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HDR T2 still a good/relevant buy?
- Thread starter lesshaste
- Start date
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
What doesn't it do that you want it to do? The HDR-FOX T2 is able to receive and record Freeview and FreeviewHD services, record two programmes simultaneously while viewing a recording (or another live channel with restrictions), pause and rewind live TV, stream recordings to a (suitable) media player across the home network or from a suitable server for display on the TV.
On the down side: it has no access to IPTV services and catch-up TV is restricted to BBC iPlayer, and it has a few idiosyncrasies - see Things Every... (links below).
However, if you are interested in an active customising community, as far as I know the HD- or HDR-FOX T2 is the only game in town.
On the down side: it has no access to IPTV services and catch-up TV is restricted to BBC iPlayer, and it has a few idiosyncrasies - see Things Every... (links below).
However, if you are interested in an active customising community, as far as I know the HD- or HDR-FOX T2 is the only game in town.
There are a number of users, like myself, who moved from a Toppy to the Fox T2 HDR and seem to have no regrets. One or two miss "mystuff" but as I never got around to using that ...
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I suppose the features I loved from my topfield were
a) When tuning having it automatically select the transmitter with the strongest signal for each channel and delete duplicates. I need this as my aerial seems to pick up at least two transmitters so I get channel duplicates.
b) Being able to delete TV channels manually that I don't want to see (i.e. most of them).
c) Intelligent TV series record. So if you have missed an episode and it is repeated in the future it is clever enough to pick that up and also reschedules what to record if there is a clash with something else you want. Similarly if a film carries on after the news it is clever enough to work out how to handle that.
d) Live TV pause and rewind.
e) Watch one channel while recording another. Similar, watch a recording while recording something else.
I think Humax HDR-FOX T2 Freeview+ HD Twin Tuner with 1TB Recorder does e) and I assume they all do d) and b) ? How about a) and c)?
a) When tuning having it automatically select the transmitter with the strongest signal for each channel and delete duplicates. I need this as my aerial seems to pick up at least two transmitters so I get channel duplicates.
b) Being able to delete TV channels manually that I don't want to see (i.e. most of them).
c) Intelligent TV series record. So if you have missed an episode and it is repeated in the future it is clever enough to pick that up and also reschedules what to record if there is a clash with something else you want. Similarly if a film carries on after the news it is clever enough to work out how to handle that.
d) Live TV pause and rewind.
e) Watch one channel while recording another. Similar, watch a recording while recording something else.
I think Humax HDR-FOX T2 Freeview+ HD Twin Tuner with 1TB Recorder does e) and I assume they all do d) and b) ? How about a) and c)?
Good to hear there is another ex toppy user. I did use mystuff a lot so I think I will miss that.
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
A - Use manual tuning. Firmware revision 1.02.32 is reported to perform better in this respect.
C - This is rather more tricky. The custom Remote Scheduling web service plugs most gaps (and means you can schedule recordings while away from home).
Everything else: bread and butter stuff.
However, I believe your Topfield was restricted to StDef TV only!
C - This is rather more tricky. The custom Remote Scheduling web service plugs most gaps (and means you can schedule recordings while away from home).
Everything else: bread and butter stuff.
However, I believe your Topfield was restricted to StDef TV only!
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
I think you might have replied while I was still completing my original reply - take another look at post 2.
It will handle recordings split by the news automatically (assuming the broadcaster gets the EPG data right) but not the other things you mention. As Black Hole says, remote scheduling helps here but isn't as slick and automated (yet!)
I think your first requirement rules out the Youview box as suitable, unless things have changed with a recent update.
I'd say the HDR Fox-T2 is still the box to buy as a Topfield replacement as long as you're prepared to load the customised firmware and accept that the way you need to use it is different in some cases.
Posted on the move; please excuse any brevity.
Brian is correct, I recently had my old Toppy fail.
It cost me about £5 for a set of capacitors and a couple of hours of my time to strip out the power supply and solder replacement capacitors.
Working fine now, and I'm no expert with electronics or soldering irons.
I used this site as reference ("http://members.optusnet.com.au/toppytools/pwrcircuit.htm")
But note there is a right and wrong way round for the connectors on the capacitors, so observe this when you remove old ones ( the circuit board is marked to show this).
Getting to the circuit board itself is covered here http://forum.toppy.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16065.
