IN DEPTH REVIEW: Topfield TRF-2400 Masterpiece HD

As the publicity shot suggests, Topfield's new Masterpiece HD is intended to be an object of desire.

The Masterpiece HD features most of the mod-cons you'd expect from a Personal Video Recorder, such as dual-HD tuners, 500GB hard drive, eSata port for attaching an external drive, HDMI and digital audio outputs. You can easily record two shows at once, pause and rewind live TV and even watch the start of a program while you're still recording the end. The PVR can extract the Electronic Program Guide from free to air broadcasts, but it's also compatible with the IceTV subscription EPG service (Topfield throws in a three month subscription). IceTV gives the Masterpiece HD TiVo-like powers such as remote scheduling and the ability to create a true Season Pass - which checks the EPG for schedule changes - rather than the recurring recordings used by most off-the-shelf recorders.

The Masterpiece HD is MPEG-4-compatible, meaning it will handle the eventual switch from MPEG-2 broadcasting which will render older devices useless (although this won't happen for at least five years). The Masterpiece HD still doesn't get the Freeview tick of approval, but that's only because it offers features the networks frown on - such as ad-skipping and the ability to copy recordings from the device. You've still got access to all the new standard and high-def channels.

There are rumours that Topfield may release a firmware update to make the Masterpiece HD compatible with the upcoming Freeview EPG, but this is unlikely as it would require Topfield to license the MHEG-5 platform on which the EPG is built. It would also require Topfield to disable features such as ad-skipping, which would cause a riot amongst customers who bought the Masterpiece HD specifically because it's not hampered by Freeview's restrictions. If the Freeview logo does gain traction amongst shoppers, Topfield has already released a Freeview-endorsed 7150 model with features disabled - similar to the Beyonwiz FV-L1. Right now there's no advantage in buying a Freeview-endorsed device, as Freeview has confirmed its upcoming EPG will be based on exactly the same data already embedded in the broadcast signal.

Enough industry gossip, is the TRF-2400 Masterpiece HD any good? It's certainly got a few tricks up its sleeve for those looking for more features than TiVo offers. For starters, the Masterpiece HD has Flickr and YouTube access, complete with an onscreen keyboard for entering search queries. It's also a media player, handling DivX, VOB, MKV and MP4 movies as well as MP3 and JPG files. What's really surprising is that it can't play these files over your network from a PC or network attached storage. Instead you need to copy them to the hard drive via FTP, browser or USB stick, or else play them directly from a USB device. This is a major disappointment considering the trend towards networked lounge rooms. Technically you could use FTP backup software such as Handy Backup to sync your BitTorrent download folder with the Masterpiece HD, but it would still be a hassle compared to using a true networked media player such as a Beyonwiz PVR.

FTP and web server access open up some interesting possibilities, such as copying recordings to your computer and converting them for a mobile device. If you configure your router to allow remote access from the web, you can schedule recordings and download them from afar - although they're bloody big files.

Another feather in the Masterpiece HD's cap is composite and component video inputs for time-shifting and recording from external devices. It sounds like the perfect option for Foxtel subscribers who don't want to pay extra for an iQ or iQ2 personal video recorder, although the catch is that it doesn't handle high-definition signals, only 576i and 576p. That's another major disappointment and, if you're a Foxtel subscriber, you'd be better off spending your cash on an iQ2.

Here's a close up of that Topfield publicity shot so you can really appreciate its features. Before you complain, I didn't cut her head off - that's exactly how she appears on the Topfield website. Note that high gloss reflective shine.

When to comes basic PVR features the Masterpiece HD can hold its own. It automatically buffers up to five hours of video, allowing you to rewind live TV, but the buffer is reset if you change channel. Unfortunately it doesn't prevent you from channel-flicking whilst time-shifting so, if you're watching the footy and forget you're 10 minutes behind the live broadcast, changing the channel will throw you into the present and reset the buffer (in Topfield's defence, most other PVRs suffer from the same flaw). The buffered video is stored in the recording folder, but meanwhile the game is still going so you'd need to hit record, watch what was in the buffer and then start watching the recording. It sounds like more hassle than it's worth.

