Although similar products have been available (with much controversy) in the US for a few years, the Samsung DVD-H40A is the first Personal Video Recorder (PVR) to reach our sunny shores.

Leadtek's WinFast PVR 2000 is one of the two analog TV tuners we've looked at, but while it lacks Compro's power-on functionality it makes up for it with DirectBurn (the ability to burn recorded programs direct to CD or DVD) and an FM tuner.

For those with deep pockets and big hearts, this DVD recorder comes with full PVR functionality and an 80GB hard drive.

There’s only so many times I can herald the coming switch from analog TV broadcasts to digital, so I’ll just dig straight into this impressive digital television card.

FIC’s Spectra is a slick, quiet, living-room friendly unit.

While the epithet 'multimedia PC' used to be bandied about to over-hype any PC in the mid-'90's that was capable of playing music, rudimentary video, and games, the descriptive was overused so much on sub-par PCs that the impact of any real multimedia capabilities was diminished in the wash of pretenders.

This notebook has been designed with classic Sony style: rounded edges, hidden IO inputs and a sleek widescreen footprint. From a connectivity point of view, this 'book has it all, boasting front-mounted Memory Stick Pro port, iLink 4-pin FireWire port and three USB ports.

There's no ad-skipping, but we've had a play and we're still impressed. Slick recording options make the TiVo HD outclass a great option for keeping up with favourite TV shows and movies.

Two TV tuners on a single PCIe board, without the usual headaches and hassle.

The USB Nebula DigiTV box has the best tuning abilities of the external devices tested, and it has some basic but good software to go with it.

The small USB S-Media MediaMate 210D is a fairly hardy TV tuner, with some basic software but enough to get the job done.

Now that Blu-ray has won the format war and recorders are hitting the shelves, Panasonic's DMR-BW500 HDD/Blu-ray recorder with twin HD TV tuners is looking mighty nice indeed. For high-def buffs this is one with the lot.

If you don't care about recording to disc, you'd be better off with a TiVo. If you're looking for an all-rounder to tide you over until Blu-ray prices fall, Panasonic's DMR-XW300 has a lot to offer.

Refocusing on disc-related features makes Nero the top choice for optical disc authoring.

Digital radio in Australia is a slow burner. While many people are investing in digital set-top boxes and digital displays for the purpose of watching digital TV, not too many people are jumping on the digital radio bandwagon.

MSI's MegaBook L61OI lives up to its 'mega' moniker with a large 15.4-inch widescreen TFT, desktop CPU, excellent graphics and pumping audio. The model we looked at was a pre-production prototype notebook and as such was a little shaky and did not come with all the inclusions a final model will have. As a proof of concept, however, the notebook is quite good.

The cut-down PS3 costs the same as the Xbox Elite, has lost of its key features and still has that cracking Blu-ray player

Our first impressions of FoxTel's new HD box are positive - four TV tuners means more HD than you can handle, though it does miss some of the tricks of the TiVO.

A flexible and powerful livingroom PC that ticks almost all the right boxes, as well as being great value.

Nero 7 Premium Reloaded adds mostly esoteric features to regular disc burning.