Panasonic SC-HT800V Progressive Scan DVD/VCR Home Theater System

Panasonic SC-HT800V Progressive Scan DVD/VCR Home Theater System

Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description
The SC-HT800V offers high-quality home entertainment from a system that's as compact as it is easy to assemble. All you need is a television and a living room--the SC-HT800V provides the DVD and VHS playback, the surround-sound processing, and the multichannel audio delivery.

The system pumps 220 low-distortion watts of total power through a specially matched six-speaker system (left, center, right, left and right surround, and low-frequency subwoofer). And its versatility with media playback--from DVD to VHS videocassettes, MP3/WMA CDs, and JPEG image CDs--means you're never far from favorite movies, music, or digital photos. Topping it off, the system's DVD-Audio abilities offer super high-fidelity (192 kHz/24-bit) sound from specially formatted, music-oriented DVD-Audio discs.

DVD movies will look and sound great through the system's 54 MHz/10-bit video decoder, Panasonic's video Depth Enhancer, progressive-scan video output (for use with high-definition and HD-ready televisions), and Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic, and DTS discrete 5.1-channel surround decoding and rendering. Progressive scanning, referred to as 480p for the number of horizontal lines that compose the video image, creates a picture using twice the scan lines of a conventional DVD picture, providing higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts. This feature can only be appreciated on high-definition and HD-ready TVs.

The VCR's four-head design ensures smooth slow-motion play (forward and reverse) and clear still-frame images, and with hi-fi sound the unit records and plays back stereo audio tracks. SAP audio receptions lets you listen to alternate-language tracks on select broadcast programming, and the unit boasts the ability to record in extra-long, 5x mode--just don't expect superior video quality at that setting. It also offers high-speed (600x) rewind--crucial when you're running late in returning videos!

The speaker set includes four wall-mountable bookshelf satellite speakers (front and rear left and right) powered by 25 watts each, a 30-watt center-channel speaker (critical for handling most of a movie's dialogue), and a powerful, 90-watt subwoofer optimized for unobtrusive placement. All speakers are magnetically shielded to protect your TV from distortion induced by the speakers' magnetic fields. A digital-synthesized FM/AM tuner lets you listen to your favorite radio stations.

What's in the Box
DVD player/receiver, four satellite speakers, one center-channel speaker, a powered subwoofer, a remote control, remote batteries, a user's manual, and all requisite basic cabling.

Product Description:
Panasonic's vision of the digital future is driven by the needs and aspirations of its business customers and millions of consumers around the world who use its products every day. The company shares their dream to live a fuller life by providing ways of working smarter and enjoying the rewards of technological advances.

Panasonic SC-HT800V Progressive Scan DVD/VCR Home Theater System

Average customer rating:

Quit working after a month

Good Value, Good Sound

Great bang for your buck.

Stay away from Panasonic!

Excellent value

Panasonic SC-HT800V Progressive Scan DVD/VCR Home Theater System

Manufacturer: Panasonic
ProductGroup: CE
Binding: Electronics

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Accessories:

Sanus HTB3 Tear Drop Home Theater/Box Speaker Stands

Product Features:

DVD/VCR home theater system with 5.1 speaker system and 220 watts total system power

DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, MP3 CD, and JPEG picture CD compatibility

Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround processing

Wall-mountable speakers

Universal remote control and all requisite cabling included

ASIN: B0000949XE

Product Description

Dynamic designs, powerful sound, attractive functions - it's all here in Panasonic's latest Home Theatre products. Panasonic offers Home Theatre Systems with amp/speaker configuration designed to let you enjoy the full power of digital surround for authentic home theatre entertainment from a compact system.ical advances.

Amazon.com Product Description

The SC-HT800V offers high-quality home entertainment from a system that's as compact as it is easy to assemble. All you need is a television and a living room--the SC-HT800V provides the DVD and VHS playback, the surround-sound processing, and the multichannel audio delivery.

Customer Reviews:

Quit working after a month.......2006-01-23

After a month, the unit (SC-HT800V) would turn off as soon as I turned the unit on.
After troubleshooting, unplugging and replugging, I figured out it had something to do with the connection from the base unit to the subwoofer. Since the all the speaker connectors are on the subwoofer instead of the base unit, I have no speakers.

The DVD and VHS will still work if I use the tv's speakers.
The tuner won't work unless connected to the sub, so no tuner.

Good Value, Good Sound.......2005-10-28

The remote was hard to use. It got hear really fast, andit was very easy to assmeble. I only don't like the fact that once I start having problems with the VCR/DVD It is all useless. If I had to do it over again, I would.

