Topfield Trf 7160 Firmware Upgrade
The Topfield TRF-7170 is a great PVR system and is very sturdy as a product overall. I have one that I got second hand from a Good Sammy's that works like a charm. It also has 1TB of storage which is great but the only minor downside is that whatever file format it uses is very large so it uses GB's of storage for each recording. It even supports viewing Foxtel through it so even better. It comes with a built-in game that is also good.
I highly recommend this product if you don't have a Netflix subscription or just like to watch your favourite shows. Have had 7100 for 5 years and still running well.
Later added 7170 for 1Tb storage. Ran OK for about 2 years but now no longer reliable. Erratic recording of pre-scheduled program as sometimes only records around 25 - 30% of program. On playback, stalls for up to 50 secs and shows 'service is not running or scrambled!' All buttons on remote inactive during this time. Program does eventually continue but delay very annoying.
Oztoppy web site suggests that signal either too weak or too strong, but both units are via splitter with equal length antenna cables and so problems seems to be caused by 7170 hardware/software as 7100 OK. Can no longer recommend Topfield and now looking for 7170 replacement. Second Topfield I have bought, didn't have any problem getting connected and working well for 2 years then stopped working. Went back to where I have bought it and was told that is probably just how long they work for, bought another one but after 13 months has now frozen in the menu, cannot get back to the TV, says it is recording but nothing being recorded. Have checked the antenna, put new batteries in remote, put it back to factory settings, disconnected and reconnected unit, still stuck in recording.
Would not buy another Topfield. Topfield set top boxes are the best you can get.

They are easier to use than any other brand and I have tried three other 'Top Name Brands', even my 11 year old grandson can use all our Topfield units.At the moment I have a TRF-7470 1Tb Quad Rec, a TRF-7170 1Tb Quad Rec and a TRF-7160 500Gb Quad Rec for my wife's 'She Cave' No I don't have a Man Cave I just use two in the lounge.The best thing about the Topfield is that they just about always fail around the first three mark and that's where the extended warranty comes in. Read more e latest model and it sometimes covers some of the new extended warranty.My three and a half year old TRF-7470 1Tb Quad Rec started to make a hell of a racket and sometimes it would only record 800-900mb's but tells you it is 2 1/2hrs long.To cut a long story I rang the extended warranty people and they told me where to take it. Cannot believe the price is so high ($395) for a product of such poor workability.This was a gift that I would not recommend (prefer $347 Panasonic for ease of use and set up).It is worse than a recorder I owned 20 years ago (in terms of technology). I would be embarrassed to sell it.Today I was unable to resolve technical issues through Support even after numerous software updates and have to take the machine in for repair.
Will not throw money at this thing, what rubbish, never liked it from day one. This is my second Topfield PVR. The first (a TF7100HDPVRt) was becoming unreliable, so I looked for non-Topfield alternatives. The other products didn't have the features I was looking for, so I gambled on a TRF-7170.
I've had this one for 2.5 years now. Overall, it's done a good job. It's recorded programs when it should, and played them back.
Its twin tuners allow up to 4 channels to be recorded concurrently (eg, 2 ABC channels, and two Ten channels).Key problem for me has been the remote - some buttons became progressively less r. Read more eliable. I've had to pull the remote apart a couple of times to clean the internal contacts. This helps for a while. Will be buying a new remote soon. It doesn't handle changes to/from daylight saving time very well.
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Firmware is a bit buggy - not up to the quality standards of the big Japanese/Korean brands.You do need to be a bit of a geek to get some of the features to work. Overall - they're great when they work. I've been lucky with this one (so far), unlike other reviewers here. Started off as a good unit BUT.
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The unit started to turn its self off, next stage was it would sometimes record then most the time not record.NO BACK UP SERVICE IN AUSTRALIA. Tried to contact customer support but no response. Really a case of 'we have your money so tough luck'.
I think the Hard Drive is on ts way out and its out of its 12 months warrantee. I came from a country where consumer guarantee acts says 'fit for the average expected life'.this meant Harvey Norman could not opt out of their consumer responsibility like they did in this case (zero points to Harvey Norman for their customer support).I would not buy another Topfield product, I am saving to buy another brand.BUYER BE WARNED find another brand.
It's pretty good. It hasn't been plagued with issues that the 7000 did, loss of services, lock ups or the continual need for firmware upgrades. Etc so it has been very stable. I can only remember one time when it didn't record from an IR timer and the 1TB HDD is always about half full. In comparison to some of the real gimmicky PVR's that do all sorts of tings, this one stands out. It does what it is meant to and the picture quality is so much better than most of the others.
Annoying things - gets its recording names from the TV gui. Read more de so sometimes these dont match. I think that is more to do with the TV stations being worse than the trains for being on time;). You have to bookmark a show if you stop playback whilst it is still recording otherwise it reverts back top the startdual tuners - 1TB HDD - A pure PVR - picture quality - TAPsRecording names wrong - bookmarking for chase play - Remote still a bit fidgety. This thing is out of the arc, I can not understand how any company can see such rubbish. The user interface is out of the 1980's, it requires many key operations to perform simple tasks ie if yoiu are watching a show and want to delet it you have to press 7 keys. You can not keyword record.
The names of the recordings are often from the previous show. There are too many things wrong with this unreliable recorder that why I had to go out and buy a new recorder just months after purchasing a Topfield.Absolutly nothingEverything it is garbage. We've tried a few Boxes from the very basic and budget brands when we didn't need to have dual tuners and record function, to the 'top tier' Beyonwiz brand - which had a lot of issues and bugs with very poor support.We went for this unit based on the brand's reputation, which was good.Its been a great performer for us over the past few years. We only use it to watch regular digital TV and record shows as required. Occasionally we will watch compatible media from a USB.We have had conflicts with Intelligent Record, but as fail safe as this.
Topfield Trf 7160 Firmware Upgrade Guide
Read more feature sounds, it is still the broadcaster that dictates showing times and can at times rename the broadcast, this results in a conflict with showing times/names and can cause the unit not to record. The broadcaster delays or brings forward a show if the previous overruns/underruns or changes a show's name from 'Eastenders' to 'Eastenders including lotto draw'.Unless people are aware of this, they do tend to aim blame squarely at the unit.This review is based on day to day use only with regular free to air digital TV and some media played from a USB, so the 'higher' functions and compatibility with other web TV services are not known to us.Easy to use, nice design, quiet and reliable. We have just purchased our first PVR since the demise of our old analogue VRCs due to the changeover to digital TV in our area. Having done an extensive search and read lots of reviews on the whole gamut of PVRs available in the market, we decided on the Topfield, primarily because it appeared to be one of the few PVR brands that people would buy again and had the features in which we were interested. It also helped that we were able to purchase the unit at a very competitive price, due it seems to the fact that this is now a run-out model.I. Read more have just installed it and have recorded a few shows just to see how it works.
I must say at this stage I am impressed by the ease of use in the functions tried so far. Friends have bought other brands (which shall remain nameless) and have had nothing but problems with them, so I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this unit was to set up. The menus are very functional and the on-screen displays easy to use and read.The unit is not perfect however.
The supplied manual leaves a lot to be desired, although the online manual and video clips on the Topfield website are good and answer most of the questions/setup tips not provided in the supplied guide. Pity if you don't have access to the Internet though - the online manual is a must if you want to set up the unit properly.Setting the time was also problematic. Whilst it can be set manually, the daylight saving option seemed to be an hour out! And of course the remote control is not the best, with tiny, soft buttons which someone of more advanced years (or with fat fingers!) might have some problems in using.

