RH2T250

LG's latest RH2T250 is a standard definition set top box, hard drive recorder, and DVD recorder combined into the same box. It's a great way to upgrade to digital television, embrace HDD recording, and compress several home entertainment products into a single unit. Beyond that, it doesn't bring too many new or exciting features. It would have been nice to see, high definition reception, dual TV tuners, or even DVD upscaling. As it stands, it's an excellent option for those looking to upgrade their recording capabilities.

Recording is very well designed on the RH2T250, and it's actually very hard to fault. One-touch recording, well laid out recording timers, plus simple and efficient dubbing to DVD all make this product a very easy-to-use recorder. Customisable recording modes are available, as well as time shifting, although this needs to be manually activated.

Digital reception is quite good, and the TV tuner picked up all local stations in under ten minutes. As mentioned, the lack of dual tuners means that users won't be able to watch one channel whilst recording another, although they can still watch DVDs or previously recorded programmes while recording something else. Additionally high definition reception has been omitted, so users with high-definition TVs won't be able to get the most out of this product.

The RH2T250's design is slim, black and unobtrusive, and considering the number of features it includes, it does manages to fit it into a compact design. A full array of connection options is available on the rear of the unit, including component, composite, HDMI, optical, coaxial and S-Video. USB support is provided, although no networking functionality is integrated.

The DVD player is perfectly functional, although it would have been nice to see upscaling to higher resolutions, if only to give people a reason to upgrade their old DVD player. Nevertheless, playback is great, and recording is well integrated and simple, facilitated by multiple quality modes and easy TV to DVD and HDD to DVD recording.

One of the annoying things that we did notice during testing though was the interface. It tended to be quite disjointed, and poorly displayed on the screen, making navigation difficult. In the end it still functions well, however it was just a little more irritating to use than other interfaces that we've seen. Fortunately though, the remote is well laid out with big, backlit buttons, and it is quite intuitive to use, which makes operating the RH2T250 a breeze.

Overall, LG has created a nice product with the RH2T250. It's not fantastically innovative or packed with the latest and greatest technology, but it's got absolutely everything that it needs, and is quite simple to use. Perfect for anyone who wants to upgrade to digital television and hard drive recording, although it may leave more advanced users slightly disappointed.