OK here it is! Always wanted to buy a topfield but was put off because HD is not far away which a Topfield can’t handle and because I think I'm more interested in IPTV? Your challenge, should you wish to accept it, is to persuade me to buy one! Be gentle I’m a Toppy virgin.
Should I buy a Topfield?
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Well, if you're going to be a PVR early adopter (you still would be) and eventually an IPTV and/or HD early adopter, you can buy a Toppy now, enjoy using it and then flog it on eBay when IPTV and/or HD become available to somebody who's a later adopter than you.
Otherwise, you'll always be waiting for that next "shiny new thing" and you'll never buy anything.
Otherwise, you'll always be waiting for that next "shiny new thing" and you'll never buy anything.
Hi Sid Sockhead,
Comprehensive HD cover is years away in the UK. You should think of getting value for money for the next 3-5 years when buying electronic goods such as TV/DVD recorders. In my opinion the best value/picture quality TVs at present are CRT based, there are some great bargains available. If you are on a tight budget and have the room stay CRT for now. Let the better off pay for LCD/PLASMA development. A PVR is a great introduction to modern technology and well worth the money even if it is overtaken in 3-5 years time.
Comprehensive HD cover is years away in the UK. You should think of getting value for money for the next 3-5 years when buying electronic goods such as TV/DVD recorders. In my opinion the best value/picture quality TVs at present are CRT based, there are some great bargains available. If you are on a tight budget and have the room stay CRT for now. Let the better off pay for LCD/PLASMA development. A PVR is a great introduction to modern technology and well worth the money even if it is overtaken in 3-5 years time.
At last, another CRT fan!
People laughed when I spent my hard earned cash on a new CRT set. But they weren't laughing quite so much when they actually saw the picture quality on it! I did hurt my back trying to get it onto the stand, but that's another story!!!
People laughed when I spent my hard earned cash on a new CRT set. But they weren't laughing quite so much when they actually saw the picture quality on it! I did hurt my back trying to get it onto the stand, but that's another story!!!
Originally Posted by hgt:
“At last, another CRT fan!
People laughed when I spent my hard earned cash on a new CRT set. But they weren't laughing quite so much when they actually saw the picture quality on it! I did hurt my back trying to get it onto the stand, but that's another story!!!”
“At last, another CRT fan!
People laughed when I spent my hard earned cash on a new CRT set. But they weren't laughing quite so much when they actually saw the picture quality on it! I did hurt my back trying to get it onto the stand, but that's another story!!!”
Yea, we did the same late last year. Three of us attempting to get it onto the stand made for it - that was hard work getting it lined up properly. I hope we never decide to move it.
For the original poster, yes you should buy a Topfield, it's a very good choice and I agree with rhubarbe - you could be waiting a long time for a PVR that's HD capable, and you could be enjoying the many benefits now.
Thanks for all of this! I think you're right about CRTs. Looked at some HD screens in the shops, had to ask the sales assistant if I was looking at a HD picture, he said "Yes, isn't it brilliant!" I said "No, actually it isn't, its pretty poor". Everything about HD reminds of the " The King's new clothes"
CRT's are great, but I think the size does put a lot of people off. I'm hoping full-size OLED displays will be available sooner rather than later.... That should give us the best of both worlds.
Sid, don't assume that just because a sales assistant tells you something that it is true. They may well have assumed you meant was it HD capable. Most feeds in sheds are pretty poor and very few are HD.
Also, it looks like the Euro standard for HDTV is going to be 720p. D'you think we'd settle for this when technically 1080p is much better? D'you think anybody will give us a choice?
Also, it looks like the Euro standard for HDTV is going to be 720p. D'you think we'd settle for this when technically 1080p is much better? D'you think anybody will give us a choice?
If the time table for digital switch over is anything to go by it may be 10 years before HD broadcasts become the norm, so do yourself a favour and buy a toppy.
HD as a norm is indeed years away.
I just bought a toppy after 3 disastrous forrays with PVR's and one DVD-R
This looks one hell of a versatile machine, I hope it otlasts the other trash.
I just bought a toppy after 3 disastrous forrays with PVR's and one DVD-R
This looks one hell of a versatile machine, I hope it otlasts the other trash.