Great bang for your buck........2005-01-24

The Panasonic Home Theater System is the best bang for your buck. The only negative drawback to this system is that it is not to be used as a digital amplifier for external systems - however it will do a single L/R analogue input no problem. So if you want to hook your television, hi-fi or games console, into this unit then it will have to be done via an analogue line. This means if you are looking for an amplifier for several inputs from other sound sources then THIS IS NOT FOR YOU and at the price it is clear that the item is intended for limited purposes and is not a full blown digital IN/OUT sound system (be prepared to pay the $600 + mark for these types of systems that are only for advanced system setups). Although no true digital input is achievable you can always choose a digital OUT to analogue IN cable as an addition. However when all said and done I have my PS2 and TV hooked up to this box using analogue connections and it is fine and works but really the heart of this package is in the DVD player's quality and the SOUND.

The item has 3 front speakers, 2 surround and a woofer. The sound is sublime for the price. The picture quality is well above average and the functionality is pretty outstanding. The system is simple to setup (took me 20 minutes out of the box) and can play nearly every DVD disc format (including MP3, CD-R, CD-RW) and has several sound formats to choose from (DTS, Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Surround and Stereo). Also each sound format has several variations for room shapes and sizes. You can also adjust the levels of each speaker individually. The unit then gives you multiple options for screen sizes, playback types, picture quality etc. In short there is nothing this player is missing except for maybe some advanced features like zooming in on frames. If you are looking for an out-of-box home DVD theatre system then this is the package to get. The tower also looks funky and the ejection system is beautiful. I would encourage those who are looking for a good DVD system and who do not want to spend unreal sums of money to give this one a try. It is far from disappointing.

Pros:
1) Great Sound and a very nice speaker system to boot.
2) Multiple sound formats and disc types can be played back on the unit.
3) The DVD player has multiple options to choose from.
4) The quality of the DVD image beats the XBOX or PS2 any day.

Cons:
1)Load up times take a few seconds.
2)No true digital in/out.

However for some reason I prefered the design of the Panasonic SC-DM3 Home Theater System and think it might even be a little better.

Stay away from Panasonic!.......2004-12-24

Customer Service - the Panasonic website claims this is very important to them. I had my home theater only 3-4 months when a VCR tape got stuck. I has now been at the service center for almost 4 months! When I am lucky enough to get a response from Panasonic (which is rare), they make promises of completion and/or replacement. But promises won't play the DVD's my family would have liked to watch together over the holidays. When we finally got through to the customer service center on the phone, they had the nerve to hand up on us twice. IF YOU WANT A COMPANY TO STAND BEHIND THEIR PRODUCTS - STAY AWAY FROM PANASONIC!!! I have truly given up hope of even getting my home theater back from the Panasonic service center.

Excellent value.......2004-04-30

I have owned the SC-HT810V for four days now, after a month-long decision making process. That's the same as this model, with a little more output power, and with table stands for the speakers. The only reason I got that model rather than the 800V was that I stumbled across it at Fry's Electronics for $249 -- cheaper than the HT800V, anywhere! Otherwise, I don't really care for output power that much, the 800V has plenty to fill up even larger rooms.

Compared with some of the other models I looked at, these are its strengths:

* Compact, includes DVD, VCR and FM/AM Radio in one small unit.

* Plays a multitude of disc formats (incl. DVD-A, VCD, and Panasonic/Microsoft proprietary HighMAT discs). (Compare to the Zenith XBS344 and XBS245, which only play DVD Video and CD Audio).

* The sound quality and surround effects are, ahem, awesome. Now I just wish more DVDs (including children's, cartoons, etc) had surround sound.

A few things that did not quite appeal to me:

* No digital audio (5.1) input. (Unlike the Zenith, or the Philips LX3750W wireless theatre). This means that I cannot get surround sound input from my Comcast HDTV converter. (But who watches TV these days anyway?)

* With the DVD progressive scan enabled, thin lines, text, etc flicker a bit. It turns out that my Panasonic (CRT) HDTV in some ways does a better job of de-interlacing the standard (480i) signal (whether through component or composite cables) than the unit does, despite the D->A->D->A conversion.

* Operating the unit (+ the remote) is a bit cumbersome. For instance, to switch to the external sound input, you need to press the DVD/VCR toggle button to VCR mode, change to channel 2, then press CH- (channel down). This is only the sound - you also need to switch your TV to the appropriate input source. Basically, you need a good universal remote control - be sure to get one with plenty of macro capability, such as the One For All/RadioShack Kameleon. And because the DVD/VCR button is a toggle, you first need to press the FM/AM button, then DVD/VCR, after which it always comes back in VCR mode. (OTOH, if you don't have an external input source such as a digital cable box, you can get by quite easily using this unit's built-in TV tuner).

That said, with a good universal remote, this unit is a real, real good buy, especially considering Panasonic's attention to durability and quality. You will not be disappointed.

One thing to be aware of is that unlike most others, the subwoofer is the only speaker that is directly connected to the unit (via a 4m = ~13ft cable); the other speakers is wired to the subwoofer. The subwoofer requires external power.

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