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Panasonic SC-BTT590 review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £482
inc VAT

The best Panasonic has to offer is a fantastic combination of sound and video excellence

All-in-one home cinema kits aren’t often targeted at audiophiles, but Panasonic’s aiming to change that with the SC-BTT590. It’s a 5.1 system that uses high quality components such as premium capacitors and bamboo speaker cones to handle its 1,000W of sound power.

The BTT590’s incredibly sleek satellite speakers make it stand out from the crowd. They’re all double-height and contain two drivers in each. The centre speaker lies horizontally and has pre-drilled holes for wall-mounting, but because we couldn’t find an easy way to remove the stands from each of the satellites, they’re best used in a vertical position. The passive subwoofer is one of the largest we’ve seen from an all-in-one system below £500.

Panasonic SC-BTT590

From the front, the main unit looks very similar to Panasonic’s other Blu-ray players. A glossy black plastic flap hides the disc tray, LCD display, SDXC memory card reader and a single USB port. The pop-out iPod dock sits on the end. Around the back, the speaker connections are all proprietary, although the speakers themselves use spring terminal connections.

Panasonic SC-BTT590

With two HDMI inputs and a single HDMI output that supports Audio Return Channel, the BTT590’s well equipped for owners of games consoles and set-top boxes. There’s also one set of auxiliary RCA phono inputs, a composite video output, FM radio antenna, digital optical audio input and USB port for Panasonic’s optional Skype camera (Panasonic TY-CC20W Skype Camera, £99 from johnlewis.co.uk).

Panasonic SC-BTT590

Although it has an Ethernet port, the BTT590’s integrated Wi-Fi makes it much easier to get connected to the internet. Once online, you can stream content from your local network or access VIERA Connect, Panasonic’s online portal. It uses the same basic layout as this year’s TV line-up, but compared to some of the more flashy graphics of the competition it’s beginning to look a little aged. Considering that the rest of the menu system has seen a graphical overhaul this year, it’s a shame Panasonic hasn’t upgraded this too.

Panasonic SC-BTT590

Still, there’s a reasonable range of services, such as catch-up TV from BBC iPlayer, on-demand film streaming from Netflix and AceTrax and social networking from Facebook and Twitter. Panasonic’s unique Skype service is also present, although you must invest in the official webcam to use it.

Local multimedia playback is also great. Apart from the outdated WMV HD codec, all our test files played perfectly, including MKV, MOV, DivX and Xvid files. AVCHD files also work, but only from an SD card.

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Details

Price£482
Rating*****

Connections

HDMI inputs2
HDMI outputs1
Component inputs0
Component outputs0
Output resolutions480i, 480p, PAL (576i), 576p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
Total SCART sockets0
SCART socket typeN/A
S-Video input0
S-video output0
Composite inputs0
Composite outputs1
Stereo phono inputs1
Stereo phono outputs0
Coaxial S/PDIF inputs0
Coaxial S/PDIF outputs0
Optical S/PDIF inputs1
Optical S/PDIF outputs0
Multi-channel inputyes
Speaker configuration5.1
Main unit end speaker connection typeproprietary
Speaker end speaker connection typespring terminals
Other connections2x USB2, FM antenna, SDHC memory card reader
Wired network ports1x 10/100
Wireless networking support802.11g

Playback

Surround sound formatsDolby Digital, Dolby Digital EX, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD HRA, DTS-HD MA
Optical driveyes
Supported playback disc formatsBlu-ray, BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE, DVD, DVD±R, DVD±RW, DVD-RAM, CD, CD-R, CD-RW
Audio format supportMP3, FLAC
Video playback formatsAVCHD, DivX HD, MKV, MPEG 2, MPEG 4, MOV, XVID
Image viewing formatsJPEG
RadioFM

Speakers

Speaker configuration5.1
RMS power output1000W
RMS power centre180W
RMS power front370W
RMS power surround250W
RMS power subwoofer200W
Wall mountableno
Centre speaker cable length1.9m
Front speaker cable length2.8m
Surround speaker cable length8.0m

General

Extrasremote control, FM antenna
Size430x279x40mmmm
Subwoofer dimensions180x300x408mmmm
Centre speaker dimensions280x78x84mmmm
Front speaker dimensions127x121x403mmmm
Surround speaker dimensions127x121x403mmmm
Power consumption standby0W
Power consumption on87W

Buying Information

Price£482
Warrantyone year RTB
Supplierhttp://www.amazon.co.uk
Detailswww.panasonic.co.uk