Hi,
Having looked at some other PVR threads, lately the Humax and Panasonic, I am now looking at the topfield but find a lot of traffic is diverted away from DS onto another thriving forum. The Topfield boasts quit a high specification when compared to PVRs from Pace and Panasonic.

Can people contribute to (or even supply a list if they have it on file computer) of the bugs or 'features' as at the latest December '05 software? I am interested to know about all of them because I found the majoritys interpretation of a small issue may be a big one for those in the minority

The similarities between the Humax and the Topfield are intreaguing yet the Topfield is differentiated from the UK freeview PVRs in a major way by ability to change to different software (TAPs) for a set of functions or ease of use. If it is possible for TAPs to present a different set of bugs can they be left off the list; as an average (boring :yawn: ) consumer I dont think I will tinker with firmware and such like

go and take a look on http://www.toppy.org.uk/bugs.php

they list the current bugs and what probs TAPS can cause

If you register you can customise and filter the bugs list out just for that firmware revision

I would have been suprised if I didnt get redirected to the other forum by at least one of the toppy forum members! But thanks very much mike. I think there are many many DS users and those that dont own Topfield that would benefit from these sorts of threads.

mike I can see all the bugs threads there thank you but there are pages upon pages of thread listsing in the bugs section. This will take a long time for someone to collate a simple list of them all.

nwhitfield I see you have a good working relationship with the manufacturer or supplier for toppy work. Perhaps you have this? Sorry if this is a pain. I can research this myself and produce it here sometime if it will benefit other people on the DS PVR forums

Well, the list at the URL just posted is the current list of unresolved issues, and so broadly reflects the current firmware.

If you want the list that includes feature requests and changes to existing features too, then that's available to registered users of the Toppy forums.

Since there's a simple link there that people can click on to read the current list, I'm not sure what would be gained from my taking the time to export it from the database, and post it here so that it could be viewed in a new and out of date format.

Nigel.

Just to clarify - that URL is the bugs list; I know the forum has a lot of material, but that's because it's for discussion.

The bugs list is separate, with detailed descriptions of the bugs, and notes including work arounds, which are available to registered forum users.

It's pretty much definitive, in that it's the list that I work from with Turbosat when we're talking about firmware updates; they receive periodic snapshots from the database, which are passed to the engineers.

One of the reasons why people tend to use the Toppy site rather than this is because we can provide useful extra information like that, and we try hard to make sure it's up to date.

If you want to research a list of bugs, feel free, but you'd probably only end up copying the work that we've done already.

Nigel.

I think there is a place for the DS, AV forums etc. Its what you feel more happy with.

Nigel, do you need to register to see more bugs or is it just the features change list that is missing from the list? Thanks.

Do you mind if I list them here for other DS users like me perusing the PVR threads?

You can see all the items that are listed as bugs without registering, just by clicking on that link.

If you register, you can also see requests for new features or changes to existing features; you can also see which issues affect a specific firmware, or a specific feature - for example pay tv, or radio, and request a notification email if new material is added to a bug report.

Frankly, when all people have to do is click to a bug list that's kept up to date, it seems silly to copy and paste a static snapshot of that elsewhere.

Feel free to copy the material that's in the public pages of the site, but I wouldn't be happy with the material for registered users being copied - providing extras for registered users is one of the ways we encourage people to participate, and helps create such a useful community for Toppy owners.

Nigel.

Nigel, can anyone register for this? Would be uselful for me.

I understand Nigel. Once again many thanks.

Anyone can register on the forums - it's completely free. And once you're registered on the forums, you can access the site customisation services, by clicking the Services button at the top right of the screen, which allows you to filter the bugs list by firmware or feature.

But, as I mentioned before, you can see the current bugs list, at the URL posted earlier in this thread, without registering on the forums. You miss out on the detailed notes, which may explain work-arounds, and on the requests for new or changed features. All the actual bugs are there, categorised and rated, for anyone to see.

Nigel.

As part of our never ending quest to bring information to the masses, on the public bugs page, hovering over the Discussion link now displays more details about the bug.

