all home theater systems

System was all right in most respects, but when I connected to progressive scan inputs on our plasma tv, got erratic white line flashes in the screen while playing movies (tried several different DVD's). I do have another progressive scan DVD player and my TV is working just fine with it. Amazon.com is letting me return for credit less shipping charges for the return. Lesson learned here is be careful what box you check when making returns--I selected the "Product performance/quality is not up to my expectations" reason, so I get to pay for the return (84lbs via UPS ground--gotta be expensive). I'd recommend buying large items like this from a conventional brick and mortar store to facilitate returns. Or be sure and select the "Product is Defective" option if there is even the slightest problem with the system.

This Panasonic system was an upgrade from a cheap 300 dollar Sony system I had. This system is pretty good overall. The rear speakers sound great, as well as the tall boy speakers. They really do give you great loud theater sound, and the subwoofer really does it justice. It's pretty big for a home theater in a box system, and with your remote it's easy to adjust the volume for the subwoofer, along with four preset subwoofer levels to accomadate those using this in a small bedroom with neighbors, or for those of you using this in your home living room. The only real issue I might warn about this system is the center channel, which has some bad peak noises from time to time. It doesn't happen with most of your movies unless it's one that has been mixed wrong, but I notice with certain TV shows like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, the vocal audio sometimes has a slight hiss at the top of some high or really low pitches. Some other systems you would still notice it with these DVD's, but not as much. Some systems you hear that noise more than others, and this one it seems to be a little more noticeable than some. But overall, this system has the ability to be very loud and envelope you in sound. For 500 dollars it's a great buy, although I do hear a lot of people prefer the Onkyo for the same price, but I don't prefer at this time to have a rear center channel. This is a great set for 500 dollars and if you're not willing to spend money for a system of $1000+, than this is a good setup.

Moving away from the sound quality, this has a reciever and 5 dvd disc changer all in one. Some people warn about heat caused by the reciever on your DVD's, but I've experienced no problem of over heating at all. Don't even worry about it. The DVD changer is high speed and you can change discs by remote within seconds.

All in all as I've said, you get your moneys worth with this.