Customer Reviews

Philips HTS3565D/37 1000 Watt DVD 1080P HDMI Upconversion Dolby Home Theater with iPod Dock

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I have been looking for a good solution for my sound system. I don't want to go all out just yet with a 1500 system, but I don't want a crappy Insignia system. This is without a doubt a better than expected solution. I use this for Satellite and watching movies on my computer and my iPod. It brought a whole new life to my living room.

1000 watts is more than enough juice for a medium size living room, the bass is flawless and very powerful, I eventually had to turn it down. I does very good Dolby 5.1. The center speaker is loud enough, I do not have a problem not hearing diaglogue with music or action is going on in a movie.

The remote is very handy and easy to use. Yeah yeah, it's one more remote for the house but the ease of switching the surround mode and device is simple.

I highly reccommend these speakers, you will not be disappointed.

Like the other reviewers I am impressed with the sound of this unit- though I wouldn't call myself a committed audiophile. I bought mine at a local "big box" store before I saw that Amazon had it on sale- either way great value- so I am giving it 5 stars. I bought this unit for listening to TV/music while in bed. I was pleasantly surprised- I am listening to Pandora music out of an iPhone 3G directly inserted into the iPod dock.

While it is in the dock some of the functions from the included remote work like skip to the next tune. I don't think the iPhone 3G can be charged in this cradle, but that is Apple's fault for changing their charging scheme. Apple makes their own 3G dock for like $40 which lets you charge and plug the music-out into "AUX 2" ... other than the iPod dock, but you lose some of the remote usefulness this unit only comes with 2 audio inputs.

TIP: I have a Motorola "universal" remote that came from Verizon called DRC800. The `philips' codes didn't work, manually I discovered that DVD/VCR code 0539 allows you to mute the unit or skip songs. Volume and power don't work so don't waste your time it's not really compatible with this unit, so plan on buying a real universal remote. I like the Logitech USB's `cause they get new codes from the web.

Good: Value Price, iPod dock, Sound, setup was easy

Bad: No earphone jack, only 2 RCA inputs, not fully compatible with iPhone 3G, only came with a single RCA cable, speaker wires are permanently attached and not RCA, no video in, cheap universals won't necessarily work.

[...]

I'm saying three bills because of the following:

You'll need speaker stands/mounts, HDMI/ optical/ coaxial cables, and possibly a converter box.

For the optimum experience the speakers need to be set up right or you end up missing some of the sound. The stands and mounts take care of that.

HDMI cables are pretty much a no brainer and because there is only one you will need either a coaxial cable or a converter like another reviewer stated. I think my set up is the same. HDMI to TV with optical audio out from cable box to converter which becomes coaxial digital in back to receiver. Having this information beforehand made the installation pretty straightforward and painless.

This Philips HTIB is powerful and although it is lacking a manual EQ it has a handful of preset sound modes that push out a nice spectrum of tunes. The one add on that is not permanent is my PS3. The inconvenience with the PS3 setup is it uses the same optical line as the cable box (optical to digital)to the receiver.

Yes the speaker wires are thin but I don't believe it would make a discernible difference if they were any thicker. By the way, these wires are thin enough to slip behind baseboards without making it too difficult. The lengths of the speaker wires may be questionable but for my set up in a 12 X 15 room the length of wire feels about right. I think the disk tray as others have mentioned is weird. When it is opened at the receiver it seems to take quite awhile. But when I open the tray via the remote it seems to open a lot quicker.

I have used the receiver for music and it does well to pick up stations. The remote whether using it for a disc or radio surfing, has been very easy to use.

In reading other reviews I was concerned with the rats nest of cables associated with a system like this and thus looked into sound bars. I'm glad that I stuck with this because the little amount of wire/cables running on the sidelines is a small sacrifice instead of having to give up 5.1 channels for something like 3.1 that cost more.

This system also has an amazing upconversion. Cars, Matrix reloaded, Nemo, 300 (as with many other systems a little grainy), Shrek(s), Happy Feet, all look incredibly detailed. This is definitely a theater system the whole family can enjoy.

Not a bad system, with a few caveats:
1) No digital optical input, only digital coaxial. If you want to hook up a comcast cable box or a TV that's only got analog out or digital optical out, and you want good sound, you'll need to buy a digital optical to digital coaxial converter box. These can be had for about $20, plus the cost of the extra cable. Plus you'll have an extra component cluttering up your room.
2) Proprietary connectors for the speakers, and the speakers' ohm rating is not standard, meaning you can't use different speakers if you want. Not really a huge problem, unless these blow.
3) Speaker wires have a tiny diameter, which is not ideal, have a relatively long length, and cannot be shortened without splicing.
4) I can't get the comcast dvr remote to recognize the unit, nor could I get the TV's universal remote to recognize it. Almost had to go purchase a harmony remote, but hdmi-cec does work, so at least volume and power can be controlled by my TV.

Overall, not a bad system for a secondary site. I wouldn't use it for my main TV/listening area, but for a second system, and for $150, it's probably worthwhile.

Do not expect it to give you a $1000 quality. But for the price it comes at, this product is just amazing. The installation was easy and sound quality is extremely nice. For less than $200, you certainly cannot ask for more. So, the bottomline is, if you do not want to spend $600 or $700 or more, then simply go for this. This will give you the same quality as a Sony or Panasonic which would cost you more than $300. And you get the additional advantange of a direct USB connection. Highly recommended.

