When playing from the VCR or DVD sections the picture was as expected, but when dubbing from VHS to DVD the Sky input took precedence, making it impossible to monitor the process without unhooking the Sky box.

Performance

The Funai obviously has some handicaps, but considering the input signal from our Sky box was plain old composite video, the recorded image was pretty good. In one-hour XP mode the image captures is detailed and colourful, with any picture problems a symptom of the lower quality input.

The two-hour mode remains very watchable, even with difficult material like cricket and Sky Sports News. Reds stray more than they would with an RGB signal but are not too lively.

It isn't until you get to the six-hour recording mode that the strobe effect becomes apparent. It is fairly obvious when a fast bowler is charging in.

In the 10-hour mode the picture is surprisingly viewable. It looks a bit like a VHS recording in EP mode (that is, a step down from LP), but the fuzziness of a VHS recording has been replaced by the blocking of digital artifacts. You could make do with this for stuff like soaps. Regular DVD playback takes a big step up in quality because you have an RGB output. Progressive scan would have been nicer, but the image is nevertheless sharp and clean.

Home cinema audio is fair as well. When connected up to a decent sound system, CD playback is more than acceptable.

Getting on to dubbing (one of the main purposes of this deck) the Funai does a solid job of transferring tape to disc. More editing flexibility (both during and after dubbing) would be better, but if it's straight transfer you're after, this deck can do the job. Interestingly, although the VCR will play back NTSC tapes, it will not allow them to be dubbed.

Overall, then, a budget deck that does a decent job.The performance is perfectly acceptable and video playback of pre-recorded discs lend the Funai respectable credentials as a main DVD deck. Just a few tweaks to basic specifications (an RGB input, more editing options) would see this commendable UK debut become very tempting bargain. David Smith