Love my topfield but can’t believe how hot it gets. Won’t need central heating in the winter will just leave it switched on!! Has anyone had problems with their topfield over heating and locking up?
Who Needs Nuclear Power When You Have A Toppy
Yes it does get a tad hot - and I guess with current warm spell more noticeable than the norm. But would you really want a noisy fan aka digifusion 100/150/200
Mine gets very warm but not so bad that I cant put my hand on the top.
It really does need to be left out in the open though, its not a device you can put away inside a cabinet or other box as it will then overheat. The main heat is generated by the HDD and the PSU powering the HDD. If you dont use Instant Rewind then turning this feature off should make it run alot cooler.
It really does need to be left out in the open though, its not a device you can put away inside a cabinet or other box as it will then overheat. The main heat is generated by the HDD and the PSU powering the HDD. If you dont use Instant Rewind then turning this feature off should make it run alot cooler.
Originally Posted by snick:
“Yes it does get a tad hot - and I guess with current warm spell more noticeable than the norm. But would you really want a noisy fan aka digifusion 100/150/200”
“Yes it does get a tad hot - and I guess with current warm spell more noticeable than the norm. But would you really want a noisy fan aka digifusion 100/150/200”
Very good point!
The Toppy has been on sale in Australia for longer than it's been available over here, and I gather it's rather warmer there than it is here. Seems to manage ok without a fan.
Nigel.
Nigel.
true, turn off the time slip. then the HDD will not be running all the time in the background. How often do you really use it? now as Engerland is out the cup
god bless the Topfield
god bless the Topfield
Are Engerland out the cup? I must of missed that.
I hope mine doesn't catch fire. Six boxes in my stack and you can't buy one of them in a regular shop. 'Part from maybe the Toppy, now.
I hope mine doesn't catch fire. Six boxes in my stack and you can't buy one of them in a regular shop. 'Part from maybe the Toppy, now.
I've fitted a fan inside my Toppy, just next to the hard-drive and blowing out. It's powered from the hard-drive supply (via a splitter) and keeps the temperature down nicely. I have mine in an enclosed cabinet with little ventilation. It's an extremely quiet fan and with the cabinet closed it can't be heard.
Originally Posted by cassy34:
“I've fitted a fan inside my Toppy, just next to the hard-drive and blowing out. It's powered from the hard-drive supply (via a splitter) and keeps the temperature down nicely. I have mine in an enclosed cabinet with little ventilation. It's an extremely quiet fan and with the cabinet closed it can't be heard.”
“I've fitted a fan inside my Toppy, just next to the hard-drive and blowing out. It's powered from the hard-drive supply (via a splitter) and keeps the temperature down nicely. I have mine in an enclosed cabinet with little ventilation. It's an extremely quiet fan and with the cabinet closed it can't be heard.”
Interesting point, I've seen a number of articles now that say heat is a problem in the topfield and other PVR's. The lack of cooling stresses the components and can cause the machine to lock up after an extended period of time. The heat problem can be mitigated by disabling some of the options in set up.
Where have you seen those articles?
I've not had any problems with heat in my Topfield, and it's usually turned on 24 hours a day, with timeshift running.
I don't suffer from lock-ups - and I often tend to be running the beta test firmwares, which you might thing are more prone to such problems.
Yes, if you're going to put any bit of kit inside an unventilated cupboard, then it may get warmer than if it's in a rack; but I don't think it's any more of a problem with the Topfield that with any other bit of kit.
Nigel.
I've not had any problems with heat in my Topfield, and it's usually turned on 24 hours a day, with timeshift running.
I don't suffer from lock-ups - and I often tend to be running the beta test firmwares, which you might thing are more prone to such problems.
Yes, if you're going to put any bit of kit inside an unventilated cupboard, then it may get warmer than if it's in a rack; but I don't think it's any more of a problem with the Topfield that with any other bit of kit.
Nigel.
Originally Posted by nwhitfield:
“Where have you seen those articles?
I've not had any problems with heat in my Topfield, and it's usually turned on 24 hours a day, with timeshift running.
I don't suffer from lock-ups - and I often tend to be running the beta test firmwares, which you might thing are more prone to such problems.
Yes, if you're going to put any bit of kit inside an unventilated cupboard, then it may get warmer than if it's in a rack; but I don't think it's any more of a problem with the Topfield that with any other bit of kit.
Nigel.”
“Where have you seen those articles?
I've not had any problems with heat in my Topfield, and it's usually turned on 24 hours a day, with timeshift running.
I don't suffer from lock-ups - and I often tend to be running the beta test firmwares, which you might thing are more prone to such problems.
Yes, if you're going to put any bit of kit inside an unventilated cupboard, then it may get warmer than if it's in a rack; but I don't think it's any more of a problem with the Topfield that with any other bit of kit.
Nigel.”
