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Panasonic SC-BT200 review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £414
inc VAT

Impressive speakers and YouTube access make the SC-BT200 great value, but performance and format support could be better.

Panasonic’s SC-BT200 comes with four small satellite speakers. These little boxes punch above their weight, and we were impressed by the full-bodied sound. The receiver comes with a microphone for automatically setting up the speaker positions and timings, and the surround effects were crisp and atmospheric.

A small tray with an iPod dock slides out of the front of the receiver, but you’ll need to connect the composite video out to your TV to watch videos or photos stored on an iPod. There’s a USB port under a narrow flap on the front, as well as an SD card slot, which is handy for storing BD Live content and means you won’t have to leave a USB flash drive plugged in.

You can play files from SD cards, USB sticks and data discs, but only JPEG, MP3 and DivX files are supported, and the SC-BT200 doesn’t read DVD+R discs. DVD upscaling is average, and you can’t play Blu-ray content recorded to DVD, although AVCHD files burnt to DVD are supported. You can’t stream media from your PC, but the SC-BT200 has access to Panasonic’s Viera Cast internet service, which currently includes YouTube and Picasa. You can log into both services to access your own content, and the ability to play video playlists or watch photo slideshows is handy.

Performance was poor. The SC-BT200 took over a minute to access the main menu of our Blu-ray film. Skipping chapters was slow and there’s no onscreen display of chapter numbers, which is annoying. The menu system can also be slow to respond, especially when switching from watching a disc to accessing the online Viera Cast service.

Despite this, the SC-BT200 is an impressive package for the price. Not only do the speakers sound beefier than their size would suggest, but the player packs in internet services, support for DTS-HD Master Audio and a built-in iPod dock. Media streaming is missing and format support is weak, but if you need a Blu-ray home cinema kit on a budget, you’d be hard-pressed to find better value. The SC-BT200 wins our Best Buy award.

Details

Price £414
Rating ****
Award Budget Buy

Connections

HDMI inputs 0
HDMI outputs 1
Component inputs 0
Component outputs 1
Output resolutions 480i, 480p, PAL (576i), 576p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
Total SCART sockets 0
SCART socket type N/A
S-Video input 0
S-video output 0
Composite inputs 0
Composite outputs 1
Stereo phono inputs 1
Stereo phono outputs 0
Coaxial S/PDIF inputs 0
Coaxial S/PDIF outputs 0
Optical S/PDIF inputs 2
Optical S/PDIF outputs 0
Multi-channel input no
Speaker configuration 5.1
Main unit end speaker connection type proprietary
Speaker end speaker connection type spring terminals
Other connections iPod dock, setup microphone, FM antenna, optional wireless rear speaker kit
Wired network ports 10/100
Wireless networking support none

Playback

Surround sound formats Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD HRA, DTS-HD MA Essential
Optical drive yes
Supported playback disc formats BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE, DVD-RAM, DVD±R, DVD±RW, CD-R, CD-RW
Audio format support MP3
Video playback formats MPEG-1, MPEG-2, DivX
Image viewing formats JPEG
Radio FM RDS

Speakers

Speaker configuration 5.1
RMS power output 1000W
RMS power centre 250W
RMS power front 250W
RMS power surround 250W
RMS power subwoofer 250W
Wall mountable no
Centre speaker cable length 3.0m
Front speaker cable length 3.0m
Surround speaker cable length 8.0m

General

Extras remote control, composite cable, FM antenna, speaker wire, auto-setup microphone
Size 430x327x63mmmm
Subwoofer dimensions 181x315x361mmmm
Centre speaker dimensions 250x81x95mmmm
Front speaker dimensions 92x81x128mmmm
Surround speaker dimensions 92x81x128mmmm
Power consumption standby 0W
Power consumption on 30W

Buying Information

Price £414
Warranty one year RTB
Supplier http://www.digital-fusion.co.uk
Details www.panasonic.co.uk