Stories by: Nathan Taylor

Although a little rough around the edges, JVC's DR-MV1S is a very impressive product overall. It's more than just a DVD-VCR combo--it happens to have a DVD recorder as well, and even has some rudimentary timeshifting functions. From a feature perspective, it's a very cool product, although its usability is often questionable.

Near the top of the range of Philips' wireless headphones, the SBC HC8585 are a fine set of analogue headphones, delivering decent audio and comfortable listening.

Although it could still use a little spit and polish, JVC's 160GB DR-MH30S is a fun PVR and DVD recorder. It sometimes took a little longer than it should have to perform some tasks, but it can do quite a lot, and it includes some very nice touches, including a live help system accessible at the touch of a button on the remote.

Sony gets just about everything right with the SLVD985P. It doesn't break new ground, deliver amazing new features or really do anything out of the ordinary, but like the Toshiba SD-34VLSY, it scores points where it really counts--in usability and quality.

Ever since it introduced its first portable MP3 player, Creative has struggled to get the aesthetics right. It's still struggling. New Creative Zen 20G looks more like a voltage meter than the last word in high-fashion e-wear, although it's otherwise a very fine product.

Toshiba's six-head VHS and DVD player combo may not have many frills, but really delivers in terms of quality. It's easy to use, well designed and comes with an excellent instruction manual. The remote is comfortable and responsive, although a lot of the buttons are a shade too small, and I can imagine many nights of squinting at the micro-text on the remote, trying to find the button you're looking for.

New Creative Zen 20G looks more like a voltage meter than the last word in high-fashion e-wear, although it's otherwise a very fine product.

With its FM radio tuner, picture viewer, voice recorder and MP3 playback capabilities, the Samsung YH-925GS is one of a category of music players that takes the next step. It rivals any other product in this category for features.

A little more squat than the iPod, with retro square control buttons, the NWHD5 a good job of stealing the cool from the iPod. The Walkman is solid, light (115g), smaller than an iPod and comes in multiple colours (silver, black and red).

We had some trouble coming to a conclusion on the Sanyo HV-DX300A. It gets some things annoyingly wrong, but then has some very good features to make up for it. It has no S-Video output, for instance, but does have excellent progressive scan support. You can record from DVD to video, but then it supports Macrovision, which will often make such an operation pointless. It has a nice, usable remote, but doesn't put an eject button on it. The manual is very easy to follow, but doesn't cover everything the Sanyo can do. You get the gist.

The Samsung DVD-V5500 comes across at first as an entry-level product, designed for those who find tuning and programming a VCR a task of Herculean proportions. It's not flashy or particularly stylish. It has a simple setup, a solid remote with large and well-spaced buttons, as if made for beginners, and comes with a well-detailed manual.