Humax video downloading

I want to download programmes to an old notebook, Win 98SE with USB
1.1. Problem is that it takes all day to download a 60 minute
programme using eLinker. Is there a way of speeding this up? (Apart
from connecting the thing to an XP machine, which would be difficult.)
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

ColinM

"SteveT" wrote in message
...
I want to download programmes to an old notebook, Win 98SE with USB
1.1. Problem is that it takes all day to download a 60 minute
programme using eLinker. Is there a way of speeding this up? (Apart
from connecting the thing to an XP machine, which would be difficult.)
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

ColinM


Get a USB 2.0 port for your old notebook. You might be able to get a PCCard
USB 2.0 adapter that works with Win98SE, although I have to admit that for
an O/S that old you could have trouble finding one that has suitable
drivers. As you say, the other alternative is to connect the Humax to a
newer PC that has USB2.0 ports.

Does the Humax have a mode whereby it simply appears as a USB disk to the
PC? Topfield's can do this and there is a USB/ethernet gadget (with special
firmware) that can put the USB port out onto an ethernet link. If your
notebook has an Ethernet port, this might be a possibility as you can then
run USB 2.0 to the gadget and ethernet to your notebook, which should be far
faster than USB 1.1.

Loop at the "Toppy" website for details.

Paul DS

Get a USB 2.0 port for your old notebook. You might be able to get a PCCard
USB 2.0 adapter that works with Win98SE, although I have to admit that for
an O/S that old you could have trouble finding one that has suitable
drivers.

Yes, Misco sell a 2 port USB 2.0 PCMCIA Card for £15.

As you say, the other alternative is to connect the Humax to a
newer PC that has USB2.0 ports.

Thing is that for all of the advertised speed improvements of USB 2,
I've never noticed much real difference. This notebook can connect to
the network via a usb 1.1 to ethernet connector & file transfers take
little longer than any other wired connection.

I was thinking that usb isn't the problem, so much as the set-up.

Does the Humax have a mode whereby it simply appears as a USB disk to the
PC?

Tried that, but no.

Topfield's can do this and there is a USB/ethernet gadget (with special
firmware) that can put the USB port out onto an ethernet link. If your
notebook has an Ethernet port, this might be a possibility as you can then
run USB 2.0 to the gadget and ethernet to your notebook, which should be far
faster than USB 1.1.

Thing is, I bought a humax because its supposed to be simple!

ColinM

"SteveT" wrote in message
...
Get a USB 2.0 port for your old notebook. You might be able to get a
PCCard
USB 2.0 adapter that works with Win98SE, although I have to admit that for
an O/S that old you could have trouble finding one that has suitable
drivers.

Yes, Misco sell a 2 port USB 2.0 PCMCIA Card for £15.

Useful to know.

As you say, the other alternative is to connect the Humax to a
newer PC that has USB2.0 ports.

Thing is that for all of the advertised speed improvements of USB 2,
I've never noticed much real difference. This notebook can connect to
the network via a usb 1.1 to ethernet connector & file transfers take
little longer than any other wired connection.

I was thinking that usb isn't the problem, so much as the set-up.


Umm, assuming you have 100Mb ethernet (you're not using 10Mb by any chance
are you?) then perhaps the issue is the speed, or lack thereof, of the
notebook itself. I must admit I've not done real speed tests of USB but in
theory USB2.0 should be much faster that 1.1.

Does the Humax have a mode whereby it simply appears as a USB disk to the
PC?

Tried that, but no.

Pity.


Topfield's can do this and there is a USB/ethernet gadget (with special
firmware) that can put the USB port out onto an ethernet link. If your
notebook has an Ethernet port, this might be a possibility as you can then
run USB 2.0 to the gadget and ethernet to your notebook, which should be
far
faster than USB 1.1.

Thing is, I bought a humax because its supposed to be simple!

I think most people would say it is, but you're doing something that many
people won't do and using old hardware to do it. You find that all testing
at Humax will have been to a top-of-the-line dual-core machine with oodles
of RAM. Nobody uses old hardware these days - says the man whose main
machine is a 450MHz pentium 3 ;-).


