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Since upgrading to a 4K smart TV which has no SCART sockets which my trusty Topfield 5810 PVR uses to connect, and since the SCART->Component lead doesn’t render a great picture, I decided to take the plunge and buy the FVP-5000T.
Compared with the Topfield which was running a replacement UI called MyStuff, the 5000T seems a bit clunky and long-winded to use and I’ve found myself wondering “would did they do it that way?” when doing simple things with the 5000T. Don’t get me wrong, I like the 5000T but I find myself wondering why in this day and age, that it’s UI seems to be a backward step compared with my 10 year old Topfield.
The Topfield pvrs were virtually unique in that the details of the User Interface were made available by topfield and accessible by third part app developers using add ons called taps. It’s similar to how add on programmes can be added to computer operating systems like CPM Plus, using well documented calls to the OS to carry out routine tasks like reading and writing data to the hard disk.
Sadly that sort of access is no longer allowed by the broadcaster licencing the epg and in the case of the 5000T Freeview Play. Since HD the broadcasters have tightened up, now enforcing encryption on recording for HD content. Most likely why Topfield never built a DVB-T2 PVR.
The nearest you can get is the now no longer made Humax HDR-FOX-T2 (or the satellite Foxsat-HDR). The details of the UI released on the Linux licence allowed some talented programmers to figure out how to add standard linux apps into the UI accessed via a Web Browser on most anything that has a web browser. The so called custom firmware is basically a super tap, running on top of the Humax built in software.
You should have updated earlier.
Thanks for the info, always good to know the whys and wherefores of a particular scenario. So do Freeview Play dictate exactly how to UI should operate?
giskard – 23 minutes ago »
Thanks for the info, always good to know the whys and wherefores of a particular scenario. So do Freeview Play dictate exactly how to UI should operate?
Not exactly, unlike Freesat the UI has some freedom. The UI and apps are different on say a Panasonic unit. The basic restrictions re HD and encryption remain.
The Toppies were rather good weren’t they ? My Grandson still uses my TF 5800 to this day.
Have a look at the threads on the HDR-FOX-T2 at Hummy.TV as a former Topfield owner you might want to join the party with a second hand HDR-FOX-T2. It would run alongside your 5000T and would greatly add to it.
Start here
The Toppy really benefited from the open API that allowed anyone to create a TAP (or Topfield Application Program) so TAPs like MyStuff were developed by users who were willing to spend the time honing the Toppy user interface to as close to perfection as it could get. Humax are understandably devoting just the resources to provide a PVR that does the job and is competitive in it’s target market, which it is.
My user interface gripes with the Humax (compared with my Toppy) are as follows:
1. If when changing channel via the EPG, you happen to select a programme that hasn’t yet started, you’re prompted to choose whether you want to record it or record the series – imho, it should just change channel and if you then decide you want to record the selected programme, then you press the record button and then the recording options should pop up.
2. When playing back a recording you’re prompted to choose whether you want to resume from where you last played it, or play it from the start. A smarter way to handle this would be for the recording to play from where last stopped if the OK button was used to select the recording to playback, or play it from the start if the PLAY button was pressed to select the recording to playback.
3. When selecting a programme in the EPG, the bottom line displays the programme name and a bunch of icons which indicate whether it’s HD, has subtitles and other stuff. It’d be better and more sensible if instead the details of the programme were displayed rather than those icons.
4. It’s not possible to customise the EPG display so that the size of the text can be increased or the number of items displayed in one page of the EPG decreased – this would those whose eyesight isn’t so great.
5. There’s no external display or indication that the unit is recording and what channel is selected, though that’s a minor gripe as I’m sure providing such a display would increase the physical size of this attractive and compact unit.
There’s a 3 colour led under the front of the unit that indicates if the unit is recording. Red in sby, purple during recording and blue if fully booted.
Couldn’t you just use the HDMI port on the Toppy 5810 to connect to the new tv?
Wonder when u are back you can help advise on a brand new Humax 5000 purchased last week. For starters it seemed weird it already had recordings on the hard drive but we’ve noticed that on certain occasions when you click on settings the user interface suddenly disappears… you can only just see the settings options, when you exit the guide and all menus are only just about visible… when you reboot it fixes the issue… so we did a manufactures reset and then clicked back on settings and the same thing happened… please advise..
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I would reject the unit and ask for a replacement as it was obviously not new if it already had recordings on the HDD.
grahamlthompson – 4 days ago »
There’s a 3 colour led under the front of the unit that indicates if the unit is recording. Red in sby, purple during recording and blue if fully booted.
Thanks, I wasn’t aware of that
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