Stories by James Dickinson

Legend LHD3 HD Digital Receiver

Legend's LHD3 is a High Definition digital set top box. At the lower cost end of the market, it's plain, simple and easy to use but lacking in a few areas.

Legend LSDDVD Digital Receiver DVD Player

Legend's LSDDVD Digital Receiver DVD Player is exactly what it sounds like; a set top box with a DVD player thrown in for good measure. It's a rather plain and not particularly inspiring device, but the LSDDVD does the job adequately if you can make ...

Pioneer HTPGS1 Xbox Home Theatre

Pioneer's HTPGS1 is an officially licensed home theatre system for the [[prodid:1361]] console. Designed specifically to complement Microsoft's next generation powerhouse, the system comes with a matching design and colour scheme, and offers exceptio...

Samsung VP-DC163

Offering a big optical zoom and Dual-Layer DVD recording at a bargain price, at first glance Samsung's VP-DC163 looks like a fairly solid product. However, as the entry level model in Samsung's new range, the VP-DC163 can't escape problems with poor ...

TEAC GF350 Turntable CD Recorder & Radio

If you're one of those people with stacks of LPs hanging around the house, and you're not quite sure what to do with them in the digital age, TEAC has got the answer. The GF350 is one of very few turntable-to-CD recorders on the market. It isn't perf...

Sony LBT-ZX10D

We were a little mystified when Sony's latest Hi-Fi/Home Theatre system turned up at our offices. Sony has named the device the 'LBT-ZX10D Compact Hi-Fi Stereo System', which is a little baffling, as this is one of the largest home theatre/stereo sys...

Canon HV10

We've been waiting a while for this, but Canon has finally entered the consumer-level high definition camcorder market with its HV10. There's only one real competitor at present, Sony's excellent [[prodid:2004]], so we were keen to see how Canon's of...

Samsung DVD-HR735

Samsung's DVD-HR735 is a DVD recorder with a built in hard disk. The product looks smart, is relatively easy to use and performs the functions it offers well. However it lacks the ability to time shift live TV and does not come with a digital tuner.

MSI Starcam Mini

If you've ever encountered problems positioning your webcam, with it not quite being able to achieve those difficult angles you require, MSI has a solution. The Starcam Mini is a novel little device: a small webcam mounted on to the end of a 35cm sem...

JVC Everio GZ-MG77

The GZ-MG77 is one of JVC's mid range hard disk based camcorders and with a 30GB hard drive, 2.2 megapixel CCD and true 16:9 video, this machine is no slouch and is very reasonably priced for a HDD camera. However it is let down by occasionally exces...

LG KG245

The KG245 is a cut price model with a good range of features that performs well overall. Although it lacks the latest multimedia options and a high quality camera, the KG245 represents an excellent buy for the user who needs a good, basic phone at a ...

Samsung DVD-R135

Samsung's DVD-R135 is a DVD recorder with a built in TV tuner. This is coupled with HDMI out and the ability to upscale DVDs to High Definition at either 720p or 1080i. It all sounds like a great replacement for the VCR, but there are a few major lim...

Samsung DVD-R130

Samsung's DVD-R130 is the little brother of its DVD-R135. Although sporting different outfits, both are essentially the same machine, with the primary difference being the lack of HDMI on the DVD-R130.

Sony DCR-DVD755

The Sony DCR-DVD755 is a DVD camcorder which offers good colour reproduction but has image noise levels that cause graininess in the video. While extras such as a surround microphone and touch-screen LCD are nice inclusions, the video performance wei...

Sony DAV-FXG9K

Sony's DAV-FXG9K is a reasonably impressive, but not outstand mid-range home theatre package. Its mixture of interesting features such as support for SACD and a five disc changer are somewhat counterfeited by the shortage of connections and audio tha...