Some very good news this morning for Freeview users, who have a Humax PVR Freeview decoder. A software update is available this week*, that contains lots of essential updates, but one key, new feature – series links.
A Series Link is where the decoder detects that a TV show has more than one instance over time, 
and IT will record the future episodes of that series as they occur. For example, you can set the decoder to record this week’s ER and all of the rest of the series, as and when they are broadcast. Better still, it will be able to detect and record new episodes and not repeats.
Another new / long overdue feature is split recordings. This is where a program may be broken in two parts as news is broadcast halfway through. The decoder will detect this and will record the remaining part. This is ideal, for example, when a film is on and the News at 10 interrupts it, and then resumes fifteen minutes later.
PVRs (Personal Video Recorders) have been available for several years, and some brands (notably Sky+ and TiVo) are well known to consumers. Additionally, but less well known to consumers, is a wide range of PVRs which have inbuilt Freeview receivers (in some cases more than one, so you can record more than one program, whilst watching another).
*Please do note that this update only applies to Humax PVR users. Download dates are as follows:-
- 14th January till 21st 2008
- 23rd January till 28th
- 28th January till 31st
- Fear not if you missed these over-the-air updates, other dates are announced here.
This update is for Humax models: PVR-9200T, PVR-9200T/B, PVR-9200TBX, PVR-9200T/S. The update can be downloaded from 10am till 9pm on the dates listed above.
How to manually update (takes about 10 minutes):
- Tune to BBC1 first (or any other channel carried on multiplex 1)
- Press MENU
- Select INSTALLATION
- Enter your PASSWORD (The default is: 0000)
- Software Update
- Manual Update
- Search
- Select YES
- Then wait until the update is complete.
After you have updated:
After the software upgrade has completed you must set the device back to the default settings. i.e. the scheduled recordings you have set-up will be removed, so make a note (if any) of what timed recordings you have in place. If you choose not to do this step, you may end-up with the device crashing frequently.
Hint: No recorded programmes will be removed when you revert to the default settings, however, your schedules, favourites list, and menu settings will revert back the default values.
- Press MENU
- Select INSTALLATION
- Enter your PASSWORD (The default is: 0000)
- Select DEFAULT SETTING
- Select YES
- Enter your PASSWORD (The default is: 0000)
- The receiver will restart and retune the channels.
- Further details of the update, and other how-to’ can be found at humaxdigital.com/uk/update/
- You can get Humax decoders from Amazon.co.uk
I’ve missed the January dates and expected to see later dates on this page.
Ummm Marnie… it’s now 2010, this article was posted in 2008.
You’ll have to do the download manually using a PC, as over the air updates haven’t happenend in 2 years for this model.
Having missed the January dates, when will you announce any later dates?
I have a PVR-9300T do these updates apply for my machine?.
As already said in the earlier comments Norman “it’s now 2010, this article was posted in 2008.”
I suspect that your 9300T already has these capabilities as it is a newer model from the 9200 which is what this article is about.
Hope this is of help.
25-6-2010
When I switched my PVR on today there was a message on the screen advising me that there had been an update and I was directed to this web site for further information. I have not yet used the information on this page but I am rather puzzled as the this document appeears to be very much out of date and I have had series link for quite a time now. Have I found the correct document?
John Dunderdale
John, this is an old page now, and you most likely have a newer box with series link already on.
It’s no longer broadcast over the air, so you’ll have to update manually which you can more info on from the Humax site.
When I switched on today I found that I had lost all my previous recorded programms and can no longer
record anything . Although I know there was plenty of space on the memory, the HDD control tells me
I have 50% space but I can retrieve nothing previously recorded. Please advise me.
Elizabeth McCredie