ColinM

Umm, assuming you have 100Mb ethernet (you're not using 10Mb by any chance
are you?) then perhaps the issue is the speed, or lack thereof, of the
notebook itself. I must admit I've not done real speed tests of USB but in
theory USB2.0 should be much faster that 1.1.

The network is all 100Mb.

I think most people would say it is, but you're doing something that many
people won't do and using old hardware to do it. You find that all testing
at Humax will have been to a top-of-the-line dual-core machine with oodles
of RAM. Nobody uses old hardware these days - says the man whose main
machine is a 450MHz pentium 3 ;-).

Its really no different to transfering videotape to DVD, & lots of
people do that. Just that this is an HDD.

Every computer I ever bought is networked, including a 450MHz P3. The
speed of file transfer between them isn't an issue. I have a 3GHz P4
running XP for editing video & burning DVDs, but for most other
purposes its no faster than than an old P3 running WinME.

ColinM

SteveT wrote:
I want to download programmes to an old notebook, Win 98SE with USB
1.1. Problem is that it takes all day to download a 60 minute
programme using eLinker. Is there a way of speeding this up? (Apart
from connecting the thing to an XP machine, which would be difficult.)
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

ColinM


Just FYI, I transferred a couple of files to a Mac (Intel Mini) at a
rate of c. 1 MB/sec - 1 gig takes about 15 minutes. Every so often I
dump the entire contents of the Humax onto a PC by taking the disk out,
and connecting it to a PC and running a freeware app. Transferring 100GB
by USB is too much of a faff.

Rob

SteveT wrote:
Get a USB 2.0 port for your old notebook. You might be able to get a PCCard
USB 2.0 adapter that works with Win98SE, although I have to admit that for
an O/S that old you could have trouble finding one that has suitable
drivers.

Yes, Misco sell a 2 port USB 2.0 PCMCIA Card for £15.

As you say, the other alternative is to connect the Humax to a
newer PC that has USB2.0 ports.

Thing is that for all of the advertised speed improvements of USB 2,
I've never noticed much real difference. This notebook can connect to
the network via a usb 1.1 to ethernet connector & file transfers take
little longer than any other wired connection.

I was thinking that usb isn't the problem, so much as the set-up.

Does the Humax have a mode whereby it simply appears as a USB disk to the
PC?

Tried that, but no.

Topfield's can do this and there is a USB/ethernet gadget (with special
firmware) that can put the USB port out onto an ethernet link. If your
notebook has an Ethernet port, this might be a possibility as you can then
run USB 2.0 to the gadget and ethernet to your notebook, which should be far
faster than USB 1.1.

Thing is, I bought a humax because its supposed to be simple!

ColinM
There have been a lot of posts about difficulties with Humax - PC
transfers in the Digital Spy and Hummy forums. This seems to be one of
the weak spots with the product (although I had no trouble transferring
a recorded radio programme there do seem to be problems with video files)

Try http://www.hummy.org.uk/invison/index.php?showtopic=471 as a
starting point for links to advice and some programming add-ons that
have been produced

It may

"Rob" wrote in message
...
SteveT wrote:
I want to download programmes to an old notebook, Win 98SE with USB
1.1. Problem is that it takes all day to download a 60 minute
programme using eLinker. Is there a way of speeding this up? (Apart
from connecting the thing to an XP machine, which would be difficult.)
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

ColinM


Just FYI, I transferred a couple of files to a Mac (Intel Mini) at a rate
of c. 1 MB/sec - 1 gig takes about 15 minutes. Every so often I

USB2 should be capable of 40mbpos or 5 MB/s sustained throughput. There must
be something wrong with Humax implementation of it.

How fast is the Topfiled in comparision?

dump the entire contents of the Humax onto a PC by taking the disk out,
and connecting it to a PC and running a freeware app. Transferring 100GB
by USB is too much of a faff.

Rob

Try http://www.hummy.org.uk/invison/index.php?showtopic=471 as a
starting point for links to advice and some programming add-ons that
have been produced

Thanks. It was the info I found here (1GB in 20 mins) that made me
think I had a problem.

ColinM

There is. It is a known issue, but I don't know if Humax are working to fix
it, assuming it can be fixed through firmware or software.


.. There must be something wrong with Humax implementation of it.