Sony's latest all-in-one is a compact system that arrives in a modestly sized box.Open it up and you're greeted with a very attractive main unit and a decent enough sub/sat speaker system.

The asking price looks a little steep when you consider some of the spaces on the spec sheet,but if it punches its weight it may still work its way into our affections.

The main unit is delightful to behold.It is imposing and impressive, with a sweeping fascia and minimal controls to clutter things up.

Connections at the front include an S-video input,but no DV connection for serious camcorder use, the first serious omission. At the back there is no HDMI output,but you do get component video outs,so progressive scan signals are still on the menu. The Scart sockets can accept and deliver RGB signals (but more on this later),but audio connections are limited to simple stereo outputs.

An optical or electrical digital audio output would leave open the possibility of upgrading the sound system in the future, if you found you were happy with the HDD/DVD recorder section but then decided you wanted more sonic impact.

The HDD is a 160GB model (the step-up RH7000 has a 250GB version) and can store as much as 269hr of programming.There are nine recording modes,providing great flexibility when it comes to getting maximum picture quality out of your recordings.

One of the modes,an HDD-only HQ setting,would be ideal for DV camcorder footage but is rather wasted here.

The other eight modes let you fit 1hr, 1.5,2hr, 2.5,3hr,4hr,6hr and 8hr on to a single DVD.

The DVD drive is also very versatile, recording on everything except DVD-RAM and dual-layered DVD-R discs (dual-layered DVD R platters are compatible).

Editing options on the HDD are very comprehensive indeed and include the priceless ability to trim out unwanted material (such as advertising breaks) before archiving a programme on to DVD.

The sound system is ambitiously quoted at 120W per channel - far too much for the little satellites to handle.They are both light and plasticky and feature a 70 x 100mm cone (the centre box has a 55 x 100mm design).

The subwoofer (which is unusually large and carries the connector ports for the satellites) has a 160mm cone.Frequency response figures are not given. Sound modes include the normal Dolby Digital/DTS/Pro-Logic II formats,but there is no place for the 6.1-channel variants.There is also a smattering of surround sound modes on offer.

Interesting sound options include a 'Virtual Multi Dimension'mode, which cunningly creates five sets of surround speakers from just a single pair,promising a more immersive soundstage in the process.

The onscreen menu system is pure class. Beautifully laid out and easily navigated, it teaches many other companies out there a lesson. The remote is also stylishly designed and the colour-coded speaker cables make life even easier.

There are some problems, however,most notably in the setup of the video outputs.Annoyingly, you cannot have the Scart output set to RGB when the component video sockets are also activated. This doesn't seem like much of a problem,but the only way you can get an RGB Scart input is to have an RGB output at the same time.The result? You can't have an RGB input (for best recording quality) at the same time as a progressive scan output (for best playback quality).