The bright blue light around the on/off button is absolutely dazzling - bright enough to read by in a darkened room! For some reason during initial setup some of the digital services listed twice, however, they were simple, though a little tedious, to remove from the services list. Still, these are only minor problems for what is otherwise a good unit. Time will tell if it continues to function well.
One can only hope that it lasts as long as my now defunct VCRs, one of which was nearly 25 years old.Easy to set up, easy to customise, competitive price, good functionality, good online manualRemote too cluttered and buttons too small, needs a better manual should be supplied with the unit. Wireless dongle should be supplied as standard, not optional extra. The worst PVR I've ever had. Actually, the worst purchase I've ever made. I've had about five PVR's over the years, and the first one was cheap and nasty. That was on a par with this TRF7170. Read more bout $440 a year ago.
I bought this for the four tuners. The record function works well, and that's about the only thing it does well. Anybody that doesn't bag this device leaves me scratching my head.Basically, the onscreen layouts are just thoughtless. Thoughtless to a point where it's depressing to use.

Seriously, there is so many things stooped about this thing, I couldn't write them all down. And if I did, they would seem trivial, because they only become an issue after time of use. And let me say, It's not that it doesn't do stuff that it should. It just does it all annoyingly. After a while of using this machine, you'll wish you could make the designer pay for your frustration.I will say that I also have a Beyonwiz DPP2, and that is the best PVR I've used and owned. Leaves the TRF7170 for dead. When our TF7100 died, I had no hesitation with replacing it with the latest equivalent Topfield.
My wife was assured by the sales guy that this PVR supported IceTV. It turns out it does not. The PVR itself has some nice features and improves in some areas over the TF7100, but in some areas it has gone backwards.The EPG recording is free as opposed to IceTV, but does not work as well. It supposedly supports Series recording, but gets confused when there is the slightest change in the name of the show.
It does not differentiate first run. Read more s and previews, so records multiple versions of the same show. Once a show is recording you cannot add it for series recordingThe dual tuners allow you to record up to 4 channels a the same time which is a good improvement.The hardware is good, but the user interface could do with some improvement. In fact the majority of the issues I have with this PVR could be fixed with a firmware upgrade, but none has been forth coming.Large Storage, Remote Network AccessThe user interface could be better, in fact the last model TF7100 was better.
Junior MemberRegistered: Posts: 5Posted You'll find the firmware used inMenu Information System Status. It will be either 33021 or 32027 for a 7160This screen will also show the date of the firmware being used by the machine. Check that it is earlier than the date of the firmware you plan to install.I tend to agree with an earlier poster's suggestion that it could be a power supply issue. If it is, and a visual inspection may show it, I'd be reluctant to do a firmware upgrade until I'd fixed it or discounted it.