tassaj

Hi Wklie, Is MTV3700 Firmware 4.60 (Firmware date: 2013-7-24) the most recent 3700 release? Don't judge me people, it's for my mum who prefers the Freeview EPG, and is having the odd blank recording. I still run mine as a 4000. Thanks

Thanks Peter & Wklie, I have been thinking about replacing the OEM 1TB for some time, so may still plan to go ahead and do this. I will monitor and advise, Cheers

Well I disabled time-shift and tried the skip function. The audio seems to jump immediately, the video freezes for about 2 secs and then catches up top the video. Should I be looking for a new HDD ? As for the Daylight saving issue, this seems to have corrected itself in the past 24 hours. I noted this morning all times are now correct (i.e. AESST). Let's see what happens when the real 'fall back' happens next Sunday morning.

Thanks Wklie I will give it a go. For reference and anyone else out there with the Daylight Savings error, I am on the Canberra (Black Mountain) mux. Cheers

Looks like my HDD may be on the way out too, I noticed only last night that pressing the 'skip' function worked, but was sloooow. As in push button to skip 3 mins, nothing happened for 2-3 secs then it jumped forward. This is the first time I have noticed this. Anyone else seen this? Also, did anyone else's Magic make the Daylight Savings 'Fall Back" Sunday morning as well. The clock on the unit is 1 hour behind as are the programme timings eg the 7pm ABC News is scheduled in the the guide for 6PM. Have I missed something here in settings or does the Magic still live in a world where Daylight Savings ends on the last weekend in March rather than the first weekend in April. Cheers

"So the power circuit is to blame, most likely due to aging electrolytic capacitors, I noticed some of them have slight bulges on top (EC8, EC2, C3)." Hi Kestrel, are you planning on replacing them with new caps? I did this to an old Topfield 5000MP several years ago when the caps started failing and sorted it out until it was no longer useful. I haven't had a look inside the Magic but if like anything with a straightforward PS, shouldn't be a huge hassle. Getting the right caps is probably the biggest challenge. Cheers

and a big thanks from me too Wklie, The channel reordering is just Brilliant !

Hi Guys, Posting really just to bring the "Magic PVR" forum back to the top of the page / list. I check this log several times per week hoping there will be a new feature / news / general discussion about our beloved Magic box. One question though, I see a fair bit of hype for "Freeview Plus". I personally dont have my box configured for Freeview, prefer the unbridled 4000 firmware, however my Mum prefers it as she likes the EPG interface, series recording etc. So, is Freeview Plus in anyway an upgrade path / option for the Freeview standard available on the 3700 firware ? As it will probably be WKLIE who will answer, thanks for your ongoing and tireless support of the Magic Community. Cheers

Clearly there is a bit of demand for these in Australia yet it looks like new units are no longer available. Since they are still available retail in New Zealand, will units for that market work here, presumable with the 4000 firmware loaded ? I for one would buy a second unit if I could.

I have a June 2008 Panasonic TH-50PZ800A and have had no issues with the HDMI connection to the Magic box.

I upgraded firmware a couple of days ago and all working really well. Last night I recorded the Rugby but made the mistake of recording the WIN feed (SD) and not GEM (HD) but when I watched it this morning I was a bit surprised by how good it did look. None of the artefacts I usually associate with the WIN feed here in Canberra when watching footy. Perhaps like John I am subconsciously expecting an improvement. Interested in others subjective impressions ?

If anyone out there is reading this and wondering whether to jump in... I just bought a 2nd unit today, proably will reside with my mother who is over her Topfield 5000 SD and 0kb length recordings, missed timers etc., and the guy who sits behind me at work picked one up last week. so I can say so far so good with the confidence of someone who has hammered his for the past 2 weeks. Good comments by others on the benefits of timeshifting programmes you wouldn't normally watch, that was how I was first introduced to 'the Wire' on ABC2. Anyone successfully taken something off the machine yet and played with it on a PC ?

This machine just keeps getting better. Last night I was watching TV, got a bit bored and watched a program I had recorded earlier. When I finished I dropped back to live TV to find I was halfway through a show I wouldn't have minded watching. So, I rewound the timeshift and found the machine had continued to timeshift record live TV even while I was watching a recorded show. How cool is that ! I have no idea how long timeshift buffer is but it certainly was more than 30mins. Secondly, I love the fact I can put a 'delete after' marker on programmes. I record SBS news everynight and ideally would like it deleted within 24 hours but 7 days (seems to be the minimum) ensures I am not clogging up with out of date news. I know most of these functions are capable on other machines by the application of TAPs etc, but out of the box, this is excellent. The menu is so straitghforward, I am going to buy one for my 80yr old Mum who is still battling on with her SD Toppy. Cheers

I will try to delete unwanted channels again, see what happens and let you know. For anyone interested, my Harmony 525 loaded the remote codes from the net and these seem to work fine.

