Hi all,

I'm thinking of getting a Topfield.. to replace my Sky+.

My understanding is that you can download extra software that makes the Topfield a great replacement for SKY+ I assume you can load this software by connecting the topfield to a PC.

However, once I've downloaded the extra software I shall then be placing the Topfield into my lounge and it will NOT have a network connection.

So my question is if you really need a network connection to have the benefit of most of the new funtionality (EPG etc.) ?

Thanks,
Mark

Good afternoon,

It's not really necessary to have a permanent connection to a computer or network. A USB connection is fine for initally loading any Taps you may want to play with,(they can be loaded and left 'in limbo' in the Program Files folder until such time you want to use them).
A lot of people use the network connection to load the Radio Times EPG, but there are various ways of getting the EPG information apart from that way; the advantage of the RT EPG info is that it's just so much more comprehensive than most others. After saying that though, a lot of people are more than happy with the other EPG Taps which means the Toppy is self-contained with no other connections.

If you have the time, a look at all the info on www.Toppy.org.uk will serve you well, plus there are some very active forums there.

Regards,

Colin

I'd agree; a network connection is by no means necessary. It does give you some flexibility and neat stuff, but the box is pretty great without it.

Having a permanent link means you can do some of the things listed below; if you don't envisage needing to do them, and are happy to plug in a PC sporadically if you want to copy a program for burning to DVD, just load on a few TAPs you fancy trying - you can enable and disable them via the remote - when you get the box, and then forget about the USB port.

Shiny things to do include:

At least one user I know of has a script that automatically copies files from a particular folder on the toppy to his PC, so they can be played there or burnt to DVD

You can grab programme information from other sources, like the Radio Times, giving you better details of films, or programme reviews.

You can use Toppy Remote Control, which is a service based on the web allowing you to set timers and searches via a web browser or text message.

You can even set up a notification system for things like emails, so that a symbol appears on screen if an important message has arrived for you.


All neat stuff, but firmly in the add-on area, I think.

Nigel.

What network connection? i was led to believe that the toppy only had a usb port.

It has a USB port, and via cunning devices such as the Asus WL500gx or the Linksys NSLU2, you can link it to your network.

Although the Toppy itself sees nothing more than a PC running the usual transfer software (the protocol has been implemented for Linux), these little boxes can make all the other stuff possible, like presenting the Toppy's hard drive to your LAN as an FTP server, or fetching an EPG from the net for you.

Nigel.

That's correct, there is only one USB port, which runs above USB1 speed but below USB2, so not overly fast.
However, there is a thriving community who have modified the software available for both the Linksys NSLU2 and an Asus WL500G, these can then act as the link between the Toppy and the network. In the main, people use the NSLU2 for a wired connection and the Asus for a wireless connection.

Regards,

Colin