Networking the Humax 7500T

Started by acem8, June 28, 2012, 02:52:43 PM

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acem8

Firstly, what a great piece of kit. I bought this to replace man aging Homecast HT8000 PVR at Christmas (features similar but didn't support Ice TV). Now I want to take it a bit further which coincides with a necesary investment in new kit and the building of a media room directly below our current living area. I have been researching this for days and to be honest I have got a headache!

So I currently have;

Humax connected to Samsung 51" TV (not Smart TV) in living area.
3 yo Homecast HT8000 connected to Samsung 59" plasma (Smart TV - DLNA networked) in media room below.

There are 5 things I would like but I doubt there is a simple way of getting all of them;

1) To be able to view recordings from Humax downstairs and potentially Homecast upstairs.
2) View (and maybe also save downloads) of overseas internet based TV like BBC iPlayer. It would also be great to be able to view these downloads upstairs.
3) Be able to view all our photos on either TV.
4) To be able to play music through either stereo without turning the TV on ie. control from iPhone or iPad.
5) Transfer recordings to iPad when I go travelling - I think this is optimistic given Apple want you to buy/rent everything from iTunes. I have an old Archos unit I can use for this but requires playing things in real time to record onto Archos.

So here are the options;

1) We could do with a new PC or Mac Mini - I'm sure this could do most things but it is not the cheapest option and we won't use it for anything else as I have a work laptop.
2) Connect the Humax and Homecast by USB or ethernet - I will try this later but would be surprised if they talk to each other.
3) View Humax through Samsung Allshare. I tried this and it would see all the recordings but not play them - file type not supported. From what I have read the files only become decrypted when you copy to an external drive.
4) WD TV Live - Plex seem to have adopted this device.
5) Apple TV with either Plex or XBMC installed - the Humax guys in UK seem to have got this to work.
6) A DLNA compatible NAS which can connect to Humax via USB then transfer content by network to other DLNA devices.

Has anyone else been down this road recently? The last thing I want to do is buy the kit thinking it will be compatible but soon realise it isn't.



swamprat96

#1
QuoteFirstly, what a great piece of kit. I bought this to replace man aging Homecast HT8000 PVR at Christmas (features similar but didn't support Ice TV). Now I want to take it a bit further which coincides with a necesary investment in new kit and the building of a media room directly below our current living area. I have been researching this for days and to be honest I have got a headache!

So I currently have;

Humax connected to Samsung 51" TV (not Smart TV) in living area.
3 yo Homecast HT8000 connected to Samsung 59" plasma (Smart TV - DLNA networked) in media room below.

There are 5 things I would like but I doubt there is a simple way of getting all of them;

1) To be able to view recordings from Humax downstairs and potentially Homecast upstairs.
2) View (and maybe also save downloads) of overseas internet based TV like BBC iPlayer. It would also be great to be able to view these downloads upstairs.
3) Be able to view all our photos on either TV.
4) To be able to play music through either stereo without turning the TV on ie. control from iPhone or iPad.
5) Transfer recordings to iPad when I go travelling - I think this is optimistic given Apple want you to buy/rent everything from iTunes. I have an old Archos unit I can use for this but requires playing things in real time to record onto Archos.

So here are the options;

1) We could do with a new PC or Mac Mini - I'm sure this could do most things but it is not the cheapest option and we won't use it for anything else as I have a work laptop.
2) Connect the Humax and Homecast by USB or ethernet - I will try this later but would be surprised if they talk to each other.
3) View Humax through Samsung Allshare. I tried this and it would see all the recordings but not play them - file type not supported. From what I have read the files only become decrypted when you copy to an external drive.
4) WD TV Live - Plex seem to have adopted this device.
5) Apple TV with either Plex or XBMC installed - the Humax guys in UK seem to have got this to work.
6) A DLNA compatible NAS which can connect to Humax via USB then transfer content by network to other DLNA devices.

Has anyone else been down this road recently? The last thing I want to do is buy the kit thinking it will be compatible but soon realise it isn't.

Wow thats a lot of questions. I can't answer them all but can do some:

1) We could do with a new PC or Mac Mini - I'm sure this could do most things but it is not the cheapest option and we won't use it for anything else as I have a work laptop. This is the only solution for BBC
2) Connect the Humax and Homecast by USB or ethernet - I will try this later but would be surprised if they talk to each other. No they won't. Humax is DLNA only and the only other transport is by FTP
3) View Humax through Samsung Allshare. I tried this and it would see all the recordings but not play them - file type not supported. From what I have read the files only become decrypted when you copy to an external drive. The files ar transport stream (TS). I haven't done this but it should work if the tv supports TS files
4 and 5 dunno
6) Transfer to and from the humax is via FTP ONLY. DLNA only supports streaming

acem8

Thanks for the assistance but I am still not clear on what it can and can't do. Am I understanding the following correctly;

DLNA - This only streams photos music and videos to/from PC and other DLNA devices. It does not stream the recordings made on the Humax. Hence the reason my Samsung TV could see the recordings via Allshare but would not play the files.

FTP - A method of copying recordings over the network but the files are encrpted so need to be processed at the other end before they become useful.

USB transfer - If you copy recordings to a thumb drive or usb HDD then the standard def recordings are unencrypted but hi def are. If you then copy them back to the Humax HDD you can FTP them to the network and they are unencrypted. The guys in the UK have custom firmware on their machines to trick the files into thinking they have been through this process.

