Digital Video

Hard disks with a screen are the latest must-have items for the creative computer user who wants to carrytheir music, photos and video around with them. The new Creative ZEN Vision W is certain to hit the spot,with a 4.3in, 16 by 9 ratio screen, with a resolution of 480 by 272 pixels. Its 30GB hard disk can hold 120hours of video (MPEG2, MPEG4 and various DivX variations), 15,000 songs and tens of thousands of photos. Amagnesium case protects it from the rigours of portability and there’s also a Compact Flash slot as well asthe usual USB 2.0 options for getting your media to it (an optional adapter will be available for othermemory types). In case that isn’t enough, it’ll also work as a PDA, synching with Outlook, and has an FMradio built in. Prices and on sale date should be announced in a few weeks.

The prospect of transferring hours of holiday camcorder footage to DVD can be a daunting one. Sony aims to simplify the task with its new VRD-MC3 DVDirect recorder, with which you can burn digital video and photos onto disc at the touch of a button. This standalone device connects directly to your camera, or accepts its memory card, allowing you to bypass your PC altogether. It goes on sale in October for around £205.

The wealth of music video content on the web means you no longer have to sit through endless adverts and reality shows on MTV in order to catch the latest pop mini-masterpieces. With the www.maxfield.de/en">Maxfield Max-Movie (£140) multimedia player you can carry around up to 40 of your favourite videos in its 1GB memory to watch at your leisure on its 260,000-colour screen. Unlike the video iPod it supports a wide variety of media formats, including DivX, MPEG-4 and AVI for movies and MP3, secure WMA and OGG for music, and is compatible with most major download stores. The Max-Movie can also be used to view digital photos, tune into FM radio, record your voice or other external audio sources, and will even wake you up in the morning with its alarm clock function.