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Toppy Trf-2400 Utter Rubbish Near Complete.


snorri

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I bought one of these 2 days ago, I cannot believe how terrible it is compared to the 4yo7100 pvrt unit it is replacing.

Sure it's more powerful, channels change faster and external hard drive support behaves better than code written by monkey in a dark room but is still a bit hopeless and here the 'advantages' end.

I upgraded the firmware before doing anything else to this unit straight from the box so am running the November version,

Seriously what a piece of utter junk, keeps telling me I cannot delete recorded programs because they are still in play when they are not or that it cannot do it in continuous of which it is not......cannot move recorded programs from default position to other folders because it tells me that the file name already exists in the folder I need it moved to.

This unit ATM is almost totally and utterly unusable for any use above a dedicated set top box of which it does a good job.

Seriously if your considering one of these think twice I want my 7100 back again....at least it did what the buttons on the remote told it to.

Also the remote is crap compared to the 7100, noisy and buttons poorly differentiated in comparison and ice simply refuses to work.

I put up with a lot before the final 7100 firmware upgrade....topfield is up to it's old behaviors again I suppose, easy to tell.

The 7100 was a far and better unit than our beyonewiz P2 but this brand new 2400 ranks well below the P2.

What a hunk of utter junk IMO lol

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You either got a dud or the firmware update has gone awry.

If you have a faulty unit return it to place of purchase for replacement.

When updating to the Nov 2011 firmware, it is advisable to do a factory reset both before and after installing the new firmware. You can still do this from where you are now.

If you still have problems, revert to May 2010 or Oct 2010 firmware then factory reset, install Nov 2011, factory reset then setup.

The latest firmware still has some small bugs but has proven to be very functional for most users.

Surprised you preferred the 7100 (unless it was the 7100+) to a BW P2 if stability and reliability are important to you. I have found the BWs to be the most rock solid of all my PVRs - but not the prettiest, interface-wise.

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You either got a dud or the firmware update has gone awry.

If you have a faulty unit return it to place of purchase for replacement.

When updating to the Nov 2011 firmware, it is advisable to do a factory reset both before and after installing the new firmware. You can still do this from where you are now.

If you still have problems, revert to May 2010 or Oct 2010 firmware then factory reset, install Nov 2011, factory reset then setup.

The latest firmware still has some small bugs but has proven to be very functional for most users.

Surprised you preferred the 7100 (unless it was the 7100+) to a BW P2 if stability and reliability are important to you. I have found the BWs to be the most rock solid of all my PVRs - but not the prettiest, interface-wise.

Thanks Paul, first I thought it was junk, then read your reply so I followed it in the hope it was a dud somehow, included a couple of formats also to get it back to as basic again as when I did the first firmware update, now back to the latest firmware after also testing the former firmware with no luck..

Now I back to thinking it' just junk again compared to the non HD 7100 anyway.

How come people don't complain that one cannot record a program in it's default place...move it to a folder, record another different episode of that same program (so the toppy gives it the same name) BUT this program cannot be moved into the same folder as the first one because it will not add a differentiating numerical suffix....gobsmacked I am!!!

Also how come I cannot delete a recording on the fly. while watching .....it really strange I am forced to go all BW here!

How come I cannot select multiple recordings from the default place and move these as a batch to a folder! ....really hopeless again. spoilt by the 7100 i suppose.

The P2 gets better marks in the above now than this toppy, the old toppy got full marks in the above.

Does it still sound broken??? It seems to be but without another known good unit to test side by side this might be as good as it gets...other little things but on these core PVR issues so far it has been an epic fail.

cheers

Edited by snorri
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snorri's sentiments reflect in some areas mine when I compare my old 7000 to my newer 7160. The 7000 has more friendly "usability" than the 7160, although early f/w versions of the 7000 were notoriously unstable. As one example (echoing snorri), with the 7000 a recording could be deleted during playback. Not so with the7160. A small detail, but a backward step. More of a nuisance, with the 7160, not being able to preselect individual recordings for multiple "one touch" deletion. On a positive note, the remotes for the 7000 and 7160 are essentially the same, and are OK. However, why on earth did the powers to be have the top left (ON/SBY) and top right (MUTE) buttons on the 7160 remote both white?? A daub of red ink on the offending left button easily remedied this. I really do wonder how much thought goes into "improving" a product.

RogC

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I've rarely used the standard file manager, but with the TMSArchive TAP installed, to delete a currently recording program (as long as you are viewing the recording) I press STOP, STOP, confirm your choice then hit BLUE button to delete.

The problem we all encounter when changing equipment is learning the new logic/procedures. We tend to focus on the things that don't behave as we wish and ignore the ones that are done well - often forgetting the frustrations encountered when learning to use the original kit. Maybe you need to modify the way you manage files on this machine if you can't find a workaround or TAP to help you.

