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Humax retail T1010 software update January
momist
Member Posts: 139
Hi everyone. My retail Humax box had a software update yesterday, and it now starts instantly from switch-on instead of the usual long wait. I can't find any reference to this on the YouView site, and wondered if it's the same update as the December BT box one? Anyone know the answer please?
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I imagine you are seeing this update which has enhancements to standby modes
https://community.youview.com/youview/topics/automatic-software-update-november-2015
John.
So yes, @Anaglypta, it is the software update you pointed me to. Many thanks. I looked in 'announcements' and didn't see that, but then I didn't dig all the way back to November.
"This latest software contains updates to the content security for On Demand players on the box. This means that the content in the ITV Hub will only work when played through an HDMI cable connected to the TV. If using a SCART cable the content will not playback and you will receive a blank screen, with the audio playing and an ITV logo on screen."
The new software has this DRM fix that means that NONE of the YouView video is available on the SCART RGB output, not just the On Demand stuff. I'm still using an old CRT TV and relied on the SCART lead to give me a picture via RGB that fits the (slightly distorted) screen. Only the analogue output to the TV now works. It seems that YV have finally driven my wife to accept that we need a more modern TV, or at least one with an HDMI input.
Well, that is very puzzling.
Especially as after an outcry, ITV did relent and make the ITV Hub Material available on SCART after all.
But what is this analogue output you speak of? As all SCART is analogue. Are you saying that the RGB on the SCART does not work, but the composite video does?
Or are you referring, perhaps, to the aerial signal still coming through, which while it will allow the tv to show the broadcast channels, does not carry catchup or recordings?
Either way, we will keep any possible fix as our little secret until you have a nice modern widescreen digital set, maybe even a Smart one, with HDMI, installed.
As you said 'slightly distorted', I'm assuming the CRT set is not widescreen?
But unless it is a 32in widescreen, about the biggest CRT set you could get, anything above a 26in flatscreen will have a bigger picture area. But go for the biggest you can afford and that will fit in, bearing in mind that it perhaps does not have to be in a corner any more, and can go flat against, or even on, a wall :-)
The TV cannot show the broadcast channels on it's own, as there is no digital decoder. I scrapped the STB a long time ago in favour first of a Topfield, and then later the Humax YouView. Up until now, this has given me all I ever wanted, Freeview and recordings. On demand is just a rarely used bonus.
Biggest I can afford? No, we both hate big screen TVs. Talking heads look mammoth and intimidating, and larger than life people are too common in this world already. A 32" flat screen would sit comfortably where the old TV is, and not dominate our life, and at our present viewing distance a larger one is not any great advantage. The only real benefit would be to make reading easier on those dramas that show you written stuff and expect you to be quick enough to read it over the actor's shoulder.
The difficulty is finding one of quality with a decent sound reproduction. Good sound engineering seems to start at about 45" and upwards. The alternative of a 'soundbar' is likely to be the solution, but there's an extra complication, an ugly box and another expenditure of about £80 upwards. A sound system with bluetooth and wifi interfaces, and at least 5.1 would be of some interest, perhaps, but again the boxes proliferate and the complexity increases.
Yes, analogue only back then.
I can't see why the picture would be distorted, though, feeding the Humax' 16:9 to to the 16:9 Sony, if your aspect ratio is set correctly on the set.
The grey shadows you can see on the RGB are probably ghosting from the composite; might be crosstalk in the cable, or in the TV, or even in the YouView box.
I can try the SCART output on my YouView box today, to the 32in Samsung it normally feeds via HDMI. I don't know if I can select between RGB and composite, though; we shall see what we get.
A 32in set will still have a picture about three times as big as you get now, and if Full HD, about four times as many 'pixels' as the picture you are now getting (or would be getting on a 19in LCD, since CRT sets don't exactly have pixels, just transitions). So it shouldn't be grainy :-)
A Sony W70
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-KDL-32W7...
would continue the Sony tradition, and it has a built-in bass speaker that might be enough to obviate the need for a soundbar/base (and avoids the Android sets that are still very much a work in progress), though I would always go for a Samsung myself:-
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_n...
But you can see what Amazon's no 1 bestseller is on that page, and it's not a Samsung, which might tell you something :-)
If you did need the sound beefing up, though, then around the £80 mark, I would listen to the Sony HT-CT80 soundbar, or consider the HT-XT100 soundbase at £99, which will sit under the TV and be quite unobtrusive, and can take its sound via ARC from the TV over an HDMI cable.
Even big sets benefit from some help on sound, though - our Samsung UE55JS9000 sounds a bit weedy without the Yamaha DSP-2500 it is coupled to :-)
Momist,
There have been some issues reported with this version of software (by me and others) in that it was supposed to fix some issues with missed recordings and switching recordings from HD to SD that were introduced with 22.16.0. The new Smart standby appears to be the culprit and I now leave my box in 'Always on' mode to avoid these issues and of course start up is instant. Again this is a typical issue that only affects some boxes, so if Smart Standby works for some users then that is good.
As for TV's and sound, you are right that most modern sets lack oomph. I've recently added the Sony HT-XT1 soundbase to my parents Philips set up. This is slightly more expensive than the HT-XT100 mentioned by Roy, but offers three HDMI inputs and Audio Return Channel (ARC) from the TV so you get decent sound if watching through the TV only. This would provide you with enough inputs for the Youview box and a Blu-Ray or DVD player. I also think they look less obtrusive than a sound bar as the TV sits on top of the unit.
I've often been told to think of thin flat panel TVs as having no speakers at all as they are too thin to provide adequate sound and so an appropriate sound system should always be purchased with one. With extra discounts of course.
So I am presuming it was RGB I was looking at when I coupled the YouView box up by SCART. The picture was very good; subtly lesser than via HDMI, but nothing that would bring you up short when watching day to day uncritically.
So, nothing generically wrong with RGB over SCART in this release, at least.
Momist, maybe your TV finally died? Have you got another source of RGB from SCART, such as a BluRay player perhaps, that you could cross-check this with?
My wife now seems resigned to the prospect of a new telly, which I have been campaigning for now for over three years. She lives in fear of the poor sound, the large dominating screen, and the complexity and fragility of it. Not to mention that anything built in the last five years is lucky to survive even half that time. Everything made in China, or else made elsewhere to an even lower standard to try to compete with China . . .
I fully accept your findings, and thanks again for taking the time to make the test. This at least should reassure anyone else in the same position that they don't need to spend about £400 to keep using their YouView.