Unimax ST-102

The Unimax ST-102 delivers high-quality standard-definition digital television with a minimum of foibles. The ST-102 doesn't pack any standout features, but it's an easy-to-use box with very few omissions.

The ST-102's image quality was sharp and clear, and while it didn't approach the detail of high definition, it was definitely an improvement compared to an analog signal. Colours were vibrant and well defined, and there was no noticeable image lag or ghosting during our tests.

The box itself is somewhat large, at 355mm x 245mm x 60mm. This allows plenty of space on both the front and back panels for buttons and connections, but the ST-102 offers fairly minimal connection options, limiting itself to composite, RF and S-Video outputs. The front panel suffers from a similar lack of options. With a pleasantly curved LED screen and a row of buttons continuing in an aesthetic wave, the Unimax certainly looks nice enough. The buttons can be quite unresponsive at times, however, and only cover the basic options in the Unimax's menu system, so it's worth keeping the remote on hand.

Fortunately, the remote is quite good. With a minimum of buttons and large labels, it manages to avoid clutter, while still presenting a wide range of options. The on-screen menu navigation buttons are large and responsive, making changing settings quick and easy. Although the menus do offer plenty of options, at times they display too little information. For instance, there is no progress bar when scanning frequencies, making it tricky to determine how much time is left, or whether the scan has finished or not. For the most part, however, the on-screen interface is informative.

One problem we noticed when quickly flicking through channels or menus, was that the interface often became sluggish and lagged behind a little. While by no means a major flaw, it did become irritating when trying to channel surf.

With multiple favourites menus, easy switching between TV and radio channels and an impressive electronic program guide (EPG), the Unimax is readily customisable.