Topfiled 5810 To buy or not to buy that is the question?

I can't decide weather or not to by a Topfiled 5810 or to get the cheaper
5800 instead or a Humax 9200.

All units now have Freeview playback but from the reviews I've read the
implementation on the 5810 is totally useless and misses the start of
programmes or stops recording in the middle. Are the 5800 or the Humax
implementations any better?

The only reason I can think that would justify buying the 5810 is the 500GB
HDD capacity compared to 250GB for the 5800.

The HDMI output is a waste of money considering that upscaling can be done
by any HDTV and the quality of DDT doesn't really justify an HDMI
connection.

The 5800 can now be had for £200 and the lower capacity 160GB Humax for £160
whereas the cheapest I've seen the 5810 is £300.

Is the 5800 going to be or has it been discontinued or will it continue to
be sold as a cheaper alternative? If the 5800 has been discontinued I could
wait for the priced of the 5810 to come down to reasonable levels.

And suggestions?

"Agamemnon" wrote in message
. uk...
I can't decide weather or not to by a Topfiled 5810 or to get the cheaper
5800 instead or a Humax 9200.

All units now have Freeview playback but from the reviews I've read the
implementation on the 5810 is totally useless and misses the start of
programmes or stops recording in the middle. Are the 5800 or the Humax
implementations any better?

I've had no missed starts on my Humax.

The only reason I can think that would justify buying the 5810 is the
500GB HDD capacity compared to 250GB for the 5800.

You can also get a 320GB Humax direct from the manufacturers

--
Alex

"I laugh in the face of danger , then I hide until it goes away"

In message , Agamemnon
wrote

I can't decide weather or not to by a Topfiled 5810 or to get the
cheaper 5800 instead or a Humax 9200.

All units now have Freeview playback but from the reviews I've read the
implementation on the 5810 is totally useless and misses the start of
programmes or stops recording in the middle. Are the 5800 or the Humax
implementations any better?

The only reason I can think that would justify buying the 5810 is the
500GB HDD capacity compared to 250GB for the 5800.

The HDMI output is a waste of money considering that upscaling can be
done by any HDTV and the quality of DDT doesn't really justify an HDMI
connection.

The 5800 can now be had for £200 and the lower capacity 160GB Humax for
£160 whereas the cheapest I've seen the 5810 is £300.

Is the 5800 going to be or has it been discontinued or will it continue
to be sold as a cheaper alternative? If the 5800 has been discontinued
I could wait for the priced of the 5810 to come down to reasonable
levels.

And suggestions?

Recent customers seem to be disappointed with the Freeview Playback
firmware being shipped with both the 5800 and 5810.

If you are technically minded you can revert back to stable firmware on
the 5800 but as the 5810 is new there is no previous stable firmware.

Topfield's Freeview Playback firmware doesn't work very well and it also
breaks some of the existing TAPs (TAPs = Topfield Applications = third
party programs that make the Toppy more usable)

My recommendation is to avoid buying any Topfield Freeview PVR with the
Freeview Playback firmware unless you have the knowledge and technical
skill to fix it yourself.

The recommended stable firmware for the 5800 is 5.13.65 with perhaps 3
firmware patches to fix some of the bugs. This firmware doesn't support
Freeview Playback but much of the same functionality can be obtained
with the use of popular TAPs.




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

Dr Zoidberg wrote:
"Agamemnon" wrote in message
. uk...
I can't decide weather or not to by a Topfiled 5810 or to get the
cheaper 5800 instead or a Humax 9200.

All units now have Freeview playback but from the reviews I've read
the implementation on the 5810 is totally useless and misses the
start of programmes or stops recording in the middle. Are the 5800
or the Humax implementations any better?

I've had no missed starts on my Humax.

Then you've been lucky - but I don't believe it is Humax's fault. More
likely the broadcasters can't be bothered to sent the correctly-timed
signals. But then again, if you are really concerned, you can always go
back to using padding.


The only reason I can think that would justify buying the 5810 is the
500GB HDD capacity compared to 250GB for the 5800.

