A few years ago Netgem's iPlayer caught the attention of multimedia enthusiasts for offering Freeview reception, media streaming and web browsing/emailing in one.

Evesham's own iteration of the iPlayer has added more than a few bells and whistles to the idea, being both a Freeview PVR and a media player capable of receiving and displaying both standard and high-definition video and TV. If you're hoping to watch BBC HD with it, however, you'll be disappointed. Although our test machine was specially configured by Evesham to enable us to watch the BBC's DTT test transmissions, the trial remains restricted to a permitted few in the London area.

The iPlayer will record both high-def H.264 (again, when/if they become available) and MPEG-2 DVB broadcasts but remains somewhat handicapped in that it only has an 80GB hard disk - enough for 60 hours of standard def or 30 hours of HD. And it only has one tuner - restricting you to recording one channel at a time.

Compact and curvy

The case retains the curvy design of the Netgem box and is small considering what's inside. Along the left-hand side are a card slot for the Top Up TV CAM and card (the iPlayer is not compatible with Top Up TV Anytime) and a USB port, suitable for plugging in external music and video players or a flash memory stick, and playing the contents through the device.

The rear panel has an HDMI output, twin Scarts with RGB and S-video support on the TV Scart, a UHF loopthrough and an optical Digital audio output with 5.1 support. The distinctively tapered remote control is a black variation on the Netgem original and is blessed with sensibly organised and adequately sensitive buttons.

As a Freeview PVR, the iPlayer is competent if not outstanding. You can create favourites lists and there's a 7- day EPG which can be resized to include more channel. Recordings can be scheduled via the EPG and there's a manual timer option with once, daily and weekly repeat settings.

You can watch a programme from the start while it's being recorded and smoothly fast-forward and rewind it at up to a rather excessive 600x normal speed. Recordings can also be exported to your PC via Ethernet and we had no problem playing them back on our PC using VLC.