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| preston |
 Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 8:23 pm |
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Regular contributor
Joined: 08 Jun 2006
Posts: 90
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I'm upgrading my SD CRT TV to something 40 inch and HD.
I supose I need to think about the PVR at the same time. Avoid duplicating expensive features.
I'm sticking with freeview but would be interested in interactive services. HD tuner a must.
What have the toppy owners been replacing their toppys with? Anything up and comming and cutting edge like the toppy was all those years ago? |
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TF5800t, IA On, TS On, F/W: MS6 Recommended F/W 12/9/2009 +Pe
TAPs: EPG2MEI v0.96; MyStuff 6.2; Font Manager 1.0d; Extend v1.7; SDS V1.3e; MyInfo B5.1;
Sig generated by MyInfo on 21/6/10 |
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| alan_m |
| Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 8:55 pm |
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Frequent contributor
Joined: 17 Oct 2006
Posts: 2985
Location: Southchurch Village, Southend-on-Sea
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preston wrote: I'm upgrading my SD CRT TV to something 40 inch and HD.
I supose I need to think about the PVR at the same time. Avoid duplicating expensive features.
I'm sticking with freeview but would be interested in interactive services. HD tuner a must.
Why not use your Toppy for SD and recording and the HD tuner built into the TV for HD viewing - assuming that you are looking for a TV with a HD tuner
Not a recommendation, but if TVonics was on your short list of boxes be aware they went into administration on 12th June. |
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www.tap-room.com for TaP news, May/June edition now out
5800 - 1Tbyte HD and fan F/W: MS6, 5.13.65T 18 Nov 2010 -Te+B2D plus aXeL
Auto Start:MyStuff 6.4|EPG2MEI v0.96|Extend v1.7|SecCache (UK) v0.4|TF5000 Display v1.53|MHEG On/Off A3 |
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| gomezz |
| Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 9:56 pm |
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Frequent contributor
Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Posts: 3802
Location: Buckingham
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Have used my DigitalStream Freeview HD PVR for some time now my opinion is that it is very rough round the edges and justifies the budget price I paid for it.
From what I gather the Humax Freeview HD PVR suffers the same clunky UI as their Freesat HD PVR so that is off my list of recommendations.
TBH the cupboard is bare for anything approaching anywhere near the functionality and usability of a customised Toppy.
That said Youview boxes are on the horizon but there is no certainty that they will do any better at getting the basics right with effort instead concentrated on the fripperies of making them "internet capable". |
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TF5800, F/W: MS6 Recommended F/W 12/9/2009 -Sy+BmC0CbCfCtDEgEmEvEzIMPePsVdZ
TAPs: Power Down 0.75; QuickJump 1.72; MyStuff 6.4; TAP Commander 1.34; MyInfo B5.4; EPG2MEI v0.96;
Extend v1.7; EIT Sub v0.6; mei2archive BETA 3.8l6; Font Manager 1.0d; (Power Restore V0.7.3b) |
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| DX |
| Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 11:58 pm |
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Frequent contributor
Joined: 06 Apr 2005
Posts: 2622
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preston wrote: I'm upgrading my SD CRT TV to something 40 inch and HD.
I supose I need to think about the PVR at the same time.
You might be abe to postpone getting a new pvr by your choice of TV. My Panasonic TV will record to an external Hard Drive. I used it in the early days of Freeview HD (no HD pvr was available then). You could continue to use your Toppy for SD recordings and supplement it by using the TV for the occasional HD recording.
Personally I went for a HTPC running Windows 7 Media Center and have found that excellent for my needs. The downside is it is an expensive route.
For a more conventional Freeview HD pvr I think it is either the Humax HDR Fox T2 or the Digital Stream. The Humax probably has the edge in features but the Digital Stream is cheaper. |
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| msteggalls |
| Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 7:39 am |
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Frequent contributor
Joined: 22 Apr 2005
Posts: 697
Location: Ipswich, UK
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DX wrote: You might be abe to postpone getting a new pvr by your choice of TV. My Panasonic TV will record to an external Hard Drive. I used it in the early days of Freeview HD (no HD pvr was available then). You could continue to use your Toppy for SD recordings and supplement it by using the TV for the occasional HD recording.
That's exactly what I do at the moment - most recording in HD is now done on external HDD via my Panasonic TV, except when there are two programs on at the smae time on want to record when one is recorded via the Toppy (or if both HD and one is BBC then downloaded via get_iplayer, although this is not often)
This means over the last year, I now watch very liitle new via the Toppy, and and just really catching up with anything that I haven't watched yet!
Have thought at times about getting a HD PVR for when recording two HD programs, but haven't yet, although if did guess first option to look at would be a Humax, but may be better ones out there now....
Martyn |
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Model: TF5800 Silver; Disk: Samsung 300gb ; Firmware: 5.13.65 Patched; Purchased: 15-Apr-2005; Tx: Sudbury;
Autostart TAPs: Improbox (2.5) TF5000 Display (1.53a); Description Extender (2.23); Filer (2.21RC3); Extend (1.7); stirf (1.3Cbeta); EPGnavigator (6.10); UK Auto Scheduler (0.73) & Goldfish Screensaver (0.5) 
TV: Panasonic TX-L37V20B LCD; Remote: Harmony 885
Updated 01Nov10 |
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| juwlz |
| Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 7:57 am |
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MyStuff Team
Joined: 12 Aug 2005
Posts: 9686
Location: Wokingham, Berkshire (Hannington transmitter)
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I still don't think there's anything that can hold a candle to the UI of a Toppy running MyStuff. (OK, obviously I'm biased).
