think that when people hear of "A Tivo with a DVD recorder" they, in their own minds, set a list of expectations of what the system will do. If you buy it and then find out the limitations/rules/capabilities, I can see how some people migth get frustrated.

Others take the time to find out what it can and can not do, from well documented sources like right here. And then, when you buy, you know the pros, cons, can and can't do's, etc, and then you can decide if it is worth $XXX to you. Or at least that might be the informed way to purchase almost any item. And then the system will perform based on realistic expectations, and thus, you might be satisfied.

So sorry that it doesn't meet your expectations. To many of us it does. I get all the tivo functionality and don't have to mess around with tapes. I can use RW DVDs over and over and even keep some stuff for later. Right now the only thing I wish for is for them to unlock the double-layer capability, maybe with a firmware and drivers update. We will see.

ashu

06-02-2005, 01:48 PM

Umm, Krokus, I'm calling BS on your generalized post.

DVDs burnt on my Humax DRT800 play perfectly on my ToshiVo (SD-H400), Pioneer, JVC DVD players, on multiple friends' players, on PCs I've tried them on, even those with older Creative 4X DVD ROM drives. The drive used in the Humax - the Pioneer 108Z (or variant thereof) - is one of th most compatible DVD burners known to mankind. Make sure you use GOOD media, not cheap Office Depot/CompUSA labelled crud.

Try Taiyo Yuden DVD-R's from supermediastore or Fuji/TDK DVDs labels marked Made in Japan are also TYs, as are some other brands (some memorexes/Verbatims?). Cheap, unlabelled, noname blanks are likely to be (terrible) CMC's (or something like that name - try LiquidVideo from Circuit City - YUCK!) or Ritek/Ricohs (somewhat better and the DRT800 likes 'em)

In my experience, my PC burner has burnt a higher coaster percentage than my Humax :)

scifinerd

06-03-2005, 08:25 AM

Umm, Krokus, I'm calling BS on your generalized post.
Make sure you use GOOD media, not cheap Office Depot/CompUSA labelled crud.

Try Taiyo Yuden DVD-R's from supermediastore or Fuji/TDK DVDs labels marked Made in Japan are also TYs, as are some other brands (some memorexes/Verbatims?). :)

:D I think you already blessed my Fuji film DVD-r's made in Taiwan. Anyway, they appear to work fine. I agree, the player of the DRT800 is great.

I have not really looked to see whether there is a way to edit the DRT800 shows to delete ads in the DRT800. It does not appear so. If there is, someone please tell me. Someone complained that the DRT800 does not do titles for multiple shows nicely. That would be nice. I hate the letter boards, so I use the default names they suggest. Also nice would be the ability to add a show later when only filling up half a disk or to chop out the end of a transferred camero video when we realize we have designated too much time. Is there a GOOD way to transfer these shows to the pc, do these things, then transfer them back and burn them? I tried my 15 days of free trial of Sonic, and was discouraged with many things in it, so that is why I bought the DRT800 (on sale). I can do many wonderful things with the DRT800 using another dvd player, the camera input and a video stabilizer, but it would be nice to be able to edit things on my pc , transfer them back to the DRT800, then burn them, or just burn them on the pc. Actually, transferring them back and burning them might take lass time then the wonderful codec process of making them able to be burned on the Sonic software! I would appreciate advice and suggestions.

slaponte

06-03-2005, 11:57 AM

Hi Sci Fi. In theory is possible to move the recording to the PC, edit and then burn. But as I looked into it is not for the faint of heart. It all got tangled up in a mess of codecs, software incompatabilities, etc. By the time I had it all setup (I thought), and tried to edit the first movie, the PC crashed....

It might be easier to let the DRT write the CD, then try to bring it into the PC for edit and write out. I got a DVD burner on the PC as well, they are only about $99, hard to beat.

Anyway, yes, you can, but it is a long and bumpy road. I haven't got it to work yet, but I got discouraged and haven't tried again.

slaponte

06-03-2005, 12:08 PM

Hey Ashu, is there a backdoor code for the DRT800 on 5.4? I wanted to check the logs for my swap but I read that "codes" thread and was never sure if they found one or not... I don't want to move the HD out again just to check the log...

scifinerd

06-03-2005, 03:40 PM

OK guys, please tell the ignorant but not dumb of us how to find out about backdoor codes - what they are, how to set up to do it, how to set up in general to access the software of the tivo.

slaponte

06-03-2005, 03:53 PM

After reading the very long sticky in another forum thread, I found no code for 5.4 or 7.1... what they have is a tool to setup your own code (or a code from a prev version), and even that doesn't seem very clear.

I hope that Ashu has some info in his secrets vault...

