5800 vs 5810
I am thinking about changing to a Topfield PVR, and am unsure about which of the two models.
The 5800 seems to be quite old (2005?) in design, so is the newer 5810 much (if at all) better? Also, is the 5800 still available new (the web site seems to say yes for the 250GB TF5800PVRt), or is it now out of production and been replaced by the 5810?
I would be changing from a DHD4000 which seems to be only slightly older than the 5800, but lacks storage space unless one risks taking it apart (which I am not prepared to do), so anything larger would be a plus, and the 4000 is beginning to be a bit unreliable after all this time.
Any thoughts folks as I am a bit confused?
The 5800 seems to be quite old (2005?) in design, so is the newer 5810 much (if at all) better? Also, is the 5800 still available new (the web site seems to say yes for the 250GB TF5800PVRt), or is it now out of production and been replaced by the 5810?
I would be changing from a DHD4000 which seems to be only slightly older than the 5800, but lacks storage space unless one risks taking it apart (which I am not prepared to do), so anything larger would be a plus, and the 4000 is beginning to be a bit unreliable after all this time.
Any thoughts folks as I am a bit confused?
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If you want HDMI output and a slightly better front pannel display then the 5810 may be for you.
http://www.toppy.org.uk is the place to ask this question really though.
Both are perfectly good machines though :-)
Most Toppy owners who post on the forums (as opposed to the thousands of owners who are invisible to us) recommend that alternative software is loaded via the USB connection - you can customise a Toppy like no other PVR. The place to find out about it is at www.toppy.org.uk.
parthena
Edit: I seem to have answered this - Currys are showing them in stock.
By the way, I can't see me needing more than 250GB, after all I have been managing with 40GB for the last 5 years!
Some of the alternative EPGs will do it automatically for you, adding padding at start and end. And there are add-ons that do just that. And there's another one that carries on recording not for a set time, but until it sees the 'running status' change (which is the signal used to tell recorders when programmes start and stop), so even if something overruns a huge amount, you'll still get it.
Can I plonk that on top of MyStuff, Nigel?
parthena
parthena
You can archive progs to the pc for storage which is a good feature as yet iv'e not installed any taps.
As the machine has been out for some years is a good thing because faults will have been ironed out and is well worth the extra money.
andy
Other points to bear in mind. The 5810 seems to have less availible memory to run TAPS, making it more prone to crashing if you run a handful of them. To be fair, with Mystuff 6.0 and associated TAPs, these ought to be enough.
You can't run a power management TAP (useful on the 5800 to turn it off in the wee small hours if you turned it on manually and then forget.) This won't work on the 5810 as it never really turns off completely in the sense that the 5800 does. (A TAP for the 5810 to turn off the 'pause live TV' feature at say 2.am would have been nice, to stand down the HDD until next full switch on)
The improvement gained from the HDMI output is practically indiscernable to a good RGB connection (I can swap between machines, so I know).
The improved flourescent display on the 5810 is nice, showing BBC ONE, not P001 but if this is the only major superior feature, give me my 5800 any day.
I installed TF5000 Display v1.53 which scolls through information on the 4 character display. It's very usable, on playback now it's switching between the clock and the time left of the programme on playback. On record it scrolls through the names of the programmes being recorded and their time left. Its made up a lot for the display I wanted from the 5810 and it's surprising how easy it is to read stuff like that!
I almost placed an order for a 5810 last night out of desperation but then read this:
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitaltv/a95535/topfield-tf5810pvr-freeview.html
The 5810 experience is so bad it almost puts me off the 5800 just by association!
I'm doing more research but has anyone got any experiences of going from a Fusion to a 5800 and also, any sources of new or good refurbished 5800s around?
But if I was buying now I would either go for a 5800 or wait for Freeview HD PVRs to hit the market. Note that many5810 users find the upscaled HDMI output is not as good as letting their TV do the upscaling over the SCART connection.
When I bought in November, ebay was awash with sellers shifting loads of the newer looking 5800's, all brand new, around £140, but now, nothing. All I can say is keep your eye out, there were loads of them there. Set an ebay search and hope they come back!
I happened across a thread mentioning diskless Toppy TF5810's available for 80 squids plus postage from the importers.
Norra lot of money for a punt, so I bought one. While I'm waiting for a cheap IDE / SATA converter to arrive from China, I slapped an old 40G IDE drive in to see how it worked.
So far I'm impressed. My old TF5800 was a bit slow and kludgy for SWMBO to operate - and if she doesn't set up the recordings, then we go witgout...
switching the tv on, the extended info makes life a bit easier.
I've only had the box a couple of days and having installed MyStuff, the kit is showing distinct possibilities. So my message is - at that price AND if you're handy with simple electronics, then have a go. Similarly, go to Toppy org and see what folks are doing there. Nothing out there can quite beat Sky's offering (in design terms, but I only use FTV channels), however, the bells and whistles of Toppy kit plus TAPs is getting close and offers a lot more besides.
So far I've held back but they do seem like a bargain. I'd like the better display but have no need of the HDMI so far.
Certainly with MyStuff the display can be skinned very similar to Sky+ and the features about setting recordings based on text searches is wonderful. If they re-appear I might reconsider, I see many have had success fitting SATA<>IDE adaptors and using large SATA drives instead.
I don't think is necessarily the Toppy's fault, to me it the technology. Satellite kit isn't too bad; to my mind it's a matter of the bandwidth available for the signals, and because the channels available in the UK are effectively controlled by Sky, then they control how the system works.
In contrast Freeview is an absolute nightmare, too many channels for too little space in which to broadcast them, and standards that are ill defined and change too regularly.
The manufacturers get blamed for the system's failings and user compound errors by stuffing the Toppy with too many TAPS.
As in all things KISS applies - Keep It Simple (Stupid!).
I reckon these "used" Toppys agre good value:-
5810 plus carriage on eBay £85
500G SATA drive from eBuyer £40
IDE - to Sata converter £3
Total £128
Add another 20 squids for a Terrabyte disk, and you've got the cheapest usable PVR on the market.
But when buying it was clear the 5800 was much preferred over the 5810 on the toppy forums and a lot of people with 5810's have had to return them for repair. That would be my concern given they only warranty for 6 months (though the sale of goods act should cover you for longer).
Will they take a 1TB disk? The Turbosat listings on ebay seem to say 500GB is the max they will take.
I have a neighbour who has had a 1TB disk in his 5800 for some time now - remember that the 5800 was designed initially for 160Gb disks (later unpgraded ?) which have a lower power consumption - but that has been running OK for a year or more.
A lot of issues posted on various forums relate to power supply issues, and my guess is that TurboSat say 500GB max to discourage folks from fitting power hungry disks which may cook the power supply. They recommend AV quality disks, but they are more expensive, and I don't think WD manufacture them any more.
I don't believe in having huge stores of video material on disk, preferring the convenience of DVD - giving a form of backup if you archive the original as well.
I could suggest WD Caviar Green disks to get around the power issue - 4.90W as opposed to 6.8W for the Blue, but I have no idea whether the reduced performance might cause judder.
Given that the 5810 only has a 40 way IDE cable rather than the 80 way required by ATA133, I wonder if blazing performance is an issue. I've not found any truly technical discussion on the subject.
There have been posts saybing that 1TB disk work in 5810s as well as its older brother.
Which exact model is this - Amazon list two of these