SP mode sees only a slight drop in quality, with an occasional trace of extra noise in evidence during fast camera pans. This ability to fit up to two hours onto a disc in high quality makes it an ideal mode for recording all but epic movies.

Even LP mode recordings look great, because the deck retains the 500-line resolution used by XP and SP, whereas other recorders might drop to a lower resolution.

Pre-recorded DVD playback is of the highest order, particularly when you spin a top quality disc such as King Kong, which is packed with chop-smacking colours and enough detail to satisfy the demands of even the biggest TV screens.

But the biggest surprise is the quality of VHS playback. With the deck’s upscaling set to 1080p, VHS images look cleaner and more stable than ever. Our tape of the Star Wars Special Edition looks remarkably clean and colourful, with jitter and colour bleed kept to a minimum. As a result, videos transferred to DVD also look great (subject to the state of the original tape) and if you run out of DVDs, then bear in mind that VHS recordings from the Freeview tuner are perfectly serviceable too.

Sound 

Sound quality is solid right across the board, from the dynamic stereo Dolby Digital recordings (or LPCM in XP mode) to full-on 5.1-channel playback through a home cinema amp and speakers. Audio CDs and MP3 files are also enjoyable, making this a decent source for music and movies. Even VHS tape hiss is kept to a minimum.

Value 

If you’ve got hordes of tapes that need digitising, then this is possibly the best machine for the job, given its superb VHS and DVD picture prowess. You could argue that it’s pricey for a recorder with no hard disk, and you could buy a budget DVD recorder and VCR separately for less. But you’d be missing the convenience of having both in one, as well as that fantastic operating system and performance.