Topfield TRF2100

not great - no updates available since 2015 ! – was good originally in 2014; from Good Guys; now very erratic!! waste of money ! updates not available ! it is now just for recycling ! previous reviewer - lucky you; suspect it will die soon so beware ! have just bought something much more exp - hope it will last for years !  Show details

Love my Topfield – I find this machine very easy to use. Love to record tv programs and I can record two at a time. I can then watch another which is great as you can fast forward adverts. The only problem I have with it is it's all of a sudden changed languages to I think French so is making it hard to read everything. Otherwise it's a great machine  Show details

Need it to see recorded material – The Parental control button is plasted on the screen of TV. Cant seem to remove it as it asks for pin number. Havent got one and have never used this control button ever. Can anyone tell me how to fix this. I have also had problems with the mouth of the people talking not at the same time as they are suppose to be.  Show details

Good piece of gear – When my Strong PVR failed recently, I considered buying a new digital LED high definition TV but as my analogue 50 in. plasma was still good, I decided on another set top box instead and bought a new TRF 2100 online, at a very good price, (around low $ 50s). Yes, I read the negative reviews beforehand, and yes, the "user guide" provided is now in… Read more

the recycle bin. What you do is go online and search for TRF 2100 full user guide and download from(www.manualslib.com free ) I downloaded the full 68 page user guide I found online and had no problems in connection and setting up and using. The unit does all I want and was simple to connect to both TV and Yamaha sound bar. I recorded my first program, (Outlander 2 hrs 20 mins on SBS), and added 10 mins padding start and finish. No dramas, don't be put off, there's a lemon or two in everything ever made.

Useless waste of time and money. No service – Instead of writing all the faults I will just comment I have the same issues as already outlined in this forum. Bought the device in October and it had faults almost from the moment it was first programmed. I put up with it thinking maybe I was at fault and the 6 pages of user manual did not help. I managed to download a full user manual and… Read more

started from scratch. It is not operator error. Started trying to reach Topfield in April 2016 and finally with help from Harvey Norman finally got the device sent to TF. It was returned with the same problems and the report stated it was a faulty HD, not likely.

I was able to contact TF once more and agreed to send the device by mail - again. I have not heard from them and the 11 emails have gone unanswered. I did manage to find the service managers mobile number but he no longer works there. He suggested I either fly to Sydney to visit their office or put it in the hands of the Ombudsman.

Do not buy any Topfield product.

Avoid at all costs! – We bought one despite the bad reviews and it turned out to be a very bad decision. We had the first unit replaced under warranty due to freezing and refusing to boot up. Now the replacement unit is constantly going out of sync, screen goes black and remote control not working.. Tried a reset but it didn't help. Will never buy a Topfield again. Absolute junk.

Worst product I've ever owned – I've only had it for 5 months, and am fed up with all the intermittent faults. Sometimes the programme guide won't load up, sometimes says it's recording but it isn't. Freezes and won't go forward or backward, frequently now won't show the recorded programmes and I have to turn it off and then back on again. Too many faults to list them… Read more

all, but the worst is they're intermittent, so not sure I'd get anywhere with the warranty. It's a piece of rubbish and the faults seem to be getting worse, but when I check it again, it's working! I'm tempted to cut my losses and buy a decent brand and put it down to experience.

Just wanted to add my disappointment – Same issues as everyone else. I just wanted to add to my vote of disappointment to this inferior product. While it says that the product has been discontinued by Topfield (& about time too), do not buy this product even if you see it in a clearance sale. zzzz zz

Fed up with 2100 – All of the above, am going to return my 2100 and upgrade to 2600 and hope that I don't have these problems, at the moment My unit is stuck on where I was watching a recorded program, very disappointing as I will lose all that I have recorded. Also couldn't fast forward without freezing .

Very, very disappointed – I bought this PVR based on the good performance of my Standard Def Topfiled TF5000 I had had for some time before. It is rubbish. It lacks many of the features of the previous topfield, not only that it doesn't work properly half the time. Programs don't record, they say they have recorded the whole program but have only recorded a small fraction… Read more

of it. Picture and sound go out of sync. Many of the other faults mentioned in previous reviews here occur regularly and it has started to just freeze for no apparent reason. Final straw, the disk drive packed it in after only 15 months of owning it. I wouldn't recommend this to my worst enemy, let alone my friends, it's just a recipe for ongoing frustration..

