The Disgo Media Bank describes itself as a "digital video, picture and music player".

It's essentially a 500GB external hard disk drive with a simplistic menu, built-in audio/video codecs and a remote control.

Disgo has, however, slapped on an extra layer of functionality to set the Media Bank apart from other multimedia-themed drives. In addition to its digital audio/video playback and JPEG slide shows, the Disgo Media Bank can also record video.

This is an external HDD that claims to be a PVR.

Store 500GB of entertainment

So you can hook the Disgo Media Bank up to a Freeview or Sky+ box (via composite AV cables and a Scart adapter) and directly grab video. It also works with DVD players. Ripped footage is converted into an AVI file on the fly.

You've got to look harder for the Media Bank's so-called PVR talents. Delve into the Record options and you'll find a rudimentary start/stop timer function.

This mimics an old VHS player by recording whatever channel you've selected. There are six slots for one-off scheduled recordings - no clever 'series link' or repeat options though. On the 'high' setting (640x480 pixels), an hour of recorded video will take up about 600MB of storage space.

The Disgo Media Bank also features an 'Auto Stop' recording option. You can find something similar on the Archos range of PMPs. It enables you to record a selected channel or capture a video source for a certain period of time (say two hours) before stopping.

This mode is ideal for dumping content you've already recorded to the hard disk overnight. You can then convert the AVI files again to play on a portable device.

In our tests the quality of the recorded video on the Disgo Media Bank was hit-and-miss – playback was decent enough when a show was recorded as a one-off. In comparison, video was often juddery and jumpy when a scheduled recording was tried.

DivX file playback

Beyond its primitive PVR functionality, the Disgo Media Bank is still a versatile playback device. For starters, it supports a wide range of video formats, including: VOB, DivX 3.11, 4x, 5x, XVID, MP4 and AVI files. Photos are limited to JPEGs, but MP3, WMA, AC3, AAC and WAV codecs are built-in for audio.