TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?

Teletext services like Ceefax and Oracle are now well established. The BBC and ITV companies broadcast hundreds of pages of news and other information along with the normal TV picture which can be viewed - provided you have a special 'teletext' set you can see them.

Now, even if all you have is a Spectrum, the AGF Teletext adapter makes it possible to receive these Teletext pages, and you can also down-load free software into the bargain.

Too good to be true? Unfortunately very nearly.

To give it its due the AGF adapter does do all these things, plus allowing you to save pages to tape or microdrive and print them on a ZX - or similar - printer. The draw-back is that you need a video recorder as well.

The reason for this is that the adapter doesn't have a tuner inside and it needs the recorder to select the TV channel to look at. While this, in theory, is to keep the cost down the adapter still costs a hefty £79.95.

Add to this the need to load software every time you want to use the adapter and you may well consider that its worth spending the money elsewhere.

AGF, Unit G, Ashgrove Industrial Park, Bognor Regis, West Sussex.