The codes thread (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=122090)

ashu

06-03-2005, 07:20 PM

Never bothered with Series 2 onwards - I know codes existed for S1, and also that rounadoub hacknig methods exist for S2. With the current/ongoing feature-set rollouw, TiVo already does all I want/need it to. Or will soon. I micro-manage enough other things to give this one a pass :)

magnumis

06-13-2005, 10:45 PM

Can the HUMAX DRT800 burn DVDs that were transferred from other Tivo boxes (multi room option)?

Jon545

06-13-2005, 11:10 PM

I've been burning long movies (2.5 - 3 hrs in high quality) that I want to keep to -RW disks (as part 1 and part 2), and then copying them to my PC. I then have two options using Roxio or Nero SW suites. I can tell them to get the two parts to fit on 1 - DVD, which compresses them down and may be no better than using lower quality (Medium) recording originally, or I can cut out the commercials and get the total size to where it fits on 1 DVD with no, or very little, additional compression. Using the later scheme preserves the picture quality, but so far I've had to give up the Tivo interface (menus) on the resulting video. Plays great, just doesn't have the TIVO startup menu. Doesn't matter to me, however, and saves disks. I burn the shortened version to DVD-R and reuse the -RW disks..

scifinerd

06-14-2005, 08:05 AM

tothebeat

06-21-2005, 10:59 PM

Greetings,

I know this is a basic question, but I'm attempting to connect my DRT800 via a wireless connection (since the modem stopped working after 3 months).

When I plug the adapter in, nothing happens.

I'm using a Linksys WUSB11 v2.6. I've tried two different adapters (both 2.6) and neither one of them does anything.

Any ideas and where to go from here? I've looked at every troubleshooting place I can find.

Thanks to anyone with guidance.

petew

06-22-2005, 02:58 PM

tothebeat,

What are you exepcting to see? Go to Settings/Phone and Network and look at the top right of the page to see if a Network adapter is listed.

If nothing,

1) Give it time to recognize the adapter and load the drivers

2) Make sure the adapter is properly inserted.

3) Restart the box with the adapter inserted.

Pete

ashu

06-22-2005, 03:04 PM

4) Try swapping USB ports - sometimes this helps.

5) Test adapter while connected to a PC (drivers may need to be installed) to ensure it is in working condition.

tothebeat

06-22-2005, 09:35 PM

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm still pretty much getting nothing at the moment.

Will the DRT recoginize the adapter regardless of whether it can establish a network connection? The reason I ask is my firewall has been a pain lately and I wanted to check that.

Also, any suggestions on how to test the adapter in a computer? I have my main computer with the router and then my wife's computer connected with an internal wireless adapter. Is there a way I can test it on her's without removing the internal adapter.

Thanks again for your help. My guide data just ran out today, so I'm reduced to watching TV like a normal person again.

ashu

06-23-2005, 01:10 AM

Yes, it will recognize it. In Phone/Network settings, the MAC address should show up, and a status messgae about whether it is connected, what IP address, and if not, a clue tot he cause for failure.

Test with a PC - check the manual or driver CD that came with it.

slaponte

06-23-2005, 11:46 AM

Not my experience. WHen I tried some adapters the Humax said nothing at all, like the device was not even there. No clue as of why. It would not even list the fact that an adapter is on the USB.

As soon as I tried the right model, it detected it, sent me a message that an adapter had been found and to go configure it, and the right menu options apeared on the setup menu.

ashu

06-23-2005, 12:52 PM

A supported adapter always shows up recognized, IIRC. I've tried 4 different supported kinds, their MAC and IP status has shown up great, IIRC. (DLink DWl122 80211B, Netgear MA111 801.11B, USB 1.1 Wired Belkin F5D5050, Wired Linksys USB200M).

petew

06-23-2005, 02:09 PM

The box the wireless adapter came in should have installation instructions for a PC. No need to disable any exisiting Adpaters you are just looking to see that the PC recognizes the device. When you plug it in you should get the "Found new hradware" message box.

The after the install drives process has completed, the ipconfig command from a dos box (command window) should show the device with an IP address.

slaponte

06-24-2005, 11:40 AM

Out of memory, I thought you needed a WUSB V2.4 to work with the Humax. I see that the web pages from Tivo and Humax now say 2.6 and 2.8, but I could swear some time ago they said I needed a 2.4. I remember because I could not find a freaking 2.4 anywhere and got very frustrated. So I bought the eBay ones and got done with it. I remember I tried a 2.8 and the Humax did not even see it on the USB port. It never said anything at all, like the device wasn't even there.

tothebeat

06-26-2005, 12:27 AM

After many more failed attempts, I went ahead and just grabbed some ethernet cable from work and ran it the old fashioned wired route.

