freeview pvr video recorder systems - hdd or usb ?

[jackdaww]

.

we have long had humax pvrs and found them fine .

however now need another and wonder which is best .

i see that some now just record direct to a usb , which can be swapped to another , so then have a selection of usb's to choose from .

we still need at least 2 tuners for multiple recording.

also needs to be compatible with the humax system which is TS transport stream .

any views and experiences welcome .

many thanks .

[DrFfybes]

Can you use SSD?

I've found USBs can be prone to failure, loss, vaccuum cleaners, dogs, and not being labelled correctly, so unless you have a burning desire to move your recordings from box to box, I would avoid them.

Paul

[jackdaww]

Can you use SSD?

I've found USBs can be prone to failure, loss, vaccuum cleaners, dogs, and not being labelled correctly, so unless you have a burning desire to move your recordings from box to box, I would avoid them.

Paul

thanks

i would use ssd if it will plug into the pvr .

ps. ive found usb's fine so far.

[Infrasonic]

USB flash drives are cheap because they aren't really 'robust' - specifically the writes side of the equation to cheap NAND.

If you want something to continually write to then a decent SSD/HDD in a USB case or with an adaptor lead (USB to SATA) would be a better bet.

Check what file formatting you'll need for the Humax and any other newer boxes.

I'd imagine the Humax is some sort of custom Linux OS so probably uses ext3/4 but they might also read other formats like FAT/exFAT. (Many modern USB drives will come pre-formatted as exFAT.)
Are there any custom disk encryption issues to deal with (for copyright/IP reasons)? If so then using drives across different hardware platforms might prove problematic.
Check the specific user forums for the nitty gritty to avoid frustrations later on...

[Breelander]

we have long had humax pvrs and found them fine .
however now need another and wonder which is best.
i see that some now just record direct to a usb , which can be swapped to another , so then have a selection of usb's to choose from...

You will have trouble playing HD recordings made on one pvr in another. SD recordings should be fine, but HD recordings are encrypted. Any pvr can decrypt its own recordings for playback, but you cannot take the .TS file and play it back anywhere else, on a pvr or a PC. If you really need to do that, then you'd have to flash the firmware of your pvr with one of the unofficial hacks available, it will then store HD recordings unencrypted. This of course will invalidate any guarantee on your new pvr.

My own Freeview pvr can export the .TS recordings to a usb which I can then play on my PC. I can only do that for SD recordings.

....also needs to be compatible with the humax system which is TS transport stream....

The TS standard is what is actually being broadcast on Freeview or Freesat. All pvrs just record the data stream direct and unmodified to a .TS file on their storage.

[Hallucigenia]

I'd imagine the Humax is some sort of custom Linux OS so probably uses ext3/4 but they might also read other formats like FAT/exFAT. (Many modern USB drives will come pre-formatted as exFAT.)

I'd assume the vast majority will support FAT as its the consumer norm. Certainly my ancient Sagecom SD PVR supports FAT. It can export from the HD to USB and the .TS files play just fine on my PC with VLC etc - there's also a matching .vdbsag file with programme information.

One thing to watch out for when relying on a USB as the primary recording medium is minimum disk sizes - I thought I'd be able to junk my PVR when I got my new Philips TV which has a USB socket but a minimum of something like 250GB for direct recording disks (and I don't like the EPG as much as my old one, so I was happy to just stick with the SD PVR for most things other than eg sport and movie night rather than buy a new disk). A typical hour of SD works out at around 1.5GB, I think HD is about 4x that?

[Infrasonic]

One of the reasons exFAT is common as the default file system these days is because of the 4GB file size limit with FAT32.
As video resolution has marched on so file sizes have increased...

There's a good explainer of file systems here...https://www.easeus.com/diskmanager/file-system.html

I actually use this software for free on my W10 box to format USB SSD's / flash drives et al as required...https://www.partitionwizard.com/free-pa ... nager.html

If you buy a bigger drive you can multi partition it and put a different file system on each partition, maximising its potential use with multiple OS'.
It might make sense to have the first partition FAT just in case there are any multi partition issues for an older OS.

