Home > Consumer Reviews > Philips HTS3357 - 5.1 ch Tallboy Multi-Region Capable - DVD Home Cinema System - With 1080i Upscaling - Black

Absolutely fantastic system for money. Plugged in to TV output so anything that is viewed on TV from XBox, Sky etc. sound is played from Aux selection on HTS3357. Excellent sound, DIVX supported and even playes files from a USB key via USB interface on front of unit. Upscaling for improved DVD picture on HD ready TV's. Can't praise highly enough for a unit under £150. Excellent first system, can't rate it highly enough! Get one! :o)

This system has a really good picture, upscaled nicely onto my panasonic plasma. However, the front and rear surround speakers emit a loud hissing noise, even at zero volume, which was unbearably intrusive when watching movies and listening to music, even at medium volume levels. The hiss seems to get even louder as the system remained switched on.

I returned the first system for a replacement, but unfortuately the replacement also has the same problem, so its going back for a refund. My 5 year old kenwood surround system which i wanted to replace with this Philips HTS3357 did not have this problem so i cannot blame my living room environment for any speaker interferance, and to be sure, i tried the Philips system in another room, but the problem remained.

2 Stars, a great picture but the sound just wasnt up to scratch.

The other day my Sony Dav blew up, so I looked around on the net and saw a Panasonic home cinema that was reduced in currys. I legged it down to currys in order to buy but was very dissapointed. they had all 5 speakers and subwoofer plugged in and it sounded terrible, the sound quality was appalling. I was on a budget and all the low end ones had shocking sound quality, the only good ones were £600 +. Disheartened, I was just about to leave when I spotted this little baby sitting in a corner. thought it would be rubbish for the price,but what the hell I will give it a go.
turned it on, shoved in a CD and nearly fell over with the shock! The sound quality on this is amazing, the shop only had 1 speaker in and I could tell the difference even then. I then ran home and bought it on Amazon saving about £40.
For the price it is a brilliant system and easily
WORTH DOUBLE THE PRICE. AND BOY IS IT LOUD! as I said,I had a Sony before but this beats it hands down. It is very easy to make mult-region,on the main Amazon page for the specs, there is a link that gives you the remote code, I did it in ablout 5 secs and it works.
Really, truly you can not beat this system for the price, and it does beat many other systems that are a lot more expensive.
great bit of kit that looks like equipment and not a toy, great speakers and great amazing top quality sound and picture! what more could you want?
it does not have an optical input, but I just used a converter to rig up my sky+. even though I had to buy a convertor I would STILL buy this item again. TOP NOTCH SYSTEM.

Bought this the other week and was very happy, the sound quality is very good, although some hissing during quiet periods. Movies, games and TV sound awesome. HDMI upscaling is a treat also. The amount of features available such as sound displacement are helpful to adjust the sound to suit the room layout. For the money I wouldnt choose anything else.

i was a little sceptical on how good this system would be for the price but i need not of worried the sound quality is amazing, making the player mutiregion is a doddle and the upscaling picture quality is amazing, there is not alot of difference between the upscaled picture from a normal dvd and quality from my PS3 playing blu ray dvd's !

only one complaint and it is minor ! it takes a while to boot up, about 5 seconds but this is not a problem once you see and hear the quality.

others have said there is a buzzing from speakers at low sound setting, i dont have this problem though!