Issues Playing / Editing Humax HD Fox T2 Saorview Recordings on a PC

STB · 04-05-2011 01:26PM

I wouldnt bother dmm1000.

ALL recordings off that box are encrypted, not just the H264 streams. They didnt differentiate between MPEG2 and MPEG4, nevermind MPEG4 H264 L3 and L4.

Nothing can be played outside of on the box itself which holds the decryption key itself.

Apogee · 04-05-2011 02:03PM

From reading around a bit more, it would appear to be a fool's errand.

It looks as though both the HDR and the HD actually encrypt everything when recording. However, in the case of the HDR, when transferring material from internal HDD to USB stick, the HDR decrypts the SD material.

A good example of that is this thread, where they have put customised firmware which allows them to ftp to the HDR and HD. But in order to access unecrypted SD material on the HDR, you must first decrypt by putting material on USB (or internal partition) before ftping it across.
http://hummy.tv/forum/threads/customised-hdf-file-released.232/page-2#post-2611

In the case of the HD, the firmware has a bug so that nothing is ever decrypted. And I haven't seen any mention of third party cracks to get around this encryption either.

http://hummy.tv/forum/threads/hd-foxt2-transfer.35/#post-757

So the solution would appear to be to get a different box.

fat-tony · 04-05-2011 02:53PM

dmm1000 wrote: »

sure Tony - pm sent

and anyone else who would like to have a look at some recordings (.ts files) produced by the Humax HD Fox T2 receiver I can PM you the link where you can download them from - I know some of you may even actually enjoy looking at these things but I appreciate it requires use of your spare time

I concur with the other posters. All of the files are encrypted, including it seems, some of the header information so that it looks like there are lots of PIDs in the data stream. The rationale for encrypting material was to enforce a copying restriction on HD material on Freeview which the BBC had requested. On the Freesat recorder (Humax Foxsat HDR), the only files which are encrypted on the disk are those HD files recorded in Freesat mode, which the broadcaster has marked for copy protection. BBC 1 HD, was until recently, stored in the clear on the hard disk. Sometime in April BBC started setting the no copy flag and now it's encrypted. The terrestrial HD versions of the Humax receiver seem to have implemented the encryption in a blanket fashion which makes them unsuitable for anyone who wishes to move the files to other platforms for viewing. The Freesat EPG and the HD muxes of the Freeview platforms are compressed using proprietary Huffman tables which limits the ability to record from the EPG and series linking to boxes carrying the Freesat badge (or to specialist open-source boxes or PC platform applications). Seems a serious restriction on the genuine home user who wants to enjoy HD stuff on different kit in the home, when someone in the pirating business can just use a generic FTA satellite or terrestrial box to record and distribute HD streams:rolleyes:

dmm1000 · 04-05-2011 03:42PM

thanks guys - so its the box itself then which encrypts everything
hummy.tv was the one site i neglected to browse - an alternative firmware might crop up there at some stage but i wont hold my breath
yes - time to consider a replacement box or just stick to using a USB tuner stick / PC for recordings for now ........

DeepBlue · 29-06-2011 06:12PM

Apogee wrote: »

Well, a quick Google throws up a major potential problem with this box:

Both the HD and HDR encrypt all SD and HD recordings on the drive used for recording. With the HDR you can copy SD recordings to an external drive and they are then unencrypted and can be played on a PC. With the HD it doesn't seem to unencrypt when copying to a second drive (this requires a powered USB hub as well) - I think this is a bug. In both cases you can't unencrypt HD recordings.

This may be worth investigating if you want to get HD recordings onto your PC.

STB · 29-06-2011 11:58PM

"Foxy does not decrypt HD video from the T2.
However, what it does do is enable the T2 to do this for you"

Clever guys over at Hummy and not just in the use of a turn of phrase. Handy link.

mgc102 · 16-07-2011 02:56AM

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

said :
"I recorded from TG4 ...
That file will play in some media players but will for instance crash VLC. That is a problem I have been aware of for some time ..... VLC does not ...
I ran the file through ffmpeg to 'tidy-up' the m2t stream and VLC will play that readily."

reply :
I have a HDR-Fox T2. software version 1.02.20 (modified )

How did you run the program through ffmpeg. Did it take long to tidy?

On modified humax box there are options like dedup which when run through putty telnet from windows system can tidy up directory on humax file system.

