Hi all

I have a FVRT 150 which has just started to do its slow response to remote button presses so i guess its a goner, i am looking at the toppie as a replacement I have aprox 65 - 68% singal on the fusion from sutton coldfield and it has worked fine for months will this be enough for the toppie, out new samsung 32" digital tv works ok as well but i dont know if the new pvr will require a higher signal. we are in an area which according to the digi tv web sites cannot have digi tv. so i would like any suggestions before i order one, also will this one have the 14 day epg like the fusion?

thanks for your help

d

Different STBs measure the signal strength/quality in a different way, as there appears to be no set standard.
As a guide my GDB2 set top box shows the signal strentgth to be just over half at best, and only a third at the worst ( no %s given just a bar)
with my toppy ( on the same lead) this is reported as 65%-85% with the quality at 99% for all mux's.
after a bit of messing around with the leads i improved this to 75%-95% strength.

Thanks richard

so i take it that the toppy works fine with that level of signal or do you get a lot of blocking and missed frames. also dose it have a 14 day epg?


d

The native EPG data on the Topfield is the 8 day DVB data broadcast continuously on all mulitplexes (mux A may still carry a little less). Note although each mux carries data for all the channels the Topfield currently only populates it's EPG data cache with new data for channels on the mux it's currently tuned to. The default EPG currently switches channels as you navigate within the guide to ensure it gets (fresh) data for the selected channel.

The Topfield can be customised with TAPs (third party programs) including alternative EPGs and "EPG data loaders" that have different functionallity to the default EPG. Listings data can be sourced from the internet and used to provide a more exstensive EPG on the topfield (up to 14 days ahead, limited only by the available data).

When I read this I immediately thought of this comment which came up on a toppy thread here before. I found the quote:


Yes it does mention the Humax, which it appears is not what you want, but it could be relevant or worth checking the Toppy. Perhaps someone in the know can just clarify for all.
Last edited by marcdavis : 05-01-2006 at 21:39

They aren't as sensitive though. I have my Toppy and 9200T connected to the same downfeed and the same distro amp. Toppy reports signal strength of 76% while the 9200 reports 70-71%.

You can't tell from the picture of course 'cos digital is either yes or no, unlike analogue where the noise increases as the signal decreases but you still do get a picture.

rhubarbe,

Just to mention that % signal strength displays are purely arbritary scales for each tuner design so one man's 71% may well be another's 89%. It's not like standard scales such as Celsius or MPH where if I told you it was 38degC here you'd know it was bloody hot or that I drove to work at an average 84MPH this morning you'd know that was fast. It's more like the Toppy using Celsius/MPH while the Humax is showing Farenheit/KMPH or Kelvin/Knots

(also digital reception isn't exactly 0/1 - there's a sort of 0.5 state where you get most of the pictures but with large coloured blocks or ghosting movement vectors etc)

Cliff

PS But apart from that everything else you said was spot on

If I had a 2.7 engine I might be able to drive to work at 84mph. :P

If you told me it was 38°C I'd assume you were in Finchingfield, NSW.

Good on yer.

thanks for all the help

i just took my frvt 150 back to argos and got a full refund back to my visa - at last feb's price

so am now looking at the replacement. one last question - how easy is it to update the tap's / firmware i guess you just plug in the usb 2.0 and there is a downloader. also how long can the usb cable be? i am about 15m from the computer do you think it will work

regards

david

Firmware updates and TAP installation are both very easy; firmware updating takes less than two minutes.

There are some threads on the toppy forums about long USB cables - they're not as reliable, and you may need a combination of active and passive cables at that distance.

Nigel.

Hi all

I just decided to jump in and just got a 250gb silver one from heathrow systems ( they said it would be several weeks for the 160gb ) i have just done a chanel scan ( auto ) and note that the old fusion had about 85 chan. on 5 mux's the toppy only found about 56 and the ave signal strength is about 52% with a longish green bar below the shorter signal bar, not sure what that is i have only had iot on for about 5mins so i will have to have a play with it later.

thanks for you help. ps i got a top up tv starter pack at the same time, phoned the activation line and left it in the toppy for about an hour but no UK TV gold yet any ideas

regards

david