Topfield TF5810PVR Freeview

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Comments (35)

What are your views on this product? Tell other Digital Spy users what the strengths and weaknesses are, and don't forget to include your rating out of five!

Keith, Durham on March 6th, 2009
Had a Topfield for 2 years. Still working great.

Richard, Cheshire on March 1st, 2009
I'm confused now, all these reviews are negative and anyone reading them would stay well clear of this machine. I read a review from Tech Radar.com who praise it beyond anyting else. As others have found, review sites may have not actually have used or tested this machine. I havn't got one but it was on my shopping list. If we can't trust the experts to guide us consumers who are we supposed to trust? It makes me wonder if Bankers and politicians arn't the only ones who deceive fro cash.

Techathon, London on February 15th, 2009
I'm glad Digital Spy exists to give plain, honest reviews like this. John Lewis sell this box, they should be ashamed. It fails in all areas.

James Hague, Liverpool on January 21st, 2009
Dont want to sound negative but I have to agree with everyone else here about this box. My box has stopped updating the EPG and there are big delays in watching a recording. For a box that costs £279 from John Lewis I expected more.

Sahron Metel, Bradford on January 13th, 2009
Got this for Christmas for the family, its now in pieces, the good people at Topfield wouldnt take it back, repair or give any advice and it didnt work, so we put it in the bin. Like everyone else says here, its a waste of cash.

Dan Clide, London on December 26th, 2008
Got this for Christmas, utter crap, broken already!

Daniel Mount, Blocswich on December 21st, 2008
POOR record performance: SLOW responce: BAD screen layout: EPG is pathetic: TOO expensive: WORST customer service: LOUD noise from box

Jake Mansfield, Nottingham on November 26th, 2008
I cried when I found these reviews. Another site rated this PVR highly and so I bought one. I regreted every second after turning on the power. The upscaling is fab, but the rest is poo. No HDMI cable, crap after-service and slow, complicated graphics that dont record what you want anyway. Buy a Humax.

Brian Gant, Leeds, UK on October 21st, 2008
I have been ripped off, the blurb for this machine makes all sorts of claims on how fantastic it is compared to every other PVR out there, but when the chips are down it cant deliver. It obviously hasnt been tested by a human prior to being sold. Its slow beyond belief, doesnt make sense and doesnt record all progs. Turbosat offer you NO after service, they have already slammed the phone down on my wife.

David Hearn, Glasgow on October 15th, 2008
thank you to everyone here for the clear and honest reviews of this freeview pvr. unlike other 'review' sites, digital spy is independant and gives the best reviews. i have saved a lot of hard earnt money. cheers.

Jeff, London on October 12th, 2008
The "trustedreviews" website call this machine "your new PVR champion"! In view of all the criticisms here, I wonder whether "trustedreviews" really tested this machine. Their review appears to be a negligent misstatement. Thanks to you Digital Spy users for steering me away from wasting my money!

Dan, Oxford, UK on September 25th, 2008
This is my 3rd Toppy, my first at this model and I cant be any more disappointed. The previous machine was great, it was flexible, quick and had a great online community, but Topfield has gone to the dogs. --------------------------------------------- I used to love my Toppy, I did all the updates and had a great time with it, but this model stinks. --------------------------------------------- Its horrible to hear the horror stories about the after care given by them now. I know we are all pushed because of the credit crunch, but for God's sake Topfield sort yourselves out. --------------------------------------------- I'm going to buy the Playstation 3 Freeview PVR add-on instead.

Eric, Dorset on September 13th, 2008
What a useless product. In my opinion, the buggy firmware that's poorly implemented and a cheap and nasty case that rattles and hums like I don't know what make this alleged PVR totally unreliable and unfit for purpose. The fact that it forgets as many timer events as it records leaves me feeling the TF5800 is the biggest hunk of junk I've ever had the misfortune to spend my money on. Luckily I still have my TiVo and would recommend anyone to source one from Ebay rather than waste their money on this Topfield. The TiVo may only have one tuner but it always records what it's told. Needless to say, I do not intend to buy another Topfield product and would recommend others to steer clear of this box.

Alan Hampton, West London on September 7th, 2008
What a load of rubbish. The only reason to buy this box is to fill the bin. Dont buy.