I think I may have discovered a possible reason for the problem I was having. The WUSB11 adapter I have, while listed as from Linksys, had a lot of Comcast logos on it. The actual model number says WUSB11-CC. Perhaps this is the problem. Since I got it on eBay there was no way for me to know the ComCast bit until I got it.

In any case, thanks to those of you who offered assistance.

retroblu

06-28-2005, 10:52 PM

ok im getting a little pissed here....i know i read this a month or so ago somewhere on this site that if you transferred a show from a series2 box to the drt box you could burn the show because they are both compatible in the encoding but couldnt w/ a series1 to a drt....now im reading that you cant because of the encoding...that was the only reason i got a series2 box instead of another humax....no im stuck w/ this usless box...hopefully this tivo to go thing works cause that would really suc...waiting on my update now cause i cant currently see my series2 box

Kaokulk

06-29-2005, 07:37 AM

ok im getting a little pissed here....i know i read this a month or so ago somewhere on this site that if you transferred a show from a series2 box to the drt box you could burn the show because they are both compatible in the encoding but couldnt w/ a series1 to a drt

I'm not sure where you read that, but ever since last year I remember seeing that you could NOT do that. I bought a Humax burner last year and knew it wouldn't work.

In fact, check my postings, you should find a post several months ago where I explained that to someone else.

I just copy non-Humax recordings to my computer and burn it from there.

slaponte

06-29-2005, 10:26 AM

They are definetly not compatible.

The only way to achive that is to co-llocate the machines, hook them up output to input, "play" the show on the S2 and "record" the show on the Humax, so that the Humax sees it is video input.

And then you can record it to the DVD, with the loss of resolution, etc

Or, as stated, move it to a PC and burn it there. You can get fantastic DVD burners for PCs as low as $99 these days.

ashu

06-29-2005, 11:21 AM

ok im getting a little pissed here....

You have every right to get pissed ... at yourself. For not carefully reading threads here, and indeed, TiVo's own descriptions of the feature set. If you're within your return window, return it. If not ... boo hoo. They have decent resale value.

ashu

06-29-2005, 11:23 AM

Or, as stated, move it to a PC and burn it there. You can get fantastic DVD burners for PCs as low as $99 these days.

Or $44 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152047).

dumpav

07-05-2005, 12:41 AM

i have try to play some DTS movie from my DRT800 but i can't hear any sound from it?

does it support DTS decode?

smark

07-05-2005, 04:01 AM

justmike

07-05-2005, 02:15 PM

i have try to play some DTS movie from my DRT800 but i can't hear any sound from it?

does it support DTS decode?

If I remember there is a setting for that under the video setup menu

petew

07-05-2005, 03:08 PM

If I remember there is a setting for that under the video setup menu

There's a whole slew of options under audio settings for various surround sound formats.

rkester

07-05-2005, 03:18 PM

You need to turn the DTS on in:

Messages & Setup > Settings > Audio > DTS Output for DVD > On

r

jmace57

07-06-2005, 01:30 PM

When the tivo programs are transferred across a wireless network, they are encoded in such a way as to prevent recording on a Humax DRT800. If you, however, carry the tivo box up to your Humax, connect it and pretend it is a camera (setting it up to record from a camera), then play it to your Humax, it is then recorded on your Humax in such a way as to allow it to be burned onto a DVD disk. This is a pain, but once you do it for something important, you make sure to record anything in the future on the Humax which you might even want to burn. If you get a video stabilizer and another dvd player near your Humax, you can burn anything to your Humax via recording it as camera input.

This is a disappointment - I just ordered one of these yesterday with the hopes of doing the MRV and recording DVD's. I have one SA TiVo hooked to my satellite box, and hoped to put this Humax in a room with just the very most basic cable. I wanted to transfer shows over and burn DVD's.

Just a question...why? Now that TTG is available....

Doggone.
Jim

slaponte

07-06-2005, 04:37 PM

Because the format that it holds programs in is different than a regular Series 2 Tivo. So that a Humax recorded program can be writen out to the DVD, while a program recorded on another Tivo (not a Humax) would not be in the right format.

So if you hook up the two devices (output to input), you can transfer the program by "playing" it out and "recording it" into the DRT and that would work as a format conversion.

A possibility for an enterprising mind out there (that this web is full of) would be to write a conversion program such that when you TTG a program from another machine to the DRT it would identify the source and convert appropiatly to the proper DRT format.

That said, I would have to assume that this WOULD work when you transfer DRT800 to DRT800, right? :)

ashu

07-06-2005, 05:42 PM

Apparently not. (shows will only burn on the DVD recorder TiVo on which they were created).

