Bad Picture?

Yes it is and unless Panasonic release a brochure with this system in it, it's the best you're going to get. (I was trained as a photographer 33 years ago and have forgotten absolutely everything).

This is a system for those of you who are on a budget, have little space or little patience. It is a single box solution for Home Theatre and Music.

The HT-70 consists of a single electronics module containing a 6 channel amplifier, Dolby Digital and Dolby Pro-Logic Decoders, AM/FM Tuner and a 5 Disc CD/DVD Changer.

The Speaker System has 5 very small satellites (160mm X 90mm X 90mm) and a passive subwoofer (driven by the main unit's internal amplifier) Power output is said to be 30 Watts to the satellites and 150 Watts to the Subwoofer (yeh, right). Anyhow, regardless of the overoptimistic power claims the HT-70 sounds pretty good. Assuming you're not looking for excessive noise levels, the Home Theatre side of things will satisfy the majority of non-audio/videophiles  with the caveat that room size should not exceed around 6 X 5 metres. On music there is a little "thinness" on vocals and a lack of deep bass, it does sound better than the competition (at least the ones I've heard from Sony, JVC and that horrible little thing branded "Luxman").

The DVD player can also play CD-R and CD-RW but if you want it multizoned - forget it (it can be done at a pinch but voids warranty and is expensive). The major letdown as with all these one box units is that there is no digital inputs for future expansion. Oh well, you can't have everything, especially for $1575.