Originally Posted by luvspud:
“If the time table for digital switch over is anything to go by it may be 10 years before HD broadcasts become the norm, so do yourself a favour and buy a toppy.”
“If the time table for digital switch over is anything to go by it may be 10 years before HD broadcasts become the norm, so do yourself a favour and buy a toppy.”
Think you might be right!!
I ordered my Toppy today. Getting the silver 160GB version from DigiOnline for £239. (inc p+p)
Hopefully it'll be a load better than the crappy Sagem PVR I got a few months ago, and took back after 1 day.
Hopefully it'll be a load better than the crappy Sagem PVR I got a few months ago, and took back after 1 day.
I ordered one on Wednesday from Empire Direct at £243. Fingers crossed it will come today before the bank holiday. At least it will be before the world cup!
I was considering the H*M*X PVR but recently too many threads have started with lost my recordings or new bug found. It may be that the mass market is selling the PVR (you can buy it at most electrical outlets now) and people are not setting it correctly. It I'd bought one at Christmas I would have gone for the H*M*X but now I've decided to join the Topfield Collective ..... resistance is definitely futile!
Hol
I was considering the H*M*X PVR but recently too many threads have started with lost my recordings or new bug found. It may be that the mass market is selling the PVR (you can buy it at most electrical outlets now) and people are not setting it correctly. It I'd bought one at Christmas I would have gone for the H*M*X but now I've decided to join the Topfield Collective ..... resistance is definitely futile!
Hol
It's not just the way people set it up. Hol, the 9200T does have bugs, some of which, IMHO as an original 9200T owner, have been introduced by Humax attempting to fix other feature shortcomings.
That said, it's still a decent machine but the Toppy is the better AFAIAC.
Welcome to the ranks of the Toppisti.
That said, it's still a decent machine but the Toppy is the better AFAIAC.
Welcome to the ranks of the Toppisti.
Originally Posted by HollyBrookHouse:
“t I'd bought one at Christmas I would have gone for the H*M*X but now I've decided to join the Topfield Collective ..... resistance is definitely futile!”
“t I'd bought one at Christmas I would have gone for the H*M*X but now I've decided to join the Topfield Collective ..... resistance is definitely futile!”
I'm not 100% sure why anyone would go for the Humax on balance. Both machines are incredibly similar, but aside from what's now a pretty small price differential, I'm not clear what other "pros" there are on the Humax front... Aesthetics (relax now rhubarbe)? Possibly, although not for me - physically I can't see much in it against the blank panther, UI-wise the Humax does look less like the vanilla Toppy's "first year undergraduate computer science degree project" look. Functionality? Well...it seems to offer less... Stability? It still seems to be following the same improvement curve that the Toppy did i.e. the latest update seems to have improved things quite a bit, and it may just have put its toe far enough over the "good enough for most users" line now, but I think that still remains to be seen. I can only think the main reason is greater brand presence on the highstreet and general brand profile.
I'm usually ridiculously over fickle about such things, and post-purchase often wished I'd "gone down the other route". However, I've certainly not seen anything in the other PVR camps that makes me regret the Toppy, so I guess that says something...
I've lost count of the boxes I have sold on eBay over the last year: satellite and terrestrial receivers. But the first one I bought, (and I only now have four [two in the loft] and a broken Relook) still has pride of place and nightly use, and that's the Toppy.
Having said that I am impatient for a TF6800PVRt Masterpiece, but it's the same beast under the skin.
Having said that I am impatient for a TF6800PVRt Masterpiece, but it's the same beast under the skin.
Should you by a toppy?
Yup. We've had ours for the best part of a year and apart from that BBC malarky last year, she's performed perfectly every single day.
The wife finds the EPG (I've installed EPG navigator) very easy to use. The one thing it's made easy is the "Honey, I've forgotten to set the video for whatever" phonecall when I'm going to be late home or have disappeared down the pub. In the days of VCR the call would last 10 minutes whilst I went through every step and even then she'd tape BBC1 not ITV
Now it's a 1 minute call (essential time saving if you're down the pub)
The only gripe I have is that I can't set mine to come on over night to update the EPG thanks to us having a B&O telly that's constantly in standby. It wakes the telly up. But that's a B&O thing not really a toppy fault.
Drew
Yup. We've had ours for the best part of a year and apart from that BBC malarky last year, she's performed perfectly every single day.