You can also get a 320GB Humax direct from the manufacturers

What the hell does one do with all that HD storage? I have around 20 progs
recorded at present on my Humax (160 gig), which use less than half the disk
space, and can't get round to watching all those! Some have been recorded
for over 8 months...

--
Jeff
(cut "thetape" to reply)

"Dr Zoidberg" wrote in message
...
"Agamemnon" wrote in message
. uk...
I can't decide weather or not to by a Topfiled 5810 or to get the cheaper
5800 instead or a Humax 9200.

All units now have Freeview playback but from the reviews I've read the
implementation on the 5810 is totally useless and misses the start of
programmes or stops recording in the middle. Are the 5800 or the Humax
implementations any better?

I've had no missed starts on my Humax.

The only reason I can think that would justify buying the 5810 is the
500GB HDD capacity compared to 250GB for the 5800.

You can also get a 320GB Humax direct from the manufacturers

Found it. I'm a bit worried that it can only store 200 channels whereas the
Topfiled can store 2000? Is this a software or hardware limit? Will future
firmware's be able to upgrade the number of channels that can be stored?

Also has the limit of disc space devoted to MP3 files been increased on the
320GB model?

And finally can the Humax play back a recording made from the timer from the
start while it is still recording the end of the programme.


--
Alex

"I laugh in the face of danger , then I hide until it goes away"

I own the Humax and find it tremendously good to use.

Freeview Playback only works properly if the broadcasters support it. The
Humax records beginnings and ends perfectly when the broadcaster sends the
right data. Otherwise it defaults to using the scheduled time, which has
the risk of missing either end.

Alternatively you can set it to pad the start and end times automatically,
in which mode it ignores the start and stop data.

A shortcoming of the Humax (and I believe the Topfield) is that you can't
combine padding AND Freeview Playback (i.e. use padding where the start/stop
info isn't sent). This seems like a silly omission, but presumably there's
a technical reason for it.

Oh, and yes, you can chase play anything - manually recorded, a programmed
recording, or the normal buffer.

SteveT

"Agamemnon" wrote in message
. uk...

"Dr Zoidberg" wrote in message
...
"Agamemnon" wrote in message
. uk...
I can't decide weather or not to by a Topfiled 5810 or to get the cheaper
5800 instead or a Humax 9200.

All units now have Freeview playback but from the reviews I've read the
implementation on the 5810 is totally useless and misses the start of
programmes or stops recording in the middle. Are the 5800 or the Humax
implementations any better?

I've had no missed starts on my Humax.

The only reason I can think that would justify buying the 5810 is the
500GB HDD capacity compared to 250GB for the 5800.

You can also get a 320GB Humax direct from the manufacturers

Found it. I'm a bit worried that it can only store 200 channels whereas
the Topfiled can store 2000?

It's totally irrellevant as there are never going to be more than 200
freeview channels in the UK.

Is this a software or hardware limit? Will future firmware's be able to
upgrade the number of channels that can be stored?

It'll be software , I'm sure.

Also has the limit of disc space devoted to MP3 files been increased on
the 320GB model?

And finally can the Humax play back a recording made from the timer from
the start while it is still recording the end of the programme.

Yes , a feature I use all the time


--
Alex

"I laugh in the face of danger , then I hide until it goes away"

Agamemnon wrote:
I can't decide weather or not to by a Topfiled 5810 or to get the
cheaper 5800 instead or a Humax 9200.

Humax 9200 apparently just works. From the nonsense that you've suffered
and written about BBC iplayer it's obvious you don't enjoy twiddling.
Why stress yourself? :-)

--
Adrian C

On 6 Apr, 17:11, "Agamemnon" wrote:
All units now have Freeview playback but from the reviews I've read the
implementation on the 5810 is totally useless and misses the start of
programmes or stops recording in the middle. Are the 5800 or the Humax
implementations any better?

The 5800 Freview Playback implementation is the same as the 5810 -
they have the same core firmware, with a few differences for things
like the new UI, new front panel, and HDMI.

The HDMI output is a waste of money considering that upscaling can be done
by any HDTV and the quality of DDT doesn't really justify an HDMI
connection.

