Product Description

Panasonic home theater audio systems give you the ultimate home theater experience in all-in-one complete package. Panasonic home theater audio systems are a breeze to install and pleasure to use.Panasonic SC-HT80 is DVD-equipped DynaMovie home theatre system. For movie theatre power and atmosphere with the high picture and sound quality provided by the latest DVD movie and music software, just hook up to your TV. The system's multi-channel DSP has functions for advanced AV effects-virtual rear surround, multi-rear surround, center focus, super surround, simulated stereo and seat position settings. Six presets offer sound field control (SFC) with the following options: Heavy, Live, Clear, Soft, Hall or Disco ranges. Since there's a built-in Dolby Digital decoder, the heart of a DVD surround system, and a six-speaker package, there's no need to buy an optional decoder or speakers. You already have all you need to experience the outstanding sound localization and amazing realism of high-performance digital multi-channel surround delivered through the included center and surround speakers and front speakers with built-in super woofers.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #64188 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Panasonic
• Model: SC-HT80

Features

• 5-disc DVD/CD changer
• 5.1-channel amplifier (30 watts per channel)
• Dolby Digital and Dolby Pro Logic processing
• 6-speaker system includes center channel and subwoofer
• Fully remote controllable

Amazon.com Review
Perhaps we're merely growing more cynical as time goes by, but we tend to look askance at manufacturers claiming to sell "complete" anythings these days. Look really closely at the fine print and you'll find that "complete" means "all but..." (fill in the blank).

So you can imagine how surprised we were to open Panasonic's SC-HT80 "complete home theater" and discover that everything we needed was there. All the wires, all the speakers, a subwoofer, a surround processor--even a five-disc DVD/CD player. (Panasonic does assume you have a TV and a room to put it all in.)

Heightening both our surprise and our pleasure, the system is also easy to assemble. Even neglecting the instruction manual, we had the whole shebang up and running within 10 minutes. Wires are clearly marked, as are all connections. Assembly just doesn't get easier. (And kudos to Panasonic for including a high-quality S-Video connection on the SC- HT80's processor/receiver.)

The identical front (left/right) and rear speakers are small--so small that we wondered if they would be up to their job, but they proved impressive performers. It's possible to overload them, but with good placement and sensible listening levels you can get impressively large sound without compromising quality.

We were also happy to see that the center channel is a larger speaker than the others. Despite the fact that many manufacturers still treat the center channel as an afterthought, it's still the case that the center channel provides up to 80 percent of a film's soundtrack and about 100 percent of the dialogue, which, for obvious reasons, is critical.

The SC-HT80's subwoofer pumps a lot of bass from an 8-inch driver, though we'd call it a woofer rather than a true subwoofer, given its 41 Hz roll- off (that's low, but still a good octave above the region of deepest bass). Still, it gives reasonable body to the sound from the other speakers. The subwoofer is controllable from the remote, and this helps tune it to both the room and its position. We like the subwoofer best when placed near the listening position, and we don't recommend the maximum bass-boost setting, which makes everything sound tubby.

We also appreciated the SC-HT80's flexibility. It has audio and video inputs for a VCR as well as a tape deck, and its built-in AM/FM tuner works well. The unit did what it was supposed to do and we found it easy to use. It's hard to complain about a product that does all that for less than $700. We give the Panasonic SC-HT80 two big thumbs up. --L.V. Phillips

Pros:

• Extraordinarily easy to use
• Center channel speaker is robust and clear
• Subwoofer is remote controllable for fine room adjustment

Amazon.com Product Description
The Panasonic SC-HT80 DynaMovie DVD home theater audio system offers total output power of 240 watts in home theater mode with six-channel amplifier configuration. It comes with a built-in five-DVD/CD changer that includes a built-in Dolby Digital decoder. Its multichannel digital signal processor has functions for advanced audio-video effects such as virtual rear surround, multirear surround, center focus, supersurround, and simulated stereo. Six presets offer sound field control with options including heavy, live, clear, soft, hall, and disco ranges.

Four satellite speakers, a center speaker, and a subwoofer with on/off switch and volume control are included. Three audio inputs let you easily connect a TV, VCR, and auxiliary sources. The SC-HT80 comes with built-in Dolby Digital decoders and advanced home theater receivers.

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Customer Reviews

HT80 good, not great
Back in 2000, I purchased this system to be my all-in-one home theater. While $700 can now get you much, much more, this was a great system for me. Speakers are not overly powerful, but they are extremely easy to set up and run, good sound quality, and stylish. I have had it for almost 6 years and only complaint is a crappy DVD lense (reader). Some disks are stubborn, but still play. I typically troubleshooted by re-loading DVD until it would read. Then, I got smart and purchased a scotch DVD cleaner from BestBuy, which greatly helped.

Lastly, when Progressive Scan DVD players came down in price, I just bought one for cheap to get higher picture quality and ran sound through Panasonic (using as traditional receiver/speaker setup, not all-in one).

I have finally outgrown this set, but I do plan on running it in my bedroom as I replace with a higher-end, more digitally enabled system. Speakers are too weak for big family room, and no digital audio in/out or upconversion abilities.

Stay away from Panasonic!
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.

Do not buy
Ok, the sound was good. Until a couple of weeks ago, that is. The latest CDs I bought will not play decently. The music is interrupted every couple of minutes by sounds that make you wonder if there is a record player inside (it sure is large enough...). Panasonic are saying I can have it repaired, which will cost me at least 40 dollars. Just about the price of a low end dvd player. You know, one of those systems that will play mp3, dvd, cd, cdr and cdrw instead of only dvds, like this Panasonic thing. Based on my experience and some of the other reviews it would seem Panasonic equipment lasts about 2 years. Hmmm.