Labs

Philips' HTS3154 costs only £1 more than JVC's TH-P3, but you get a lot more for your money. The main unit itself is compact and inoffensive. It's narrower than standard hi-fi components, though, so you won't be able to put it at the bottom of a stack.

The remote control is far better than the JVC's. There are fewer buttons, and these are laid out in a logical and intuitive way. The labelling is also better, with each button's function clearly marked. Further thought has gone into the main unit's interface, with options to dim the LCD and to resume DVD playback from where you previously stopped the movie, even after putting the player into standby mode.

On the rear of the unit

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is a bi-directional SCART socket. Video quality can be noticeably improved by using the component output instead, which gave us a crisper and more stable image on our LCD TV. The only audio inputs are analogue rather than digital, with stereo phono connectors on the rear and a mini-jack input on the front for connecting an MP3 player.

The HTS3154 managed to play all our MP3, WMA, JPEG and DivX and XviD test files. However, DivX and XviD video dropped frames when played from a USB flash drive. This may be due to the speed of the USB drive, as the files played fine when burnt to a DVD-R.

The tall and angular front and surround speakers have the lowest rated wattage in the group. The system is still fairly loud when turned up, but those without neighbours to consider may prefer Samsung's louder HT-X30 instead. Treble was surprisingly well defined, though the lower mid-range was lacking, resulting in a lack of impact with loud noises such as explosions.

Philips' HTS3154 is the better of the two sub-£100 home cinema kits here, and even has some advantages over the more expensive Samsung HT-X30, such as its bi-directional SCART socket. However, the lack of an S/PDIF input means that you can't digitally connect other devices such as a PC or games console.