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.

JVC's HRXV3 is definitely one of the more basic DVD/VCR combinations on the market; however, its low price and simplistic interface would suit users who aren't interested in recording to DVD.

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 standard-definition Unimax ST-102 has a full range of features, and no major flaws at all.

While the device offers clean, clear images for anybody looking to make the switch to digital television, a few slight glitches make it unsuitable for the mainstream.

The FB163 is a product with plenty of functionality — USB inputs, DVD and DivX playback and an iPod dock. It sounds great, but the implementation of these extra features isn't as smooth as it could have been.

Legend Digital's LSD2 offers inexpensive standard definition digital (DVB-T) support.

The CDTV400HD offers a great HDTV experience. Operation isn't as well integrated or intuitive as it could be, but the box itself still does absolutely everything it should.

An excellent low-end receiver. Doesn't pump out too much power to each speaker, but sound quality doesn't suffer at all.

Expensive, but stacked with features and has power to burn.

The Onkyo TX-SR701 represents superb value for money and can't be faulted in terms of features or performance.

While not quite as heavy duty as some hard disk DVD recorders, the pioneer DVR-720H is more user friendly than most.