Well, you'd think - but subjectively, I'm getting a better picture
from the 5810 via HDMI (set to 1080i) than I do from the 5800 via
component into the same panel. It's a Pioneer upscaling chip, which
may be useful info to some.

Is the 5800 going to be or has it been discontinued or will it continue to
be sold as a cheaper alternative? If the 5800 has been discontinued I could
wait for the priced of the 5810 to come down to reasonable levels.

The 5800 is not being discontinued, but arguably is better value for
money; that said, you can now get the 5810 for 300 quid if you shop
around.

I've sent a ton of info about the Freeview Playback issues to Topfield
over the last couple of weeks; I'm waiting to hear more about that.
Perhaps worth noting that the 5800 had pretty shocking firmware when
it came out in March 2005, with the major problems addressed in May of
that year.

In the meantime, if you get a 5800 (under 200 quid now), you can put
an older more stable firmware on it (5.13.65 is the current
toppy.org.uk recommendation). There is a patched version of that that
will run on the 5810, but I've not yet tried it myself to see what it
does with regard to the HDMI output. Hopefully I'll have time to check
that out later this week, and I'll post a recommendation on the Toppy
site when i have done.

Certainly, as things stand, the Humax FP implementation is more robust
than the Topfield one.

An interesting alternative - which does allow for padding - is a TAP
called AccurateBM; that runs on earlier firmwares and puts a bookmark
in recordings at the time the data signals the programme transition.
Some of the alternate file managers for the Toppy, like MediaManager,
now include functionality to jump to the first bookmark when you start
playing, so you get the benefits of both padding and not having to
fast forward through the resulting junk.

Nigel.

"Nigel Whitfield" wrote in message
...
On 6 Apr, 17:11, "Agamemnon" wrote:
All units now have Freeview playback but from the reviews I've read the
implementation on the 5810 is totally useless and misses the start of
programmes or stops recording in the middle. Are the 5800 or the Humax
implementations any better?

The 5800 Freview Playback implementation is the same as the 5810 -
they have the same core firmware, with a few differences for things
like the new UI, new front panel, and HDMI.

The HDMI output is a waste of money considering that upscaling can be
done
by any HDTV and the quality of DDT doesn't really justify an HDMI
connection.

Well, you'd think - but subjectively, I'm getting a better picture
from the 5810 via HDMI (set to 1080i) than I do from the 5800 via
component into the same panel. It's a Pioneer upscaling chip, which
may be useful info to some.

Is the Analogue input into to your panel over-scanned compared to the HDMI
input?


Is the 5800 going to be or has it been discontinued or will it continue
to
be sold as a cheaper alternative? If the 5800 has been discontinued I
could
wait for the priced of the 5810 to come down to reasonable levels.

The 5800 is not being discontinued, but arguably is better value for
money; that said, you can now get the 5810 for 300 quid if you shop
around.

I've sent a ton of info about the Freeview Playback issues to Topfield
over the last couple of weeks; I'm waiting to hear more about that.
Perhaps worth noting that the 5800 had pretty shocking firmware when
it came out in March 2005, with the major problems addressed in May of
that year.

Well I might wait until May then.


In the meantime, if you get a 5800 (under 200 quid now), you can put
an older more stable firmware on it (5.13.65 is the current
toppy.org.uk recommendation). There is a patched version of that that
will run on the 5810, but I've not yet tried it myself to see what it
does with regard to the HDMI output. Hopefully I'll have time to check
that out later this week, and I'll post a recommendation on the Toppy
site when i have done.

Certainly, as things stand, the Humax FP implementation is more robust
than the Topfield one.

How fast is the 5810 at transferring files to PC compared with the 5800 and
the Humax. I've read the Humax is unreliable on certian chipsets and really
slow.


An interesting alternative - which does allow for padding - is a TAP
called AccurateBM; that runs on earlier firmwares and puts a bookmark
in recordings at the time the data signals the programme transition.
Some of the alternate file managers for the Toppy, like MediaManager,
now include functionality to jump to the first bookmark when you start
playing, so you get the benefits of both padding and not having to
fast forward through the resulting junk.

Nigel.