Owners of Humax-branded Freesat boxes have been told an issue affecting their recordings is now fixed.
Back on Monday, Humax owners found they could only record using either the instant recording function or via a workaround adding ‘padding time’ to each recording. Scheduled recordings failed to take place.
The fault didn’t affect Freesat boxes from other manufacturers.
On Tuesday lunchtime, Freesat confirmed it was working with Humax to investigate the problem. In an update dated later on Tuesday, but only posted on the website hours later, Freesat confirmed the issue had been resolved. The platform operator, owned by Digital UK, didn’t elaborate on the cause, but it’s understood to be linked to the G2 EPG data used by the boxes. Freesat apologised “for the inconvenience caused.”
Sadly, for those viewers affected by failed scheduled recordings, many older Humax Freesat receivers don’t support the full set of on-demand and catch-up services that are available on the latest Freesat devices. As a result, the option to catch-up on missed programmes will require some viewers to use a different device.
Freesat’s current range of boxes support catch-up across services from BBC, ITV, STV, Channel 5, UKTV, CBS and the POP children’s channels. All4, which would offer a catch-up option for Channel 4’s suite of channels is still absent. Following online speculation about All4’s return, RXTV was told by Freesat it was “too early to comment” on the matter.
Freesat and Humax parted ways a couple of years ago. Freesat went on to partner with Arris/Commscope for its next generation of receiver. It also continues to work with Samsung and LG for inclusion on smart TVs. But thousands of Humax receivers bought since Freesat’s launch in 2008 are still in use. Humax still provides support for these receivers.