The SC-HT1500 is Panasonic's new flagship system, and combines sophisticated looks with impressive features. Panasonic was one of the first brands to incorporate recording capabilities into its home cinema systems, with a range of 'packaged' separates combining a DVD recorder, surround amplifier and speakers.

But the SC-HT1500 is the first 'one-box' (rather than separates-based) Panny system to incorporate both DVD playing and recording facilities inside one stylish unit. The main unit boasts a pleasing silver, half-mirrored front panel, and despite its considerable capabilities there are few buttons and controls adorning its sleek fascia.

The accompanying speaker package comprises four floorstanding satellites and a more compact centre speaker that can be placed on top or below a TV. The satellites are perched on top of attractive chrome stands, but their assembly is incredibly fiddly, making installation frustratingly time-consuming.

The subwoofer is nicely finished with a chrome-effect bass port surround, but is portly due to the fact that it contains the system's surround sound amplification. All speaker connections are made at the back of the sub, which is connected to the main unit via an umbilical-type cable.

Features-wise the SC-HT1500 is one of the best-equipped systems around - in particular, its dual DVD-RAM/DVD-R and hard-disk (HDD) recording capabilities make it an extremely flexible model. The 80GB HDD can provide up to 142hrs of storage, and DVD-RAM/DVD-R discs up to 8hrs. Surprisingly however, there's no DVD-RW disc compatibility.

There are four recording options to choose from. XP (the highestquality mode) provides up to 17hrs HDD and 1hr disc storage, while SP gives 34hrs and 2hrs, LP 68hrs and 4 hrs and EP (the poorest quality mode) 142hrs and 6hrs respectively. There's also a flexible recording option that automatically selects the appropriate recording mode to utilise the space available.

Best PALs

Panasonic's TimeSlip feature allows you to watch a TV programme while it's still being recorded, and VideoPlus ensures you don't have to programme individual start and stop times for recording analogue TV programmes: it simply requires you to enter a numeric programme code (usually found in TV listings).

Playback of pre-recorded DVDs should be just as impressive as recordings, as the SC-HT1500 can deliver top-quality PAL progressive scan images to a suitably-equipped TV (via component video outputs). An RGB Scart and dedicated S-video and composite video outs are also available, while the front panel incorporates a set of audio/video connections to enable you to hook up a camcorder or games console.

Unfortunately however, there's no front DV input for transferring digital camcorder material. When it comes to audio, the Panny includes Dolby Digital and DTS decoders to take care of 5.1 DVD soundtracks, while Dolby Pro-Logic II is on-board to convert stereo TV broadcasts and CDs into near-digital surround sound. And multichannel DVD-Audio playback adds to the SC-HT1500's already impressive versatility.

Setup is straightforward, with the built-in analogue TV tuner automatically tuning and storing channels. The Direct Navigator lists and manages the details of all recordings made onto the HDD and DVDs, and there's a set of editing features to manipulate and erase recordings.

Recordings made onto both the hard-disk and discs are generally of a very high standard. The only problem we observed was a slightly exaggerated colour palette, which makes skin-tones look ruddy - TV presenters look like they've spent too much time in the sun! However, bypassing the Panny's internal tuner and connecting a digibox via the RGB Scart delivered more natural results.