Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic SC-HT900 Home Cinema System

My better half and I had been looking for weeks for a decent, affordable all-in-one kind of home cinema thing. We were about to pay for a £380 Sony thing, which looked nice and sounded OK (just OK though and we hadn't heard better at this price) when we spotted the Panasonic system in a shop for the same price. It looked a bit funny (the main unit looks a bit like a paving slab!) but sounded far better than any of the systems we'd heard in our price range. Needless to say we couldn't resist. We got it home, set it up (in under an hour) and have not regretted our decision.

The picture on DVDs is fantastic with vivid, real colours, great contrast, sharp edges and no sign of digital distortions. The sound is clear, dynamic and not distorted at high volumes, the speakers easily pulling their weight with the subwoofer coping with the bangs and rumbles of action films. Not just on Dolby or DTS tracks though, one feature can transform any stereo source into surround, which is great for watching films off TV! Audio CDs also sound great on this system, revealing a quality of sound you would expect from some hifi systems costing more than this. The RDS tuner is a useful feature too as I haven't yet got round to buying one for my hifi and now don't need to.

My only criticisms would be the instruction manual which is very brief and not too clear, the complex remote control where many keys have 2 different funtions and the lack of eq controls for the sound (even simple bass, treble etc). None of these are big problems though, after playing with it for a while you learn what everything does and can set it to your taste.

In conclusion, for a first-time home cinema purchase I don't think you can go wrong at this price, it's simply fantastic value for money. (Also, the speakers are tall so you don't need to pay another £60(?) for stands like you have to with most systems) If it were stolen we would definitely buy one again. Try one of these before you buy anything else.

I really searched around and cannot believe this system sells for under$500, much less $400. It took me less than two hours to completely set upthe system and it was step-by-step easy! The tower system is attractiveand I did not need to buy extra 'stands' or 'wall mounts'. The centralspeaker is small but delivers s high-powered sound. The subwoofer ispowerful as well and has four levels of intensity - I like heavy bass, butset mine at level 3. The actual DVD/CD receiver is very slim and easy tomaneuver. I had some trouble setting up my TV with the unit's somewhatcomplicated remote, but finally figured it out after several runs. You areable to adjust the sound to nine positions, depending on where you resitting. You don't have to be front and center.
The system looks very sleek in my home and the sound is just incredible.The rear speakers play the 'echo' or 'audience' sound without heavy vocalson the 'live' recordings. It is true 5.1 digital sound. My only regret isthat it does not play SACD's. Listening to my old CD's all over again islike the first time I ever listened to them. The 5.1 surround brings outsounds I never heard before and makes clear distinction between acousticand electric guitars, multiple keyboards and backing vocalists. A great CDto test on this system is Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon", but anyclassical recording sounds like you are in the theater! This is the realdeal and I can't recommend it highly enough.