The PC or scifinerd's solution o hooking the inputs and jury-riggin the 'transfer' in real time are your only current options.

jimmymac

07-06-2005, 08:39 PM

My Humax has been having problems playing back DVDs. First it seemed to be an isolated incident. Tonight it seems as if any DVD I try is giving errors "no disc inserted" or ""invalid or unsupported disc inserted" These are DVDs that worked fine last week. It's happened with stuff I recoded as well as with DVDs I bought. Any ideas? Rebooting didn't seem to help.

jimmymac

07-07-2005, 10:45 AM

Have you tried running a DVD cleaner disc in your DRT ?

No, it seems to working again. I've always heard that those cd and dvs cleaner discs were a waste of money.

I called Humax and they gave me the option of sending them back the box for a new one. I'm going to see if the problem crops up again before I do that.

WillieWildcat

07-12-2005, 07:25 PM

What a bummer! My power supply somehow failed and now Humax is sending me a new unit. Oh well, at least I could save all of the programs that I had recorded on the hard drive that I upgraded with.

JayRockers!

07-17-2005, 05:36 PM

Has anyone else had this problem with the IR channel changer? My unit went to change the channel to 629, but only the "9" made it to my DirecTV box. Is my speed too fast? Should I set it to a lower channel changing speed? Other than that, this thing rocks! Got the 800 with the BB 1/2 off coupon.

Thx,

Jay!

slaponte

07-21-2005, 01:08 PM

Ok, I am sure this has been covered, but I will ask anyway.

Whats with the DVD capacity? How come a 2:04 show is telling me it needs 3 DVDs???

ctrl-alt-del

07-21-2005, 01:11 PM

Ok, I am sure this has been covered, but I will ask anyway.

Whats with the DVD capacity? How come a 2:04 show is telling me it needs 3 DVDs???

You're probably recorded in a high quality setting. The problem is the Humax doesn't do any sort of compression on the recorded show to be able to fit it on one DVD.

slaponte

07-21-2005, 01:35 PM

But I understood that High Quality TV is still lower than DVD quality, and any DVD out there has 2 hrs of DVD quality video in it. How can 2 hrs of TV HQ video not fit in a DVD?

Are there in rumors or knowledge of improvement on this for the near/far future?

rkester

07-21-2005, 02:12 PM

Well, you have to remember that commerical DVDs are DVD9, dual layer, giving you 9 gig approximately of space to store a movie. And that many are carefully compressed and tweaked to get maximum quality of movie on the disc plus extras etc. They don't just compress it and slap it on the DVD, a lot of care goes into most (some are just thrown together) commercial DVDs to fit everything on it.

I think for most uses the High setting on the Humax does a pretty fine job. Even on action heavy movies, I have never seen anything on my recorded DVDs from High content that was bothersome. Most of the problems I see are in the original DTV content in the first place. And I've done discs with Best and High and compared them on a HDTV with a progressive DVD player and I don't see much if any of a difference in the played back content.

I however, would like to see an option to give me a few minutes (maybe 5-10) of leeway on a disc. So if a program is 2 hours and 3 minutes at High it will still fit on the single DVD.

imho

ReefRaff

07-22-2005, 11:57 AM

I have a DRT800, and I have just a few questions.

1: Can I use a ATA/133 drive? >>> http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=298845&pfp=BROWSE

2: Which model Bracket will I need?

3: Do I need standoffs for the bracket?

Thanks.

slaponte

07-22-2005, 12:05 PM

1: Yes.

2: as a replacement drive, it would just bolt on to the OEM bracket in there.

3: No.

ReefRaff

07-22-2005, 12:13 PM

I wish to replace the 80 with an 80 so I can keep the original as backup. and add the 200 as a second drive.

thanks

slaponte

07-22-2005, 01:28 PM

The oficial line is there is no space in the DRT800 to add a second drive.

That said, some of us have done this, but there is no space for a bracket. You have to lay the second drive perpendicular to the OEM location resting on some cables. I attached mine with a single screw to the back just to keep it from moving around, but it is hardly secure. My Tivo sits on a shelf and doesn't go anywhere, so seems ok to me.

You will need a power splitter, a new IDE cable (with two connectors).

There was a thread about it. Let me see if I can find it.

Here I found it : DRT800 second drive (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=241443)

ashu

07-22-2005, 02:40 PM

If all you want is 280GB, then why not thrown in a single 300GB disk instead?

Less points of failure, less source of heat, no jury-rigged hanging drives, cheaper (lower cost per GB).

