“It just occurred to me that I have had my Disgo for about six years with never a problem! Amazing! And no, I don’t work for Disgo.”

Liz Needham

Yoggie Pico: Security on a stick
Come back, come back, this is NOT a USB key! It’s a tiny PC — seriously — that can keep your main computer free from viruses, worms, spyware identity and data theft, phishing, spam, IP spoofing and DoS attacks.

The Pico is essentially a USB firewall that intercepts all Web traffic before it’s processed by your PC. Its onboard antivirus software scans this traffic, cleans it if necessary, then returns the data to your PC for use as normal. All this is done in the background, so you don’t have to put up with intrusive pop-ups asking you to make security decisions.

Inside the Pico is an Intel PXA270 processor, which runs at 520MHz. It also has 128MB of SD RAM and 128MB of flash memory for storage purposes. It runs a stripped-down version of the Linux operating system, has anti-virus and anti-spyware from Kasperski Labs, and Web filtering and parental controls by SurfControl.

To stop the Pico itself becoming infected, the operating system is contained on two Flash memory units. Flash A contains the operating system. When the device is booted, a clean copy of the operating system is transferred to Flash B, and access to Flash A is disabled. The security apps then run on Flash B, which is wiped when the device is turned off.

All this enables the Pico to provide a very similar level of security as the corporate network you use at the work. The tech folks here at Crave aren’t stupid enough to rely on software alone to protect us from malware, and now you don’t have to either.

Yoggie reckons the Pico won’t slow down your PC, despite it running over a USB 2.0 connection. It actually says it will make your PC faster than if you used traditional anti-virus software — which can hog CPU resources and become fat and bloated after several months of downloading virus updates.

We’ve only been using it for a short while now, and despite our best efforts, we’re yet to be infected.

The system inspires a lot of confidence to surf the Web with reckless abandon — there aren’t any Web sites we consider out of bounds now we have the Pico. Even Pocket-lint.

disgo Media Bank: Scart? Are you having a laugh?
Are you looking for a way of recording television or watching video you’ve downloaded from the Internet? disgo thinks it’s got the ideal product for you, the Media Bank. There’s only one problem: it’s standard definition, and that upsets us.

So, what does the disgo Media Bank do? Well, first off, you can connect it to your computer over USB2 and copy files to its built-in 500GB hard drive. That’s a handy feature if you download stuff off the Web and want to watch it on your TV, but there’s no network socket, so you’ll need to move the disgo to your computer every time you want to transfer something. Happily there are compact flash and SD/MMC readers too, which offer another route to get video, photos and music on to your TV.

You can also set the disgo to record from your digital set-top box, enabling you to record your favourite TV shows to the hard drive. To be honest, we’d far rather the company had put a digital tuner in the machine itself, because recording over Scart — oh, did we not mention? You have to use Scart — really doesn’t cut the mustard these days.

We plugged the disgo Media Bank into our Panasonic plasma TV to see what the interface looked like, and what files it would play. The good news is that while it’s happy with XviD and MPEG-2 video, regrettably it wouldn’t play QuickTime or WMV. The interface was simple but not especially beautiful, and to begin with the picture quality was terrible, with jagged lines around everything and nasty patterning everywhere. This was improved slightly by setting the box to output progressive video, but the picture was still far from brilliant.

And that’s the main problem with the disgo. It’s an analogue product in a digital world. Sure, it’ll play your digital media, to a point, but it only features analogue outputs, which is just crazy. We can understand this is necessary for recording from Freeview, but for outputting it’s a missed opportunity and seriously degrades the picture quality.

At least Archos had the decency to include an HDMI socket on its TV+ and the ability to record TV via component inputs. If we’re honest, in the days of flat panels, that really is the least we’d expect a company to include.

Given the choice between buying this and the Archos TV+, which is more expensive and scored 5.3 in our review, we’d suggest the TV+ is a better buy. And we think that probably speaks volumes. The Media Bank costs £170 and is available from the disgo Web site.

The 500GB hard disk drive that moonlights as a PVR
The Disgo Media Bank describes itself as a “digital video, picture and music player”.

It’s essentially a 500GB external hard disk drive with a simplistic menu, built-in audio/video codecs and a remote control.

Disgo has, however, slapped on an extra layer of functionality to set the Media Bank apart from other multimedia-themed drives. In addition to its digital audio/video playback and JPEG slide shows, the Disgo Media Bank can also record video.

