The only PVRs I know of that can truly edit recordings are the antique SD Toppies and the good old DP series Beyonwiz PVRs. The TMS Topfields, T series Beyonwiz and Strong PVRs just pretend to edit the recording (so don't really save any HDD space). It's like a very time consuming Manually setup AutoSkip...
Beyonwiz T series and Humax PVRs cannot edit recordings (pretend or real).
Well, if that is true, then the 1TB HDD suddenly became a lot smaller. I have a 750gig HDD in my Toppy 5K and turns out, that is bigger than the Skippa's HDD, even though I'd be likely to record less with it, as it only has 2 tuners (and can't record more than 2 shows, even on the same network)
if the commercial is longer than 3 minutes you would do the same as on your antique toppy or any other PVR. i.e. Skip back 10 or 15 or 20 seconds. With just two manual skip buttons you wouldn't set one of them to 3 minutes. You'd set it to 30 seconds (and press it 5 times or just hold it for a second). If you had 4 manual skip buttons you might set one to 3 minutes and one to 30 seconds. And set the back buttons to 3 minutes and 10 or 15 seconds. This is exactly the same as 99% of the PVRs out there. Having AutoSkip doesn't limit the manual skip in any way.
No, on my antique Toppy, I have
two buttons for the purpose (and some more backwards buttons as well) - 1 set at 3 minutes the other at 15 seconds. The way I understand the manual (correct me if I'm wrong) the Skippa only has
one skip button (OK, two, forward and backwards) so, there is no easy way to fine-tune it. If you set it for 30 seconds (as most commercials go on for minutes, not seconds) you'd have to press it so many times, you may as well just use the FF button.
Not if you are zapping channels looking for something to watch.
Which is why I said that instead of just showing the channel you're on, it should show all of your favourites on the one screen. Then you wouldn't need to "zap". Again, I can do that on my antique Toppy
Instead lets spend half the night on a computer playing with TEDS software when we should be at the TV - with or without a tablet or phone on the coffee table (it's optional).
When it worked
I never spent "half the night" on the computer playing with TEDS. I only spent time on it if I wanted to make a change to my favourites. (add one or delete one - maybe a minute) I had Windows scheduler set up for TED to run every day at 4pm, at which time it downloaded the EPG from IceTV, and uploaded it to the Toppy. No hands on intervention required. It did generate a log, showing me if there were any clashes - I could look at that at my leisure and make the necessary adjustments, or not. No hurry, as the timers were set for 7 days, so I would have made any adjustments to "today's" schedule earlier 99% of the time.
Now that it has stopped uploading to the Toppy, I do have to spend a lot of time, as I have to set the timers manually, but that's another story.
You haven't really listed anything yet. 
OK. Here are some I remember. Not about to go through the manual again, but there were more
Several skip buttons, not just one
1 page EPG, showing
all of your chosen favourite channels -
no scrolling requiredCan't set individual padding for shows/series - overriding the default.
Same goes for overriding other default settings in some circumstances. As an example: I prefer first run shows only. However, the ABC often repeats the same show several times a week. The first one often clashes with something else, so I choose to record one of the repeat offerings for the same show. I can tell the Toppy that for
that show only, I want to record repeats, but only on ,say, Thursdays (avoiding recording several repeats)
Without really trying I can list 3 major things the skippa (or almost any HD IceTV compatible PVR) can do that an old SD toppy can't:
1. View and Record the HD channels.
2. Record more than 2 channels at once.
3. Use IceTV smart recording.
I'll pay you those (although I don't really know what IceTV smart recording is
) But I am willing to bet that TEDS was smarter
As for HD (except for some offerings on the HD channels - very few, as it happens-) I am not that bothered. I record those with Windows MC
I'm sorry Judy but you are just making excuses to make yourself feel better for choosing to battle on with an old SD toppy while the rest of us look forward to using our new Skippa.
No, you are very wrong. I am not looking for "excuses" I am stating facts. I am not the only person who has held on to the Toppy 5K all this time, or thinks it was a great machine (made a lot better with the TAPS that were developed by users) I am certainly aware of the fact that it is time to move on, but that doesn't mean that, having studied the manual, I can't voice my disappointment in some of the things I've noticed. What makes me even more disappointed is that Heinz asked for input from us
years ago, when he first announced the Skippa and then seemingly decided to ignore every single suggestion.