Sam Byfield, Telford, Shropshire on August 30th, 2008
I'm glad I've found fellow consumers that agree with the disgusting service given by Turbosat and the Topfield box. My family and I have had nothing but stress with this box. The customer service Turbosat give you (they act as the representative for Topfield in the UK) is appauling beyond belief. I have been sworn at by members of their staff more than once. The Topfield box breaks down, only records 50% of what you set to record. Its hard to use, looks simple on screen but in practice it never does what it says it will do. The specifications on paper look great, but dont believe them. Stay away from TOPFIELD and TURBOSAT they stink. We spent over £300 on this box and its now in the bin after Turbosat wont take it back or help in anyway. Disgusting.

Mohamed, Leeds on August 23rd, 2008
Like everyone else here I can only say that this box is crap beyond belief. But the service from TOPFIELD AND TURBOSAT is the WORST I have ever come across, they are ignorant, stupid and treat their customer with no respect what so ever. Stay clear of any TOPFIELD product or TURBOSAT (they are the same company) they stink.

Michael Handy, Glasgow, Scotland on August 19th, 2008
Got this machine 3 weeks ago. It makes me cry myself to sleep 80% of the blurb on the box dont tiein to its capabilities S L O W at responding, glitches that make your wince, IT JUST IDNT RELIABLE Lets hope it wins one award this year - THE WORST FREEVIEW PVR OF 2008.

George Richardes, Manchester on August 16th, 2008
As an electrical engineer for over 25 years I'm amazed at the poor internal construction on the 5810PVR. For my money it has been made on the cheap, very bad seeing as they are asking for top notch cash for it. Most aspects of the machine are slow and 'clunky' due to (it seems) little work put into the development of the machine. No secondary memory buffers are used for playback or record so the responses are very slow and current recordings and playbacks are all stopped upon a secondary recording ending. This Topfield isnt what it should be, a major disappointment.

Steve Wilkins, Brighton & Hove on August 9th, 2008
Crap box. Takes a age to swap channels, not all recordings get saved. dont waste your cash

Garry Browne, Dudley, West Midlands on August 1st, 2008
I could write a book on how bad this unit is. At the end of the day it boils down to one question: Should this unit be allowed to be sold because it is reliable, well-made and does everything the marketing and sales people claim? The answer has to be NO, NO, NO, NO, NO. Dont be conned and buy a topfield, I returned mine after 8 days.

Gerry, Liverpool on July 28th, 2008
Nothing wud make me happier to tell U this is a good box. But it aint. My 2nd replacement got delivered last friday, still not working. controls and remote to slow. epg is the pits & it only records 60% of wot U set it for. Topfield is crap

Sam, Brighton on July 23rd, 2008
I agree with all the comments here about this excuse for a box of tricks. Every element works against the user, rather than for you. Topfield service is appalling and a sign of the quality of the box. Slow, auk ward, illogical, backwards.

Ed Mahoney, Birmingham on July 17th, 2008
All substance and no reliability. The tf5810 drops points on every area of production, useability, reliability and living up to the hype. Could a plastic box be any more annoying? ~ I think not. I was surprised to find so many bad comments on here, but after seeing how this little black beauty handles I can do nothing but agree with them. I am giving 2 stars only because it works great at viewing Freeview channels, but start recording and the whole experience drives you up the wall. For the money you pay, Topfield should be ashamed. A total rip-off.

Iain Morgan, Stoke on Trent, Midlands on July 16th, 2008
After 4 replacements and a letter from my lawyer, I managed to get my money back. The machine doesnt work. Crap service, badly thought out.

Linda, Cardiff on July 11th, 2008
I am outraged by the TOPFIELD TF5810 and so should everyone else. My husband, myself and my 2 sons (both in their 20's) all think its an absolute waste of time and money. We had a TOPFIELD for 3 years, it was a great machine, but this model defies all logic. Was it wired and conceived by a 3 year old? Little of the software is straight-forward. Its slow to respond to any commands. It breaks playback when a new recording starts. Over a third of recordings never happen (very frustrating). I could go on. The TF5810 is unreliable, a total pile of junk.

J. Ryddle, Liverpool on July 9th, 2008
Too expensive for what you get. Wish I'd seen these comments before I bought mine. Mine breaks down at least once a week.

