DHD4000: dual in Thomson's crown

Count us impressed -- the Thomson DHD4000 is our new favourite Freeview hard disk recorder. Swooping into the office in a pretty battered box, the inconspicuous little blighter looks more like some sort of network router than a life-changing televisual wonder.

Its brilliance lies in the fact that it uses dual-tuners, meaning that you can record one channel while watching another. All the time, the box is buffering two channels simultaneously onto the hard drive, meaning you can flick between channels without losing where you are in either programme. Genius!

The Thomson DHD4000 is so good that we've FINALLY managed to pick up Channel 4 in our signal-sapping office block. The news was enough to send a wave of excitement with our many, many Hollyoaks fans. It's available now, at around £170. -GC