Ps. Here are details of the capacitors I used, I ordered 10, you only need 6 but given my soldering skill I wanted insurance ;-)
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/alumi...2267573743D3532362D313238382677633D4E4F4E4526
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MartinOnline
Member
lesshaste,
I think most modern PVRs carry out what you want to do in some way with the exception of "c.", which, if I read it logically, implies your Toppy could read your mind and recognise you missed an episode.
My other PVR make will attempt to re-record a programme if the original programme was corrupted or shortened in any way, but it can't do automatically the tuning/deleting task you want.
Martin
I think most modern PVRs carry out what you want to do in some way with the exception of "c.", which, if I read it logically, implies your Toppy could read your mind and recognise you missed an episode.
My other PVR make will attempt to re-record a programme if the original programme was corrupted or shortened in any way, but it can't do automatically the tuning/deleting task you want.
Martin
The original TiVo from 2001 could do "c" - no mind reading required. It maintained a schedule of your desired recordings in whatever priority order you chose and if it was unable to record one, eg due to a clash of priorities or being offline, it would search all channels for a repeat and record that. Of course this was back in the single analogue tuner days so there were limitations with late programme changes ( no AR function ). And with multiple tuners it's not as essential.
After analogue switch off I continued with TiVo for some time using a separate STB which the TiVo controlled using its built in IR - eventually I got fed up with recordings of black screens because the cheap STBs kept locking up. I thought if I have to pay a lot for a reliable STB I'd take a look at the HDR....... and here we are today.
After analogue switch off I continued with TiVo for some time using a separate STB which the TiVo controlled using its built in IR - eventually I got fed up with recordings of black screens because the cheap STBs kept locking up. I thought if I have to pay a lot for a reliable STB I'd take a look at the HDR....... and here we are today.
Green Armchair
Member
Ex Toppy/MyStuff user here too.
I thought I would miss the Toppy with MyStuff, but the HDR Fox T2 with the Customized Firmware, and especially the Remote Scheduling package gives me everything I need. It maybe needs a bit more hands-on than MyStuff, but not much, and worth it for the HD channels, and much much easier to network and manage remotely.
I've been a HDR convert for about a year now, but have had to replace the original due to noisy disk and picture break up.
I thought I would miss the Toppy with MyStuff, but the HDR Fox T2 with the Customized Firmware, and especially the Remote Scheduling package gives me everything I need. It maybe needs a bit more hands-on than MyStuff, but not much, and worth it for the HD channels, and much much easier to network and manage remotely.
I've been a HDR convert for about a year now, but have had to replace the original due to noisy disk and picture break up.
annonimouse
New Member
I believe my user was toppyuk on the main toppy board 2 years ago. Since then i've been an HDR user and in fact have just bought my 2nd for our bedroom. I was also a MyStuff user, and have found humax out of the box very similar to it. I install the custom firmware on my HDR fox t2 and its fantastic being able to remotely record stuff. The networking is by far the most impressive though because its one of the areas greatly lacked in, especially when it didn't even have 64bit drivers to download on to.
HDR FOX T2 is the modern toppy, and i dont really miss it much apart from the nostalgia.
HDR FOX T2 is the modern toppy, and i dont really miss it much apart from the nostalgia.
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
The facilities on the Remote Scheduler web service may plug your gap. Instead of setting a series recording, use a search-and-schedule for individual programmes.
dma
Member
I'm also an ex-toppy owner, only difference is that mine still works!
I'm impressed with the HDR Fox T2 when you combine it with the excellent customized firmware. One major benefit is simply the ethernet connection. Copying off files using Antares on turbo mode USB is not nearly as fast as ethernet.
Also, I've noticed the Fox is much more accurate in scheduling recordings. It seems to know when a programme starts and ends, even if it is running slightly late. Sometimes I'd end up with a few minutes chopped on my Toppy and this hasn't happened yet on the Fox.
You can also schedule recordings from the web interface rather than the EPG. The web interface has a nice search function.
I'm impressed with the HDR Fox T2 when you combine it with the excellent customized firmware. One major benefit is simply the ethernet connection. Copying off files using Antares on turbo mode USB is not nearly as fast as ethernet.
Also, I've noticed the Fox is much more accurate in scheduling recordings. It seems to know when a programme starts and ends, even if it is running slightly late. Sometimes I'd end up with a few minutes chopped on my Toppy and this hasn't happened yet on the Fox.
You can also schedule recordings from the web interface rather than the EPG. The web interface has a nice search function.
I've been trying to get my head round this but have failed! Is it the same search and schedule function that was present on the Toppy with MyStuff whereby you could set up a permanent search which, when a match was found, would set up a recording? If it is, I've failed miserably to work out how I can set it up.
