Thomson DTI 6300-16

I'm here with the Thomson Top Up TV Anytime set top box. It's a personal video recorder with 160gb of hard drive space and support for a new range of services from Top Up TV. In the past Top Up TV simply offered regular broadcast channels. But with the Anytime service instead of TV being on at scheduled times, programmes are transmitted overnight and recorded to the PVR hard drive. These are then viewable on-demand for five days. It's also possible to save recordings for longer, or to keep them indefinitely. The new dimension to this machine is firstly that it has recently had a huge price drop, and now only costs £99. The second is that Setanta sports is now available via Top Up TV, so for just 9.99 a month Football fans can have access to 46 premier league games and 60 Scottish premier league games. In terms of styling, the front panel is relatively clutter free, offering buttons to enter the menu, and navigate through the various options. There is also a flap, which conceals the slot for Top Up TV viewing card, and USB socket. The rear panel contains all the usual sockets including power input, s-video out, a digital audio out for connection to a home cinema amp and regular analogue stereo audio out. There are also two SCART sockets and, obviously, an aerial input. The remote control bears a startling resemblance to the Sky+ remote control, but is fully featured and easy to use. There are dedicated buttons to access the Top Up TV channels and your library of stored recordings. I'm Ian Morris with cnet.co.uk and that was the Thomson Top Up TV Anytime set top box.