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Mini movie mayhem

Posted by Jim Hill on Thu 30 Oct 2008

Sub £500 mini film foxes

They're not made of tickytacky, but these budget boxes contain everything you need to turn your ordinary TV into a slice of pure home cinema heaven.

JVC NX-F3 Sophisti £320

We love: Compact design. Reasonable pseudo surround effort and great stereo sound.

We hate: Limited 5.1 sound effects. Sounds lost in a big room.

Rating: 4 stars

We say: Looking gorgeous, this tiny system is perfect for flats, but lacks for power for large spaces.

LG HT903TA £350

We love: Elegant tower speakers. Big soundstage. HDMI input.

We hate: Doesn't look as slick as the Samsung.

Rating: 5 stars

We say: Melt in your mouth, with performance to match, courtesy of terrific sound quality and 1080p upscaling. It'll even work with your XBox.

Onkyo HT-C5115 £400

We love: Hugely powerful amp. Connectivity for the rest of your kit. Great sound after auto calibration.

We hate: Takes up a lot of room under your TV. Speakers are a little undersized for the amp.

Rating: 5 stars

We say: Outstanding sound quality from a top-quality selection of separates.

Panasonic SC-PT860 £400

We love: Clear dialogue and treble detail. Brilliant iPod dock. Good subwoofer

We hate: Plain speaker design. No HDMI input.

Rating: 4

We say: Sharp visuals, matched by great sonics, make this a solid performer, while WiFi and a pop-out iPod dock are a bonus.

Samsung HT-X715 £490

We love: Highly original design. Vivid LED display. Good features and usability.

We hate: Lightweight speakers. Underpowered amplifiers.

Rating: 3 stars

We say: It certainly looks great, but audio performance can't match similarly priced devices.

Sharp HT-DV50H £400

We love: Extra large display. Substantial front speakers and subwoofer. Reasonably powerful stereo sound.

We hate: No real surround effect. Clumsy aesthetics. Not as refined as Sony's effort.

Rating: 3

We say: Powerful main speakers, which surround sound isn't effective enough for home cinema

Sony DAV F200 £350

We love: Clean lines and excellent space saving design. Crisp stereo sound. Ease of use.

We hate: Not much surround sound effect. Slow LFE channel.

Rating: 4 stars

We say: A sophisticated design yielding a great stereo sound, but movie surround is less effective