Panasonic SC-HT830V 5-Disc DVD/VCR Combo Home Theater System Review
October 1st, 2009
Panasonic SC-HT830V 5-Disc DVD/VCR Combo Home Theater System Review from Sudarshan Karkada. Satisfied customer, I bought this system 3 weeks ago to replace a cheap home theater system I had. I was in the market for a decent system with 5-disc system. After months of research, I have decided on this sytem – even though I couldn’t find any reviews. You can get detailed specifications on Panasonic’s Web site or elsewhere on the Internet.
What I liked so far:
1) FM/AM presetting can be automatic. However, living in a big city, it found so many radio stations that it ran out of all presets before even it got to my favorite stations. Manual setting is pretty easy.
2) VCR rewinding is high-speed. I used to use a rewinder, but this one rewinds much too quickly.
3) DVD quality and sound quality exceed my expectations – but that doesn’t mean anything to you. I never liked my music/movies too loud anyway. System automatically sets subwoofer level at 4 (high) for DVD and at 2 for music CDs – which can be easily changed. We watched Incredibles at level 4, but volume at a decent level. Sounds from ending scenes were way too much realistic for us (and for our children).
4) Remote is very functional and feels good. Some features need reading the manual.
5) FM reception is very good.
Things that I don’t like:
1) Doesn’t play MP3 songs written to a DVD disc. My older (cheap) system used to do that. Big disappointment for me.
2) Manual says that I could randomize between different audio CDs. I couldn’t get it do that among MP3 disks. It might work on regular audio CDs, but I haven’t tried that yet.
3) Only one set of input jacks. I have HD receiver and a cable receiver. I have connected HD receiver right now and cable goes directly to TV. I am somewhat disappointed with that. Fortunately VCR is built-in. When you want external signal, sytem should be put in VCR mode with AV selected (described in the manual).
4) Connecting wires to sub-woofer and speakers is difficult. Holes are very small and inserting a multi-strand wire in that hole was a big challenge for me. Wires that come with the system may work fine, but we have pre-wired surround sound in the room which has multi-strand wires.
Other:
1) Manual clearly says not to push the disk trays in (use the close button)
2) Disk trays look and feel like delicate
3) Cable that comes with the system can be used as component cables
4) Manual could have been better
5) Best Buy carries them – if you want to look at it
**Updated on 7/3/2005
**1) It does randomize between different CDs. However, setting that up was a challenge for me.
2) It does not play MPEG movies. BIG turn off for me.
3) I have an extremely scratched DVD. All the other DVD players skip/freeze on that disc. But, this DVD player played it fine.
4) Overall, still happy with the system.
**Updated on 9/13/2005
**I recently encountered the same problem Donald (another reviewer) had experienced. DVD dialogue volume becomes very low or diminishes. However, MP3 music and CDs play fine. So, I called Panasonic. The lady _quickly_ told me to refer to page 41 of the manual and set the ‘Center Focus.’ I tried that with skepticism, but it worked. Now, the system is back to normal. My overall satisfaction is still high because I found some cool features as I am also finding problems like this. One such cool feature is the ability to search for a song in an MP3 CD of hundreds of songs.
**Update: 9/29/2008
Display at the front died (like it did to many other users), but I am continuing to use it. Yes, it is hard to use it without the display on the unit, but on-screen-display (OSD) on the TV helps to some extent. Replacing the unit is such a time consuming process that I am willing to put up with the inconvenience of no display.
To check price or purchase Panasonic SC-HT830V 5-Disc DVD/VCR Combo Home Theater System.
Related posts with Panasonic SC-HT830V 5-Disc DVD/VCR Combo Home Theater System Review
Posted in DVD Home Theater | Tags: Audio Cds, Cheap Home Theater, Connecti, Decent Level, Decent System, Dvd Vcr Combo, External Signal, Fm Reception, Fortunately, Home Theater System, Input Jacks, Music Cds, Panasonic Vcr, Radio Stations, Rewinder, Rewinding, Sound Quality, Sudarshan, System 3, Vcr Review