Abdul Katea: London on July 9th, 2008
Had 4 replacements to my original box.

Simon Dorster, Reading on July 4th, 2008
Had the previous Topfield model, that was ok. The TF5810PVR is no comparison in any way whatsoever. If you expect a quality product with great features and software, forget it. At its price, the box is poor value for money, however, even at half the price I wouldn't recommend it. Everything people say here about the TF5810PVR is true. I simply can't understand why they released it with such a bad consumer experience. The machine is defunct by its speed and ability to outwit even a highly-technical person. ** I have upgraded the software on my machine and some snags have been rectified but still the machine is poor in all areas ** Topfield as a company are arrogant and go out of their way to not help you. Very bad product.

Jon Morgan, Edinburgh, Scotland on July 3rd, 2008
Worst settop available in the UK. I have updated my firmware since buying it. Still getting recordings deleted for no reason. Every function has bugs. Poor software. Slow. Noisey. Glitchy. Unreliable.

Carol, Salford, Manchester on June 25th, 2008
I can't agree more with the comments about the Topfield box. Its a pain in the bottom. So bad, I have gone back to Sky.

Jez Patel, Leeds on June 24th, 2008
dear, dear, dear, topfield, what have you done? I loved my last topfield, but this "new imporved" settop is 100% trash. Non-responsive to the remote is one thing, but 1 out of 4 scheduled recordings either dont happen or I miss the first or last 10 minutes. Topfield are no help and blame the programme makers, when its their machine, no other freeview recorder I know of has such drastic problems. It looks like I am going to have to take topfield to court to get my money back as its not fit for purpose.

Derek Mires, Glasgow on June 20th, 2008
Had this sad excuse for a DTT for a month now, I regret the day I paid over the top for it. I agree with Richard from London; its a slow, sad machine thats too complicated. My previous box was a topfield which was great, but the TF5810 is 10 steps backwards. Over-priced, slow and packed full of snags, dont just ignor this box, tell your friends how poor it is so they dont make the mistake I have. After sales service from topfield is a waste of time.

Sarah on June 19th, 2008
This Topfield box should be banned. Fuctions are slow, too many bugs and too complicated. The spec. sounds great but its trying to be too clever for his own good and fall flat on its face. The customer service is terrible, no-one wants to help you. Stay away.

Ali - UK on June 4th, 2008
good product

Richard, London on June 2nd, 2008
I bought this new topfield box within a couple of weeks of it being released. I have now had it for a few months. This is the fourth freeview box I have owned and the third freeview recorder.

This has to be the worst freeview recorder available in the UK.

On the face of it the specifications and features for the TF5810PVR look impressive, but most of them are either too slow to realistically operate or are lies. For example, they claim that changing channels is less than 1 second, not true, minimum is 2 seconds and it can be up to 7 seconds! (I admit it, I have timed them! - blush) This box has to be the slowest freeview box around, whenever you press a button on the remote there is a slight delay that is enough to make you unsure if the function is going to work. This has the effect of making you very, very frustrated.

The only feature of the box that is worth while is the up-scaling feature, the visuals are very impressive. I have a top of the range 40" Samsung and compared to my previous freeview box, the picture from this Topfield is excellent.

However, in all their wisdom, Topfield don't include a HDMI cable with the box!

However, the picture is not enough to make up for its many other short comings. Every feature on this box is terrible. The EPG is slow, cluttered and unworkable, recording a programme is made difficult to trace, if a clash happens in recordings it warns you but doesn't highlight what is clashing. Fast-forward and rewind are unworkable and only go up to 16x. These issues are just the top fo the ice-berg, there are many, many more. On top of all of this, 1 in 5 recordings either doesn't record at all or carry on recording past the programme has finished. I have spoken to Topfield about all of these problems, but their customer service is terrible, they are not interested and cant be bothered. There are no upgrades planned and come across as very ignorant. The TF5840PVR is one of the most expensive machines around in the UK and with it, you would expect a higher level of refinement and workability. However, this is not a matter of money, If you purchase any machine you expect it to do the job, this machine has so many 'issues' it makes it not worth owning.

Buying a TF5810 is like buying a top of the range car with square wheels. Buyer beware!