This is an external HDD that claims to be a PVR.

Store 500GB of entertainment

So you can hook the Disgo Media Bank up to a Freeview or Sky+ box (via composite AV cables and a Scart adapter) and directly grab video. It also works with DVD players. Ripped footage is converted into an AVI file on the fly.

You’ve got to look harder for the Media Bank’s so-called PVR talents. Delve into the Record options and you’ll find a rudimentary start/stop timer function.

This mimics an old VHS player by recording whatever channel you’ve selected. There are six slots for one-off scheduled recordings – no clever ’series link’ or repeat options though. On the ‘high’ setting (640×480 pixels), an hour of recorded video will take up about 600MB of storage space.

The Disgo Media Bank also features an ‘Auto Stop’ recording option. You can find something similar on the Archos range of PMPs. It enables you to record a selected channel or capture a video source for a certain period of time (say two hours) before stopping.

This mode is ideal for dumping content you’ve already recorded to the hard disk overnight. You can then convert the AVI files again to play on a portable device.

In our tests the quality of the recorded video on the Disgo Media Bank was hit-and-miss – playback was decent enough when a show was recorded as a one-off. In comparison, video was often juddery and jumpy when a scheduled recording was tried.

DivX file playback

Beyond its primitive PVR functionality, the Disgo Media Bank is still a versatile playback device. For starters, it supports a wide range of video formats, including: VOB, DivX 3.11, 4x, 5x, XVID, MP4 and AVI files. Photos are limited to JPEGs, but MP3, WMA, AC3, AAC and WAV codecs are built-in for audio.

As hard disk drives go, the Disgo Media Bank is reasonably attractive, thanks to its clean lines and electric blue LEDs. Its squat, yet curvy shape is eerily reminiscent of Sega’s failed Saturn games console.

On the right-hand side of the box, there are SD/MMC/CF memory card slots; while around the back you’ll find the two AV-in jacks, AC-in and a USB port.

The Media Bank easily connects to a PC or Mac via USB and can be browsed just like any other standalone hard disk.

If there’s a criticism it’s that this media player/HDD combo can’t be networked in any way – there’s no Ethernet port or Wi-Fi module to enable remote access. The barely graphical menu system is also poor – navigating between the various menu options is often sluggish, a delay caused by the 3.5-inch SATA hard drive spinning up.

The Media Bank doesn’t break any new ground – it’s a roomy external hard disk with a remote-controlled menu. The TVIX HD M4000P, for example, matches the Media Bank’s 500GB capacity and media playback options. The Archos TV+ has similar recording capabilities and a prettier menu system, but only half the storage capacity.

While many manufacturers are attempting to use UPnP streaming technologies to bridge the gap between the computer and the TV, the Disgo Media Bank has no such ambitions.

It’s more expensive than a comparable 500GB HDD, so you’re paying the extra for some fairly basic PVR functionality.

Disposable camcorder just about works
Fancy yourself a bit of a John-Luc Godard? Or have you recently watched a Cloverfield/Blair Witch double-bill in a darkened basement and felt the urge to create? Whatever the reason, if you suddenly have the makings of a no-budget classic, why not give the EZ201 a try? OK, it’s not going to win you an Oscar for best cinematography but, if there were an award for the most user friendly handheld, the EZ201 would be well in the reckoning.

A simple point and shoot digital camcorder, you set up the EZ201 by slipping in a couple of batteries and switching on – no further expertise required. The controls could not be easier, with record, play/pause, rewind, fast forward and delete being the main functions. The view screen is an adequate 1.5″ colour LCD that can flip out and rotate 180 degrees. The 256MB built-in memory allows for up to an hour of recording time, which can be increased by inserting a 2GB memory card. Two standard AA batteries provide up to 2 hours of continuous use (or an impressive 7 hours with optional Lithium batteries).

Once you’ve shot your footage, the camera has several connectivity options. You can view through your television, record it to VHS or DVD or upload video files to a PC using the neat retractable USB connector or other supplied cables. From here, you can use the editing function to tidy up your work before outputting the clips for viewing.

The EZ201 produces decent audio and video results at a relatively low price. It won’t satisfy the purists, and it is childlike in simplicity, but it doesn’t over-complicate the process with elaborate settings and features.