Mustek DVD R580

Mustek made its name in the scanner industry during the 1980s, but is now known for a whole range of low-cost devices, especially digital cameras. But rather than capturing still images, the latest addition to its product range can record video from just about any source to an internal 80GB hard drive or DVD. In addition, it provides personal video recorder (PVR) features similar to Sky+.

Physically, DVD R580 holds no real surprises. It resembles standard DVD players and should fit unobtrusively under your television. There's a good range of connections, including front-mounted S-video and component inputs, as well as RF, Scart, composite and component connectors at the rear. Audiophiles will also be pleased with the inclusion of digital coaxial and optical audio outputs, which produce good sound when used alongside a five-channel speaker system.

Despite its promising specifications, we occasionally found the R580 frustrating to use. Its build quality isn't bad, but the buttons at the front of the unit were sometimes unresponsive. The cooling fan is also noisy - it's by no means unbearable, but certainly much louder than Sky+ boxes.

Despite this, the R580 does a good job of recording video with no noticeable degradation in quality. The 80GB hard drive is fairly small and sufficient for only around 17 hours of video at the highest quality setting. Unfortunately it doesn't support dual-layer DVDs, so you're limited to 4.7GB per disc.

Given its price, we'd have liked the DVD R580 to have been able to wirelessly stream audio and video direct from your PC as well. Nevertheless, it's still an appealing product with a good range of features and connections.