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The menu interface ranges from very easy to frustrating. For example, I don’t understand why you can’t press the setup button when you’re in the menu. Instead you have to exit the menu first. The same thing applies if you’re watching a video file stored on the hard drive; you can’t go directly back to the menu but instead you have to press the back button first.

Finally, as far as connectivity goes, Kiss supplies a SCART cable, power, aerial and extension cables, a composite video cable and a stereo audio cable - not a bad bundle.

The DP-558 is definitely a step forward for Kiss, but there are too many little annoying things with it to prevent me from looking elsewhere, especially as hard drive recorders are far more commonplace now than when the original DP-558 was launched. Sure, it plays DivX content and you can copy your recorded material to a PC, but at £286.79 Kiss is facing tough competition from the established home electronic brands. The only difference being that those machines offer built in DVD recorders in favour of DivX and Ethernet support. There are also several other companies that are doing streaming devices like the DP-500, although most of them are unable to record TV programs.

Verdict

If you want a hard drive recorder with easy access to the stored content then the Kiss DP-558 might be for you, but right now there are far too many little niggles to make it a great product. I look out for the next generation of products from Kiss but right now I’d give the DP-558 a miss.

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