You're not going to get the additional notes on there, however - there's a limit to just how many database queries I want to sprinkle round the web site!

Nigel.

The question that should also be asked is when are these bugs going to be fixed as some have been outstanding for a long time.

Future Toppy owners need confidence that they are being fixed, Some bug fixes were originally promised for last September!

I know Nigel is doing a very good unpaid job right across the Toppy front but it would help if the Company were to respond directly through these pages.

My Toppy machine works very well but some of these bugs get tiresome,

Well, yes, some fixes were promised for september, then we got the MHEG issues, and a lot of energy was diverted onto that.

There are some annoying niggles outstanding, and they're well aware of it. But most of the bugs that are outstanding - aside from the irksome jumps to live TV on stop and start of timers - don't affect many people, or don't happen very often. Of course, that doesn't mean they're right to ignore them, but it does mean they can spend longer on getting updates right, instead of fighting fire all the time.

Looking at the mess in the old Inverto thread, I'm not convinced that responding directly in a forum like this is a great idea - unless you can guarantee that someone will always be available to do it on a regular basis, which isn't easy unless you have a very large number of staff.

Nigel.

I received this list of bugs that have occurred on the Topfield:

Failed recording results in 0Mb file
MHEG crashes Toppy when dual recording with two or more active TAPs
BBC interactive services cause crash
Toppy crashes while tuned to BBC channels
Missing subtitles
File list refers to wrong information
Timers fail to wake the unit up from standby
CAM is not always correctly allocated
Sound not available after jumping in playback
Sound not always available on playback
UKTV History switches to Sky Travel
Some recordings appear to be blank
Keys are not mapped correctly for TAPs on the TF5800
Pressing standby after a recording starts can cause a crash
Wrong file can be played back during record of next episode
Mux A radio channels not working
Timers are erroneously deleted
No sound on recording
Recordings will appear blank if a timer starts before a channel commences broadcast
Widescreen signalling is incorrect
Dual recordings fail
Recordings never stop
Dual recordings may fail, if playback stops
Subtitles may cause instability and crashing
PVR jumps to live TV when timers start and stop
Incorrect MHEG character set
Subtitle text colour not correct
Subtitles persist on screen
Unit does not return to standby after a wakeup timer
Channel 5 may appear blank when first selected
Channel duplicates appear after rescanning
Live subtitles are displayed incorrectly
Bomb Hexa game causes restart
MHEG only available from one tuner
MHEG date error
Not all pay TV channels are marked
Favourites option is reset when switching from TV to Radio and back
Some TV channels incorrectly labelled as radio
Premature subtitles on recorded programmes
USB transfers in turbo mode can cause a crash
Correct response to MPEG aspect ratio/AFD signalling
On-screen keyboard can cause system reboot
Large MP3 folders can cause a crash
Subtitles continue when live TV is paused
Some on screen displays persist
Unable to change channel with number keys on Channel 4


I am told there have been numerous bug fixes over the course of the year and most of them have now been eradicated by the manufacturer These are apparently the existing bugs:

MHEG crashes Toppy when dual recording with two or more active TAPs
Missing subtitles
Timers fail to wake the unit up from standby
Recordings never stop
Recordings from TopUp TV not always playable
Sound not available after jumping in playback
PVR interrupts viewing and jumps to live TV channel when a recording starts or stops
Incorrect MHEG character set
Subtitles persist on screen
Unit does not return to standby after a wakeup timer
Channel 5 may appear blank when first selected


Customer issues requested:

EPG data is not collected if not watching a channel
Individual timeshift buffers for each tuner
Frame by frame advance
After a power cut the clock is not set affecting all timers
Automatic start up after power cut
Support for Genre in EPG
MHEG is disabled when enabling subtitles from option key or setup menu
EPG display of recording times
Programme info is saved at start of recording but will not match the intended recording
Channel changes in Picture In Guide when moving around guide
Next day key in EPG should move by 24 hours
Recordings from standby signals the scart and turns TV on or other equipment in standby
Increase speed of fast forward to more than 6x
Recordings should be lockable before they are complete
Optical digital sound volume control
Enable Front Panel Navigation Buttons in all Toppy Menus

Well, posting the complete list of bugs found ever is likely to just confuse people; some of those were fixed in the very first update, in May last year, about six weeks after the box went on sale. Some appeared in an update briefly and were fixed within 48 hours.

