Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic SC-HT900 Home Theater System with 5-Disc DVD Changer

I picked up an open-box of this system at Best Buy one evening and thought I'd made a steal. Normally $500 I got it for $300 with some scuffs and damage, no big deal. I brought it home and immediately plugged it in to test it out. The sound was great on the radio but the DVD player failed to function! After much fighting and hassle I googled the error I was getting, DVD H02. I'm not suppoesd to post URLs in the review, so I'll just say to google "panasonic H02" (without quotes) for yourself and see what you find. It's not pretty. Panasonic DVD players consistently fail after 1 year of use and the repair bill is more than a new DVD player. The problem is, this unit is linked together and can't be separated for components. So if one thing goes, the entire system goes and you're out of luck. Oh, and you'll also find that the fan in the subwoofer (where the amp is) goes very quickly and will ruin the amp if you don't repair it in time.

The only really nice thing about this system are the speaker stands. They are stylish and very convenient.

In the end I returned the item the next day, got my money back, and bought a Yahama YHT-150 600 Watt 5.1 channel system without a DVD player. My current DVD player already had a coax out for surround sound, so I ditched the "complete system" idea and went for a component system instead. The Yamaha system is amazing, has _incredible_ sound, and if I want I can replace its speakers with nicer ones because the amp is not directly reliant on them.

And no matter what you decide to do, always upgrade the speaker wire. It will prevent amp over-heating and give your speakers a much better sound. I needed about 75 feet to wire all the speakers in my medium size setup. I chose to use 14 gauge wire.

I realize this is a very old product now, but you never know if some unsuspecting person is out there seeing it on auction sites from previous owners trying to unload it.

It is indeed a very attractive system for the price we all paid for it when we bought it and took it home. The surround-sound is impressive for the price, the look is stylish for something so cheap. It's not all that complex to operate either.

But the heart-attacking-inducing loud pops really are awful. Just awful. They ruin TV-watching. They ruin cocktail parties. They ruin those romantic moments. They ruin that soothing after-work music. I have owned this system now since it came out about 3 years ago, and I'll hang on to it a little longer cuz the pops seem to be ebbing just a bit lately and I travel so much for work now that I'm rarely home. But I will be going Bose next -- and recommending to all you folks out there thinking of buying this system from a previous owner --- DOOOO NOOOOT DOOOOO ITTTT!!!! PLEEEEEASE!! (Unless you're literally deaf.)

I bought this Home theatre system around 2 weeks back. After lot of research I narrowed down to Panasonic and Onkyo. But due to my recent good experiences with Panasonic products I went for this one. I did not want to spend more than 500$.This one cost me around 425/- . The sound quality was very good and the speakers are very stylish. I hooked the whole system in about 2 hrs. The speaker wires that come with the system are 33 feet each for the surround sound speakers and should be good enough. I unecessarily bought the extra speaker cords and ran short of the 50 feet wire that I bought and then only did I open the speaker wires which came default, should have opened them first. The Remote takes some time to understand, but if you are savvy with electronic gadgets it should not be a problem. You can hook up the digital cable and VCR player pretty easily (For this you may have to buy the cord). I was pretty impressed with the sound quality from the digital cable I have, It sounded better than my friends BOSE 3.2.1 system. The DVD player could play my home DVD's which I burnt on a DVD+R disc although the official manual says it plays DVD -R discs.
Overall a good system for the price. I would recommend it if you are looking for a sub 500$ home theatre system.

My wife selected this system because of the speakers and stands. I must admit that it sounded great for the price, at first. Several months of use and we got the same heart attack inducing popping sounds reported in most of the reviews here. The subwoofer/amp is extremely hot and the fan has stopped working. Panasonic was less than helpful, so I pulled it apart and found that even though the fan was good, the board would not supply any voltage to it. I would highly advise to go with another brand, as I will myself will be avoiding anything marked "Panasonic" in the future.

I usually don't leave product reviews but because I feel burned so badly on this one I had to say something to warn everyone else. I was actually online searching for a way to remedy the popping and hissing, thinking I must have been doing something wrong, and then I ran across other reviews that were stating the same problem that I am having. This system really is pathetic peace of junk and I have been totally embarrassed by them on more than one occasion. They will pop and hiss (loudly) then the sound will totally disappear. Forget this system and don't give Panasonic another dime. If I were looking for a new system I would go with Bose. Yes, Bose systems are expensive but they know have payment options on their website and I can guarantee you won't get these types of reviews form their system.