With such a sizeable hard disk on board there should be enough room to record everything in XP, but recording onto DVD is more of an issue; the lack of dual-layer recording means those lower-quality modes are essential.

Sharp upscaling

Recordings from an external digital TV receiver are poor, with tizzing edges and weaker colour reproduction than recordings from the internal tuner, all of which could have been avoided with an RGB-capable Scart input.

On a more positive note, though, pre-recorded DVD playback is superb, making a range of discs from Se7en to Finding Nemo look sharp and noise free, particularly when upscaled to 1080p.

Powerful audio

There are absolutely no concerns on the sonic front. Dolby Digital or DTS bitstreams are piped to an AV receiver without a hitch and CD playback from the stereo audio output is surprisingly pleasant.

The stereo Dolby Digital encoder also does a great job of capturing the sounds of everyday TV viewing, with speech-based material sounding perfectly audible and free from distortion.

The Toshiba RD-98DT is a smart, functional hard-disk combi that offers excellent picture quality and does most of the recording and editing basics well. But if you want a machine that goes above and beyond the call of duty, then this isn't the one.

It lacks several features that make rivals from Panasonic, Pioneer and Philips seem much better value for money, even though the Toshiba is cheaper than all of them.