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Blog

A rolling diary of experiences with the Topfield and our Mac as I upload, download and watch programmes. It is presented in the traditionally confusing reverse date order, so you might want to read from the bottom the first time. If you would like to suggest a news item for inclusion, you'll find my email address at the very bottom of the page.

Dec 1st, 2006

It's been almost a year since I updated the site (I know, sorry), so I've given a few pages a refresh. I also added a page about TAPs, the programmes you can run on your Toppy. There are a couple of new links too and a few oher small changes, but for the most part all the principles are the same. All the techniques to copy files and make DVDs, etc. are still valid and the Toppy still links up with the Mac just fine. Don't forget to email if you have any questions.


Dec 15th, 2005

Topfield's first 'Over the Air' (OTA) upgrade to the system firmware of your Toppy box is due this weekend. According to the DTG web site if you leave your box on a 'Multiplex 1' channel, such as BBC1, you'll receive system v5.12.25. You do need to make sure that your Toppy has the OTA feature enabled in your settings.

Alternatively you can add the software yourself by downloading it from Toppy.Org.UK and using the software ToFi and a USB cable.

Nov 30th, 2005

If you record radio on your Toppy and you'd like to listen to it in iTunes or on your iPod, you can open your .rec file using MPEG Streamclip, convert it to MPEG format and use ffmpegX to then make it an MP3. Load that into iTunes and onto your iPod. A bit long winded, but it works!

Nov 29th, 2005

The first 250GB Topfield PVRs have arrived in the UK. These offer 50% more recording capacity than the previous 160GB model. One supplier, is TurboSat (bottom of page), who are also the official supplier for Topfield in the UK.

Nov 21st, 2005

My Topfield PVR is in the lounge and my Mac is in the office upstairs. To download programmes I was moving my Toppy upstairs each time so I bought some 'active' USB leads to bridge the 14m or so between them. I'm using two 5m long active USB leads and one regular USB lead in a long chain. This way I only have to move a lead instead of the whole PVR.

Nov 15th, 2005

Mac - Toppy compatibilities are looking considerably improved over the past few days as two new applications are emerging from early development. As an update to an Australian application, 'MacTF EPG' is being tested to UK television channels. The author's page is due to update shortly to show the UK version. I've been trying it out today and have successfully downloaded the programmes for the coming week, and will try to upload the result to my Toppy tomorrow.

Also on the same site, an early version of a firmware updater for the Mac is being offered for download. 'ToFi' is in it's early stages but discussion on the Toppy Org UK forums suggests that it is working for the developers.

Nov 10th, 2005

I noticed today that an update to MPEG Streamclip has been released. It's now at version 1.5.1.

Nov 6th, 2005

The enthusiastically comprehensive site Toppy Org UK is reporting that an 'Over The Air' update to Topfield PVR Firmware is now scheduled for December. It has a provisional slot of 17th-19th December at present, so we'll expect a confirmation before then. No doubt the new firmware (which will support a new BBCi/MHEG version) will be available online shortly before.

Nov 1st, 2005

Quite a lot going on in Toppy World today. The excellent Transport Stream editor and file format converter MPEG Streamclip has been updated and released today. The new version imports more file formats, saving a conversion step for many files you might have that you'd like to watch on the Topfield.

Two new channels are available on Freeview today; Sky Three and ITV 4. Sky Three replaces Sky Travel and will show programmes previously available on Sky One, whereas ITV 4 is promising sports and male focused programming.

Oct 22nd, 2005

I took my Toppy round to a friend's place and used his PC to update firmware. Unfortunately Topfield haven't released the firware upgrade tool in a Mac application as yet. In addition, after seeing Jag's EPG and Quickjump in action, I've installed these TAPs onto my Toppy.

Jag's EPG is a better organised display of what's currently showing and what's coming up on a channel. It also integrates some handy timer functions and a search tool that all help make Toppy life easier. Quickjump makes the coloured buttons on the remote jump forwards and back through playback to help with ad skipping, etc.

Oct 14th, 2005

According to the UK Toppy site, a Topfield firmware update to address both the BBC crashing problem should be available shortly. This will probably be available for user upload via Windows boxes first, and an 'over the air' upgrade later. Looks like I'll need to borrow a PC!

For those with technical interest, the problem arose because of the Topfield box being unable to accommodate "a change to the carousel structure, which carries the data for the various parts of the BBCi application". The BBC are also involved in helping solve the issue and may temporarily revert their MHEG format to restore the Topfield box to working order.

Oct 12th, 2005

My Toppy and numerous others have been affected by a change to the BBC Interactive service (MHEG). This results in an extremely annoying and worrying cycle of continuous rebooting of the Topfield. By enabling subtitles or watching non-BBC channels the rebooting stops.

Oct 6th, 2005

I discovered today that playing NTSC (American) format files on the Topfield is possible. Attempting to play them can result in sound drop-outs, but you can change the AV output to NTSC in settings and as long as your TV can sync, you'll be able to watch the file OK. Remember to switch back to PAL again afterwards.

Sept 27th, 2005

The Toppy UK site has announced that a new 'firmware' upgrade is on the way. This update to your Topfield's operating system will be available as a limited online 'beta test' in October, with plans to release 'Over The Air' to Topfield PVRs in mid-November. It will address some incompatibilities with BBCi interactive services and some known bugs and problems. You may realise that Mac users cannot presently upload new firmware via the USB port, but you might be able to try the beta if you enlist the help of a friend with a PC. Otherwise like me, you'll be waiting for the OTA update in November. Here's more info from the Toppy UK site.

Sept 25th, 2005

My first moment of truly smug satisfaction with the Toppy came this evening when watching a programme uploaded from the Mac whilst the box was recording two other programmes at once. The manual says this is possible of course, but it was stupidly enjoyable to be able to do it.

This particular programme was originally recorded from Sky and encoded as an AVI containing MPEG4 video and MP3 audio. None of these are Topfield compatible, but by encoding as an MPEG-TS transport stream with ffmpegX and then transfering to the Toppy with MPEG Streamclip, I was able to view it on my TV. The only hiccup was that the aspect ratio of the programme was lost and I needed to adjust the TV to 16:9 to correct. See the Mac Topfield Software page for more info on ffmepgX and MPEG Steramclip.

Sept 22nd, 2005

Our Topfield PVR arrived from The Satellite Centre located in Tyne and Wear. Purchase was painless with their online system and the box arrived in perfect condition a few days later.

Initial impressions of the PVR are that is is very well made in a metal case with securely mounted connectors and a high standard of materials and finish. The manual is all but useless, and smacks of translation from Korean without proper thought. However, the Topfield is easy enough to plug in but it is worth taking the consensus advice of user groups and using an amplified signal put through a 'Y' splitter to feed the two tuners.

My only gripe so far (apart from now having lots more leads behind the telly) is that I've not been able to connect the Toppy to our VCR as the signal seems too weak even when sent along a SCART lead. I wonder though whether I'd ever use that link, but it would have been nice for completeness.