Having seen the great prices on Digital Direct, I'm becoming very tempted by a Toppy. I've spent a fair chunk of time on here, on toppy.org.uk and on pvrworld.co.uk , but there are a few things my head isn't getting round:

* The idea of sourcing EPG data from the Radio Times site seems very appealing. On the rt2mei site there's all sorts of talk of puppys and networking. Can someone explain to me in simple terms what I need to make it work with my Mac (OS 10.3.9), whether I need anything other than a USB lead, and whether I have to manually tell it to update (not a problem)?

* If I was to use the MyStuff EPG (looks the closest to my Pace Twin/Sky+) and wanted to use the Radio Times data and have some way of recording by name searching which TAPs would I need? Any that I'd need to pay for?

* Strictly not on EPG sources, but do any Pace Twin/Toppy owners know how the Toppy compares in terms of picture quality and tuner sensitivity (don't worry, the Twin will still be king of the house, the Toppy, initially at least, will be confined to my bedroom).

Thanks in advance for any enlightenment

I think you'll find out a lot more on www.toppy.org.uk Russell. I know Nigel has a Mac so he'll have been down the road you need to tread. Lots of the guys have Macs and I believe there is an app you can run that more or less does the job for you.

I don't have a Pace Twin but the picture quality of the Toppy is second to none AFAIAC.

Don't get me wrong, I realise toppy.org.uk is a great source, but there's just so much and without having use of a Toppy, or being a little more technical a lot of what's there is just going over my head. And the average length of thread in the TAPs section is not newbie friendly. It's how technical it is that's caused me to post this here not there.

The picture quality on my Twin I've always though to be second to none and very noticably superior to my Sagem. I remember an early review put the Toppy down on PQ, but ISTR it was widely discarded anyway.

OK, fair point. This is the project for what you want to do. As it says, if you have a Mac there is a software app to do it all for you automatically.

http://www.toppy.org.uk/projects/rt.php

Fantastic - that's exactly what I've been looking for. I'm feeling very close to getting the credit card out (yesterday was pay day after all...).

If you're using a Mac, there are a couple of solutions - though the simplest ones aren't for use with MyStuff; they work with other EPG software and the built in EPG.

Toppy EPG is a Java app, designed on the Mac, which will transfer data using epg_uploader on the Toppy.

MacTF-EPG is a Cocoa app, which can also do automatic searches and set timers; it actually has my scripts built in to it for UK users. You need epg_uploader on the Toppy for this too. This is the solution I'd recommend.

My scripts can be run on their own, but you'd be best off using MacTF-EPG

rt2mei will create a file that MyStuff uses, but it's a bit fiddlier to set up on the Mac than simply clicking on one of the other apps.

You can generate an ini file for epg_uploader to work with ToppyEPG or MacTF-EPG using the Toppy Remote Control setup wizard, and making a couple of changes via the TAP's menu on the Toppy.

Nigel.

I'm glad you came back.

Cannot say there is much difference between them on these scores. My partner however thought the Toppy picture was 'too sharp' after changing from the Twin. I tweaked the TV settings and she was happy.

Richard
Actually the Twin did use to be criticised for being 'too soft' with the original software.

Took the plunge and got a Toppy yesterday - 160GB Black Panther from House of Fraser.

Enjoying using it, but some things are getting a little confusing

MacTF is connecting and uploading no bother, but won't download - it just 'unexpetedly quits' - any ideas?

The jump to live issue has really got on my nerves, got the mcgYRResume TAP which'l hopefully limit its impact.

After realising the Radio Times thing was getting a little complicated, especially as I can't use MacTF-EPG since I'm using Panther, not Tiger I'm using eit2mei and MyStuff. With no downloads I can't edit the freeview.ini file eit2mei has created, so I'm not sure when it's scanning so when I need the wake-up timer (can't find a default value in the readme file).

Never used eit2mei myself, so I'm afraid I can't help there, and all my boxes are on 10.4.

You can use my scripts on a Mac without the graphical frontend; there's a script for Terminal which will create the data, and you can then zap it over with MacTF.

You can also transfer files to and fro with MPEG Streamclip, which also allows you to edit and convert files; www.squared5.com - that's the solution I normally use for downloads if I have the Mac plugged in via USB, since it will even do the conversion to MPEG while it's downloading, instead of as a separate process.

Nigel

If another scan time isn't specified in eit2mei.ini then the default time of 03:30 am is used. If you press "Recall" (or whatever you specified as the activation key) on the Toppy remote you will get the eit2mei configuration menu where you can see and change the scan time.

I've have mine 13 months. He bought his Toppy yesterday and already I have no idea what he's talking about.

I'm not sure I've any idea what I'm talking about either


I've set my wakeup timer for 0330 for 3 hours, and am hoping for the best. When I want to AutoStart a TAP do I just move the .tap file into Autostart, or must I move accompanying folders (like MEI, MEI Archive and MST)? It's just that I can't figure out how to, with MacTF still only wanting to upload, not download, and the toppy only wanting to moves files, not folders.

Nigel - thanks for that, will have a look at that app tomorrow. Not sure I'll bother with the Radio Times info for now, in my >2 years of using my Twin the EPG has never failed me on channels I watch - and rarely on those I don't. I get the impression certain regions have more problems than others, and I seem to be in one of the better ones.

For eit2mei you just move the tap - it will still find the other files and folders.

That's not true of all tap's however. Some look in the directory they start in for other files or folders so you may have to move them using Altair. You'll need to check what's needed for each tap individually.

I understand there is an update of the Toppy software currently being Beta tested. I would expect it will include an update to the EPG guide as this was also tested in Beta form last November. It might be well just to wait and see for a few days without trying too hard to understand all the various TAPS around.

Thanks - I knew there was a firmware update in progress, didn't realise it might be so soon. However I'm quite keen to get to grips with TAPs anyway, and there'd be no harm in going back to the built in EPG if it does everything I need it to.

Last night I had all my timers for eit2mei set up, woke up this morning Toppy was on (thought it should have gone back to standby, but not too worried about that), the EPG still has some gaps, but is looking a lot healthier.

However my ControlTimers in MyStuff aren't being picked up, even when the EPG data for the programme is present - all the ones which were found after the quick search in eit2mei yesterday are still fine though. Not sure if this might be the issue of having data files in different folders to the TAP, which I can't fix since MacTF isn't downloading, although I will look at MPEGStreamClip tonight.

It will certainly be more than a few days for the next firmware update; we've had one beta firmware, tested it and sent back comments with a list of even more things we'd like included.

At the moment, we're waiting for a second test file. I'm not going to speculate on what will make the final cut of the next release, or even when it will appear. We're fortunate enough to have a pretty stable firmware release at the moment, so there's not so much pressure to get something done quickly, rather than getting it done right.

Nigel.