The wife finds the EPG (I've installed EPG navigator) very easy to use. The one thing it's made easy is the "Honey, I've forgotten to set the video for whatever" phonecall when I'm going to be late home or have disappeared down the pub. In the days of VCR the call would last 10 minutes whilst I went through every step and even then she'd tape BBC1 not ITV
Now it's a 1 minute call (essential time saving if you're down the pub)
The only gripe I have is that I can't set mine to come on over night to update the EPG thanks to us having a B&O telly that's constantly in standby. It wakes the telly up. But that's a B&O thing not really a toppy fault.
Drew
Originally Posted by drewboy:
“...The only gripe I have is that I can't set mine to come on over night to update the EPG thanks to us having a B&O telly that's constantly in standby. It wakes the telly up. But that's a B&O thing not really a toppy fault.
Drew”
“...The only gripe I have is that I can't set mine to come on over night to update the EPG thanks to us having a B&O telly that's constantly in standby. It wakes the telly up. But that's a B&O thing not really a toppy fault.
Drew”
The solution may be quite simple. One of the SCART pins carries the 'wakeup' signal (I can't remember which one ATM - check the TV manual, if that doesn't help, come back to me and I'll have a look through our Thomson manual - assuming they're the same!). What I did was to fold a small piece of paper over the relevant pin, eh voila - no TV wakeup!
K
Originally Posted by KennyT:
“One of the SCART pins carries the 'wakeup' signal”
“One of the SCART pins carries the 'wakeup' signal”
It's pin 8. The downside of disconnecting it is you will need to manual switch your TV to the Toppy when you want to watch it.
Another possible workaround is to ensure your TV is off overnight, rather than just in standby (this will save electricity too). You could plug the TV in via a timeswitch if you want this to happen automatically.
Originally Posted by DX30:
“It's pin 8. The downside of disconnecting it is you will need to manual switch your TV to the Toppy when you want to watch it...”
“It's pin 8. The downside of disconnecting it is you will need to manual switch your TV to the Toppy when you want to watch it...”
Ours is permanently set to the Toppy!
(Anyway, that's what the remote controls for, innit?
)K
Ordered my Toppy from DigiOnline at 2pm on Thursday, and it was delivered on Friday before 3pm. Though ordered from DigiOnline, it seems to have been dispatch from TubroSat themselves, complere with the famous miles of bubblewrap!!!
It took a few hours to set it up, install the TAPs I wanted. Brilliant machine.
It took a few hours to set it up, install the TAPs I wanted. Brilliant machine.
Originally Posted by Ang:
“Yea, we did the same late last year. Three of us attempting to get it onto the stand made for it - that was hard work getting it lined up properly. I hope we never decide to move it.
For the original poster, yes you should buy a Topfield, it's a very good choice and I agree with rhubarbe - you could be waiting a long time for a PVR that's HD capable, and you could be enjoying the many benefits now.”
“Yea, we did the same late last year. Three of us attempting to get it onto the stand made for it - that was hard work getting it lined up properly. I hope we never decide to move it.
For the original poster, yes you should buy a Topfield, it's a very good choice and I agree with rhubarbe - you could be waiting a long time for a PVR that's HD capable, and you could be enjoying the many benefits now.”
Sounds like a Philips PW9618 to me - I only have the 28" versions but it takes two to lift it and one to guide it onto its table with the two nylon pegs....but superlative Pixel-Plus picture and even better Dolby 5:1 with a Gale sub-woofer added ..still not quite hi-fi with CDs played via a Philips DVD player though....
Currently have Freeview supplied via a Panasonic TU-CT20 but looking to a Freeview + TopUp PVR ....Humax or Topfield I ask myself....?
Humax must outsell Topfield by 10:1 and I wonder about the addition of TAPs ...is this really easy?.... I have managed updates into an Echostar AD3000IP Viaccess via null-modem cable but would an oldie like me manage TAPs with USB2.0?..is the Topfield easy to screw up if you don't get the downloads quite right?
The other thing I wonder about is the "price-crash" of the Humax PVR9000T recently..Martin Dawes .net is selling it at £183 + £10 P&P...and this compares with £235 for a Topfield..though I might prefer the Topfield 250Gb version and go the whole hog.I wonder if a Humax 250Gb machine is waiting in the wings?
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