No it is not a FF, it literally jumps ahead and misses out slabs of the recording. The terrestrial Humax (which I also have) allows you to set skips for 30 secs, 1 minute, 2 mins etc. Once set to say 1 minute, 4 quick jabs at the buttons skips over most commercial ads although lately, the ads on 60 minutes have been 5 minutes. SBS is generally between 2 and 3 minutes. The MAGIC terrestrial PVR I keep referring to has the option that if you press "3" it skips ahead 3 minutes, "4" 4 minutes etc. This reduces time wasting on ads dramatically meaning 60 minutes can be seen in 40, and even less if the segment is uninteresting!
If indeed VAST prohibits skipping (and I've asked HUMAX about that) then it is time some lobbying was done to change that. Why should terrestrial PVRs have it yet VAST PVRs not? Discrimination to non city dwellers.
And it is even more absurd for VAST as what is the point of me seeing ads displayed on e.g. Impaja when they relate to goods and services thousands of miles away? Yes, one can use FF, but after being accustomed to the skip function it is an archaic way of viewing - back to the days of VCR!!!
Having trouble configuring the remote to control the cat
Cheers, Tiny
"You can lead a person to knowledge, but you can't make them think? If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
The information is out there; you just have to let it in."
Wish I could post more but I'm still waiting to hear back from Humax - they said they would ring but have not so far.
The "Instant Replay Time" setting seems to be a dummy like the skip settings - left over from the Terrestrial model but disabled. But until I discuss it with the Humax guy I cannot be sure.
Having trouble configuring the remote to control the cat
Tiny (22-05-13)
Thanks for posting all this info Tassie.
No problem as I'm as anxious as everyone else to have the Humax problems sorted out as it is potentially a winner.
Just heard back from Jay at Humax and he got to the bottom of why my timer settings did not work. It appears that each program has a unique number attached to it and the Humax looks for that number to repeatedly record the program. However, for some reason those numbers are changed in a series so when the PVR looked for it, it was not found so did not record.
So, the bottom line for Humax users is that the "record a series" does not work. [The MAGIC uses a different approach, one more common to other recorders, and gives an option of daily, weekly etc, based on the time of the original setting, not some obscure hidden number. I guess the advantage of the Humax approach, if it worked, would be that when the series finished, recordings would no longer be made]. So to be sure timers work with the Humax it is necessary to only use the guide if the setting is for a single recording but to go deeper into the setting menu for anything you need to be a repeated recording. It is a good idea to use this anyway for commercial station recordings as they rarely stick to advertised times and often run over. There is also an option to extend recording times to overcome this problem. [The MAGIC automatically extends all settings 10 minutes but this can cause recording conflicts so is a only good feature sometimes]
Apparently I had not communicate my concerns about the skip button clearly to Jay but got the message through just now when speaking to him. He promises to follow it up and get back to me so I'll post when I know. His initial reaction was it was a firmware error but I raised the question about VAST banning it and he will check that out. Using FF to miss the ads is most unsatisfactory after having experienced a good PVR skip function, one which IS on the terrestrial Humax PVR..
Having trouble configuring the remote to control the cat
In relation to skipping ads and VAST, unless something has changed that I have missed, VAST decoders previously had to comply with freeview conditions of preventing ad skipping.
It will be interesting to hear if this has changed, which I doubt.
OSIRUS (23-05-13)
I have heard the Freeview Compliant Terrestrial STB have to comply as well ....... but some Terrestrial Digital STB are not Freeview compliant ....(they do not have the Freeview sticker on them)
Again will be interesting what Humax say's about their Vast STB ....
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I'm afraid I share that doubt but you never know. Freeview has sunk like a lead balloon with terrestrial PVRs and knowledgeable consumers have avoided them like the plague so many retailers no longer stock them. Freeview is also responsible for limiting the FF speeds and the VAST Humax is crippled with a 16X maximum, I guess for that reason.
If Freeview criteria are still being forced onto VAST PVRs I'll bang the drum and complain bitterly to whoever because it is mindless bureaucracy. But then I guess that has been the problem with VAST all along and earlier complaints fell on deaf ears. It is the age old problem that VAST users are a relatively small population so the pollies do not regard their votes as significant. And this whole structure was set up in the time of the Howard Government so it will be hard to get Malcolm Turnbull interested. But I'm prepared to try if necessary.