Now if you wanted 600+ GB (heck, 1TB with new 500'ers) then I can understand tolerating the disadvantages. Otherwise, why bother?

slaponte

07-22-2005, 03:06 PM

Ashu has some points. A replacement 300Gb (can be had for $99 or $119 abouts) will fit right on the OEM spot, no extra cables or plugs. It is fairly trivial to copy the 80Gb to the 300, install a few screws and I tell you 300Gb is a lot of space.

rkester

07-22-2005, 04:25 PM

Plus, the drive you are replacing is good to use in your compupu so its not all wasted hardware. (plus it doesnt hurt to replace it since it does get used pretty heavily and does eventually wear out)

Thinking about putting a 200 - 300 in my humax unit maybe too... i keep alot of stuff on it until i get enough to fill a DVD, so its always a worry to me that im pushing the HDs size limits.

slaponte

07-22-2005, 04:51 PM

Replacement is very straight forward. You backup the 80 and restore into the 300 expanding to use the space in one move. You then fix the swap, and you are done. 2 commands lines do it. I did mine when it was mostly empty so it all went very very fast.

Install the 300 into the Humax is about 6 screws, put back the cover, go boot.

ashu

07-22-2005, 06:16 PM

My Humax 80Gigger was over 70% full, and took under 7 hours (overnight) to copy with the one-step backup-and-expand-swap-while-retaining-recordings mfs commands piped together

The 80 now adorns my external USB/Firewire case and is used to make backups etc. Adequately fast!

ReefRaff

07-30-2005, 06:10 PM

Ok I took your advice and installed a Maxtor 300 gig ata/133 ultra16. Everything seemed to go ok using the command line

mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hdc | mfsrestore -s 127 -xzpi - /dev/hda

Put the drive back and booted up. all was fine last night.

Now (today) when I watch live tv I get a pausing, or jerking going on. when I watch a recorded show it seems ok, just live tv. almost like it keeps searching the drive.

I used the same procedure above on my toshiba shd400 with a 300 gig seagate, and all is perfect.

Did I not do the disk copy right? no errors and it gave me a sucsses message at the end.

Any Ideas?

ReefRaff

07-30-2005, 08:44 PM

Update: I installed the 80 pin cable with no differance. It seems more that when im on live tv, it pauses and backs up down the 30 min worth of video by itself. I can jump to the end after awhile at it plays ok for a min, then starts to back up again.

does this sound like a software issue?

slaponte

07-31-2005, 07:08 PM

ReefRaff

08-01-2005, 06:40 AM

I have not read about this behaviour until now.

Your command looks good except : 127Mb is not enough swap for a 300. You need about 1/2 MB per Gb, so you need about -s 150.

But then... any swap larger than 127 does not get initialized properly by mfstools, so you need to use tpip to fix it.

So you would have to

mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hdc | mfsrestore -s 150 -r 4 -xzpi - /dev/hda

For tpip version 1.1 then : tpip -swappwd -s /dev/hda
For tpip version 1.2 then : tpip -s -1 /dev/hda

You can get tpip pn the PVT CD image or from the web site LATEST TPIP (http://www.courtesan.com/tivo/tpip.html) which would be version 1.2.

What I did was I copied the tpip executable (thats the file just called "tpip" to the fat32 drive somewhere and that way I had it available to use.

Hope all this helps. BTW, the -s 150 is an estimate. ANother estimate I have heard is -s 192. I would sugest you go with the 192, is little space to pay to make sure you don't run out of swap.

This is good stuff to know. All I know about lunix is what i needed to know to upgrade my tivos drive space, and had not had a clue on what the 127 was for.

I (per another suggestion) swapped out the maxtor 300 for a seagate 300. and with the same command, (127) did my backup the the seagate and all appears to work perfect.

I tried the instant cake cd and it left me without a tivo service #, and therefor couldn't record anything. so i took the drive back out again and did a disk copy and all is ok now.

If something go's wrong or stops working properly i'll definatly get ahold of ya.

Thanks to all.

slaponte

08-01-2005, 10:22 AM

I am glad things worked out! :)

ReefRaff

08-01-2005, 05:30 PM

not any more. I think i shut it down while it was updating this morning and it just keeps booting up. So I reinstalled the orig a drive and it works fine. so now I am going to do a fast option backup, test it, then just add the the 300 as a second drive.

I will also have a chance to increase swap file.
I will also be using mfstools, so wish me luck

TivoBrian

08-02-2005, 08:40 PM

I tried the instant cake cd and it left me without a tivo service #, and therefor couldn't record anything. so i took the drive back out again and did a disk copy and all is ok now.

?!!

I was planning on using InstantCake to upgrade my new Humax DVD/TiVo within the next couple of months.

Did you contact the PTV upgrade people to let them know about this? If so, what was their response?