Developed every fault mentioned here – Bought my TRF-2100 December 2013. In 2014 the voice and picture would occasionally get out of sinc. If you paused then pressed play it would catch up so didn't think anything of it. 3015 sinc got significantly more frequent. It started jumping ahead a few minutes. Guide doesn't display all upcoming programs. Reset time but it won't save so records… Read more

wrong program. Now it's started turning itself off and I'm getting the scrambled signal message. Had someone look at as it's out of warranty (by 2 months). Said he's seen the problem a lot in Topfield machines. I'll contact the company citing Australian Consumer Law. Customers may still have a right to return defective goods even if the manufacturer's warranty period has expired.

NB: contacted Good Guys and they said the company wouldn't do anything because it was less than $150 and not worth their time to look at it.

Nothing but time wasting trouble – This machine was a gift. What a waste of money!. I made enquiries via the makers and was advised in order to view the tv guide, it was necessary to tune into every channel for 30-60 seconds, pressing the red 'toggle' button. This needs to be done the first time you turn on the tv, every day, if you want to use the guide! Today was typical:… Read more

yesterday the guide was fine. Today, following the instructions, the guide showed programs for the wrong days, only showed half of the ABC programs for today, so I checked the instructions on the manual (which is amazingly difficult to follow. It has a comma or a full stop instead of the words needed in some sections, eg. p37 "with the , buttons") on pg.59 which advises"perform a factory reset and service search to allow the unit to restart the guide." I did this, for the tenth time in the last two months, and as usual the factory reset produces a huge number of channels. A number of the major channels are repeated four times, all the others twice. So I then go through deleting all the extra channels, hoping to reduce the time I have to spend even selecting a channel. Then I go to the guide - and of course it's still now working. Don't bother with the machine. I was advised to send it back. Why can't I simply have it replaced? Really fed up.

Bad unit - buggy – Unit hasn't dealt with the digital TV retune in our area, has 3 different versions of each channel and no way of telling which one has full signal. Unit is now non-functional, HDMI output now doesn't work and no video from the other outputs means it's useless. Infuriatingly, I can't find the receipt so not able to return under warranty. Don't buy.

Very dissappointing – On paper this PVR was exactly what we wanted, a simple twin tuner PVR. What a dissappointment though, this unit just seems to not do anything well. Even just doing basic things it was unreliable and slow and would freeze all the time. It seems as though the software is just not up to the task. We went through two units which were both the same. We… Read more

eventually swapped it for a 7260 and what a difference, it actually does what it should with no fuss at all. If you are thinking of getting a 2100 do yourself a favor and spend a bit more for something that works. In my opinion topfield should not even be selling the 2100, it just does not work!

2nd try – I have just returned my first topfield due to all of the above problems. While playing a movie it kept freezing and scrambling I'd get it right again and it would do it again. After about five times of this I gave up and deleted the movie I had wanted to see. Returned it today and they replaced it but already I can see problems. New type of… Read more

remote. Haven't a clue what all of the buttons are for. As everyone else says the manual is useless. If I have to return this one I will upgrade to something else. the price Lost all of my recorded programs because of having to return the thing.

Need help – Was working good then all of sudden it go to service not running or scrabble,not sure what happen then sound is scherchy to not tv as new.other tv on same antenta is fine.the book don't have anything I need to do.mine try an factory reset it mite help. what do u thik

Not good enough – Cheaper model to me means less features. I expected this box to do what it's made for. I get abc channels direct into the TV okay but get the dreaded scrambled message in the box, despite it having near perfect signal. I tried everything bar attenuating the signal. Strangely the manual says signal needs to be 50 to 90 % without any explanation… Read more

about 90+. Useless, they've lost me for life - don't understand how toppy has such a good reputation. Exchanged for a brand that instantly felt far more professional and slick and actually worked as expected, albeit for 160 bucks more.

Didn't work as expected, cheap and nasty feel.

good for money – when i put a sound bar in and watch TV through PVR the sound is greatly decreased can you help on this problem

Cheap and (mostly) cheerful – Having had a high end Topfield which worked flawlessly for years eventually die, we decided to buy a low spec unit as we didn't really use all of the features of the better unit. We also wanted to get 2 dvrs and the mid $100 price tag suited us perfectly. To date both of our 2100s have been OK and function as intended. We have not experienced the… Read more

scrambled or out of sync issues that others on here have noted, with one proviso. Our units record and playback in a reliable fashion BUT it is very important that a good TV signal is available. We started having some issues during the change from analogue to digital TV and we thought these were the fault of the 2100. Once we thought to perform rescans the problems went away.