One glimmer of hope might be Humax if they are prepared to issue non VAST approved firmware to those of us who want it. This is very similar to the situation with the MAGIC I keep talking about. They initially had a warehouse full of Freeview model 3700s that they could not sell so issued 4000 firmware that gave all the skip etc functions. When they did that they sold like hot cakes but sold out so are no longer available. The PVR market generally is being squeezed by the big name Samsung LG etc so makers like Topfield, Beyonwiz can no longer compete and are leaving the scene. Sad because that means we are unlikely to see much of a rush to make more VAST units available to help with competition.
Having trouble configuring the remote to control the cat
OSIRUS (23-05-13)
From the UEC FAQ site: :
9) What is the fastest that the DSR 4639 can fast forward and rewind?
There is no design limitation preventing the DSR 4639 from higher speed fast forward or rewind functionality. However, to achieve VAST certification the software has to be compliant with the VAST set top box specification, which requires a maximum fast forward and rewind speed of '30x'.
Ive done a search and finally located the FREEVIEW site at so have sent them a query re PVR specifications and asked who to contact to discuss them. Their address is
Freeview™ Australia Limited
44 Avenue Rd
Mosman
NSW 2088
The blurb discovered so far suggests that we are restricted to view only the local channel and of course this is not happening. The local Southern Cross is not on VAST, we have to view the 7 SCTV Central - South Imarja broadcast with its irrelevant (to us) advertising. And they are not broadcasting the local TV news.
I can appreciate the economics involved with so few people in Tasmania using VAST that it might not ever be possible to justify anything different BUT if this is the case they should relax their present draconian restrictions as they are irrelevant. Freeview has not worked on terrestrial so they should relax about it for VAST. However the Freeview bureaucracy employs people who will no doubt fight to justify their employment, even if it is at the expense of inferior customer service.
Having trouble configuring the remote to control the cat
None of the stories so far seem any different to the UEC rumblings ages ago.
Good point. I hope that you can take this further and be the cause for positive change. I don't think that they will ever do anything on a state by state basis though.
If we have to be subject to the freeview conditions then why don't we have the good freeview features -- eg programs starting and ending perfectly when recorded. I understand that there is a special signal sent that indicates that a program is starting/ending so even it is not broadcast on time it will start recording when the program starts. I'd like that feature.
I've just been looking at the freeview site and it is not clear to me why it exists. It says that:
Freeview encourages Australian households to switch from analogue to digital by promoting the benefits of free-to-view digital TV, including more channels with better picture and sound, for free.
If it's job is just to offer encouragement then perhaps it's time for it to die. Why do they have any say in the way the system works?
Addition: Having looked at the freeview site a bit more it seems that freeview might be an umbrella organization for all the free broadcasters. That would explain the add-skip ban.
Last edited by transit; 23-05-13 at 07:08 PM. Reason: addition
Hi if anyone in wa is contemplating buying a humax from over east and activating it over here please do not try it as humax is having trouble locking onto gwn I will update when problem is fixed cheers wyalkatchemsat
Sent from my LG-P690f using Tapatalk 2
OSIRUS (24-05-13)
I have this unit, installed today.
Like Tassie Devil, I cannot skip except in 10 minute hops.
Is there a firmware upgrade planned?
I see some "open source" firmwares here:
Perhaps someone needs to edit one of those source files and recompile the firmware. I suspect the function has merely been disabled.
Last edited by Sunshine Coast; 24-05-13 at 12:09 AM.
OSIRUS (24-05-13)
transit (24-05-13)
tassie devil, did you get the skip forward function working correctly on humax box
Last edited by wxcooper; 24-05-13 at 10:22 AM.
No, I suspect it has been disabled because of the rotten Freeview restrictions. The fact that there is an option there to change it is a left over from the terrestrial model that HUMAX omitted to remove. But I'm still waiting for a full reply from Jay at HUMAX on this issue. And I struck another oddity last night - despite repeated attempts I could not delete some recordings. This might be a deliberate ploy that no file that has not been viewed can be deleted. I'll check that one out with Jay also.
Having trouble configuring the remote to control the cat
My installer is going to query Humax about the fact that even though you can go to Menu --> Settings --> Preferences --> Media Playback, & select "Skip forward time" as 30s, 60s, 120s and 240s, there is no way that this has effect on the functioning of the unit.
wyalkatchemsat (27-05-13)
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