The Topfield TF5000PVRt is a great
little replacement for the old VCR for recording digital television direct to
Hard Drive and playing back at your own convenience. In addition the Topfield
can be programmed using small programmes known as a TAP. This page contains my
TAP (currently just the one) and links to other useful pages for Topfield taps
and resources.
I have developed a tap from the basis of a
broken sample tap made available by Topfield and using some additional code by
Tonymy01 for integration with the very useful TSRCommander TAP.
The MP3Show TAP (Version 2.0)
The MP3Show tap takes all jpeg and gif pictures in
the directory “/Pictures” and displays them in order from the beginning of the file list.
Presently the code is somewhat broken in that certain types of jpg file
render incorrectly, and others are not rendered at all (these however are at
least neatly skipped). The display resolution is a maximum of 720x576 pixels, the native resolution of a Standard Definition television screen. This increases to approximately 1028x576 for widescreen (16x9) displays. Pictures of larger resolution will be downsized to fit the screen, and potentially take much longer to display. Images are therefore suggested to be changed to fit within these maximum dimensions before uploading to the topfield.
The slideshow can be activated when playback of either live television, chase play or any recorded movie is paused. There is a selectable delay on pause before the first image is shown. This delay configures the time to begin decoding a picture. Actual screen blanking and display may take a little extra time.
The time to display each image can be changed
via a configuration option accessed either via the EXIT key.
The number displayed is the number of seconds each picture is shown.
Also selectable is the display mode.
There are a choice of four modes, being as follows:
1. Sequential display - Displays pictures from the main directory in sequential order from the first image.
2. Random order - Displays pictures from the main directory in random order.
3. Cover Art - The third mode displays the pictures in the directory from which the current mp3 is playing.
If no pictures exist in that directory, pictures will be displayed as in sequential mode.
4. PBK Cover Art - The third mode displays the pictures in the directory from which the current mp3 is playing if Progress Bar Keys is used as the Jukebox.
If no pictures exist in that directory, pictures will be displayed as in sequential mode.
There are a choice of three pause modes, being as follows:
1. Video - The slideshow will only be active when a movie paused during playback, after a preset time interval has elapsed.
During mp3/radio play a black screen is displayed.
2. mp3 - The slideshow will be active during mp3/radio playback only.
3. Both - The third mode allows the slideshow to be active during both movie playback and mp3/radio modes.
When the slideshow is active during mp3 or radio play, the pause key may be pressed to stop the slideshow and choose the pictures to display manually.
While the slideshow is paused, the following keys are used:
Pause Keys - 0
1. Pause ( | | ) - Start or Stop the pause mode.
Pause Keys - 1 (Default)
1. Pause ( | | ) - Start or Stop the pause mode.
2. Play ( > ) - Display the next picture.
3. Rewind ( << ) - Display the previous picture.
4. Slow ( | > ) - Jump forward 10 pictures.
5. Previous ( |< ) - Jump backwards 10 pictures.
Pause Keys - 2
1. Pause ( | | ) - Start or Stop the pause mode.
2. Volume Up ( V+ ) - Display the next picture.
3. Volume Down ( V- ) - Display the previous picture.
4. Channel Up ( P+ ) - Jump forward 10 pictures.
5. Channel Down ( P- ) - Jump backwards 10 pictures.
Pause Keys - 3
1. Pause ( | | ) - Start or Stop the pause mode.
2. Keypad 5 - Display the next picture.
3. Keypad 4 - Display the previous picture.
4. Keypad 2 - Jump forward 10 pictures.
5. Keypad 8 - Jump backwards 10 pictures.
There are a choice of keys to activate the configuration menu, being as follows:
1. Exit.
2. Subtitle.
3. UHF.
4. Mute.
5. Grey.
Known limitations:
1. There is no way to change the default playback
directory.
2. Static arrays limit the picture file list
to 4096 files.
3. The TAP will only render a subset of the
jpeg image encoding options (blame the stolen code!)
4. Code does not appear to compile correctly using the Cygwin/Berlios tapchains environment.
Planned Changes
1. Alter the jpeg rendering library to
display a wider range of jpeg.
Useful Links
The MP3Show Tap (V
2.0) zip file with source code
The MP3Show Tap (V
2.0) file only
Tony’s
Topfield TF5000PVRt Info
Andrew Cullen’s Progress Bar Keys page
The
Australian Topfield Website