Which Blu-ray home cinema package?

[admin_exported]

Hey, I have never had a home cinema system and want to get the right one for my boyfriend for Xmas.

We have a great Samsung TV but want a blu-ray player and speakers etc.

My budget is £500 but have no idea what to look for. We would easily be able to place 3 x speakers around the seating area in our lounge and have space around the TV for everything else.

We have an Xbox 360 which we would like to play through the surround sound, and to be able to plug my Iphone4 into would be great aswell.

Can anyone help as the market scares me, and I want to get it right!

Thanks in advance, Zoe

 

[Clare Newsome]

Hi Zoe, and welcome to the Forums.

Do you have room for taller speakers? If so, the Panasonic SC-BTT755 is a superb buy, It won an Award after we reviewed it at £650 (review here), but can now be had for under £500 - great Amazon deal here, for example.

It's got all the connectivity you need - including an integrated iPhone dock

Let me know if the speakers are too big - there are some alternative (including from Sony's impressive 2010 range) suggestions.

 

[Anonymous]

That looks great, speakers look great too.

We can definately plug the Xbox in though yeah?

Is Panasonic better than Samsung? For example this model: HT-C6930W has been quite common in my search.

Zoe

 

[Clare Newsome]

We tested the Samsung at the same time as the Panasonic - it's a decent system (you can read the review here), but our comparative testing showed the Panasonic had slightly better sound and vision performance (and yes,the Panasonic will accept a digital feed from your XBox, enabling surround sound gaming).

The Samsung's still a strong buy, though, with added benefit that you'd probably be able to control your TV and system from a single remote control.