Thanks mwd, I have tried the method suggest several times but the channels still appear in the list (although strangely enough, those that I have deleted then say "insufficient signal strength" when selected with the channel selector, yet all other channels ar fine). I have repeatedly deleted the extra channels not wanted and they just boomerang back. Its not a huge issue but it would be good to get rid of at least the SBS and ABC Dig radio channels. being able to skip forward 'x' minutes depending of which number you press on the remote (i.e. press 1 = 1 min. press 2 = 2 min, etc.) is a great feature ! Ok just reread all the post and note that Tober27 posted on Jul13 the same issue with deleted channels reappearing : "What bothered my most is that after setting up my favourite channels, removing duplicates and audio stations, they seem to reappear later, and I don't know why" Perhaps this is just a bug with the FW?

Hey Guys, Based on your respective inputs and my frustration on waiting for Topfield to sort out their damned firmware on the HD PVRs (plenty on that on other forums), I took the plunge and bought a Magic this week. Experience much the same as described by others, shipping took 2 days to Canberra. Neat looking little unit and although I was a bit sceptical about the external power pack, I agree with others that this probably results in the machine running much cooler. I have just finished playing with it for the past couple of hours and there are a couple of minor annoyances that others may have worked out how to get around. 1 I cannot find a way to edit the channel list, either sequence or channel name. I am pretty anal and like to have the same sequence on all my devices and the Magic scans / saves channels in numerical order, which results in WIN not adjacent to GEM and GO for example. Also cannot edit any of the channel the names. The menu suggests a favourites list but I haven't worked out how to create one. 2 Related to 1, I have deleted the multiple channel appearances (Prime shows a couple of times) and radio feeds but the damn things keep popping back into the channel list. Anybody else having this issue or how to permanently delete from the list. Once again using a favourites list would resolve this. Neither of these are show stoppers for me, really happy with picture quality and EPG interface and the price $$$. I now have this installed with my trusty Topfield Masterpiece 5000 SD so now I can record up to 4 different streams simultaneously and watch a fifth. A single unamplified antenna feed is feeding the Magic, then the Topfield and then the Panasonic Viera. So far no issues with signal strength. Great find and thanks to all for alerting us. Cheers

Thanks Paul, However I really want to investigate the added advantage of IPTV and the on-demand movie capability. I may yet go down the Topfield path but not until they sort out their flaky firmware and deliver full functionality as advertised (ICETV, DLNA). Cheers

Hi Guys, Any update from anyone on Fetch TV as a PVR. I am considering it to supplement my reliable Topfield 5000MP (SD) PVR to be able to record those few HD channels the Topfield cannot record. I have looked at buying a new HD Topfield PVR but the forums seem to be alive with ongoing issues with them. Specifically I would really like an assement of the picture quality (both FTA and IP channels), ease of use, epg functionality, and usablility as it seems the 1Tb HDD also stores a LOT of movies as a normal thing. I am waiting until Optus release their Fetch offering as I have a good ADSL 2+ service from Optus (14Mb/s). Appreciate your thoughts and comments, Cheers

Thanks for that posting re the HDD upgrade. There are a few of us wondering how easy that would be. Did it recognise the new HDD and format 1TB no problems or did you have to pre-format in a computer. Has anyone gone any bigger, 1.5TB / 2TB ?

Thanks markb for that frank and full critique of the 7100+. Based on your comments I may very well pick one up soon as I prefer it's form factor to the newer narrower units (e.g. 2400/2460) and it looks like this is the way of the future, well for Topfield at least. Good point about the 320G unit too, I expect changing out the HDD in 12 months or so as a cost effective option. Cheers

my two-bobs... I have been watching this whole firmware fiasco with a view to upgrading the 5000MP for well over the past 12 months. I have been quite happy to sit on the sidelines and watch the rest tough it out as in reality the MP is still performing really well, has tons of HDD space (500Gb) and haven't seen much benefit of forking out upwards of $1000 to beta test Topfield code. Now there is a fair bit of different programming on HD, the pressure to upgrade is mounting. The 7100+ does look like a pretty good product and I am sure from a hardware / image performance is excellent, however once again the issues with ICE and to a lesser degree the described annoyances with chase-play viewing, triple recording, etc. have kept me away even at the bargain prices now offered by various retailers. If I bring a new piece of technology into the lounge room and it fails to perform exactly as described, I fully wear the ire of the entire Senate. I remember this well when the MP was using shaky firmware. I wonder how many others who really had fingers burnt to the original 7000 and lesser degree early 7100 are sceptical of the commitment of the bigger Topfield to finally solve these (I am not pointing the finger at the local Toppro people) what some perhaps may consider largely peripheral problems.

Any comments on the v1.8 ?

I went for a quick wander into HN Fyshwick this afternoon. They had 15 boxed on the floor and one out of the box. Sticker price was $1099. I didn't inquire as to a cash price. I must say it certainly looks the piece. I wasn't tempted to haggle BUT if it does perform, I may review that decision around Christmas. Early adopters, Ready, Set, GO!......

I couldn't agree more with Sparky and Wally. It would be a brave person indeed ! I own both a 5000 MP and Silver and quite frankly have had it the flakey firmware on what are considered the TF flagship models (SD). Don't get me wrong, when they work correctly they are superbly elegant devices that have completely transformed the way my family watch TV. I couldn't figure out where the always useful iTopfield forum went, but its demise certainly does smell like a smoking gun ..... Topfield spies reading this forum, read and learn ! Sj