A recent survey by Ofcom revealed that an impressive 87 percent of UK households now have access to some form of digital TV, be it provided by Sky, Cable, FreeNet or a Freeview tuner. The cheapest and most straightforward way to get involved is undoubtedly the latter, and if you're in the minority because you have an old television without a Scart port, or perhaps one with limited Scart connections that are already being used, then TVonics has something a bit more flexible on offer.

Its MFR-300 is a compact Freeview box that connects via the RF (aerial) input on your set, and is small enough to be neatly mounted out of view behind your television. You're supplied with double-sided sticky pads in the box in order to do this, along with an additional RF receiver that can be connected so that you can still control it with the remote when out of view.

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As an alternative to the RF connection you can also hook it up using a combined audio and video composite connection via the port on the front. This will offer better quality but you're not supplied with this cable so you'll need to pick one up separately if you want to use it.

Wherever you decide to place the device, basic setup involves simply wiring it up between your television set and the antenna or aerial port on the wall. You'll need to tune a spare channel slot on your TV to access the box; by default it uses channel 38. Once you've done this you should see the initial interface appear which will scan the range of Freeview stations and store them automatically. The number you'll receive depends on your location and the strength of the aerial; in our tests we found 49 TV channels and 25 radio stations.

The remote control supplied seems overly cumbersome but is well laid out so it's easy to find your way around. Aside from basic operations, you'll find access to an EPG (electronic programme guide) that covers the next eight days and allows you to set reminders to alert you or switch to a specified programme when it starts. There's also a channel list that helps you edit or sort the range of stations available and a useful help function that explains many of the functions.

A few extra features allow you to change the aspect ratio of the signal to suit your TV, configure an 'auto-standby' function to save power in case you forget to turn it off, parental PIN controls and a channel-hopping button that lets you switch back and forth between the current and previous station. There's no PiP (picture in picture) support, though you will find subtitle and Audio Description decoding for those with aural or visual impairments.

The TVonics tuner does come across as quite basic in terms of the appearance of the interface, features and remote control. If you have a reasonably large HDTV you'll find that the quality of the signal isn't great either, but this is an inevitable drawback of the connectivity that makes the device unique and you can improve things a bit by using the composite option if you prefer.

We're inclined to be quite forgiving of these drawbacks, since it gets all of the most important things right, is easy to set up and use and would be genuinely useful as a portable, accessible Freeview tuner in the right circumstances. It's more expensive than many rival devices and although this is compensated for somewhat in its portability, this does mean that you'll need to fit the particular demographic TVonics is aiming at to justify the cost.

The main appeal of the TVonics MFR-300 is its portability and the flexibility of the RF connection for those who don't have the option to use Scart. In this environment it works well and, though it lacks some of the additional features of rival tuners, it makes up for this with straightforward operation and an effective combination of features and usability.