sitting pat Posted February 26, 2006 Posted February 26, 2006 As a recent owner of a widescreen HDCRT ie KVHR32 ,Ive just about put aside the money for a HDSTB .As Ive read many great comments about Topfield PVRs ,Im tempted to buy one of these instead of the HDSTB. I realise that the Toppy is only SD , but my question is: Would I lose much picture quality on such a small screen if I went for the Toppy. We are not talking about a large plasma here. Any feedback appreciated
pgdownload Posted February 26, 2006 Posted February 26, 2006 Ok I'll bite. As you suspect, HD on a 32 screen is indeed not a huge improvement in PQ. If you sit closer than 1m from the TV you'll definately be able to notice the difference though . Keep searching on Toppy ($750) posts and you'll find it pretty much revolutionises how you watch TV (Pause live TV, skip ads with a single press of the button, ONLY PVR with the possibility of a 7 day EPG, install a 400G harddrive if desired, etc.) If you don't want to install TAPs then you might also like to look at the Humax ($630). You could also get a TAPless Toppy 4400 for under $550. At that price you could also grab a HD STB for $300 if you so desired. Regards Peter Gillespie PS Have a read of All Questions Answered for more info.
sitting pat Posted February 26, 2006 Author Posted February 26, 2006 pgdownload said: Ok I'll bite. As you suspect, HD on a 32 screen is indeed not a huge improvement in PQ. If you sit closer than 1m from the TV you'll definately be able to notice the difference though . Keep searching on Toppy ($750) posts and you'll find it pretty much revolutionises how you watch TV (Pause live TV, skip ads with a single press of the button, ONLY PVR with the possibility of a 7 day EPG, install a 400G harddrive if desired, etc.) If you don't want to install TAPs then you might also like to look at the Humax ($630). You could also get a TAPless Toppy 4400 for under $550. At that price you could also grab a HD STB for $300 if you so desired.Regards Peter Gillespie PS Have a read of All Questions Answered for more info. Thanks Peter I think I will do as you suggest. One other thing, What do you mean by TAPs regards SP
delbz Posted February 26, 2006 Posted February 26, 2006 Hi SP. I have both but use the Toppy 90% of the time. The Toppy's PQ is very acceptable.
byron1503559589 Posted February 27, 2006 Posted February 27, 2006 A friend bought a HD STB instead of a SD PVR, and honestly I think it's a waste, mainly since he's missing out on so many shows because the STB doesn't record. He's complained many times that perhaps a PVR would have been a better bet! B
pgdownload Posted February 27, 2006 Posted February 27, 2006 Hi Pat, Good luck looking for a good deal then. FYI TAPs are utilities written by users to add functionality (and fix firmware limitations). The Toppy is the ONLY machine that has this customisation ability. The good news is you don't have to be an expert to use them, just select some that sound good to you and upload them to the Toppy and then run them. An example of a simple TAP function is changing the 30sec jump button to a user defined amount (say 3 minutes) and then adding +/- 10 second jumps to another button. However if you decide upfront that you don't want TAPs then the machines I mentioned are better value for the same (uncustomisable) functionality. As mentioned all this is listed in All Questions Answered. You should also checkout the Topfield forum (www.topfield.com.au) if you want to discuss/research the Toppy in more depth. Regards Peter Gillespie
MELso Posted February 27, 2006 Posted February 27, 2006 Another thing worth remembering about HD is that there really isn't much content. Only Nine and Ten actually broadcast 1080i HD content, and beyond the various flavours of CSI and a few movies, most of what they broadcast is upconverted...
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