Product Reviews

VHS is dying; the grave is dug and the headstone carved, and its successors are fighting over the spoils. VHS's victory over Betamax in the 1980s led to 20 years of undisputed domination in the home-recording market. Picture quality was poor, tapes got lost and recordings would invariably end before the program did. But then VHS was ousted by DVD, which claimed the movie retail and rental segments of the market. Home recording is challenged by two technologies, though: DVD recorders and hard disk drive (HDD) recorders. TV has become more complicated with digital and analogue transmission.

Into this maelstrom comes Lite-On's LVW-5045. The rather unattractive box is plastered with logos trumpeting its capabilities and compatibilities, and it certainly does contain a lot of kit. It's not a bad piece of equipment, but there are underlying problems with the choice of technologies here.

A 160GB hard disk is the main draw, giving 33 to 198

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hours of recording. This is dependent on which of the five different quality settings you use. The LP setting gave acceptable results and 99 hours of recording time, enough to cover your summer holiday. A DVD+/-RW drive lets you archive programs from the hard disk to whichever media you like, so you can keep the recordings you want.

There is plenty of connectivity too, with two SCART sockets and component output, plus RF, S-video, composite and stereo phono sockets. DVD playback is passable but not outstanding, though the provision of a progressive component out is a bonus to those with a compatible screen.

However, there are some serious problems with the LVW-5045. The menu and remote elicited frustration from everyone who used them. We also found the setup function to be particularly tiresome. It lacks the usability and slickness of other manufacturers' models.

More damning is the use of an analogue tuner. Anyone who cares enough about TV to spend £300 on the Lite-On has probably already spent £50 on a Freeview box. If you are enjoying the more consistent picture quality and increased number of channels available from digital broadcast, going back to an analogue signal is not an option.

The VHS market is currently being replaced by two clearly defined options: a single analogue tuner with HDD and DVD recording, or a Freeview box with dual digital tuners, integrated HDD and electronic programme guide, but no disc backup facility. We know where we'd spend our £300, and it wouldn't be on an analogue device.