Topfield TF7000HDPVRt Personal Video Recorder - REVIEW

Adam Turner
Thursday, 12 April 2007 08:00

Your IT - Entertainment

Topfield's high definition PVR is finally here, but long delays and a lack of features mean it's already yesterday's news.

The TF7000HDPVRt is Topfield's first high definition PVR, with a 250 GB hard drive good for around 70 hours of standard definition recordings or around 30 hours of high definition. The dual tuners mean you can record two shows at once. It also automatically buffers the last two hours of whatever you're watching, so you can rewind live TV, but this buffer resets when you change channel.

Early digital set top boxes were sluggish when changing channels, but the TF7000HDPVRt has cut this down to an acceptable 1.5 seconds. While you're watching the buffer or a recording, the magic yellow button on the remote lets you zap ads by skipping forward 30 seconds.

Disappointingly, the TF7000HDPVRt hasn't inherited the previous model's (TF6000PVRt, see review) wifi capabilities, but it does allow you to transfer Australia's IceTV Electronic Program Guide from your computer via a USB stick. This is a reasonable compromise in terms of accessing the EPG, but the lack of internet access denies you access to a range of new online features.

Lack of an Ethernet has long been the Achilles heel of Topfield PVRs because it stops you doing anything new and interesting. Frustration over this has lead IceTV to declare the TF7000HDPVRt to be the last non-internet-enabled PVR it will support. IceTV wants to expand its free remote scheduling service PIMP (Personal Interactive Media Planner) to all the devices it supports, so internet access is mandatory. IceTV is also preparing to launch a video on demand service, which will initially only work with Windows Media Centre PCs but will be expanded to PVRs that supports IceTV. Buying the TF7000HDPVRt means locking yourself out of such services.

The TF7000HDPVRt's biggest problem is that it's at least a year too late. For example, the soon to be released Beyonwiz DP-S1 (read review) combines the features of the TF7000HDPVRt, the Apple TV and a DivX-compatible DVD player all in once device. It will also support IceTV, making it the closest thing to home entertainment nerdvana available in Australia. As more hybrid devices like the Beyonwiz DP-S1 hit the shelves, the TF7000HDPVRt will start to look like a one-trick pony.

That said, the TF7000HDPVRt does its one trick very well. One great new feature is if you pause a live broadcast for ten minutes to answer the door, when you resume watching the PVR won't let you change the channel while you're watching what's stored in the buffer. This is a good thing, because if you changed channel the buffer would be reset and you'd lose that ten minutes of your show. Unfortunately it isn't fool proof. The Program Up and Down buttons are disabled, the "return to previous channel" button isn't - so you can still accidentally wipe everything in the buffer if you're not careful.

The TF7000HDPVRt outputs video in 576i, 576p, 720p or 1080i, with a choice of widescreen and letterboxed 4:3 aspect ratios. It features a range of outputs including composite, s-video, component (YPbPr) and HDMI. Disappointingly the SCART pass-through found in the TF6000PVRt, which let you play your DVD player through the PVR and into your television, has been lost.

If all you want is a dual-HD-tuner PVR with an EPG, Topfield's TF7000HDPVRt will do the job nicely - but considering the new products and services on the horizon you might want to set your sights higher.