Topfield TRF-2400

Intermittently turns off – Have a TRF2400... been working just fine only till now it keeps intermittently turns off. I can’t get the programme guide up so I can record although o my ICETV account on phone seems to be working just fine! Getting frustrated and hubby & son won’t help! Men who needs them !  Show details

Fixing your problem – I had similar problems and found it was the program guide was running late had to adjust time to clock back a few minutes or program had not updated because of changed program this is a pain in the butt, lost watching good programs but mostly ok also lost ending of show unless you adjust timer back 2-3 minutes. The program guide is not accurate… Read more

they need a program detector to come on when program actually starts there was some TV device before that did do this .

Disappointed with response – I have a topfield trf 2100 which i have had for 18 months. When purchased it recorded but sometimes scrambled. Now it says it is recording but when I go back to watch the program nothing has recorded. I am very disappointed with Topfield as I have sent them a number of emails over the last few weeks and have only had the automated response. I… Read more

have also called the service department and the sales department and have been put on hold for over 30 minutes. I finally got through to the sales department nearly two weeks ago who told me the waiting time at the service department was short so needed to ring them (I had just been on hold for over 30 minutes with the service dept). They then said they would pass the message on. Still no response. All I want to do is go through my setting with them to make sure nothing is interfering with the recording. I have reinstalled done firmware updates all I can think may have changed it but nothing . At this stage would not recommend this product to anyone.

Poorly Designed Technology – If the Topfield 2400 is the best PVR technology then it needs to be redesigned from the ground up. Since day one it has been prone to dropouts of live TV signal; and it does not like any other device, like a DVD player, to use HDMI: it freezes. I cannot watch a DVD while the Topfield is recording because I have to unplug the DVD player from the HDMI or the Topfield wont record. It also runs hot so needs good ventilation.

waste of money – I never liked the original one we purchased 7 years ago which only lasted us 3 years including having to replace the power supply 6 months after buying it (under warranty). The only reason why we bought another is because Sony stopped making them & this was the only other brand that would give us reception to view alk digital channels. … Read more

Well, we no longer could view channels 9 & 10 on a clear day with this PVR. The other annoying feature (also with older one) is that their buttons are inconsistent. Delete could be the blue button when watching a recorded program but grerecordedwanting to remove a timer from your list!

Many programmed shows just didn't bother to record either. You can't turn it off whilst it's recording unless it was already off before it commenced recording either.

The only good things are that it can record a series and that you can set up a buffer at the start and end in the settings.

Absolute crap – Has stopped recording. Tried factory reset, no change, all data still on HD. Will be throwing this piece of crap in the bin, if you want it you can have it. Nothing but trouble since day dot. Product offers so much and gave so little, very disappointed. Save your money and look elsewhere.

"Ok" but for the price not good – This Topfield product is OK, it does what I wanted it to do (recording 2 channels at once etc) but it does have some temperamental issues. Its still better than our previous Sony product but that was a lemon. This Masterpiece randomly skips when recording (very annoying) which is not due to the reception. I contacted their support team to see if… Read more

this was an advert jumping feature gone mad but they didn't even bother to reply to my email. Geez, Thanks! Its a very expensive toy when it doesn't want to replay recorded tv and randomly will turn its self on and off while watching tv. Overall, its 'OK' but not good. Especially not for the price and the number of recommends.

Terrible Support – No spare parts available for purchase. A unit that just decides to stop working after 3 years and staff that don't want to honour Australian consumer law in fixing the unit....I am feeling very burnt....I will not be purchasing their products ever again and I encourage you to look elsewhere too.

Changed the way I watch tv – I hate spending money, but this is the best money i've ever spent! It has transformed the way the family watches tv. We simply record everything and never watch live tv again. I've worn out the 'skip ads' button. This probably has a whole lot of features I don't know about, but the ones I use are fantastic. It is the second one i've had and it is… Read more

leaps and bounds ahead of the first (not sure what brand). maybe all PVR's share the features this one has, but I wouldn't go elsewhere for fear they don't! this is the first review i've ever left and it's simply to share the love! pause & rewind live tv automatically, record up to 4 channels at once does not record in mpeg so difficult to transfer recordings to other devices

Lasted 12 months - wouldn't buy again – I bought this unit from a reputable big name retailer on the recommendation of a friend. When I switched it on, it was already tuned suggesting that the unit had been used. 12 months + 2 weeks later, it freezes on playback of recorded programs and the remote goes dead. The only way out is to turn it off at the wall. Did all of the usual… Read more

including load the new firmware but problem unresolved. Looked at having it repaired and find I have to post it to Sydney and wait for them to tell me how much it will be - no service agent in Brisbane.

Finally gave up and opened the unit. Turns out it contains an almost standard laptop drive, a replacement for which I was able to buy from the local computer shop for $65. Installation was a breeze - a couple of screws and plug in two cables.

