There have been a couple of threads like this over the last year or so but now, with the (almost) demise of our DHD4000's, it seems time for one central point that we remaining users can refer to. Many people will already have made the jump to something else either through units dying or transmitter updating so what seems to be the general view for good replacement options?

HDMI connection? USB backup? 14 or 7 day EPG, Twin tuner? Cost?

Is there any chance those people who've made the jump can fill us in with what they've found - I realise it's all personal opinion but that's usually better in the long run that reading specs on a shopping page.

Ta in advance

Twin tuner is essential in any PVR, 14 day EPG no longer an option as far as I know (I think ours was the only one).

I have got myself one of the end of the line Topfield 5800s, but have not yet evaluated it.

I went TF5800pvrt + MyStuff a while back and it's a great advance on from the DHD4000. I also bought a diskless 5810. Some plus points over the DHD:

EPG - User set - I have ten channels down and 3 hours across with a synopsis at the top of the screen

AccurateRecord - Schedule changes are dealt with by bookmark, seamless - padding start and end under user control - sequential programmes on one channel use single tuner, become one file but appear as two separate recordings in the menu.

Recycle Bin for deleted recordings, can auto empty after length of time or when free space gets to used-defined percentage

USB port - dump off TS and burn to DVD etc

Front display shows what's being recorded, played back, and how long left etc.

Twin Tuner - record two and view something else from either tuner or playback from HDD

Series link / text search to fire timers. Power Search to set seri

On the downside the remote can be ignored - CPU underpowered? Not really had it crash on my. Not lost any recordings that I know of.

14 day EPG is Still available on all TUTV boxes.

I must have been psychic, as I bought a Topfield 5800 on eBay three weeks ago when there was a spate of them, thinking "better grab one while they're still around / the Thomson EPG is bound to go awol sooner or later". I didn't really start using it seriously until the news about that very EPG this week.

Like albertd, I am still evaluating it, but will bite the bullet and switch it over to being our main DVR this week. Slimgym's list of pros and cons seems about right, but I still mourn the instant user-friendliness of the Thomson! OK, you can get the Topfield the way you want it, but it's hard work initially.

It is hard work initially with the Topfields. If the company were as forward thinking as 4TV had been in the start, they would employ the MyStuff team to write the base code for the box. If that could go through full manufacturer testing it would be awesome out of the box.

But unfortunately, as someone said to me on the Toppy forums when I queried some of its oddities "Just enough is good enough".

Is this feature available on both the 5800 and 5810?

Indeed on both boxes. This win32 software also lets you bridge FTP to Topfield USB so you can grab video files across a LAN. With a little conversion you can burn to DVD with no re-coding such that the quality is the same as broadcast.

I have gone for a Luxor TUTV2500, recon/new @ £50, as a stop gap.

It is performing quite well and most of the DHD4000 functions are there. It even uses familiar ways to control some functions.

It even works with the Thomson remote

Having got it more or less how I need it, my first comment would be that the Topfields are not for the fainthearted, particularly if, like me, you happen to have a PC which is running Vista 64 bit.

The firmware recommended for the 5800 on the Toppy user group website (www.toppy.org.uk), which is version 5.13.65T, along with the enhancements brought about by adding the "MyStuff V6.2" TAP (Topfield Application Program), produces a nice machine, but with any version of the native firmware alone it is not very clever, and with early versions it gets the channel numbers thoroughly confused.

The problem with Vista 64 is that the software for loading up the new versions of the firmware do not, as they stand, support this platform and will not run until a fiddle has been performed (I didn't understand what I was doing, but slavishly followed advice from experienced users, and eventually got it to work).

For upgrading, you will need to have a PC or laptop with Internet connection which you can get within the length of an A-B USB cable in order to install the files, which is best done using the dedicated installer applications which are available.

The folks on the dedicated Toppy forum are very helpful and patient, and have been instrumental in my getting my box to the point which I have.

The Luxor I have bought has twin tuners, auto and manual timer padding and a 250Gb SATA hard disk.
This, + other Top Up TV equipped units, have access to a 14 day EPG and no you don't have to sign up for any TUTV services to get it.
All for £50 incl delivery.

Hours after I posted this, a new version of the MyStuff Installer was announced with support for 64 bit. As they come from the same stable, presumably a new version of the Firmware Installer will follow soon.

