Panasonic SC-BTT490 review

Blu-ray discs load in less than 20 seconds and look fantastic on an HDTV, with Chroma processing, DVD upscaling and image sharpness adjustments giving films immediate impact. Contrast was excellent, preserving details that other players couldn’t reproduce, and even DVDs looked surprisingly detailed, despite the introduction of a few noise artefacts.

The tall front satellites are the perfect height for watching films on the sofa, which means the important front surround channels are pumped straight to your ears. The centre speaker always produced clear, audible speech, even during busier scenes, and the small subwoofer produced more than reasonable bass. We enjoyed enveloping surround sound at around two-thirds volume, with enough rumble during action sequences to add plenty of depth to films.

The main unit’s picture quality is superb, its Smart TV functions are comprehensive and its sound quality is top notch too. However, the smaller BTT290 costs around £150 less and nearly has all the same features. It almost has the same sound quality too, so if you don’t mind finding a shelf on which to put your speakers, you could save a fair amount.