I have a 500GB Samsung T5 USB SSD multipartitioned/file systemed (FAT32/exFAT/NTFS/EXT4) so I can use it with Windows/Linux/Android phone (+ a free Android exFAT/NTFS reader app. from Paragon Software). Journaled file systems like NTFS/EXT* can be good for external synchronised OS/file backups on their native OS'.

[jackdaww]

we have long had humax pvrs and found them fine .
however now need another and wonder which is best.
i see that some now just record direct to a usb , which can be swapped to another , so then have a selection of usb's to choose from...

You will have trouble playing HD recordings made on one pvr in another. SD recordings should be fine, but HD recordings are encrypted. Any pvr can decrypt its own recordings for playback, but you cannot take the .TS file and play it back anywhere else, on a pvr or a PC. If you really need to do that, then you'd have to flash the firmware of your pvr with one of the unofficial hacks available, it will then store HD recordings unencrypted. This of course will invalidate any guarantee on your new pvr.

My own Freeview pvr can export the .TS recordings to a usb which I can then play on my PC. I can only do that for SD recordings.

....also needs to be compatible with the humax system which is TS transport stream....

The TS standard is what is actually being broadcast on Freeview or Freesat. All pvrs just record the data stream direct and unmodified to a .TS file on their storage.

============

bree many thanks

i only do SD recordings , and i am hoping the recordings i have copied to usb from my humax foxt2 will play on later humax ie fvp 5000t .

[Breelander]

....i only do SD recordings , and i am hoping the recordings i have copied to usb from my humax foxt2 will play on later humax ie fvp 5000t .

That should work fine....

[Ma1co1m]

Jackdaww

We had a Fox2 which died earlier this year. We got a 5000t and it's OK. Recordings taken from the Fox via USB definitely work on the 5000t.

Be warned that you can't put recordings into folders on the 5000t like you can on the Fox, you just end up with one long list of recordings - if that's a facility you currently use you might consider it a deal-breaker, I certainly wish I'd known before I bought it

ma1co1m

[jackdaww]

.
many thanks for responses - its very helpful.

i have since aquired a humax FVP-5000t .

it works fine and has 3 tuners , but its DREADFUL to use .

wheras our previous humax's had clear and simple displays , this one seems to be a deliberate obstacle course .

i am now looking at MANHATTAN T3-R Freeview Play Smart 4K Ultra HD Digital TV Recorder - 1 TB .

it sounds ok with good reviews , but i dont know if the recording format is TS transport stream , for compatiblity with my humax recordings .

DAK this manhattan ?

many thanks again .

[jackdaww]

.

have since found that the manhattan USB cant be used to up/down load programs , its only for software updates .

the big problem with the fvp-5000t is there is no INFO button on the remote , so i cant find a simple way to bring up program info or even the current date and time .

[Infrasonic]

.

have since found that the manhattan USB cant be used to up/down load programs , its only for software updates .

the big problem with the fvp-5000t is there is no INFO button on the remote , so i cant find a simple way to bring up program info or even the current date and time .

Have you been through the manufacturers online user forums? There's normally a few people on those forums who know the products inside out, including how good/bad any firmware updates are (worth checking before downloading... ).

[kiloran]

.
the big problem with the fvp-5000t is there is no INFO button on the remote , so i cant find a simple way to bring up program info or even the current date and time .

Programme info is available but the implementation is not very good. The User Interface is far inferior to my Humax Freesat box.

If you want the info for the live programme you are currently watching, press OK, then press OK again
If you are looking at the TV Guide, select the programme with OK and you will see the info.
If you want the info for a recording, select the recording from the list of recorded programmes then press OK
I have not found any way to get the programme info while watching a recording, except by exiting from the playback

--kiloran

[jackdaww]

.
the big problem with the fvp-5000t is there is no INFO button on the remote , so i cant find a simple way to bring up program info or even the current date and time .

Programme info is available but the implementation is not very good. The User Interface is far inferior to my Humax Freesat box.

If you want the info for the live programme you are currently watching, press OK, then press OK again
If you are looking at the TV Guide, select the programme with OK and you will see the info.
If you want the info for a recording, select the recording from the list of recorded programmes then press OK
I have not found any way to get the programme info while watching a recording, except by exiting from the playback

--kiloran

=================================

great , thats really helpful .

i might even keep it now , as functionally it seems fine.

next thing i need to find out is how to download/upload recordings to a usb stick .