Having said that, I moved from a Toppy TF5000MP to a TRF2400 (via a couple of Beyonwizes) and found the new machine quite familiar. I often talk about how fantastic my original Toppy was, but when I use it nowadays (rarely) it seems clunky by comparison.

The good thing about the 2400 (and most Topfields) is the ability to customise them to your needs by installing TAPs. The Topfield forum has lots of information about TAPs and contributors who are happy to provide advice and assistance.

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snorri's sentiments reflect in some areas mine when I compare my old 7000 to my newer 7160. The 7000 has more friendly "usability" than the 7160, although early f/w versions of the 7000 were notoriously unstable. As one example (echoing snorri), with the 7000 a recording could be deleted during playback. Not so with the7160. A small detail, but a backward step. More of a nuisance, with the 7160, not being able to preselect individual recordings for multiple "one touch" deletion. On a positive note, the remotes for the 7000 and 7160 are essentially the same, and are OK. However, why on earth did the powers to be have the top left (ON/SBY) and top right (MUTE) buttons on the 7160 remote both white?? A daub of red ink on the offending left button easily remedied this. I really do wonder how much thought goes into "improving" a product.

RogC

yep improving this product seems to have gone the way of oval wheels from what was once round ones, do the designers ever actually use PVR's?

The old toppy was a Ferrari this thing is a wood sided family sedan with a big motor, fast in a straight line although cornering is useless as is the brakes, most roads are never forever only straight like in a desert.

Lucky I can Indian give from my daughter the old toppy, the BW P2 was the loungeroom backup because of it's clunkyness that turns a 2 minute 7100 exercise in file management into 5 minutes, this new offering toppy - once one renames a gross number of files and moves them individually necessitating traveling through a procession of new screens/pages each time makes the time required nearer to 10 minutes and quadruples the chance of making a mistake through nothing more than mindless boredom.

Seriously if I had of ever read a fair critique of this unit I would never have bought it and I warn everyone away from it with their cash ATM, I assume now mine is working properly.

Absolutely Buy the BW instead or possibly one of the other more upcoming brands, the BW is a fairly laborious user experience compared to the old toppys but not compared to the new toppys, the core reason to own a good one of these now resides at the wreckers....this unit signals the end of my years long topfield PVR purchasing experience.

My daughter can have it.

Edited by snorri
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I've rarely used the standard file manager, but with the TMSArchive TAP installed, to delete a currently recording program (as long as you are viewing the recording) I press STOP, STOP, confirm your choice then hit BLUE button to delete.

The problem we all encounter when changing equipment is learning the new logic/procedures. We tend to focus on the things that don't behave as we wish and ignore the ones that are done well - often forgetting the frustrations encountered when learning to use the original kit. Maybe you need to modify the way you manage files on this machine if you can't find a workaround or TAP to help you.

Having said that, I moved from a Toppy TF5000MP to a TRF2400 (via a couple of Beyonwizes) and found the new machine quite familiar. I often talk about how fantastic my original Toppy was, but when I use it nowadays (rarely) it seems clunky by comparison.

The good thing about the 2400 (and most Topfields) is the ability to customise them to your needs by installing TAPs. The Topfield forum has lots of information about TAPs and contributors who are happy to provide advice and assistance.

Oh Ok, possibly I should look into taps, fairly critiqued am i still going to be disappointed???, the user experience of the new topfield transcends the just does things differently/used to idea...it's truly and obliquely just a horrible unit in user comparison, I have had a BW P2 sitting next to the old toppy in the lounge room for well over 2 years already so know the BW experience inside out, the new toppy now takes it's leafs straight from the BWs book but more badly, IMO.

i shall do a little researching into taps ( thanks for the tip), I was not planning to but hey this thing is fast in a straight line (all things set top box) lol.

Edited by snorri
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... do the designers ever actually use PVR's? ...

I'm not sure about the Topfield situation, but Beyonwiz designers don't use Beyonwiz PVRs. This is because South Korea uses the ATSC digital TV system, while the Beyonwiz PVRs are manufactured for the DVB/T system. I think Topfields are also only sold into DVB/T markets, so the situation may be true for them, too.

Beyonwiz engineers have some way of feeding in some samples of Australian content into the PVRs for testing, but I don't know how much, and I don't know what point in the reception/decode chain they can feed in.

Quite a number of usability features have been suggested by Beyonwiz users through the BW forum and incorporated into Beyonwiz firmware.

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I'm not sure about the Topfield situation, but Beyonwiz designers don't use Beyonwiz PVRs. This is because South Korea uses the ATSC digital TV system, while the Beyonwiz PVRs are manufactured for the DVB/T system. I think Topfields are also only sold into DVB/T markets, so the situation may be true for them, too.

