My ageing Humax Freeview PVR, FVP-5000Tmodel has developed an intermittant fault, decided to update to a Manhattan T4-R 1TB Freeview PVR, comparable current Humax unit is more costly and receives "mixed" reviews especially with respect to after sales support & FW upgrades.
Had a peculiar issue which turned out in the end to be of my own making, IR remote controller action to the PVR very unpredictable to the extent of making normal unit control very difficult and frustrating.
Manhattan customer support via e-mail was excellent, very prompt response, very knowledgable, very polite, initially replaced the remote controller then the complete PVR without question, original unit collected at my address by courier, no expense (to me) incurred.
In the end the solution turned out to be very simple and no fault of either of the Manhattan PVR's.
I use a HDMI digital modulator which incorporated an IR "Magic Eye" to enable selected TV's on my antenna system to remotely access and control the PVR, has always worked faultlessly with both my Humax PVR's.
Where my main viewing TV, PVR & digital modulator is situated there is an adjacent room (conservatory) where one of the designated remotely accessable TV's is situated, separated by a stone wall and a sliding glass door.
When attempting to control the PVR directly with the IR remote it appears that the IR signal is also received by the IR "eye" on the remote TV which transmits across the control loop back to the PVR via it's "eye", it's reasonable to expect that there is very likely a control signal delay via the loop with respect to the direct signal from the remote to PVR, this would appear to be causing the issue!
Note, there is no direct "line of sight" from the remote controller to the remote TV IR sensor, stone wall between with adjacent glass door.
Solution to the problem, very simple, turn the remote TV IR sensor through 90 degrees, ie, pointing away from the PVR remote controller
Not something I had experienced previously, have never seen this documented elsewhere.
Now very happy with my new Manhattan PVR and confident that support is on hand should this be required during the 2 year warranty period.
The only thing I would have liked is the 3 tuner recording capability which Humax incorporates in it's models, however, not as important as it used to be with virtually all programs being available on line now.
Edit: Typo correction.
