Toshiba has impressed of late with its higher-end HDD/DVD recorders, but just how good are the brand's budget boxes?

The corporation's latest entry-level recorder is the basic non-HDD D-R150, which sells for around half the price of its hard-drivin' brother.

Solo DVD recorders continue to sell well in the UK. Apparently, not everybody wants or needs HDD recording; they may already have such a facility built into a PVR (see our Humax review, on page 72). DVD-only recorders like the D-R150 allow their users to dump prized programmes or movies onto discs at the lowest possible cost.

But the D-R150 does pack in some interesting features, such as multiformat recording (DVD-RW - albeit only the 'compatible' video mode - DVD-RAM and DVD-R) and a progressive-scan capable component output.

Slimline by design, the D-R150 is attractive in appearance with its no-nonsense LED display and a strip of operating controls that provide basic transport functions. Among them is 'timeslip' - the useful ability to start playing a recording that's currently in progress, providing you're using a DVD-RAM. Setting the timer, changing the recording mode - and, unfortunately, accessing more than one self-made recording - requires the handset, a somewhat poorly-designed example that crams plenty of inadequatelylabelled buttons into a small area.

The D-R150's rather flimsy build quality is also disappointing. Indeed, the review sample's front-panel controls would only work when it was placed on a flat surface.

Economies also parade themselves in the connectivity; front-panel AV inputs, hidden under a flap, cater for composite video and stereo audio only. Rear-panel connectivity is limited. Whereas Toshiba's most recent DVD/HDD recorders sport an RGB-capable auxiliary Scart input, the same is not true of the D-R150. But the output (TV) Scart will deliver RGB, composite or S-video if you don't have a display capable of taking advantage of that aforementioned component connection. Alongside these are discrete composite/S-video and analogue phono audio outputs. Digital audio feeds to an external decoder are restricted to a single coaxial output.