JVC TH-R3

The all-in-one that deserves a round of applause.

This is one of those ambitious pieces of kit that won't settle for doing just one job at a time. As well as playing movies and filling your room with surround sound, it can also record telly to DVD.

The main unit looks attractive thanks to its slimline design, but the speakers have a top-heavy look to them when standing on the floor - still, they can always be wall-mounted. Unlike most home cinema kits, though, this won't take long to get up and running. The auto set-up mode means you can just clap your hands to automatically set the speaker levels and delay times.

The picture and sound quality are impressive too - the former thanks partly to PAL progressive scan. Shows recorded to DVD-R at high quality settings look fantastic, and when you slap a DVD-RAM disc in the drive you can pause live TV or play the start of a show while the end is still recording.

Convenience is the key to this model's success. We think the feature list, decent performance and tempting price tag should guarantee it a very warm welcome in many homes.