topfied

"DubDriver" wrote in message
...
"bugbear" wrote in message
...
Michael Chare wrote:
"bugbear" wrote in message
...
Having found the impressive website for the Topfield,
I'm a little worried. I mean, it's all very impressive,
but I wanted a PVR, not a new hobby ...

It appears to be a very impressive,
and widely recommended machine.

But is it usable WITHOUT all
the customisation and tweaking?

BugBear


Yes, but the tweaks do help.

Dixons are selling the 250GB version for £219 + £5 delivery if you enter
a promotion code of TOP30
http://www.dixons.co.uk/product.php?...amp_id=ppc_dvd

Thanks for that.

My research (not much) shows John Lewis have it at 249
with 2 year warrenty.

http://www.johnlewis.com/Technology/...4/Product.aspx

I'd (much...) rather deal with John Lewis that Dixons.
Other may make different choices.

Dixons don't have black, silver from www.firebox.com
£259.95 + £3.95 delivery
£7 off voucher
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deal/12152...rebox-com-mini
Go through Quidco for 10% off
Total (I think) £227.65

Meant to say Dixons *only* have black

DubDriver wrote:
"DubDriver" wrote in message
...
"bugbear" wrote in message
...
Michael Chare wrote:
"bugbear" wrote in message
...
Having found the impressive website for the Topfield,
I'm a little worried. I mean, it's all very impressive,
but I wanted a PVR, not a new hobby ...

It appears to be a very impressive,
and widely recommended machine.

But is it usable WITHOUT all
the customisation and tweaking?

BugBear

Yes, but the tweaks do help.

Dixons are selling the 250GB version for £219 + £5 delivery if you enter
a promotion code of TOP30
http://www.dixons.co.uk/product.php?...amp_id=ppc_dvd
Thanks for that.

My research (not much) shows John Lewis have it at 249
with 2 year warrenty.

http://www.johnlewis.com/Technology/...4/Product.aspx

I'd (much...) rather deal with John Lewis that Dixons.
Other may make different choices.
Dixons don't have black, silver from www.firebox.com
£259.95 + £3.95 delivery
£7 off voucher
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deal/12152...rebox-com-mini
Go through Quidco for 10% off
Total (I think) £227.65

Meant to say Dixons *only* have black

£209 at Empire Direct for black or silver (160GB) or £245 for the 250.
(don't buy the small one!)

--
Cheers,

John.

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bugbear wrote:

So, the followup question is:
What is the "standard recommended"
set of basic TAPs.

If you go for MyStuff, you can get a single archive that has it and the
supporting TAPs it needs.

I'm sure ALL TAPs have their uses (and propoenents)
but which are "essential"

MyStuff does pretty much all of the important things.

Oh, and while I'm on, what does this kind
of user-modification do the warrenty?

Same as installing and running software on any computer - nothing.

--
Cheers,

John.

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"John Rumm" wrote in message
...


£209 at Empire Direct for black or silver (160GB) or £245 for the 250.
(don't buy the small one!)

SVP have them in, and as they all seem to fall about the same price I'd
recommend buying from them, for their excelent sales and after sales.
(NO! I'm not on a fee for this promo ;-)

Djimbo




--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

John Rumm wrote:

DubDriver wrote:
"DubDriver" wrote in message
...
"bugbear" wrote in message
...
Michael Chare wrote:
"bugbear" wrote in message
...
Having found the impressive website for the Topfield,
I'm a little worried. I mean, it's all very impressive,
but I wanted a PVR, not a new hobby ...

It appears to be a very impressive,
and widely recommended machine.

£209 at Empire Direct for black or silver (160GB) or £245 for the 250.
(don't buy the small one!)

When I got mine the 160 was the recent upgrade from the 80GB. I have
only had to do a cull of recorded stuff to make room for new
recordings on a couple of occasions. You have to ask yourself, why am
I keeping all this stuff? I had built up the whole World at War series
that was broadcast on UKTV history but what was the point of archiving
it on my PVR when I would be better off having it on DVD?

I mostly follow a watch and delete regime. Only if a programme is
outstanding does it get saved for repeated viewing.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

Alan wrote:

In message , bugbear
wrote

I'm sure ALL TAPs have their uses (and propoenents)
but which are "essential"

None are essential but:
EPG replacement
Automatic search and programming scheduling (series link type of
operation)
Skip functions assigned to remote control buttons (to skip through
adverts)
Auto padding of program timers (this is also inbuilt into EPG and
Scheduling TAPs)

several or all of the above are part of the same TAP.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

John Rumm wrote:
bugbear wrote:

So, the followup question is:
What is the "standard recommended"
set of basic TAPs.

If you go for MyStuff, you can get a single archive that has it and the
supporting TAPs it needs.

I'm sure ALL TAPs have their uses (and propoenents)
but which are "essential"

MyStuff does pretty much all of the important things.

Oh, and while I'm on, what does this kind
of user-modification do the warrenty?

Same as installing and running software on any computer - nothing.

Some companies have tried to weasel out of hardware warrenties
on PC's and laptops because people have installed Linux,
so I felt the question worth asking.

BugBear

In message , Phil Cook
wrote
Alan wrote:

In message , bugbear
wrote

I'm sure ALL TAPs have their uses (and propoenents)
but which are "essential"

None are essential but:
EPG replacement
Automatic search and programming scheduling (series link type of
operation)
Skip functions assigned to remote control buttons (to skip through
adverts)
Auto padding of program timers (this is also inbuilt into EPG and
Scheduling TAPs)

several or all of the above are part of the same TAP.

Only if you go for Mystuff with is not favoured by all.
For instance I use
EPGNavigator for the replacement EPG plus padding
UK Autosheduler for doing automatic searches/setting timers (avoiding
repeats)/archiving programs to folders and automatically deleting if
required.
Quickjump for skipping adverts

--
Alan
news2006 {at} amac {dot} f2s {dot} com

djimbo wrote:
"John Rumm" wrote in message
...

£209 at Empire Direct for black or silver (160GB) or £245 for the 250.
(don't buy the small one!)

SVP have them in, and as they all seem to fall about the same price I'd
recommend buying from them, for their excelent sales and after sales.
(NO! I'm not on a fee for this promo ;-)

Yup, I would second that - did not think of looking there, but have used
them many times in the past for media.

--
Cheers,

John.

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bugbear wrote:

Oh, and while I'm on, what does this kind
of user-modification do the warrenty?

Same as installing and running software on any computer - nothing.

Some companies have tried to weasel out of hardware warrenties
on PC's and laptops because people have installed Linux,
so I felt the question worth asking.

Yup, fair point. If you had replaced the firmware with a non authorised
or hacked version then you may be on dodgy ground. But I think they
would have a hard time claiming issue with you adding applications to a
machine that is designed to have applications added.

(just don't buy it from PC world!)

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/