Are these Topfield's really that good?

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R2-D2

16-08-2009

Originally Posted by buggy:
“Yes and no. The deep letterbox TAP will force an unwanted 14:9 into a 16:9, but not the other way round - because, according to the author: "If the AFD value is 10 (normally found on Channel 4), then nothing can be done and you are stuck with Deep letterboxing."”

There is an odd limitation (/bug?) in the Toppy handling of widescreen outputs that prevent arbitrary scaling. The [Ws] patch may overcome this limitation but I don't know whether there are any TAPs that can make use of the extra freedom.

buggy

19-08-2009

Originally Posted by shithappens:
“Hi, if you have not yet purchased a TF5800 you can get one on ebay for £105.50 with a 250Gb hard drive delivered, here is the item number, Item number: 110414063559, I already have two TF5800's and I have just bought one from this guy on ebay for a friend, it was delivered in next to no time by City Link and it's look's like new I think they are ex display items, you get 14 days warrenty but I have to say I have had absolutly no trouble with my two 5800's and the one I purchased from the guy on ebay is performing without fault, hope this helps.
Jed.”

I got one of these, and it's okay. When I queried a very minor fault with this ebay seller, he gave me some bull about the unit still being under manufacturer's warranty. On investigation I discovered it's slightly over two years old, so is out of manufacturer's warranty. I'm not even sure if his attempt to limit you to14 days is legal. If supplied by a dealer, I believe goods have to be fit for purpose, for a reasonable period of time.

I'm not too worried. The build quality of these units is high and in the few areas they are weak, there are cheap DIY solutions. This is the geek/tinkerers box par excellence - patchable, upgradable, repairable.

However, if you are not handy with a soldering iron, and want something that works out of the box with a decent warranty, this is not the box for you. Be warned.

buggy

19-08-2009

Just to add, I am a little disappointed at the lack of a proper 14:9 setting - and I really thought I had got some clarification on this before I went ahead with the purchase. But I'm keeping the unit, because it's just too interesting to part with!

buggy

20-08-2009

Originally Posted by shithappens:
“Hi, if you have not yet purchased a TF5800 you can get one on ebay for £105.50 with a 250Gb hard drive delivered, here is the item number, Item number: 110414063559...”

If you have one of these, quote the serial no. (sticker on back) here: http://www.turbosat.com/pages/Contact-Us.html and they will tell when the unit was first sold. Mine was 23/05/2007 - a bit older than I was expecting.

Then, if you have a TF5800 more than two years old, you should read the psu thread on the toppy forum and consider testing voltages and/or doing a pre-emptive repair.

I've taken mine out of use while I investigate. And while I have the thing in bits I will probably upgrade the HDD to 1TB.

paddysu

20-08-2009

Originally Posted by buggy:
“@hgt @mossy2103 - thanks for that info.

But actually, I think it may have it. There is also a TAP to force the 0 button on the remote to cycle through the 3 options. If it lives up to it's promise the Toppy will indeed be great, and outperform the PVRs I mention above.

Am a fan of Digital Spy, which is why I began my investigation here. But @mossy2103, you were quite right, the toppy forum is the place to really find out about this box. Which begs the question why the Topfield has a dedicated sub-forum here, only to be used as a jumping off point - while other less-well-supported PVRs must make do under the general PVR category.

Anyway, ordered my 5800 refurb, and now can't wait for it to arrive!”

Thats not a TAP the 0 changing the aspect ratio cos i dont use them but my 0 frequently gets used to change ratio I found it out by acciedent one time but was very glad i did cos for some reason ever so often my picture would jump from 16:9 to 4:3 for no reason at all.

gomezz

20-08-2009

I use the 0 button when retiring to bed to finish watching a programme on an old 4:3 TV. I would like the PowerDown TAP to reset the aspect ratio back to 16:9 in the same way as it resets the volume to max and the channel to BBC Red Button when the Toppy is turned back on .

buggy

20-08-2009

Originally Posted by buggy:
“There is ... a TAP to force the 0 button on the remote to cycle through the 3 options.”

When I wrote that I didn't have the Toppy, and didn't entirely understand the subject.

If you install the [Ws] patch, 0 will cycle through the most options where the broadcaster will allow it - notably NOT C4 or it's sister progs. There is no improvement with any TAP I've tried.

Dark Cloud

18-10-2009

Originally Posted by buggy:
“Just to add, I am a little disappointed at the lack of a proper 14:9 setting - and I really thought I had got some clarification on this before I went ahead with the purchase. But I'm keeping the unit, because it's just too interesting to part with!”

I think you need the WSS Killer TAP. It assigns one button on the remote (choose one you have no use for) to cycle round all the options manually, then back to automatic aspect switching. You can also setup (in a table) how you would like it to output the picture depending on the aspect code it receives. Totally flexible!

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