I have seen articles in the Home Cinema Choice Magazine, http://emsee.43people.com, http://ureader.co.uk web sites and, of course, digital spy.
My own experience is that the toppy does lock up when hot even though it is well ventilated. I respect yours, and others, views on why heat isn't an issue, I think it is. There has been some very good replies in this and other threads on how the heat can be dealt with, I hope that we can now move this thread forward.
Originally Posted by Sid Sockhead:
“My own experience is that the toppy does lock up when hot even though it is well ventilated. I respect yours, and others, views on why heat isn't an issue, I think it is. There has been some very good replies in this and other threads on how the heat can be dealt with, I hope that we can now move this thread forward.”
“My own experience is that the toppy does lock up when hot even though it is well ventilated. I respect yours, and others, views on why heat isn't an issue, I think it is. There has been some very good replies in this and other threads on how the heat can be dealt with, I hope that we can now move this thread forward.”
But Sid, I think the point is that here, and in the other thread, people can't quite see where you're coming from, although you seem to take this response a little personally... The discussion seems to be about whether the Toppy functionality is impacted by heat and hence the pros and cons of having a fan. Your argument is that the Toppy is impacted; I'm more than willing to accept that heat is an issue, but I don't yet see the evidence for it - general consensus seems to be that it runs hot, but without issue. Hence, you can't really take a debate forward if the grounding seems a bit, well, debatable...
Originally Posted by Sid Sockhead:
“I've seen a number of articles now that say heat is a problem in the topfield”
“I've seen a number of articles now that say heat is a problem in the topfield”
Can you point us towards the specific articles where this has been flagged as an issue with the Toppy, as this would help frame the debate? How do your own experiences of this issue manifest themselves?
The websites you mention in your post don't actually seem to be anything about the Toppy; I don't recall the review of it in Home Cinema Choice mentioning crashes due to heat; knowing what I do of the pressures of reviewing in magazines, I'd rather suspect they wouldn't have had long enough to play with it to determine that in any case.
Certainly, if there were major issues with the box locking up due to being hot, I think we'd see an awful lot of posts on Toppy.org.uk; but we don't. Certainly, some people feel that it gets warm, but locking up as a result is extremely uncommon.
There may, of course, be other causes of lock-ups, though they're pretty rare on the Toppy anyway. If you get a lock-up when the box is warm, it doesn't necessarily follow that that's the reason why.
As I said, with beta firmwares, lots of odd TAPs, and Toppy that's often running continuously for weeks on end, I don't get lock-ups. About the only time I do get anything odd happening is when I'm trying new TAPs, or deliberately stressing the machine in some parts of the test scheme that we use to verify the stability of firmwares.
Nigel.
Certainly, if there were major issues with the box locking up due to being hot, I think we'd see an awful lot of posts on Toppy.org.uk; but we don't. Certainly, some people feel that it gets warm, but locking up as a result is extremely uncommon.
There may, of course, be other causes of lock-ups, though they're pretty rare on the Toppy anyway. If you get a lock-up when the box is warm, it doesn't necessarily follow that that's the reason why.
As I said, with beta firmwares, lots of odd TAPs, and Toppy that's often running continuously for weeks on end, I don't get lock-ups. About the only time I do get anything odd happening is when I'm trying new TAPs, or deliberately stressing the machine in some parts of the test scheme that we use to verify the stability of firmwares.
Nigel.
Originally Posted by jon_c:
“But Sid, I think the point is that here, and in the other thread, people can't quite see where you're coming from, although you seem to take this response a little personally... The discussion seems to be about whether the Toppy functionality is impacted by heat and hence the pros and cons of having a fan. Your argument is that the Toppy is impacted; I'm more than willing to accept that heat is an issue, but I don't yet see the evidence for it - general consensus seems to be that it runs hot, but without issue. Hence, you can't really take a debate forward if the grounding seems a bit, well, debatable...
Can you point us towards the specific articles where this has been flagged as an issue with the Toppy, as this would help frame the debate? How do your own experiences of this issue manifest themselves?”
“But Sid, I think the point is that here, and in the other thread, people can't quite see where you're coming from, although you seem to take this response a little personally... The discussion seems to be about whether the Toppy functionality is impacted by heat and hence the pros and cons of having a fan. Your argument is that the Toppy is impacted; I'm more than willing to accept that heat is an issue, but I don't yet see the evidence for it - general consensus seems to be that it runs hot, but without issue. Hence, you can't really take a debate forward if the grounding seems a bit, well, debatable...
Can you point us towards the specific articles where this has been flagged as an issue with the Toppy, as this would help frame the debate? How do your own experiences of this issue manifest themselves?”
At work at the moment so can't spend too much time complying links to other sites but here are some:
Some specific links that deal with heat.
