Hot on the heels of the TM-6900 high-definition receiver, Technomate's TM-5200D USB brings PVR capabilities and even a flavour of HD to budget standard-definition reception.

For under £70, the TM-5200D not only provides a free-to-air receiver that's easy to use and set up, but it has a blind search to keep up to date with the broadcasting changes, and hardware and software built in to add hard disc recording.

Build

The TM-5200D USB does not have the 'full-width' style of its older brothers. This receiver is in the same casing as the (very popular) TM-1000 and TM-1500. To be honest, the front panel looks a little dated now but it's far from unattractive. The (simple green fluorescent) display is in a shiny chromed ring, with three buttons and a fold-down flap concealing - well not a great deal, really.

This is a free-to-air receiver so there's no card slot here, nor common interface slot, so you can't add a CAM for pay-TV - but, actually, you can. You can add a programmable card reader internally and Technomate says that the TM-5200D will auto-detect it so you can effectively upgrade later to a CAM receiver.

The only item lurking under the front panel flap is the USB 2.0 connector. That's very handy when using this for updating the receiver's software, or even playing MP3 files or displaying digital photos on your TV, through the TM-5200D. But if you want to permanently make use of the TM-5200D's recording capabilities, then this is the last place you want to connect a memory stick or hard drive. Like the TM-6900, the TM-5200D needs a USB socket at the rear as well.

There is room there, although the receiver's diminutive size means the back panel is quite packed. There is just one LNB input but this is DiSEqC 1.0 and DiSEqC 1.1-compatible so you can connect up to 16 LNBs/dishes here. Of course, the TM-5200D will also drive a DiSEqC 1.2 or USALS motorised mount so the choice of satellites to receive from, is really limited only by your antenna.

There are Scart sockets for both the TV and VCR (or DVD recorder) and the TV socket can output both composite and RGB video signals. Separate composite video output is also provided and so (unusually) are YPbPr component video signals, for connection to an HD ready TV.