The Mediastar DT-720 was surprisingly easy both setup and use. Although the package includes some useful features, it is almost the double the price of rival standard definition tuners

An incredibly cheap home theatre system that’s ideal for beginners or those on a budget.

As a storage device, the ScreenPlay HD excels — it’s fast and has plenty of storage space. Its media playback abilities leave plenty to be desired, however, with limited format support and an uninspiring interface.

The Pinnacle Video Transfer is a cute unit that's elegant at transferring analogue video to a USB storage device but thoughts of recording late night TV before an early flight are fantasies because you'll have to be there, recording. You may as well record TV to a PC and encode later, while you shower in the morning.

The Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player performs beautifully, is easy to install, intuitive to use and is the cheapest way to experience HD-DVD playback.

KingRex's UD-01 digital audio converter replaces your PC's sound card for transporting audio to an amplifier. By cutting out the PC's noisy internal circuitry the UD-01 offers a significant boost in sound quality with a warm yet clear signature.

If you have a large digital music collection you owe it to yourself to get this system. The perfect convergent product for those on a budget.

The XL-UH2080H is a mouthful of a name for such a small hi-fi system. It performs its tasks admirably, as long as you don't expect it to blow you away with booming bass.

The Sanyo could have been quite a decent combination device, but it gets too many little things wrong.

There's little to fault in either its DVD or VCR functions, but the Sharp DV-NC200X could hardly be described as at the cutting-edge of technology.

The Mediagate MG-35 is a combination portable hard disk and network media player. It works well; however, a relatively poor manual and tricky setup demands a tech-minded user to make the most of it.

If you need a fast way to make DVDs without a computer, the VRD-MC5 is a relatively cheap and user-friendly option. Unfortunately, its unashamed bias towards Sony-branded camcorders slightly lessens its charms.