If some one could write a similar package so ffmpeg tidys up the .ts files' m2t stream on box then VLC might play via the FTP server.

On XP and windows 7 (using XBMC) and via UPnP or FTP server I have been able to play .ts files from Freeview. (I am only receiving SD not HD yet). XBMC on windows does not recognise the format of saorview saved file but they are visible in the library. the humax is connected to my network by wifi.

I cant get VLC to ftp to the Humax and UPnP is not in the windows version of VLC. VLC will play the files if they are saved via USB.

I would be keen to get windows xp or windows 7 to recognise the saorview files via WIFI. Maybe use ffmpeg to "tidy up the m2t stream"? .

I have been able to record High Definition RTE2 program on HDR from saorview then move it to USB file and move it to Laptop with windows 7 and it plays seamlessly. (It is slow and jumpy if I play it on laptop direct from USB). This is using VLC on windows 7. XBMC on windows 7 recognises the file format and plays it when transfered via USB but doesnt recognise the format via UPnP connection direct to the Humax HDR.

I realise that to stream from my humax to router and then to laptop via wifi may be slowing the transfer causing a time out.

Gerry Wicklow · 16-07-2011 10:54AM

TSDOCTOR tidies up TS & TRP files in seconds. AFAIK it works with/creates M2TS also but haven't tried it myself.

Johnboy1951 · 16-07-2011 11:30AM

I do not use Windows so cannot comment on what might be best for that, but here is (I hope) the command I last used.

/usr/bin/ffmpeg -i "<name of video file>.m2t" -acodec copy -vcodec copy -aspect 16:9 -r 25 -top 1 -flags +ildct+ilme -padtop 0 -padbottom 0 -padleft 0 -padright 0 -map 0.0:0.0 -map 0.1:0.1 -f mpegts "<name of video file>.ts"

The audio and video components are copied without change.
I have used 'map' to ensure I get the correct audio stream ... that may change or even be unnecessary I suppose, depending on the original ..... and then forced the use of mpegts format.

No doubt there are better commands for the job, as I am not very familiar with ffmpeg options .....

Kaffeine records in .m2t format and it was to convert those files (VLC would not play them) that I used this.

regards

mgc102 · 18-07-2011 01:06AM

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

The audio and video components are copied without change.
I have used 'map' to ensure I get the correct audio stream ... that may change or even be unnecessary.

From looking at the data before and after it looks like you did change the audio components.

The saorview signal has stream 0.0 video 0.1audio stereo 0.2 audio mono and text (programe info and channel guide info. When you copied and removed all but video and audio stereo streams this allowed VLC to play the file.

I too am unfamiliar with ffmpeg.
I tried to copy mpegts to mpegts with streams 0.0 and 0.1 only, but couldnt do it.

Was there any difference in how the files thumbnail appeared before and after the copy?

I have the customised firmware on the Humax HDR-T2. SD and HD files from freeview and saorview can be moved to USB and then viewed in XBMC or VLC on windows. In XBMC The saorview thumbnail is the first frame of the recording while the freeview thumbnail is a generic icon of moviefilm roll. Would the thumbnail type/appearance be why Freeview SD programs stream ok via XBMC/UPnP but saorview dont?

Johnboy1951 · 18-07-2011 11:16AM

The saorview signal has stream 0.0 video 0.1audio stereo 0.2 audio mono and text (programe info and channel guide info. When you copied and removed all but video and audio stereo streams this allowed VLC to play the file.

You could try playing with a short clip to see what happens. For instance this will work ...

ffmpeg -i <inputfile> -f mpegts  <outputfile>

If the audio channel you wish to retain is the same as the default then all will be OK ..... else you would need to map the audio channel you wish to keep.

Seems the '-f mpegts' format does not retain the extra streams, and the file does play in VLC.

So the simplest command that worked here is

ffmpeg -i <inputfile>  -map 0.0:0.0 -map 0.1:0.1 -f mpegts <outputfile>

Would the thumbnail type/appearance be why Freeview SD programs stream ok via XBMC/UPnP but saorview dont?

I would think it has no effect ... thumbnails, as far as I am aware, are generated by the OS and are not part of the file.

regards.

Issues Playing / Editing Humax HD Fox T2 Saorview Recordings on a PC

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