We have a Freesat Humax PVR (it was going cheap in John Lewis, and the previous owner or our house had already installed a satellite dish for Sky - which we don't subscribe to), but it only really gets used for watching live (and then mostly just sports) because I hate so many things about the UI. If our TV had built in HD tuners it would probably never get switched on.
There's nothing to say that you have to update your PVR at the same time as changing your TV. Treat the two things as separate, and leave the HD PVR until there's something worth having at a price you're happy with.
Julie |
Last edited by juwlz on Sun Jun 17, 2012 9:07 am; edited 1 time in total
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5800, TS On, F/W: MS6 Recommended F/W 12/9/2009 -Sy+BmC0CfCtFsIMPePsR3UUuUxZ
5810, TS On, F/W: F/W: MS6 Recommended F/W 12/9/2009 +BmCfCtFsR3Z
MyStuff info; Help!
Harmony 885 remote. Sig date 8 April 2012 |
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| toodeep |
| Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 8:52 am |
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Frequent contributor
Joined: 30 Apr 2005
Posts: 281
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| I'm another that uses the crude PVR capabilities of my Panasonic TV to make recordings from the one HD mux and use my Toppy for everything else. I've even deleted all non-HD services from the TV. |
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TF5800, TS On, F/W: 5.13.65T 14/4/2009 -AbTe+CwOtTdVr
TAPs: Jag's EPG v3.0; DescriptionExtender 2.23; Matrix Screensaver V1.7; |
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| preston |
| Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 9:02 am |
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Regular contributor
Joined: 08 Jun 2006
Posts: 90
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Thanks everyone. 5 replies overnight. Wow, I had assumed there weren't many of us left.
Yes Juwlz - Agree UI of mystuff is something special.
I'll probably leave the PVR for a while then.
Taking that into consideration I'm looking for a TV with:
HD tuners
Ability to record to (and play from) external HDD
Internet connection (wireless) for iPlayer et al.
I have my features list now. Thanks again. |
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TF5800t, IA On, TS On, F/W: MS6 Recommended F/W 12/9/2009 +Pe
TAPs: EPG2MEI v0.96; MyStuff 6.2; Font Manager 1.0d; Extend v1.7; SDS V1.3e; MyInfo B5.1;
Sig generated by MyInfo on 21/6/10 |
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| juwlz |
| Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 9:12 am |
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MyStuff Team
Joined: 12 Aug 2005
Posts: 9686
Location: Wokingham, Berkshire (Hannington transmitter)
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preston wrote: TF5800t, IA On, TS On, F/W: MS6 Recommended F/W 12/9/2009 +Pe
TAPs: EPG2MEI v0.96; MyStuff 6.2; Font Manager 1.0d; Extend v1.7; SDS V1.3e; MyInfo B5.1;
Sig generated by MyInfo on 21/6/10
If it's just the signature that's out of date, it's time to update it  .
Julie |
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5800, TS On, F/W: MS6 Recommended F/W 12/9/2009 -Sy+BmC0CfCtFsIMPePsR3UUuUxZ
5810, TS On, F/W: F/W: MS6 Recommended F/W 12/9/2009 +BmCfCtFsR3Z
MyStuff info; Help!
Harmony 885 remote. Sig date 8 April 2012 |
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| js5800 |
| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 2:57 pm |
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Frequent contributor
Joined: 27 Jan 2009
Posts: 134
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You can get the Tvonics and Digital Stream for about £130 now Tvonics have gone bust, both are about equal with plenty of bugs. There's not much chance of the Tvonics bugs getting fixed now though. I believe the Humax is the pick of the bunch with custom firmware available for it, but it's pricey.
I have the Digital Stream and although it's buggy and quirky to say the least, it's been reliable for recordings - the most important thing. I only use it for HD though, the Topfield still does the most work. There are two developers working on user mods for the DS now so it may get better in the future. |
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TF5800, TS On, F/W: MS6 Recommended F/W 12/9/2009 -Sy+R2UUuVdWf
TAPs: SecCache (UK) v0.4; EPG2MEI v0.96; EIT Sub (Game) v0.6; Extend v1.7; QuickJump 1.72; Font Manager 1.0d; MyInfo B5.5; MyStuff 6.4; TAP Commander 1.34; TF5000 Display v1.53; (FastScanGUI v0.6d);
Sig generated by MyInfo on 27/3/12 |
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| matt |
| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 4:46 pm |
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Forum moderator
Joined: 30 Mar 2005
Posts: 2302
Location: St Ives, Cornwall Transmitter: Redruth
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I'm still looking for a HD Toppy replacement. It's likely to be a long wait!
I'll probably go with the SD Toppy, HD TV PVR route when I get my next TV.
matt |
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PVR: TF5800, MyStuff recommended firmware, new PSU, 250GB Spinpoint HDD, Zalman ZM-OP1 fan TAPs: QuickJump 1.72, MyStuff 6.4, EPG2MEI 0.96, Extend 1.7, Bookmark 3, UK Auto Scheduler 0.73, SecCache 0.4, EIT Sub 0.6, SDS 1.3, TAP Commander 1.34, Font Manager 1.0d. Others: HDFW 2.3a, Channel Manager 5.1, FastScanGUI, MyInfo TV: Philips 37PFL9603D |
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