Hands on: The Philips CinemaOne home theatre

Hands On: Philips CinemaOne
Hands On: Philips CinemaOne

We reported yesterday on the new Philips CinemaOne home theatre systems, which it claims is one of the smallest complete home entertainment centres in the world.

TechRadar had a chance to get a decent hands-on with the little tyke, and found a box-ticker in nearly all departments.

Well, it certainly is tiny, and to be honest, does indeed punch above the weight you'd expect from a box the size of two dog dinner bowls stacked on top of each other.

The bass from the built in four inch sub-woofer is pleasant if not spectacular, and the four speakers do create a wider feel of sound than a single device would suggest.

All directions

However, given Philips' efforts into virtual surround sound, you might expect better from the omni-directional device.

But with a price tag of just £320 for a whole cinema system, there's very little criticism you can throw at this little system.

It would be, without a shadow of a doubt, perfect for a smaller room or budget, where cost or space won't allow a full 5.1 set up.

Add to that the array of connectivity in the HDMI port, iPod dock, USB 2.0, 3.5mm jack and DVD player, along with the standard analogue inputs too, and this would be great for someone who bought a HD-Ready TV and then thought: "Hmm...now what?"

Available from September, box-room owners should run out and get one ASAP.

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.