Purpose
This Wiki is to document the features and bugs of the various firmware versions available for Topfield brand Personal Video Recorders (PVRs) sold in Australia.
The Wiki was created in response to this1 request by Dave on the Topfield Australia forums.
It is hoped that this resource will be useful for users trying to decide which version of the firmware they would prefer to have.
It is also hoped that other Australian Topfield users will contribute to the Wiki by reporting new bugs or filling in the "No Data" sections on the bug and feature matrix and Play Back Interuption Scenarios pages.
Contributions can be made by posting to the OzToppy Wiki Forum (no registration required) or by editing the pages (registration at wikidot required).
About Topfield brand Personal Video Recorders
Topfield Australia market and sell PVRs in Australia from their Korean parent company.
SD PVRs
*Silver 5000
*Black Panther
*MasterPiece Black
*Masterpiece (SILVER)
*6000 (networked)
The most popular models would probably be the 5000 series which receive and record standard definition digital free to air TV. These PVRs are true dual tuner PVRs meaning that you can record 2 channels simultaneously why playing back a pre-recoded show from the hard drive. These were released in 2003 and until the release of the HD 2400 were the only PVRs that supported user-written applications, or TAPs (Topfield application Programs). The SD PVRs are no longer on sale.
HD PVRs
*7000
*7100 (networked)
*TF7100HDPlus
*TRF-2400
*TRF-2460 Masterpiece HD Plus
The 7000 was released in 2007 and was the first Topfield product to support high definition (HD). This was superseded by the TF7100PVRt in 2008 which added networking capability and eventually became more reliable. These were the first PVRs from Topfield based on the Linux operating system.
More recently, Topfield has released several HD models that comply with Freeview. These models are restricted in how data can be transferred off the PVR as well as having a limited FFWD/REW and no skip capability. These include the TF-7050, TF-7150.
Two new HD models were released in late 2009. The 7100+ and the 2400 used almost identical internal hardware and firmware, the 7100+ with similar external case to the 7100 and the 2400 in a narrower case with a cooling fan. The functional differences between the two models centred around analog input capacity on the 2400. In 2010 Topfield released a model 2460 - a 2400 with a larger internal HDD and a wireless dongle, and a 7160 - a similar looking model with some reduced functionality.
All the HD PVR (except for the 7050) are true dual tuner meaning that you can record 2 channels simultaneously while playing back a pre-recorded show from the hard drive. The 7100+, 7160 and the 2400/2460 received a firmware upgrade in mid 2010 which allowed up to 4 simultaneous recordings as long as they were from only 2 services.
The 7100+ and the 2400/2460 are TAP capable and can receive reservations and EPG from ICE TV.
All PVRs have firmware that can be user-updated. This means that new features and bug fixes can be installed as they are released.
The forum for these products can be found at http://forum.itopfield.com.au/.
About the 5000 series Firmware
New Firmware is installed by connection the Topfield unit to PC and executing this application. The recomended upgrade proceedure is documented here by Andy Cullen.
All the firmware released to date for the 5000 series has contained bugs of various types. Topfield provides very little documentation about what bugs have been fixed in what version of the firmware. Newer firmware versions have sometimes fixed some bugs while introducing others. Thus, the choice of which firmware to run is not always a simple one. In order for users to make an educated decision on which firmware they would like to run they need to weigh up the pros and cons of each firmware. To do this they need to know what features and what bugs are in each of the firmwares. And this is where this Wiki comes in. This information can be gleaned from the bug and feature matrix page.
Links - 5000 series
bug list
bug and feature matrix
List of popular firmware versions
External Hard drive caddy
A great place to get all your "Tap" needs
