Sony this week unveiled a raft of DVD writers with built-in hard disk storage, two of which will also feature GemStar Guide Plus+ electronic programme guide (EPG). The five new models sport hard drives of between 80GB and 250GB unformatted storage capacity and DVD±R/RW drives with dual-layer support.

The RDR-HX920, RDR-HX720 and RDR-HX520 contain 250GB, 160GB and 8GB hard drives, respectively. The RDR-HX925 and RDR-HX725 have the same capacity HDDs as the HX920 and HX720, respectively, and add the GemStar support to the basic package. They also feature an infra-red transceiver to allow them to control a set-top box according to the recording schedule you've put in place using the EPG.

All five models offer PVR-like functionality: you can pause live TV programming and 'chase' shows currently being recorded - begin watching them before the recording has completed, in other words. The recorders support 1.3x speed fast forward and rewind with sound. The recorders can save shows in standard mode or long-play mode. The latter yields up to 428 hours' recording time on a 250GB drive, Sony says.

The RDR-HX725, RDR-HX720 and RDR-HX520 will be available in Europe from April, while the RDR-HX925 and RDR-HX920 will ship in May. Pricing was not disclosed. ®