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The Topfield TF5800 is a great little box, ideal for recording digital TV programmes such as those broadcast as Freeview in the UK. In many ways it acts much like an "old fashioned" video recorder - you can set a timer to record programmes and it records programmes (to internal disk instead of tape cassette) that you can watch later at your leisure.

But it also does much more - for example: you can pause live television (handy if you want to put the kettle on and don't want to miss anything crucial on Eastenders); you can record one channel whilst watching another; you can record two different channels simultaneously whilst watching a third (with some restrictions); you can record two different channels simultaneously whilst watching something that you have previously recorded; you can view programme schedules via an Electronic Programme Guide (so no need for the Radio Times any more!) and set repeating timers; you can upgrade the software that is bundled with the box with customized modules (called TAPS) that are downloadable from the Internet; and 250GB is sufficient disk space to keep you and the rest of your family clued to this box for months on end. The TF5800 is also very quiet - there is no annoying fan inside the box, so it runs almost as quietly as an iPod.

The only minor irritation is that this model does not have a native Ethernet interface - which is a pain if you want to connect it up to a home (computer) network. If you want to do that easily, consider buying the TF6000 model instead, or you will have to make do by using the USB port on the back of the TF5800 and plugging it directly into you home computer (but note: this is only necessary if you want to install new software from the Internet, or copy media files such as recorded movies off of the box and onto a computer).

On the whole this is a great box, packed with features and easy to operate. If you don't subscribe to a satellite or cable TV service, but want to record Freeview television programmes, the Topfield TF5800 represents a very sound investment.

We have had this for 18 months now and its fantastic. Out of the box it isnt small, but its not huge. The remote is good (But have since moved to a logitech 525 universal thats excellent).

The 2 tuners mean you can record 2 programms and still watch a number of 3rd channels (as long as on same band as one of the ones recording), and if you cant watch the 3rd channel, you can always watch direct through the TV.

The best thing about this PVR is its as complicated as you want it to be. I'm a bit of a gadget man so i love the programmable nature of the Toppy as you can change the way it looks and works on screen through 3rd party programms -TAPs that can be downloaded legally from numerous free websites - google Toppy and you get the main ones. These sites also have a lot of help and advice on and if the answers not their someone on the Forums usually gets back to you within 24 hours!

At the other end of the gadget spectrum is my wife, who absolutley loves the machine and knows how to record, set timers and flick between channels and get the guide up - thats all she wants to do and she was able to do it all straight out of the box - its that easy to do.

Overall fantastic machine that has given us 18 months of reliable use so far.

I recommended this PVR to a friend after reading the reviews on Amazon. I agree that it's a neat machine with a lot of features and so far has worked well without a problem. However, in my opinion there is one BIG drawback. When you check to see what you have scheduled to record, instead of seeing a list of programme titles all you see is a list of channels, times and dates! You cannot see the titles of the programmes which seems crazy to me. I spoke to Topfield about this in case I had missed something in the set-up but no, this is how their software works so my hope in writing this is that someone at Topfield will take notice of this as it must be a major irritation to many people who have purchased this equipment. PLEASE Topfield provide an 'over the air' update to include this facility.

Out of the box, this probably isn't a PVR to compete with the best of the rest because the UI and feature set is decidedly below par. BUT (and that's a big but) you can replace the UI, replace the firmware and add all sorts of features - just by connecting it to your PC and downloading stuff.

If you're still reading, then you clearly already understand the concept of downloading firmware updates for your consumer electronics. The Topfield (or Toppy) box has an open API for people to write not only new user interfaces for it, but they can write custom add-ons (called TAPs) which give you every feature you could ever dream of.

Because of this, the Toppy has a cult following of enthusiastic developers and a huge selection of user interfaces and cool features which no other PVR on the market can hope to emulate.

The only reasons I don't give this five stars are:

1. unless you can also work a PC with a little confidence, this isn't the best
2. there are still times when this box will crash

However, having designed and built digital set-top boxes and PVRs for years myself, I can safely say there isn't a single box on the market which doesn't crash occasionally or have the odd bug.

We have had this unit since mid November 08 and the whole family love it!
It must have one of the best tuners inside as we have never had good reception on freeview up to now. The picture is Crystal clear and it was kids stuff to set up!
Between us all we have only filled up 33% of the Hard drive (including all the Xmas films).

Loving our topfield !