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Beechwoods
21-03-2011, 09:25
I had a Thompson DHD 2000 for years, until the drive controller went and I was forced to replace it. I got a Humax PVR9200T because it was cheap. Bad mistake. Despite being out for years it needed a firmware update that only came out 6 months ago to make it usable, and it still has a completely unreliable EPG, slow GUI / response to menu instructions, series link that only works when it wants to. It's awful.

So I need a new PVR. Standard def is fine.

It needs 2 tuners.
Decent / fast EPG
Usable, fast interface.
Freeview+ (Series Link etc) nice to have but not essential.
Everything else (networking etc) not necessary.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Any machine must be 100% reliable. First-hand experience of any machines would be useful!

I have also been stung badly by the experience of buying Humax and so will not be considering any of their products :eek:

Thanks chaps.

Mark Grant
21-03-2011, 09:41
Topfield is my choice

Either the older 5800

http://www.topfield.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11:topfield-tf5800pvr&catid=2:terrestrial-receivers&Itemid=3

or newer 5810 with HDMI output

http://www.topfield.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10:topfield-tf5810pvrt-freeview-500gb-hdd--hdmi-upscaling&catid=2:terrestrial-receivers&Itemid=3

forum all about them:
http://www.toppy.org.uk/

Needs to be updated with ' bobs mystuff ' to get the best from it (free)

http://www.toppy.org.uk/~mystuff/

That transforms a toppy from average to excellent :)

A Toppy with bobs mystuff is completely wife friendly and reliable :)

Beechwoods
21-03-2011, 11:39
That looks excellent Mark. I've heard lots about the Topfield being very tweakable. I didn't realise they were still bringing out new hardware though. Excellent recommendation. Thank you.

Beechwoods
22-03-2011, 07:30
Having checked out some videos of the MyStuff interface on YouTube and doing some reading on the Toppy site, I've sprung for a used 5800, which comes loaded with MyStuff and a bunch of other useful stuff. Thanks for the recommendation Mark. I'm looking forward to having a play with it.

Mark Grant
22-03-2011, 17:19
I am sure you will like it :)

I dont think they make these any more which is a shame.

Mark Grant
02-04-2011, 10:30
Did it arrive and do you like it :)

Ammonite Audio
02-04-2011, 13:11
I have also been stung badly by the experience of buying Humax and so will not be considering any of their products :eek:


It's a shame that you've had that experience. I have a PVR9200T and a FoxSat HDR and both have been excellent and I would not hesitate to buy Humax again.

Beechwoods
03-04-2011, 17:03
Did it arrive and do you like it :)

Oh yes! It arrived in perfect condition, and I love it! The guy I bought it from had loaded MyStuff 6.2 already, and it worked perfectly out of the box. I upgraded it to 6.3 because I could, and I wanted to have a play with the USB connectivity aspect.

The installed hard drive was a bit noisy for the bedroom, where we have the PVR, so I got myself an IDE to SATA bridge, and installed a 60Gb SDD I had from another project, and I now have a perfectly silent PVR that really is fantastic. The timer management in MyStuff is excellent - recurring searches and series recordings really impressive (I love how it can pick up repeats on other channels but ignore them when they'd result in duplicates, and I love the facility to tell it to record an alternative broadcast to the first one it comes across).


It's a shame that you've had that experience. I have a PVR9200T and a FoxSat HDR and both have been excellent and I would not hesitate to buy Humax again.

The Humax is now downstairs on non-essential duties. My frustration Hugo was that it was not only slow responding to to the remote / front plate (even after the firmware update last year) but it started missing recordings, eventhough these were shown in the scheduled list just hours before. That and the inability to pad and use series link, sealed it's fate :eek: My dad swears by his. It may be mine is a one-off but I just couldn't be bothered to find out. Humax Customer Service were really quite naff when it came to my initial complaints about the UI responsiveness (just before the new 'fixed' firmware was released last year).

Mark Grant
09-04-2011, 12:39
so I got myself an IDE to SATA bridge, and installed a 60Gb SDD I had from another project, and I now have a perfectly silent PVR that really is fantastic.

Pleased you like the Topfield with bobs Mystuff :)

Thats a great idea about the bridge and an SSD, do you have a link to an IDE to SATA bridge that should work with it ?

Beechwoods
09-04-2011, 13:04
It's not the cheapest you can get but it fits perfectly and doesn't need any other additional connectors to get it going. Very fast shipping too.

http://www.turbosat.com/products/BRIDGE-MODULE--PATA-%252d-SATA-.html

Mark Grant
10-04-2011, 08:41
Thanks for the link, I ordered one :)

I have seen cheaper ide sata bridges but I dont want to waste time with ones that may or may not work.

Just need to find a very quiet low power consumption hard disk or an SSD at a reasonable price.

I am on an energy usage reduction challenge at the moment :)

My topfield with the standard factory supplied hard disc uses 21 watts of electricity when running, 6 watts in standby.
I guess yours will use 7 or 8 watts running with an SSD and will be silent and give off less heat.