Thanks -- looking forward to hearing your reply!

--Brian

ReefRaff

08-02-2005, 10:51 PM

I will and see if I can get an answer. I ended up finaly doing the fast option backup and restore, with the msftools disk with large drive support from weaknees.

slaponte

08-03-2005, 11:13 AM

The Weakness ISO is the one I use for my work. Only thing is you might need TPIP depending on the size of the drive. You can download and copy tpip to your fat32 drive or to a floppy to solve this.

You only need tpip if the swap will be > 127MB.

You only need a swap bigger than 127Mb when your total disk space (A or A+B) is > 250Mb.

Swap should be about 1MB for every 2Gb of disk space. So 300Gb need 150Mb of swap.

ReefRaff

08-03-2005, 06:22 PM

I talked to PTV, and He said it looked like I skiped the last part. the clear evrything and delete part. which I did. LOL

It went right to guided setup, and I thought to myself, It must have skiped that part on it's own. apparently this is normal

could you breifly explain what a swap file is, and what it's purpose is?

Tim.

TivoBrian

08-04-2005, 01:25 AM

The Weakness ISO is the one I use for my work. Only thing is you might need TPIP depending on the size of the drive. You can download and copy tpip to your fat32 drive or to a floppy to solve this.

Slaponte:
So the "Weaknees" ISO is NOT the same as the PTVUpgrade "Instant Cake" CD? Are there advantages to one over the other? Does "Instant Cake" take care of doing "tpip" if I decide to go with a 300 mb drive?

ReefRaff:
So, your TiVo booted up straight into Guided Setup when you booted the new drive for the first time? Do you have to fumble your way through it to get to the "clear everything and delete" item, then take off with a fresh guided setup on the next boot? Seems to me like there's a lot of "guided setup" stuff to get through before you can get to the "Now Playing" menu so you can proceed to the "clear and delete everything" option. BUT, it's been a while since I last went through a guided setup.

Thanks in advance for your comments!!

--Brian

slaponte

08-04-2005, 11:09 AM

could you breifly explain what a swap file is, and what it's purpose is?

Tim.

I think we might want to take these conversations to the Upgrades forums. There are lots of threads there with valuable info. I will answer a little here. :)

SWAP space is a certain amount of disk space that the operating system on your Tivo (linux) uses to temporarily move things in and out of memory. When the Tivo is doing things sometimes the data involved doesn't fit in memory, so the OS has a complex way to decided what stuff to move in and out. All this is of no consequence to you.

Why is SWAP important then? If your Tivo crashes for some reason (power outage, etc) when it reboots it checks your disk to make sure everything is ok. This process that checks your disk is big, and it starts taking memory. The bigger the disk, the more memory it needs. If you run out of space in memory, you use SWAP. If you run out of swap.... :eek: This produces the dreader Green Screen of Death (GSOD).

If this happens to you due to lack of swap, the solution is extremely complex, and you will most likely loose all your recordings.

So, to avoid this, you should add SWAP when you add a larger HD, so that you avoid GSOD. See? Now you speak the Tivo lingo! :p

How much swap? 1MB for every 2GB of total space. So a 300Gb drive needs 150MB of swap. If you ADD the 300 to your existing 40, you have 340Gb so you need 170Mb of swap. Simple.

slaponte

08-04-2005, 11:14 AM

Slaponte:
So the "Weaknees" ISO is NOT the same as the PTVUpgrade "Instant Cake" CD? Are there advantages to one over the other? Does "Instant Cake" take care of doing "tpip" if I decide to go with a 300 mb drive?

No, the Weaknees ISO CD is NOT the same as Instant Cake. There are many ISO images around and some of them are quite old and might or might not work with your particular model, etc. For my S2 and my Humax the Weaknees one has worked fine.

The Weaknees CD boots, and sits there. It expects you to know the commands you will use for what you are trying to do. It is "dumm", in that it knows nothing of what you are doing. It is only a boot CD that gives you a prompt for you to decide what to do.

Instant Cake is a CD that boots and runs a program that guides you through the process. So it is better if you are not sure or don't know much about PC internals, Linux, etc. It also has a distinct advantage : it includes "virgin" images of most Tivos, so if your only disk died, this is a way to get a new disk up and running.

I am not sure if Instant Cake addresses the issue of swap. I have never used it.

ReefRaff:
So, your TiVo booted up straight into Guided Setup when you booted the new drive for the first time? Do you have to fumble your way through it to get to the "clear everything and delete" item, then take off with a fresh guided setup on the next boot? Seems to me like there's a lot of "guided setup" stuff to get through before you can get to the "Now Playing" menu so you can proceed to the "clear and delete everything" option. BUT, it's been a while since I last went through a guided setup.