Beyonwiz engineers have some way of feeding in some samples of Australian content into the PVRs for testing, but I don't know how much, and I don't know what point in the reception/decode chain they can feed in.

Quite a number of usability features have been suggested by Beyonwiz users through the BW forum and incorporated into Beyonwiz firmware.

Interesting as it is simply not possible to be happy with the new topfields core functions behavior in comparison to the old unit unless one simply accepts that modern is better, no way the designers could be users IMO.

The new toppy has some very good things over the old one, don't anyone get me wrong here but they are all none core/set top box related except for it's handling of external HDD/files this portion of the new PVRs core function has it all over the old 7100.

Ice simply will not work properly so far will get to that never ending on an off saga some time when I can be bothered.

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Interesting as it is simply not possible to be happy with the new topfields core functions behavior in comparison to the old unit

Ice simply will not work properly so far will get to that never ending on an off saga some time when I can be bothered.

Not meaning to be argumentative, but surely the ''core'' function of a PVR is to record TV shows and (in my experience) the TRF2400 does this very well. File management is important, but (to me) is secondary - especially if it can be easily enhanced. I admit, I rarely use folders so I don't suffer your frustrations. However, I would be surprised if there are not plenty of owners who utilise the folder function - once again, I suggest visiting the Topfield forum for some advice - there are some clever people (including the programmers who develop the TAPs) monitoring the forum.

I have no problems with IceTV on the Nov 2011 firmware, apart from the (hopefully temporary) precaution of switching the Toppy to standby once per day to refresh the cache.

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...

I have no problems with IceTV on the Nov 2011 firmware, apart from the (hopefully temporary) precaution of switching the Toppy to standby once per day to refresh the cache.

But on Dec 8 you said on the IceTV forum:

I'm getting the same stalled fetches problem with the Nov 11 firmware.

That IceTV forum topic is called EPG Fetch stalls on 2460 after new November 2011 firmware, and you and snorri are certainly not the only ones who've posted about the problem. Dave at IceTV posted about the daily restart as a workaround for the problem, but I don't think that means there isn't a problem ;)

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Sorry Peter, can't see an inconsistency there.

I acknowledge there is a problem (saying that I hope it's fixed soon) and indicate that I'm using the workaround. The improvements in the IceTV implementation outweigh the detriments, but it still isn't as bullet proof as the Beyonwiz and certainly needs to be fixed. No workarounds should be necessary and I didn't mean to give the impression that I thought it acceptable as a long term solution.

Edited by Paul55
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Sorry Peter, can't see an inconsistency there.

I acknowledge there is a problem (saying that I hope it's fixed soon) and indicate that I'm using the workaround. The improvements in the IceTV implementation outweigh the detriments, but it still isn't as bullet proof as the Beyonwiz and certainly needs to be fixed. No workarounds should be necessary and I didn't mean to give the impression that I thought it acceptable as a long term solution.

I use ice with no problems on the latest firmware but my toppy always goes into standby after a recording & I have a watch timer set which allows ice to update the epg at a certain time of day.

The best taps to install are archive tap, tms timer & autoschedule , all of these taps show the channel logos which looks great . I moved from the toppy 5000 & I have always thought the 2400 was an excellent machine. Out of the box toppy is very basic but with the taps its one of the best pvr's out there.

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PLEASE READ: They are rubbish! No back usb ports with ntfs format support external self powered hard drives on pvr start up for topfield products. Something so simple, but given you pay top dollar for products its in excusable and is mis advertising.

Hence topfield just organised the retailer to give me a refund after it took them 5 hrs to determine I was right . Never will go topfield again for this issue and other mentioned. My PCB also needed to be replaced within 2 months and back usb port issues exists. Why does no one complain about this?

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PLEASE READ: They are rubbish! No back usb ports support external ntfs fortmatted self powered hard drives on pvr start up as advertised for topfield products. Something so simple, but given you pay top dollar for products its in excusable and is mis advertising.

Hence topfield just organised the retailer to give me a refund after it took them 5 hrs to determine I was right . Never will go topfield again for this issue and others mentioned. My PCB also needed to be replaced within 2 months and back usb port issues exists. Why does no one complain about the quality of these products?

Any other pvrs that are better and offer similar features?

Edited by dbothof
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Sounds like you may have got a lemon - it can happen with any mass produced product. I run a USB powered (500GB WD passport) from the rear port of my TRF-2400 - can't remember what format I used, but I'm pretty sure the Toppy supports NTFS with any recent firmware. I'm sure others can confirm/deny this.

The reason people don't complain is because they probably aren't having the same problems you have experienced.

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