Labs

There's no escaping the fact that the XUSB4DVR looks rather cheap, but then it is the least expensive CCTV recording interface we've seen. The XSW Lite software looks dated and it can't be resized to fit your screen.

The USB box has four phono camera inputs but only two audio inputs, so you might have to choose which sounds you want to record. None of these is labelled, so it's tricky to match the audio and video from a camera. It uses phono video inputs, so many cameras will require a converter, which costs around £2.

You can schedule recording times for each camera, or by default all four cameras are set to record permanently. Motion detection has to be enabled for each camera and the detection

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schedule can be set independently for each. You can select an unlimited number of areas in each image to detect motion, but the single sensitivity control governs all four cameras. Motion detection worked well, though, recording the instant we moved into the frame. You can set a frame rate of up to 25 frames per second (fps) for each type of recording mode and each camera independently. You might set the continuous recording mode to 12fps, for example, to save disk space.

The software's interface for reviewing recorded events is clunky, but it's useful to have nonetheless. It isn't obvious how to select which camera to view or how to begin playback at a given time, but once we'd worked it out we found it easy to view each recording in slow motion, normal speed or fast forward.

The monitoring screen can be configured to view all four cameras at once or with one camera filling the whole window. You can also cycle between cameras in full-screen mode and choose how often they switch. Video can be viewed over the internet using a computer, 3G mobile phone or PDA, although this is tricky to set up.

The XUSB4DVR has its quirks, but with audio recording and a playback interface it also has some advantages over the competition. At just under £60, it's also excellent value.