Thanks in advance for your comments!!

--Brian

C&D is only needed on some situations, not all. I added 300Gb to my Humax and to another S2 stand alone and never had to do a C&D.

slaponte

08-04-2005, 11:19 AM

I STAND CORRECTED : Instant Cake WILL NOT copy your recordings. It only creates original (empty) drives. So it is only good if

- You OEM drive dies and you don't have a backup image

- You want to install a bigger drive but don't want to mess with IDE, PCs and MFS Tools.

If you wan tto add a drive or copy your stuff, you have to go the long way. :(

maddwaine

08-04-2005, 07:56 PM

Do you have an image for the drt800? my drive failed.

maddwaine

08-04-2005, 07:59 PM

Maxtor makes a drive called a Quickview, it is a 5400 rpm drive for the tivos. A lirrle more costly. The best price was on newegg.

ReefRaff

08-05-2005, 08:19 AM

ReefRaff:
So, your TiVo booted up straight into Guided Setup when you booted the new drive for the first time? Do you have to fumble your way through it to get to the "clear everything and delete" item, then take off with a fresh guided setup on the next boot? Seems to me like there's a lot of "guided setup" stuff to get through before you can get to the "Now Playing" menu so you can proceed to the "clear and delete everything" option. BUT, it's been a while since I last went through a guided setup.

Yes you have to go thru it twice it seems. hence the reason i was confused.

I think we might want to take these conversations to the Upgrades forums. There are lots of threads there with valuable info. I will answer a little here.

I am sorry I will start a new thread on swap, as I have a few more questions.

Tim.

Motty

08-07-2005, 07:29 AM

Figured I'd post this here, since it is a Humax DTR800...

Originally, I replaced my 80 Gig with a 160 Gig...drive is going bad and do not have the original...want to copy to a 200Gig drive with all shows still there...tried Weaknees and PTV with the following command...

mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hda (new 200G drive) | msfrestore -s 127 -r 4 -xzpi - /dev/hdb (Tivo 160G drive)

tells me that the target is not large enough...

heck at this point, I'd like to at least get a backup without any shows...

help?

ReefRaff

08-07-2005, 09:07 AM

I think you have it backwards.

with new 200 hooked to primary master, and the old 160 hooked to primary slave, as you have it listed above. hda primary master, and hdb primary slave. It should be...

mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hdb (old 160G drive) | msfrestore -s 127 -r 4 -xzpi - /dev/hda (Tivo new 200G drive)

notice the a & b are reversed in the origanal command. you want to backup your old drive and restor to your new. your command was doing the oposite.

clear as mud eh? LOL

Good luck.

that should work fine. If worse comes to worse. I have my origanal Humax A drive, and can set up your disk if you need it. you pay shipping. but you shouldn't have any problems with that command.

Motty

08-07-2005, 09:59 AM

Same thing...backup target is not large enough for the entire backup by itself...

Makes no sense... :confused:

ReefRaff

08-07-2005, 10:05 AM

when you boot the boot disk. Page up and verify that the 200 drive is being read as the correct size. (shift+page up) perhaps as much as 6 pages up. are you using the correct boot disk for large drive support?

ReefRaff

08-07-2005, 10:08 AM

also try taking the - r 4 out

msfrestore -s 127 -xzpi - /dev/hda

Motty

08-07-2005, 10:25 AM

It reports the size as correct...and I have used both Weaknees and PTV's CDs, with no luck...

removed the -r 4...no difference...

Motty

08-07-2005, 02:23 PM

I deleted a large portion of programs and it still does the same thing...so I guess I'm beat...

Anyone have an image that I can get my hands on?

Thanks!

meglet

08-07-2005, 04:16 PM

The problem is that you're trying to upgrade an upgraded drive. This is not possible, as I learned the hard way with my DirecTivo. And when you find an image and install it, remember you have to "Clear & Delete Everything" so it will pick up the correct service number.

ReefRaff

08-07-2005, 04:30 PM

PTV sells a ISO image (instantcake) for your recorder. here (http://downloads.ptvupgrade.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=ICAKE-S2SA&Category_Code=)

ReefRaff

08-07-2005, 04:38 PM

IF I could figure out how to get My backup on my windows sata drive i could send it to ya. im not sure what the copy comand would be tho

ReefRaff

08-07-2005, 04:59 PM

ok. I have your image. It is 543 megabytes. how would you like me to send that?

ctrl-alt-del

09-27-2005, 08:48 PM

okay, so when was 7.2 released? I just noticed it today!

azitnay

09-27-2005, 09:19 PM

August 22:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=255845

Drew

ctrl-alt-del

09-27-2005, 11:17 PM

Thanks. I suppose I'm just very late. :)

BigDog9721

09-28-2005, 12:37 AM

BigDog9721

09-28-2005, 08:48 AM

You can provide your own hard drive to Weaknees and they will do everything for $95...

azitnay

09-28-2005, 09:02 AM

I'm all for a Humax Forum... just let me know!

