Advantages: Takes regular sized audio cassettes, double-time recording, inexpensive model
Disadvantages: Needs to be used close to sound-source, a bit bulky for some tastes

...I always wanted a dictaphone as a child. Largely, I admit, for slightly dubious reasons (i.e. I wanted to plant it in my big sister's bedroom and find out if she was talking about me.) Many years on, as a student, I finally received one as a birthday gift so that I could record important lectures. This certainly did come in handy during those classes that, however hard I tried to stay alert, had me head down and drooling on the desk within minutes. The Sony TCM-200DV Cassette-Corder (or 'dictaphone' to you and me) is a fairly basic model compared to some products on the market - but it does what it says on the tin and it does it to a perfectly acceptable standard. The machine is silver (with a charcoal grey back panel and battery compartment) and weighs in at 171g - it's roughly the same size as a cassette-playing personal stereo... Read review

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Advantages: Variable recording time, mains compatible
Disadvantages: No tape counter

...and briefcase. The unit takes two AA type batteries. The big plus for me, however, is that it can be mains powered. A word of caution though, the jack to fit this isn't the standard one, but one of Sony's own. It's a lot smaller than you would expect but you can buy adapters with multiple fittings, which is what I did. Overall, a good product. If it's just personal dictation you need, I'd look elsewhere for a micro-cassette machine. Those wishing to combine recording with some audio book listening (in a quiet room!) may need look no further.... Read review

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Advantages: Small, Compact, Looks great and its a Sony
Disadvantages: Low earphone volume

..., MiniDisc users are no longer stuck with real-time recordings, but can use a computer to transfer an hour's worth of music in just a few minutes. After a long search I finally decided for a stationary Sony MiniDisc deck to add to my Sony QS home stereo system and a matching Sony MZ-N710 MiniDisc Walkman to take along when leaving the house. First impressions The MZ-N710 is Sony's middle range NetMD MiniDisc recorder/player, mainly aimed towards the European market. Here in London, the price is still pretty steep and I suppose many presumptive buyers with limited budget will shy away from spending that amount of money for such a small device. Blank discs are also a bit pricey when compared to blank CD's, but nowhere near as horrendously expensive as memory cards. The player comes in two different flavors - blue and silver. I... Read review

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Advantages: Good quality, reliable, good picture
Disadvantages: none so far...

...Those who have read my reviews on other electrical goods may recognise that I have a lot of bias towards Sony products and my latest acquisition is the Sony GX300 DVD recorder. OK it is not a top of the range model with hard-drive recording, but at a price of £300 less 10 pence from Comet it is has proved a very reliable machine since we bought it last Xmas (2004). The installation of the machine was every bit as easy as the Sony video recorders, which I also own - in fact it took me more time setting up an aerial feed from my aerial booster box (a must-have if you wish to connect more appliance - the subject of another review I think) than it did tuning it all in. I plugged in the aerial lead to the aerial-in socket on the DVD. In the aerial-out socket, you can plug in the lead supplied and from there into the aerial-in socket... Read review

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Advantages: controls every device in your house
Disadvantages: its huge!, looks like a desktop calculator

...The Sony RM AV3000 is a dynamic peice of equiptment. It mimics the remote control of loads of devices. By using the touch screen control, it reduces the shown buttons to only the ones you require for the device you are controling, instead of having hundreds of buttons for every option which i found mind blowing on competitor units. Be aware though its a big peice of equiptment, it looks more like a desk top calculator on your sofa arm than a remote control, the clever boffins have made the infared so strong that you don't have to point it in any particular direction so it can just stay next to you on the sofa arm; your device will pick up the signal easily. I really like the ability to programme this unit, mine is set up to switch off my TV, DVD, Amplifier and projector all in one button press, or to set up for cinema (amp on/tv off... Read review

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Advantages: Great sound quality, good set of features, three heads
Disadvantages: No remote control

...Many people seem to think that cassette tapes, and analogue audio in general, have had their day. For me though, I have so many cassettes that converting them to a digital format is impractical, and buying CD copies or paying to download them, too expensive. Unfortunately, the quality of cassette decks in most mini-hifi systems these days is very poor - the cynic in me wonders if this is a deliberate ploy to stimulate sales of CD recorders and other more "hi-tech" gadgetry. Hence, I bought this machine for the grand sum of £10 second hand. I believe it retailed for under £100 new, though I suspect it has been discontinued now. I will begin with the playback side of things. When I first started using this machine, I suddenly found myself listening to lots of old pre-recorded cassettes I had not dug out for years. OK, so they were... Read review

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Advantages: Hi Resolution, 8mm tapes, hand-cam size, reliable.
Disadvantages: Just eye-piece viewfinder.

...digital still camera if I want to shoot something quickly - like an moving animal before it gets out of range. I chose our digital camera for the very reason that is also had a viewfinder, but I digress… The camera's capabilities: The Sony TR7000 uses 8mm tapes both in Hi8 and standard 8. Recording time for both is up to 90mins. When you use the hi8 tape, you really get near digital-quality results, and even with the standard 8mm tape, I was surprised at the excellent quality produced - The CCD imaging gives off 460,000 pixels. The other benefit with these 8mm tapes is that they are cheaper than the mini DV tapes that many digital camcorders use these days. OK, the TR7000 isn't as small as some of these more modern ones, but if fits comfortably in the hand just a little bigger than a palm-corder and extremely light weighing... Read review

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Advantages: Compatible with DVD +/- R/RW and MP3, looks good, easy to use.
Disadvantages: Long boot time.

...and is still going strong, but it does explain why a Sony product is cheaper than their normal premium branded items. There was an issue with the rear scart connections in that if you had it wired a certain way then the record quality would have a funny sheen to it. But if its there then I haven't seen it, just to let you folks know. Overall, I'm converted from the VHS cassette any day of the week. The ease of use from set-up through to timer recording makes it a thoroughly enjoyable product to use and there have been no issues in the reliability stakes whatsoever.... Read review

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Advantages: Upscales DVDs to 1080p, multi-format recording, lot of features, good value for money
Disadvantages: No digital tuner or cables, set up complicated, picture distortion problem, read review for others

...gadget to treat myself to, I thought that a DVD player that offers HD upscaling would be the next best thing and then it dawned on me that the best device as far as im concerned, would be a DVD Recorder that also offers HD upscaling of standard DVDs, as I could use it to digitise my old VHS video cassettes I still have/had and I could use it to record copies of my favourite movies and shows that I have on my hard disk recorder/PVR, so I can free up more space on it and so I can use the DVDs on a portable DVD player (which is something else im intending on buying sometime or another). Anyway, I had a look online and I eventually found this Sony model at what seemed to me to be a pretty incredible price. It won't suit everyone as it doesn't have a digital tuner, so you can't receive Freeview or any digital channels on it but for me... Read review

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Advantages: High quality digital recordings, rechargable battery, small size.
Disadvantages: The expensive Sony microphone picks up the noise of the motor!

...I bought my Sony Minidisk MZ-R35 for making live digital recordings and have been very satisfied with the results. Before using minidisks I was using a 'professional' Sony cassette recorder (TC-D5M) which at over £1,000 is the best cassette recorder on the market, and for top quality on-location recordings a Uher Report reel to reel stereo recorder. The advantages of the minidisk recorder are many. With a rechargable battery giving nearly 5 hours of recording time there is a great saving in running costs. Minidisks are now cheap, and offer up to 80 minutes of top quality stereo recording on one disk, and give distortion free recordings of music. Even with a top quality cassette recorder, I found that the quality of the cassettes was variable, and after storage for a number of years the sound quality deteriorates, and the tapes... Read review

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