Copying from Humax HD digital PVR

[Peter Copestake]

Should it be possible to copy from our Humax PVR to an external hard drive via a USB cable or does one need to put programmes on a computer hard drive first? It looks as if it's going to work but then stops.
Sorry to have to ask here but Humax does not respond.
Thanks,
Peter.

[granfer]

I'm a TV Engineer, not a Computer Wizard, but my understanding of USB connections on Humax PVRs is that they are NOT for transferring Data. Your Instruction Book should clarify this; if there is no Instruction as to how to do it, it is not possible!
Certainly on mine it isn't; the USB socket has been included for "POSSIBLE future uses"

Output is Analogue via Scart. There is also an HDMI output for "upscaled" Digital.
If you have a Digital Capture card you may be able to use this... but don't quote me!

[Peter Copestake]

Thanks, Granfer. My book says - "USB port. Connect a USB storage device."

Peter.

[granfer]

Which model have you?

[Peter Copestake]

HDR-FOXT2 with, I think, 500Gig HD. Should be plenty of course but we do like to watch 'repeats' when we want to.
Peter.

[granfer]

My Humax is a Terrestrial model and not HD, so earlier comments are probably not valid.
Are you trying to record direct from the HD tuner onto an external hard drive? If so, there might be a clue in this review....
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/audio- ... cleContent

which contains the following words..
"Freeview HD receivers such as Humax's own HD-FOX T2 are great for watching subscription-free high definition TV but are no use when it comes to time shifting, as the copy protection police won't allow you to make HD recordings on to external devices such as a DVD recorder or PVR."

That tends to suggest also that you cannot use the Humax to record HD internally for later playback anyway; is that the case?
Martin

[Peter Copestake]

That tends to suggest also that you cannot use the Humax to record HD internally for later playback anyway; is that the case?

No, Martin, definitely not, tho' it takes up more room on HD so we always record SD to save space and if the programme is any good we do not notice any difference. The box is called an "HD Digital Recorder" - it's not just a set top box.

We weren't trying to record directly onto the external HD, but copying from the internal to an external.
The menu gives 'copy' as an option - an alternative to delete, for example - and there is 'move', too so you can put things in other folders but we just keep them in the folder it makes for itself if it is a series. I seemed to be able to copy one file across but it wasn't there when we looked for it again.

We expected to be able to copy but then to have to copy back to play, ie use it like a VCR. We occasionally watch taped programmes from years back. May try playing it onto a VCR. We still have some blank tapes!

Peter.

[Brian Saberton]

I have one of these boxes and I've had a look at the instruction book. It isn't very clear but on page 40 there is an option to copy a file to "another storage" so it might be worth trying it to see if it's possible to copy a programme out onto a USB stick.

[Peter Copestake]

Sorry to be a long time answering this, Brian. I have copied a 45 minute programme to a memory stick and played it back from this. I immediately tried again to repeat the process onto the external hard drive connected to the same socket to be told I couldn't do this because the file is NTFS.

Perhaps someone knows what the significance of this system is for an external HDD

Peter.

[TimStannard]

Peter, I suspect the message was that the file system is NTFS, not the file (though you may be correct and the message is the result of a poor translation).
NTFS is a file system - effectively a way in which files are organised on a disk (or other device). It was introduced with Windows NT and has certain advantages over other file systems, one of which is the maximum size of file and the maximum size of a partition and volume. But you don't really need to know that.
The only other file system commonly in use today on PC systems is FAT32 (if you must know Fle Allocation Table - 32 bit version)
I suspect that your USB stick is formatted to FAT and your PVR can write to FAT devices. Your hard disk is no doubt formatted to NTFS, which, the error suggests, can't be handled by your PVR.

Try this. Plug your external drive into your PC. Open "Computer/My Computer", right click on the device and ope "Properties". It will tell you how it is formatted. Do the same for the USB stick. This should prove my theory.

FAT32 unfortunately will support volumes up to a maximum of 32GB, so if your external hard drive is larer than that, in order to use it you will need to "re-partition" it into smaller volumes. I won't go into details here as you've probably decided by now that this is not a sensible solution.

The sensible solution is to copy the files onto memory sticks and from there, via your PC onto your external hard drive.

[Peter Copestake]

The sensible solution is to copy the files onto memory sticks and from there, via your PC onto your external hard drive.

I tried that, Tim, but didn't know how to open it on the computer, ie what programme to use.
Not Windows Media Player, I found. I was quite surprised the computer 'knew' what the contents of the file was. This process is well beyond my know-how. Thanks for the rest of the advice. A colleague says the max the PVR will allow is 4Gb
Peter.

[Chrisbitz]

The other issue (I think) with FAT32, is that it can't handle file sizes over 2gb, which are quite like likely on a PVR, I'd imagine?

I wonder if it was the other way, it was complaining because it WASN'T NTFS?

[TimStannard]

The other issue (I think) with FAT32, is that it can't handle file sizes over 2gb

Actually it's 4GB, Chris (FAT16 is 2GB - although some sources quote differently). This 4GB limit would coincide nicely with the comment from Peter's friend that the PVR has a max file size of 4GB.

So unless there are some incredible coincidences going on here I think we can conclude the PVR uses (and can only write to) files using the FAT32 file system.

[TimStannard]

I tried that, Tim, but didn't know how to open it on the computer, ie what programme to use.

Sorry, Peter, I'm not sure I understand. Which file at this stage are you tying to open - the file on the USB stick or on the hard drive? In other words are you trying to do the copy (from USB stick to external drive) or play the file? Or is it no longer an issue as you PC recognises what to do with the file?

[Peter Copestake]

I was trying to open the file on the USB stick on the computer I use for video editing so as to find out if I can make a DVD from it to keep for watching again as I used to do with VHS.

I could do this in real time to a DVD recorder or to a VHS recorder and that may be the simpler route.

There are actually 4 files of which the only one of any size is a .ts. I find this has to be converted, probably to .avi. The programme I use for doing this (forgotten its name at the moment) needs an additional download for .ts, my domestic PC is too slow to do the conversion and my video computers are not normally connected to the broadband so I still have some fiddling to do but am getting there.

Thanks for help.

Peter.