So I would offer that these are a low end and inexpensive DVR which are not comprehensively featured but certainly adequate and in our experience reliable. Yes, the instruction book is terrible. Inexpensive, twin tuner, Topfield brand Remote control operation can be finicky if not directly in front, unit becomes "busy" on startup (15seconds) and does not respond to remote until ready.

Cheap and nasty - steer clear – Attracted to the Topfield name and at a special price at the time. But have now had three of these exchanged in a month all with the same problem before I went to another product at a higher price. Salesperson finally admitted that the product was substandard and a substantial percentage were being returned. Ability to modify recording times from… Read more

the program guide to adjust for TV stations starting/finishing from advertised times. Watching programs directly the picture and sound would go in and out of sync on a random basis. For most recorded programs the machine could not play back without freezing and jumping back to either a random time or even the beginning of the recording. Consequently many programs were effectively lost and never viewed.

Good budget PVR – I found this PVR to be adequate for my needs, to be able to record 2 programs and watch live tv, rewinding, pausing etc. The instruction book is terrible, I worked out how to use it by playing with it but on the whole it is easy to use once you get used to the remote and what buttons do what. Easy to use, small and light Instruction manual didn't help

For a budget PVR this is a good unit good – I haven't had any problems with it. We have no for about a year and all is going Would like to have the option to transfer a recording to USB. But for the price we played this is a good unit, can recommend this model to other users who are on a budget.

One star is too kind – Purchased and returned within 2 hours. Cheap and Nasty unit with a very light weight remote that appears to contribute to its issues. As per all other reviews it is a very ordinary unit. Returned to the store who initially wanted to argue leads etc but on upgrading to a known brand have had no issues since. cheap Everything. poor quality remote and its downhill from there.

Do not buy - terrible machine – Topfield should be ashamed of themselves for selling this terrible machine. Very poor tuner so most channels were scrambled (don't believe the salesmen who tell you it must be your poor reception). Not a lot to say really, it just did't work. Its a very cheap piece of machinery and i would highly recommend the panasonic dmr hw220 ( see my review)… Read more

its in a different league to this one. Worth paying the extra money. Nothing, doesnt work Channels scrambled,

TFR2100 is ashocker – Do not waste your money this one , scrambled channels, doesnt record proper, its a cheapie .Electronic stores shouldnt sell that rubbish. What can i say extremely disappointed, wasted my money, there is just absolutely nothing good about this model ,except the price if it would work proper.DONT BUY IT nothing everything

It's a lemon – After several firmware updates, at least now this PVR doesn't seem to have the "scrambled channels" message come up as often as it used to. However, it is still really buggy. Chase play is really unreliable and often choppy; it randomly restarts at the beginning of a recording; often freezes in mid playback; freezes if you fast forward to real… Read more

time.Too many problems to itemise. This is a shame because my other Topfields are first rate PVRs. This product is a blight on the Topfield brand. Same excellent interface/guide as the real Topfields. Too buggy to be useable.

Bad choice – I bought this product on advice from a local (usually reliable) electrical products store. It appears simple at first glance, but it is finicky to use and we're still having trouble pre-setting to record, despite instructions from the store. The "manual" (that's a joke) is extremely brief in it's instruction and badly done. Useless piece of junk & debating buying a dvd recorder now. size of unit

Inferior product – Buy something else. I had a unit that would continuously "jump" the picture forward a few seconds, yet the sound was unaffected. This resulted in video/audio desync for a few seconds. I exchanged the unit in the hope that the problem was just with one machine. Unfortunately the exchanged unit experienced the same woes. Do not buy. Looks nice - price Faulty machine

Don't waste your money – When it works it's fantastic. Yet most of the time you get the message on various channels of "No singal or message scrambled. This also applies to recorded programs. The only way to fix it is to turn the text on or off and this only fixes it sometimes. Topfield service is useless and states it's a signal problem yet other pvr brands don't… Read more

have the same issue. The TRF2100 is simply an inferior product. When it works it works well. When it doesn't work correctly, which is most of the time, as per above.