Additionally, some of the items that are in the original list (which appears to be pretty much a dump of all the bug titles from the Toppy.org.uk database) should still be listed in the outstanding list and are, in fact, shown there on the bugs page.

I know you're trying to be helpful here, but many of the issues there are ancient history now, and utterly irrelevant to anyone thinking of buying a Toppy today.

Nigel.

Hear hear -
The current bugs with current firmware (which aren't very many as far as I have encountered so far) are the ones that you or anyone should solely be interested in.
All the rest are history

I find the list of issues that have been fixed an interesting read. Its nice to know there are only a handful of bugs left. Do Topfield give an indication about when the rest of the bugs will be fixed?

Nigel, without your efforts I dont think many Toppy's would have been sold as I believe you have affectively been acting as a defacto Topfield Company interface. I hope they know this and support you adequately.

Whilst efforts have been spent fixing the MHEG problem (company took a long time to fix this problem from August to the final December issued software). The long bugs list suggests a lot more effort is necessary. What we want is a promised fix date without lots of excuses.

Well, the long bugs list is actually considerably shorter, since most of the things listed above aren't bugs any more. I hope too many people don't just read that post and assume those are all bugs in 5.12.25.

We haven't, I think, had lots of excuses. We've actually had a reasonable amount of frankness over which things could get fixed and when things were postponed. We've certainly had some sloppiness, over the MHEG issue which should arguably never have happened, but while it did take a while to get a final fix, there was an interim one pushed out pretty quickly.

When there is a date for a firmware update, and information about what's likely to be in it, then I shall post a news item on the Toppy site.

Nigel.

Well,
As a Toppy user I felt I must reply to the above 'bugs' lists posted by msau
.
We have two units both with the latest firmware and various TAP's and neither of them have shown any of the so-called bugs. One did for a short time have problems with channel five, but it turned out to be a 'low signal strength' problem, so would probably have affected other makes of boxes as well. We have also found that most of the 'customer issues requested' have some form of work-around by either one TAP or another and in fact there are multiple choices of ways that you can correct these issues dependant on your personal preferences.

Regards,

Colin

That long list of bugs just pays credit to ToppyUK for having registered every single problem ever found. I have had a Toppy since April and if I had suffered from a tenth of them I would have sent it back rather than buy a second one.

As Nigel has says most of them where sorted long ago anyway. There are a few outstanding issues but some of those user wishes are in any event of dubious value. e.g. I for one want a fixed line out volume from optical. Some of these things are not bugs or faults just reasonable design choices which some people may not have choosen.

There are still some things which need sorting; the gathering of EPG info which neccessitates changing channel when using the EPG and the occassional unneccessary interuption of playback are issues IMO but there is every indication they are being addressed. Taps completely solve the first problem and help with the second by the way.

Richard

There have been a lot of bugs but which PVR hasnt? There is a part of the list that shows current bugs. I believe your experience is the same for the other PVRs with bugs: Some people are plagued by them but my gut feel is probably the overwhelming majority are not that affected or work easily around them. I said something similar on another PVR thread today.

Thank you for the extra information Richard.

anothergo, I have got the feeling you are pleased with the Topfield generally but which are the issues that are being a pain?

The one I suffer from most is the dual recording where the machine will only record one programme, this happens a lot.

The EPG is also a pain and slow to populate but is not really a bug but a design issue. The fast forward is also very slow which needs to be addressed.

Nigel how about asking Topfield to produced a condensed list of agreed outstanding bugs and when they are planned to be fixed.

I'm generally very happy with my Toppy (much better than my PACE TWIN!) but have had a fair number of the bugs previously. Other makes also having problems does not make two wrongs making a right. These things should work straight out of the box like even the cheapest VCR.