I bought this to replace a 7 year old RCA HTIB that is my secondary system upstairs. It unfortunately was the victim of a thunderstorm.

I thought I could not go wrong with all the good reviews of this product here and elsewhere on the web, but once I started using it all the flaws completely colored the few good aspects of the system. I did not test the iPod dock as I don't have an iPod.

The speakers are small along with the system itself, which is nice. I have a really nice system in my basement theater so for upstairs, small & discreet is preferred. Hook up was easy, and the digital rca input for the dolby digital output of my DVR was welcome. I have no optical audio devices for this system. The only device other than the LCD TV is a Wii which is just component video and regular red/white audio. The video from the DVD player was decent but it's only a 37" LCD so upconverting just wasn't very important. I also watched a DIVX avi file and was happy with the performance of that as well. The manual says that you can only play DIVX files that are registered to the unit, but unprotected DIVX and XVID content from the web worked.

Sound and operation is where everything fell apart. First with the sound, there's no good way to adjust things to not sound horrible. There's just 5 presets. A simple bass/treble would have been nice. Action had too much bass, Concert had too little, Drama sounded like it was in a tunnel. Sports sounded fair for the news but lacked for everything else. The bass sounds like it's coming out of a tin can. Looking inside the bass port with a flashlight you see that there no sound absorption material in there to stop the nasty reflections. It's a sealed box so you can't add it either. Additionally, several times it would simply not output any audio even though it was clearly on the right input. My much older and same price (in 2001) RCA unit sounded much better and only had bass/treble adjustment. I've always thought presets were pretty much useless. You shouldn't need a different sound for sports,action,drama,etc... just one setting to adjust to your environment and you're good to go.

It's a shame, as I feel this unit is 90% there. A *little* bit more adjustability and a more universal remote friendly control scheme and it could be a great low cost system. If you only have this and TV and don't mind switching around remotes to control things it may be OK, but the sound is hard to listen to, especially for a TV. I have a hard time hearing things when it sounds like it's in a tunnel.

Things get worse when you try to set it up with a Harmony remote. I really love my Harmony's. I have three of them, one for my home theater, one for the bedroom, and one for this system in my living room. They've worked flawlessly with all my equipment. But this Philips unit has the strangest input selection. It has sorta discreet inputs but not. To change between the AUX1/AUX2/DigitalInput there a single button that cycles through them. Then there's another button for MP3. And no button for easily switching to the disc. Add to that the slow switching and even after an entire evening I could never get this thing switching reliably.

This would be a nice system if it would work longer than a few months at a time. The first unit we purchased lasted about 4 months then refused to power on. Philips did replace it with no hassles, I will give them credit for that.

The new unit lasted longer, about 9 months, however we had trouble playing DVDs throughout that time. It would stop playing and we would have to power the system off and restart the DVD, sometimes 2-3 times during a movie.

A few days ago we started having volume control problems. When changing the volume the indicator would increase/decrease but the sound did not change. We had to change the volume, shut off the unit, and then when it came back on it would (sometimes) be at the new volume.

Last night the sound died completely, and of course Philips says it is out of warranty. So in 13 months we've gone through two systems and are now having to buy a new one. In this day and age we expect electronics to outlast their warranties. Our Sony theater system downstairs is 10 years old this month and performs like new.

We have learned two important lessons:

1) Don't buy Philips electronics (we've had problems with another model also).

2) Don't be misled by a 4-star review - look at the 1-star reviews to see WHY they rated the product so low.

Some of you had good things to say about this HTS, well you are of the lucky few. I have had 2. The first one was replaced 5 months after I got it because it would not power on or off with remote. I thought I just had a bad remote but they (Philips) told me it was the unit. So they replaced the whole thing which I thought was great of them at the time. The day I hooked up the replacement unit they sent me I had to call them. It was making this kind of clicking/ringing noise. They told me it was just the motor and was normal and as long as I had the sound up I didn't hear it. But this noise just kept getting louder and the longer it was turned on the louder it got. This noise was coming from the unit itself, not through the speakers. I called them back but they will do nothing. Said my warranty is up. This unit is barely 6 months old. I can now see why they only give you a 90 day warranty. After that the thing craps out. I will never, ever buy another product made by Philips and I advise all to look elsewhere when looking for a good home theater system because you wont find it with Philips. Granted the price was decent but who want to spend a $150. every few months on a home theater system?

After doing some online and local department store research I found this system has most of the features found on the more expensive models for about half the price.
I received my system within a week from ordering through Amazon and set it up in my bedroom which took only about an hour.The instructions were easy to follow,and there's plenty of speaker wire to easily seperate around a medium sized room.
Be sure to buy yourself a HDMI cable,there isn't one with this system.I suggest getting a brand name HDMI cable and not a cheap generic no-name brand.The picture quality with this system is excellent.
This system has plenty of power and you can adjust each speaker through the receiver to your personal preference.I was amazed with the sound quality with using both DVD's and CD's.The subwoffer really explodes the bass and you can feel it.
The remote is easy to use and I recommend reading the instruction manual especially when you want to adjust the speakers power and the built in equalizer for music type.
I gave this a 5 star rating,and I think it's the best purchase I've ever made with Amazon.

I got this in December and didn't set it up till February. Today it stopped playing DVDs same story. Skipped a bunch then just stopped playing them all together. I used the DVD player maybe 10 times before it stopped working. This thing is pitiful. For the price I expected the weak volume control (very loud or very quiet.) Now it's just trash I guess.