I didn't have time to have a play around with things this weekend but I will update my findings here when I do.


swamprat96

It does not stream the recordings made on the Humax. The Humax should stream ok but I haven't tried it. Its a DLNA server though so should work
FTP - A method of copying recordings over the network but the files are encrpted so need to be processed at the other end before they become useful.. Correct
USB- if you have the latest firmware this should not encrypt

acem8

I have had a play aroound without much luck so far. I tried to boot up my old Homecast HT8000 PVR but it wouldn't display anything. This happened before when we moved house but I opened it up and sprayed some alcohol spray and cleaned all the boards with a new paint brush. It gave another 18 months service until I bought the Humax. I will try that again.

I copied some SD recordings onto a USB and plugged it into the new Samsung 59D6900. It could see the recordings but would not play them despite it saying on the Samsung website that they support MPEG2 TS files. I plugged it into my laptop and WMP played it staright away.

So it looks like I am down to 3 options (in order of expense);

1) Individually copy recordings to USB drive and plug into Mac mini or similar HTPC downstairs periodically. A bit of a pain to be honest.
2) Use a powered splitter to split the HDMI out from the Humax and send it downstairs via 8m HDMI cable. Not ideal if someone is watching the box upstairs and it would also require an IR extender as I don't fancy sitting through the adverts.
3) Buy another Humax 7500T and connect by FTP. In the UK there was a non PVR box available and the recordings come through unencrpted. Expensive and potentially risky if it doesn't work. Also the ICE TV lifetime can only be used on 1 box.

I am thinking either a combination of 1 and 2. I may find that in the next few years more and more content will be available on the internet.

Doctor Whatuwant

Quote from: acem8 on July 02, 2012, 09:19:46 AM
USB transfer - If you copy recordings to a thumb drive or usb HDD then the standard def recordings are unencrypted but hi def are. If you then copy them back to the Humax HDD you can FTP them to the network and they are unencrypted. The guys in the UK have custom firmware on their machines to trick the files into thinking they have been through this process.

Hello all. I've just acquired a 7500 and have been playing around with file transfer also. Tried transferring an 8 GB file to an empty 15 GB thumb drive, formatted in ext3. About 2/3 through it comes up with 'not enough space on the drive'? The Humax menu show the thumb drive still has 6GB available.
Also, do you have to copy all the relevant files or just the .ts file? Can you FTP straight from the thumb drive or do you have to copy it back?

Thanks.

Dr.

Dave at IceTV

Quote from: Doctor Whatuwant on July 23, 2012, 12:52:29 PM
Tried transferring an 8 GB file to an empty 15 GB thumb drive, formatted in ext3. About 2/3 through it comes up with 'not enough space on the drive'? The Humax menu show the thumb drive still has 6GB available.
15GB usable from a 16GB drive is normal, but 15GB minus 6GB remaining leaves 9GB used... from an 8GB file that stopped after transferring about 2/3. You seem to have lost 3 or 4 GB.

For Ext2 and Ext3 the maximum individual file size can be from 16 GB to 2 TB (depending on block size). if you had used a FAT32 USB drive the Humax would have stopped transferring at 8GB.

Quote from: Doctor Whatuwant on July 23, 2012, 12:52:29 PM
Also, do you have to copy all the relevant files or just the .ts file?
Depends what you intend to do with the files. If you want to be able put them back on the Humax internal drive you should copy all of the files with the same name. The same for if you want the Humax to play them off a USB drive and remember the resume point, any bookmarks and the program's description etc.

If you only want the video file for DLNA playback or video editing then you only need the .ts file.

Quote from: Doctor Whatuwant on July 23, 2012, 12:52:29 PM
Can you FTP straight from the thumb drive or do you have to copy it back?
Yes, you can FTP direct from the USB drive. Via FTP you can see both the Humax internal HDD and any attached USB drives.
cheers

Dave
Customer Service

Doctor Whatuwant

#7
Hello Dave, thanks for the reply. I think I can put the 'not enough disc space' down to a Humax quirk. I discovered that my file did in fact transfer in full. Instead of bringing up a message saying 'copy complete' or similar, it brings up the 'not enough disc space' message. I've now seen a few references to this on UK sites. Not something you would notice unless watching the screen at the time.

Cheers.

ActionFlash

Not sure if my experience will help, but I'll list it below just in case:

I set the Humax up last night and connected to my network via wifi. The Humax connected to my NAS fine (Western Digital My Book World) and streamed videos over DLNA with no issues (haven't checked all file formats and encodes yet though). I also used Windows Media Player to connect to the Humax and try and watch a recorded show, but it just stuttered and was unwatchable. Tried via VLC and it worked fine. I also found an easy way of downloading the recordings...

Find the video via Windows Media Player, right click it and select Properties. At the bottom it will have a URL, copy the entire address and paste it into the URL bar in Google Chrome (didn't try any other browser) and Chrome will automatically download the .ts file to your machine. I then tested playing this back in WMP and it played fine.

I also tried watching the recording on my Google Nexus 7 tablet. To get this working I used the "MediaHouse UPnP / DLNA Browser" app along with MX Player. The MediaHouse app sees the Humax and can stream the recording with no issues.

I still need to test some HD recordings, maybe SBS HD or One as I am doing all this over an 802.11g network.