Considering the buffer is stored in the recordings folder, it's surprising that if you press record a few minutes into a show it doesn't add what was in the buffer to the start of the recording. You can however rewind a live broadcast to the point where you last changed channel and then hit record.

When it comes to usability, the Masterpiece HD is streets ahead of the painfully clunky Beyonwiz interface but it still falls short of the idiot-proof TiVo. Channel changes take around 1 second and the transparent menus are attractive, informative and mostly intuitive. The inclusion of a universal remote control is also a nice touch, although it's got ugly square buttons and minimal colour coding which would make it hard to use in the dark, especially as it lacks a backlight. The four-way rocker also makes an annoyingly loud click. I'd leave it in the box and stick with something like a Logitech Harmony universal remote.

The Masterpiece HD's onscreen EPG displays 7 channels by 2 hours or 5 channels by 5 hours and you can easily jump 24 hours forward or back. Pressing record lets you schedule a recording, or recurring recording, and specify pre- and post- padding in case it starts late. You can also set global post-padding in the menus. The program is now flagged in the onscreen EPG as scheduled to be recorded. Unfortunately if you want to create a proper Season Pass you need to do it via IceTV, which means you lose the ability to adjust the pre- and post- padding. IceTV is looking to improve this in future versions, but meanwhile the process isn't as smooth as using a TiVo or Vista Media Centre.

When it comes to picture quality, both SD and HD broadcasts looked just as smooth as as our TiVo, with both PVRs set to 1080i and connected via HDMI to our our 46 inch, 1080p Sony Bravia. The TiVo perhaps still featured slightly less compression articfacts when the picture quality was poor. DivX and VOB files also played smoothly, although for some reason 192 kbps MP3 files were downscaled to 128 kbps.

The big question concerning the Masterpiece HD is reliability, and here there is still work to be done. The PVR features seem solid, as does the IceTV integration - something which has been unstable on previous Topfield models. Unfortunately the TRF-2400's media player features still seem flaky. It refused to play many YouTube clips, refused to display most of the JPGs I threw at it and offered choppy audio on some VOB files. The files were copied to the Masterpiece HD via FTP and HTTP, so I copied them back to the computer see if they were corrupted by the transfer process. The VOB file's audio played fine but some of the JPGs didn't. When I copied the originals to a USB stick and stuck it into the player, they played fine.

Of course such bugs can be fixed with a firmware update, but the very thought should strike fear in the hearts of longtime Topfield users - something we'll get back to in a minute.

So what's the verdict? The Masterpiece HD gets a tick in almost every box, although the fine print is frustrating - such as no LAN-based playback and a component input which only handles 576i/p. The media player features are a bit buggy and a cloud also hangs over Topfield in terms of general reliability.

The high-def Topfield TF7100HDPVRt was met with rave reviews a few years ago, until it became apparent the unit had major stability issues. The situation wasn't helped by Topfield's habit of using customers as unwitting beta testers of new firmware. Owners of the 7100 were forced to suffer through months of flaky firmware releases before it became stable, and even now problems persist.

The forums at itopfield.com.au were full of unhappy 7100 owners, until the forums were mysteriously taken offline a few months ago. Topfield assures me that the forum is only temporarily offline while it negotiates moving to a new website, but the timing would seem designed to quash complaints about the new Masterpiece HD. Even when the forums were up and running, Topfield was generally less than forthcoming and helpful.

Enough of such talk, let's take another look at that Topfield promo shot, because it actually speaks volumes. Don't ask questions, don't complain about bugs - just look at the pretty pictures. What are you looking over here for, worried about silly things like reliability, when you should be looking at the sexy hardware over there?
 

The Masterpiece HD is only just hitting the shelves so there are few user reports to go by at this stage, although it was amazing how several new forum members sprung up at Whirlpool, people who miraculously managed to get early units and absolutely loved them. Eventually the forum moderators stepped in and removed many of these posts - labelling them as spam. The same users turned up on other forums, and in the comments section of online reviews, gushing about the Masterpiece HD.

Even if the TRF-2400 Masterpiece HD seemed absolutely flawless, I'd still recommend potential buyers hold off for a few months to see if problems emerge and, more importantly, how Topfield responds. It will take time for Topfield to earn people's trust again.