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hifi_dave
27-06-2012, 19:08
We have had three Humax HD digi-boxes this year - so far and a few last year.

Each time there's a transmitter change/upgrade, the box starts to break up and skip on playback. John Lewis have changed them each time, so it's not a major problem but I would be interested to know what is happening.

Any ideas ?

DSJR
27-06-2012, 20:33
We still have a Humax Fox-T digibox and I just re-tuned it this morning. Works fine and is more sensitive than the other cheapo boxes in the house.

hifi_dave
18-07-2012, 18:59
Since my original post, we have exchanged our digibox three times and each time have had tuning problems. The Humax does the initial installation and tune but then a minute after asks to be re-tuned. That plus they skip on playback.

John Lewis have replaced them each time and today gave us a refund plus lunch on them but it does make me wonder just how many Humax purchasers are having trouble. We can't be the only ones.

It reminds me of the early days of Home Cinems when the £5K DVD players and processors were continually playing up and requiring factory upgrades every time a new film came out.

Is technology moving too fast for these companies to keep up ?

DSJR
18-07-2012, 19:40
Are you absolutely sure it's not the aerial and cables guv'nor? We were made digital only last Autumn and have had to re-tune twice since, the signal improving in strength each time (we're on the fringe of everything here ;)) We bought our multi-element aerial with us and had it fitted a few years ago, together with a distribution amp in the loft. There was already a crude FM aerial there and these work well for me, the tuner being fed from the weakest plumbed-in cable with a good signal on the main stations here)

hifi_dave
18-07-2012, 20:33
It's a newish aerial with an amp IIRC. It feeds 3 tvs without trouble, the problems occur only with the digibox in circuit.

The digibox we had previously ( 4 back) worked without a hitch for 5 months or so but only gave trouble when re-tuned. Two of these have had problems such as showing a green screen and not responding to commands in addition to the constant "re-tune" messages.

The nice lady in John Lewis service dept, said "we have a lot of these returned" but the sales staff say the opposite.

Anyway, we have given up for the time being in the hope that the box will catch up with the technology.

Stratmangler
18-07-2012, 22:28
Chances are that there is nothing wrong with the hardware in the boxes, but you might well find that the boxes need firmware updates.

DSJR
19-07-2012, 07:49
I'm sure our old Fox-T box checked for firmware updates either automatically, or at the same time as a first-time installation.

That's a thought - when re-tuning, it's recommended that one does a "First Time" installation, not "Add Channels" kind of re-tune. It means you have to check and reset all the other things (ours defaults to 4:3 screen for instance).

John Lewis are wonderful for after sales care and I'm sure they may be able to recommend a reliable, easy to use alternative at some point soon. I believe we have one finally coming to Ipswich at last? What east Anglia now needs is an IKEA!

hifi_dave
19-07-2012, 12:54
We learnt, ten boxes back, to go back to 'factory default' every time. Pain in the ass but it worked for a while. Lately, the boxes just don't work at all and the last 3 or 4 have been the very latest, all singing, all dancing 1 terabyte versions, so they should be OK...:scratch:

As I said, John Lewis service dept did remark that they get a lot of returns, so something is wrong but it's way beyond my expertise - there are no valves in the box !!!