One of the advantages of the 4000 is/was the ability to 'edit' - sort of - the adverts out when making a copy of a recording - put a new thumbnail in the right place, press the button at the right moment and it would seamlessly skip the adverts. (assuming any thumbnail in the adverts was removed, of course). Can any other PVR achieve this effect? A friend's Humax will edit, but the joins are not neat or precise.
All this digital stuff and I can still do an exact to-the-frame edit on my pair of Panasonic S-VHS VCRs better than anything else . . . and the quality is good - maybe I'll revert to them and a simple set top box . . .

I know the kind of thing you mean but on the Topfields you largely bypass that by being able to transfer the video off the box, onto a PC, and edit with MPEG Streamclip. At least on the PC you can find the I frame the cuts will be made, whereas on the Topfield you can't, so the cut will happen vaguely close to where you wanted it.

Once you've done your cutting you can burn to DVD, convert to XVID or H264 (iPhone, iPod) or export to .REC and watch it back on the Topfield.

It does also have bookmarking which you could use although TAPs make use of these to signal programme start/end junctions for chained recordings or accurate record.

Is the 14day EPG the type which also display annoying adverts on it too?

Can you manually switch it to the normal Freeview EPG?

If you cant do the latter, that EPG could disappear too.
Last edited by pzboyz : 16-07-2010 at 08:23

Yes, both EPG options have the annoying adverts and can be switched between 14 day and 8 day via a menu option.

There are advert bars at the top and bottom of the screen. I don't find them annoying, not nearly as annoying as the ones on a friends Panasonic TV EPG.

They can be blanked, if you only want to use the Freeview+ 8day EPG.

I am having problems trying to find a suitable replacement. So far I like either the Hitachi HDR165/255 or the Sagem 250GB. I have got used to USB recording by using a Grundig USB Recorder so like the idea of exporting recordings off a HDD rather than use a DVD Recorder.

2 questions:
1. Where did you buy it for £50?
2. Does the user interface resemble the DHD4000? (I am hoping the answer is yes - otherwise I have to teach my mum how to use a new device which can be tedious.).

Perhaps they mean this one:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/223443...edium=products
Some bad reviews here though:
http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews202474.html

I tried several boxes, mostly the user interfaces were &^&*^& and nothing like as good as the Tommy (a personal rant of mine, how much time do you have?). I ended up with a Vestel T835, Hitachi HDR255 branded. £99. The user interface behaves more like the Tommy than most. You have to get used to the idea that you can't rewind live TV though. Not a problem for me, I almost never watch live TV. But it's fast, it's simple and fairly intuitive. And the EPG, the library and the timers list behave in a very Tommy-like way.

TVonics also quite similar to Thomson, very elegant. But also very crashy and stuttery. I sent it back. Don't touch SAGEM with a bargepole, their user interface drove me mental. Dedicated keys with changing functions, modal stop key where you couldn't work out the mode, virtually impossible to stop recordings in progress, dog slow EPG, insists on playing back each programme in the library list (with audio). etc etc.

Well, the latest Tommy upgrade has failed, so it looks like the T835 for me. We like being able to rewind live TV, in case we miss a vital clue in a whodunnit, or to get an action replay in sport. Is it possible this could be achieved by putting the current programme on "record" while viewing it?

By the way, I now have a cheap Samsung 2.5" 120 Gb IDE HDD, plus 3.5 - 2.5 connector, both hardly used, for sale . When I tried the 2.5 in my other Tommy it worked fine, but this time it did not, and then shortly after I got the yellow light of death (in spite of the machine having had the PSU upgraded some time ago).

Argos are listing the Hitachi HDR165 160GB (big enough for our purposes) for £69.99 just now, but out of stock! hopefully it will come back in at that price, but perhaps they are about to drop it.

Colin M.

The HDR165 has been out of stock for months. They put it from £100 down to £75 and then £70.

I see the Bush 250GB Digital TV Recorder with Freeview+ is £48 at eBuyer. Anyone tried this yet ? It's also in Argos for £99.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/237458

Sounds like a good buy - even with carriage its a saving of £45. Has anyone any experience of dealing with eBuyer, and specifically returning goods to them (bearing in mind the chances of a PVR being faulty on arrival are relatively high). That's why I prefer Argos for this type of thing, as I can just chuck it back in the box and drive 4 miles for refund or replacement.

Colin M.