For its price the HP Pavilion m8075a is a neat little unit with some good basic features for the budding media happy user. It's clearly not a high end machine for power users, but for those looking to get a little extra media functionality out of their next PC purchase the HP Pavilion Media Center m8075a PC is a reasonable selection.

AAD’s M Series surround sound home theatre offers great sound quality for movies at an affordable price. The speakers are quite light and easy to set up, although their styling is more conservative than impressive.

The RDRHX910 combines a large array of features and options with a huge 250 gig hard drive. Unfortunately, an equally huge $1499 price tag and poor integration of many peripheral features detract from what could have been a standout recorder.

A wide range of supported formats, combined with stylish industrial design, makes the KiSS DP-558 a great hard disk recorder for the power user who doesn't mind recording in MPEG-2 and archiving footage regularly.

The Kenwood SAT7100 home theatre kit offers fantastic, expansive sound and a wide range of input connectors to suit just about every common AV component. Just ensure you have room to fit the AV unit and speakers.

This recorder is a beast. High-budget users will find the RH7926W to be an outstanding unit, delivering top-end performance with a sleek and user-friendly design.

An excellent home cinema system that performs well in every aspect

The ideal AV receiver for a home theatre enthusiast

A huge home theatre system with over the top styling and a wide range of functions let down by a poor range of connections.

If you want an incredibly small media centre PC for basic media functionality then the DreamVision Mini is a great choice. It isn't a powerhouse by any means, but it's diminutive design certainly makes up for this in some regards.

The Sony SVR-HD900 is an easy to use and feature filled hard disk recorder with 250GB of space for both standard definition and high definition TV.

LG's LST-5403P is a top of the range hard disk recorder with plenty of storage space and an interface grandma could use. A great, albeit pricey, contender.