Turned it on and it recognised the new drive straight away. Formatted it and now has been good for 4 weeks. Intelligent record Unreliable, no local service

Terrible, how its so highly rated i don't know – Where do i start! heaven forbid you have used a tivo before and think you should move to a topfield, it will be the worst mistake of your life. 1) constant crashing. 2) sometimes you are watching a channel and it won't let you leave that channel... YOU HAVE TO WATCH IT. 3) if you live in an area with daylight savings, be prepared for all of your… Read more

times to be our once this changes, and no its not a matter of just changing the time an hour, you need to factory reset it to fix it twice a year. 4) can't multiple delete shows! and you can't delete the one you are watching like Tivo... its has a select all feature, but thats just to move files into folders not multi delete. 5) You have to pay for ICE TV, TIVO is free! I would give this 0 STARS if i could. It does not deserve 1.

expensive, crashes, can't delete multiple recordings, ice tv, paying for ice tv!, buggy, daylight savings bugs,

Terrible – I can't believe the high ratings that others give this product. It is very unreliable and crashes all the time. Sometimes it does even record. I have updated firmware, pulled hair out and generally been very dissatisified. There are many little things wrong with it and some things that are innovative but if you can't get something together as… Read more

basic as a stable system that reliably records programs then your not even getting to first base. Topfield have not been helpful and just say update the firmware. I have done this and it has not helped. I have heard of many that have similar issues. This product is a POS and will eventually where you down when your favourite recordings always stop short because the machine crashed. Lots of features that are mostly not needed It crashes. Sometimes doesnt start recording. Has a poor tuner that gives bad reception sometimes

Good but – My first PVR and I am liking the ability to record shows and skip ads! Ice TV works so well with the topfield - it is a perfect way to organise, record and not miss good shows, Have to say my TV viewing has increased dramatically. It was reasonably easy to set up, and connect to wireless home group. Now I can play movies saved on my PC on the TV. … Read more

BUT, my only gripe, despite it being advertising as handling mkv files- it IS annoying that it will not play mkv files !! Until I solve this, I am back to connecting lappy via hdmi to TV. Easy to set up and record and play back skipping ads wont play downloaded movies in mkv format

Terrible machine – I got this machine first and was very disappointed when I got it home very old fashioned epg hard to navigate a round poor strength receiver hardly picked up any channels. The second machine tried was a panasonic that was better but took to long to set up each series record and was limited on the amount of programs I could record. I now have a humax 7500t and love it,it does everything I want and more Can record four channels at once Everything

Great unit – I have owned a lot of PVRs from Strong, Beyonwiz and Humax, the topfield is the only reliable one (I now have two of them and the rest are gone)... It works well with ICETV, no faults like other units, and is generally very reliable. The only annoyance is at the start and end of daylight savings, the process is far too manual and involved… Read more

compared to some of the others, but forgivable as it is a twice a year process for an otherwise completely reliable unit.. reliable, works correctly with ICETV, IMO most reliable PVR on the market at the moment Daylight savings process a bit of a pain (not automatic)

Has Met All My Expectations – Recently purchased the Toppro 500GB digital TV recorder and the Toppro TP-1500 USB Set Top Box I was very impressed with the ease of setting them up and they look good too.. The PVR I conected to my Sony Bravia TV and it did improve the picture quality. It is really great to be able to record more than one program at a time. The set top box I… Read more

connected to my to LG analogue TV and it worked perfectly and also improved the picture quality. All of this and I have not yet purchased a new digital antenna. Thank you Easy to follow instructions and does what it says it will do. The price compares very favourably with other models

Was Good, now Excellent – Basically a very capable PVR, thanks to multiple tuners allowing quad recordings, USB, LAN and WiFi connectivity (2400 requires a WiFi dongle - included in the 2460) and ability to play several video, image and audio file formats. However, thanks to occasional firmware updates, but more especially because of its ability to run small software apps,… Read more

this PVR has improved amazingly.

Australian and European owners have generously coded a huge pool of these 'TAPs' and made them available to all. Once installed onto this PVR, these can transform the basic 2400 into a much more capable and user-friendly model. EPGs and other featutres can be configured in a more eye-catching or useful manner. For instance, a 'very intelligent' version of Intelligent Record can be imbedded in an EPG, so that various shows can be marked for recording years in advance by listing search words or genres, and with the ability to ignore repeats.

One of the most sought after tweaks is improved ad-jumping. Not all PVRs can skip ahead a preselected amount thanks to conforming to the mis-named 'Freeview' specs. However, the basic 2400 isn't in this camp, so it can skip back and forth preset amounts, or just fast forward and back, and user written TAPs have expanded on this to make ad-jumping very easy.

Just about every aspect of this PVR can be tweaked - even the clock display has been 'hacked', so that a more readable and user configured version is available. If connected to the home network, many features, checking the EPG and setting timers for instance, can be controlled via the Internet from the other side of the world.

While TiVo as a deserved reputation as a very capable and easy to use PVR, it isn't cheap to upgrade. This Topfield 2400, however is relatively inexpensive and easily upgradable to arguably outperform a TiVo, depending on which TAPs are run on it. Non-Freeview - avoid Freeview products! Connectivity and multi-format file playback. Quad recording while also watching a playback. Easy HDD upgrades. IceTV trial subscription. All minor. Front facia not very appealing. LED display too small to read unless close. Connecting to USB sometimes causes a reboot.

Excellent, fast PVR, a few quirks but very happy with it – Very simple setup process, had to buy a wifi dongle to connect wirelessly (I don't like running cables around the house). worked well with normal EPG programming. The real head ache started with Icetv, but now have been ironed out completely after a few head scratches and reading a lot of the help forums online. Now I don't think i go back to… Read more ·  1

manually selecting all the programs I want to watch. I also have foxtel IQ2, and I now find it more convenient because I can copy the shows to watch on other media devices. Easy to set up the non icetv componet, works fast, great value for money Icetv not incorporated efficiently, remote feels cheap, can't copy whole folders of photos onto hard disk drive.