While BURN-Proof technology has recently become very popular, it is not the only method for preventing buffer underruns. Ricoh has developed its own method, called Just Link.

The Ricoh MP5125A-DP drive is actually used by the other DVD+RW supporters, although they rebrand them as their own. AOpen and HP have both taken this route, and use the Ricoh as their base.

Ricoh's Caplio R1 is unfortunately the underperformer of the lot in this Labs, with final scores below the 100 average. While the scores below may make it seem like it's a very poor camera, the reality is that the scores highlight the deviations and differences in the products compared.

If there is one camera that truly possessed a funky design, then the Ricoh RDC-7 is it. The camera is flat, in much the same vein as the late seventies style cameras, or what you might expect in a funky seventies Cold War spy flick.

Second most expensive, Ricoh’s MP5316DA burner really has something to crow about, packing all the major DVD standards in DVD+/-RW support as well as dual layer functionality.

Even with falling hardware prices, the expense and yet to be finalised format war rages on with DVD writing technology deterring many a consumer. DVD+R/RW appear to be making headway gradually with both format flexibility and hardware integration into next generation platforms.

The Caplio G3 is a 3.24-megapixel compact digital camera featuring a maximum optical resolution of 2,048 x 1,536, 3x zoom and auto and manual focus. It records images to 8MB of internal memory, SD or MMC media. It is capable of audio and video capture, video-out, and it can connect to a computer via USB.

Aimed at the outdoor snapper who wants good quality digital images, the Caplio 300G is a straightforward 3-megapixel compact camera, with a few useful extras built in.

Megapixels are a plenty, but the real selling point here is that impressive lens. It’s just a shame that some noise issues cloud matters

Take a portable media player, add video and sound recording functionality plus a 3.1MP digital still camera and you've got the Richo Vivitar DVR390H.

MOTHERBOARD

An interesting new technology, but cheap running costs are let down by poor quality.

Like the Ricoh entry, the Pioneer DVRA03 is a versatile unit, and is capable of burning all CD formats with the added advantage of burning DVD-R and -RW discs...

The Ricoh MP5120 justifies the many years of press releases and delays that led to critics forming a prematurely negative impression of the emerging DVD+RW writing standard.

After conducting our DVD burner labs last month and seeing the emergence of cheap high-speed single format drives such as the Labs winning Ricoh and BenQ models at a mere $299, it's hard to go back to the $499 price tag of the Iomega drive.

One of only two DVD burners this month to come with a two year manufacturer warranty, the BenQ DW400A offers peace of mind should things go pear shaped.

Print palm documents anywhere, wirelessly.

Not the slimmest any more, but still amazingly compact. A very capable cam if you don’t mind the menus

Featuring a compact lozenge-shaped body with a fair bit of weight to it, the Cyber-shot P-93 is a solid camera that implies strength and good engineering. Internally, the camera has a 5.1-megapixel CCD and is capable of taking some excellent photos.