Hi M8
have one of these and in reply to your question
1 NO not that I have found
2 I never subscribed to topup tv or the free trial but stil get crap about lottery and sometimes 60 mins of payphone hits ! just delete every day.
anymore questions happy to help .
had mine since xmas and well pleased , no failed recordings or lockups so far.
tend to unplug mine at night and just plug in a few hours before I want to record as it gets a

bit hot in the enclosed tv cabinet. Only takes about 2 mins to boot up from unplugged