1) http://www.sat-industry.net/forums/a...hp/t-1609.html
2) http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?s...0&#entry180877
3) http://www.topfield-australia.com.au...463f0f7c027ffc
The orignal thread wasn't about heat causing problems in a toppy it was about the amount of heat generated and whether this was good design bearing in mind that the toppy doesn't go into standby after, say, a recording, but yes my toppy has locked up due to heat
Given that there are many threads on many web sites about toppys and heat I think that this is an interesting topic for this forum.
I don't understand your comment 'where I'm coming from...', I'll ignore 'taking this personally' that was cheap.
The first link is about the 4000, which is a completely different beast from the TF5800 sold in the UK.
The seconds on, the AQA thread, mentions that it gets hot; yes it does. No one's said it doesn't. But it doesn't seem to support your contention that the box becomes unstable when hot.
And the third one is about upgrading the hard drive; yes, you'd be daft to put in a hard drive that generates more heat than the original - just like you'd be daft to do the same when upgrading a laptop.
The Toppy does go into standby after a recording, if it woke up from standby to do the recording, and the front panel or remote controls have not been used in the meantime. If you do use the controls, it assumes you're there and don't want your viewing to be interrupted by the box switching off at the end of the recording.
Leave it alone and it'll turn itself back off again.
Nigel.
The seconds on, the AQA thread, mentions that it gets hot; yes it does. No one's said it doesn't. But it doesn't seem to support your contention that the box becomes unstable when hot.
And the third one is about upgrading the hard drive; yes, you'd be daft to put in a hard drive that generates more heat than the original - just like you'd be daft to do the same when upgrading a laptop.
The Toppy does go into standby after a recording, if it woke up from standby to do the recording, and the front panel or remote controls have not been used in the meantime. If you do use the controls, it assumes you're there and don't want your viewing to be interrupted by the box switching off at the end of the recording.
Leave it alone and it'll turn itself back off again.
Nigel.
Originally Posted by Sid Sockhead:
“I don't understand your comment 'where I'm coming from...'”
“I don't understand your comment 'where I'm coming from...'”
As in "On what basis you're making your point", nothing more.
Originally Posted by Sid Sockhead:
“I'll ignore 'taking this personally' that was cheap.”
“I'll ignore 'taking this personally' that was cheap.”
As in "You seem to be getting frustrated at people's responses, but I really think you're reading more into people's replies here than there actually is if you look back". Again, nothing more meant - my comments certainly weren't intended to cause offense (including the one in jest on the other thread). Apologies if you've taken them as such.
Annyhoo - back on topic (before a moderator takes a sniff).
All I'm wondering about is your basis for saying that the Toppy has issues with temperature. As above, there doesn't seem to be a body of evidence to support this, at least in normal operation, but clearly you're experiencing a problem - that's the core of the debate, isn't it? If so, it's interesting to know why you see these problems and others don't... Possibly your "hangs" really aren't heat related, or maybe your environment is particularly extreme/there's something wrong with your Toppy? Maybe we're all just lucky to not see this issues (in terms of those that have replied so far, at least)? I don't know...but that's the discussion.
Ok, In thread listed order.
1) This is about the Topfiled 4000, not the 5800
2) Lists a 2 paragraph 6 line section that says it gets hot but within spec's so its not a problem.
3) Is about upgrading the HDD. Different HDD's produce different heat ammounts. Some people have found that larger drives need active cooling as a minimum as the drive cannot disipate heat well enough by itself. This depends on the drive you buy.
The toppy only really has a heat problem if you place it in a non ventialted area (something directly above or to the side of the unit or in a cabinet). Mine is placed onto of my DVD recorder on a shelf, nothing else around it. Even during the summer I had no problems putting my hand on the top of the unit after it had been on for 6 hours, yes the HDD area was hot but the side with all the electronics was cool and only slightly above the ambient. I dont have aircon and the temp in the room was 28C, HDD temp was 53C which is still below the limit.
-edit- Nigel beat me to it, that will teach me to go afk for 10 mins during a reply.
1) This is about the Topfiled 4000, not the 5800
2) Lists a 2 paragraph 6 line section that says it gets hot but within spec's so its not a problem.
3) Is about upgrading the HDD. Different HDD's produce different heat ammounts. Some people have found that larger drives need active cooling as a minimum as the drive cannot disipate heat well enough by itself. This depends on the drive you buy.
The toppy only really has a heat problem if you place it in a non ventialted area (something directly above or to the side of the unit or in a cabinet). Mine is placed onto of my DVD recorder on a shelf, nothing else around it. Even during the summer I had no problems putting my hand on the top of the unit after it had been on for 6 hours, yes the HDD area was hot but the side with all the electronics was cool and only slightly above the ambient. I dont have aircon and the temp in the room was 28C, HDD temp was 53C which is still below the limit.
-edit- Nigel beat me to it, that will teach me to go afk for 10 mins during a reply.
