Labs

The DCS-363's front panel is a transparent piece of plastic broken only by the silver DVD drive door, USB socket and headphone output. It's an unfussy and stylish design. Its top-mounted controls are also easy to get to, but you won't be able to use them if you need to stack another hi-fi component on top of it.

Like the JVC kit's remote, the DCS-363's has too many similar-sized buttons. They are better spaced and labelled, though. The speakers are compact and cube-shaped, and aren't the most attractive of things to have around your living room. They are rated at 60W, and are easily powerful enough to fill an average size living room with sound.

Audio quality is a step up from

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the cheaper kits. Music is better balanced between bass, mid-range and treble, and the subwoofer is the best of the non-powered ones here. The main unit does a good job of placing and moving surround-sound effects around the speakers.

One major disadvantage is the lack of S/PDIF inputs, so you won't be able to enjoy digital surround sound from a games console or media centre PC. There are stereo phono inputs and outputs, though, so you can connect the device to a hi-fi amplifier or a source component such as a digital tuner.

The player can upscale DVDs to 720p and 1080i resolutions and output the high-definition signal from the HDMI port. However, there's no component output for those without any spare HDMI ports on their TV. DVDs looked good, with some minor improvements in detail compared to cheaper kits when connected over SCART to our LCD TV.

The DCS-363 can only play back video burnt to disc, not from USB devices. Audio and photo files are easy to browse, but even when we set the unit to output an HD resolution pictures looked blocky and lacked detail.

Pioneer's DCS-363 sounds good and has impressive upscaled DVD playback over HDMI. It's a shame it doesn't have an optical input, though, and it is expensive compared to Samsung's HT-X30.