By the way, I hooked my DRT800 to my comcast digital cablebox and really don't like the IR feature using the IR control cable versus the serial control cable... any ideas ourt there?

Drop digital cable. No-box cable works great, and do you really need all those extra channels once you have TiVo? :)

Drew

Hank

09-28-2005, 09:06 AM

Is anything ever going to be done about the slow-as-molasses user interface on the HUMAX DTR800? I've gotten used to it, but was at my parents house this weekend, and they have a Series 1 SA tivo I gave them years ago, and the UI is as fast as can be, and I realized just how laggardly slow the HUMAX is. And it seems to be getting worse (slower). Doing a FF-FF-FF doesn't register the second or third FF, and sometimes it registers an extra one. Very frustrating. I've had this thing for almost a year now, and I thought it was just software version issue that would be fixed... no such luck.

ctrl-alt-del

09-28-2005, 09:43 AM

Hank

09-28-2005, 09:45 AM

Hank, that's interesting because I just noticed the slowness and I don't recall it being that slow before. I thought it was because the batteries on the controller were just going dead, but perhaps it was from the software update??

Oh yeah.. just scrolling down one line at a time in the channel guide takes forever.. at least a full second delay between each line.

miketx

09-28-2005, 02:19 PM

Question: Are the DRT400 and DRT800 identical, except for the HD size (40g vs. 80g)? I just purchased a DRT400 and upgraded the HD to 300g. I ordered the HD online and received a DRT800 image on it, so my system info now says "DRT800". It seems to work fine and I got the 7.2 SW update last night, but it seems strange to see "DRT800" on my system information.

azitnay

09-28-2005, 04:15 PM

Yes, they're identical, in the sense that you can use an image from one on the other without any harm.

I wouldn't lose too much sleep over the fact that it displays the wrong unit in System Information... I'm sure that's just baked into the software.

Drew

BigDog9721

09-29-2005, 01:47 PM

Drop digital cable. No-box cable works great, and do you really need all those extra channels once you have TiVo? :)

Drew

Does the Humax DRT receive all the cable channels without the Comcast Digital Receiver? including premium channels like HBO...etc? I thought you needed the Cable Box for that specific reason.

azitnay

09-29-2005, 01:54 PM

No, it can't... Hence why I asked, "do you really need all those extra channels once you have TiVo?" :).

Actually, I do have the ability to receive the original Showtime and HBO channels straight off the wire (not the other umpteen Showtimes and HBO's that simply replay all the crap over and over again, of course), but that's just because us DC residents are special.

Drew

BigDog9721

09-29-2005, 07:03 PM

So back to the IR hookups... any work arounds?

Stout

09-30-2005, 12:36 AM

Hello all, very happy w/ the Humax... Now!!!

This is what I am trying to do... Upgrading to 2 200GB HDD's Seagates.

[UR.=XXX,xxx But go this...

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Post #263001

Connecting the two new drives to Master and Slave w/ same 80-pin IDE cable...

Any other ideas?

Tks alot

azitnay

09-30-2005, 10:29 AM

Your post was a bit confusing... If it possible to upgrade a Humax unit to two hard drives, but there's no standard bracket you can buy to mount them inside the case. You'll have to come up with your own solution.

Drew

ReefRaff

09-30-2005, 12:38 PM

It can be done, but you will need some "standoffs" to mount the second hard drive. the HD should be placed paralell, along the back of the unit between the DVD and the back panle. The connector would face the rt rear corner of the unit. A-drive set to master and B-drive set to slave with a 80 pin cable.

Now, for the standoffs. I used to have a acrylic case for my computer and it had these 3/4 to 1" long brass standoffs, available in a hardware kit. I just happen to have extras. and I could mail you some. Pm me if interested. The standoffs have male threads that screw into the hard drive and female threads at the opposite end. you would need to drill holes in the rear wall to attach it with some screws. which i have also. If you wish to have a ton of xtra hardware for your collection. the kit id 15.00 bucks and listed Here. (http://www.xoxide.com/acrylic-case-hardware-kit-un-ass.html) You can see the standoffs in a baggie underneath the rt lower corner of the I/O plate. Alot of the hardware you wouldn't need, but there is a ton of usable items. screws and what not. in either case let me know if you just want a few items and good luck.