Customer Reviews

Remanufactured Philips HTS3400/37B DVD Home Theater System

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

July 31st 2005:
I was looking for a DVD player for my bedroom at Costco and couldn't resist the $179 price for this brand new Philips HTS3400 (HTS3410 is the same except that it comes all in silver rather than silver/black).
I played some DVDs and CDs and after 2 days i decided to return it for 2 reasons:
1. It makes a hissing sound when it's turned off. Now, it wouldn't bother me too much in a basement (althought it would still be anoying), but it's a definite NO NO in the bedroom.
2. Rear speakers are almost silent no matter how much you increase the volume to them.

If you don't mind these 2 things, then by all means go for it.

Aug 2005 UPDATE:
Having nothing better to do, I went and purchased another unit from Costco to see if indeed I have a bad unit or it's a design/manufacturing issue.
Surprise surprise...second unit makes the same exact noise only a bit louder!
Curious enough (i'm a mechanical engineer with some knowledge of electronics) i open the unit to see where is this noise coming from. It is the AC/DC transformer, more specific two 330uF capacitors making this noise.
That is really poor design and/or low quality components!!! I did not expect this from a brand name like Philips. This is no different than any no name units out there at half price.

As a result I am changing my initial reivew and recommend that you look for a different product, this one is definately not worth the money. I cannot update the stars but this time I would rate it with 0 stars.

Oct 2006 Update: It stopped reading CDs but it reads DVDs no problem. Returned to Costco!

It came down to a choice between a $40 sound system with a seperate dvd player or this $200 system. The reason I purchased it was because it would save on space. Well, it may save on space, but the functionality was reduced to nearly ZERO. The cons:

-Audio popped in and out when playing MP3 CD's. Also a cracking sound when it actually played the audio.

-Hissing (especially from the rear speakers) when the unit was turned off.

-Low volume from the rear speakers.

-Didn't play many DVD's right (it would just stop, as if it couldn't read it).

-Will not read DVD-R/RW's.

-STUTTERING PICTURE. It did this on ALL DVD'S PLAYED. Every few seconds (it was an intermittent length of time between ocurrences) it looked as if it would drop a few frames. The audio never varied from being spot on, but it looked as if the player couldn't keep up with the DVD. This is what killed it for me. This COULD BE because of a defective unit, however, I will not be risking my money on another Philips player.

The pros:

-Good audio output. That's about it.

My expectations were disappointed HORRIBLY. I will not be buying another philips if I can help it at all. Instead, I bought a Sony slimline DVD player($75 with a $40 sound system) and it is far superior. Far. AND it plays DVD-R/RW's.

The sound was great, but the DVD would lag every 10-15 seconds during any and all movies. It drove me nuts. I had to return it.

While the price for this HTS is very nice, the performance is substandard. There's a hissing sound when the unit is off. The DVD player has trouble playing DVDs. I have a large DVD collection & most of them don't play. The surround quality is also very poor. It's a stretch to call it surround sound when half of the speakers don't put out much sound. In order to get this serviced, I have to send it out for up to 3 months. I bought a progressive DVD player, put the audio through the Phillips HTS 3400 and the video to the TV and suddenly the picture was better and the sound was better.

This Philips HTS3400 DVD has all the features I need, but its mp3 player is really bad: Audio just pops before moving to a next song . It looks like what Philips' people just do in all of their electronics. I really don't want to talk about this any more because William R. French and A. Isaicu all talke about these problems.

I purchased this amazing Home Theater system at Sam's Club. I also purchased a Phillips plasma tv. Together these two make beautiful music. When i first heard this amazing Home Theater, i couldn't believe how good it sounded. It reminded me of a more expensive Bose system for a fraction of the price. My friends always ask me how much i paid for it thinking i spent a fortune, but i did not. I paid $189 on sale. I even use it as my regular home stereo. I gotta tell you, my CD's have never sounded better. The subwoofer produces amazing deep bass and the highs are out of this world. Get this, you won't regret it!

P.s,

I've had mine for 3 weeks with no problem at all!!!!

I purchased this product a year ago. I'm now looking for a replacement. And here's why:

1) The hissing - As mentioned in other reviews...this thing has hissed from the start. I only really notice it while the unit is off...but it's something you certainly cannot miss.

2) No Disc - The DVD player has officially died. I pop a disc in, and I get "No Disc". It'll happen about 9 times out of 10. The same can be said with CD's.

3) Rear speakers weak - Rarely, will I ever have good sound coming out of the rear speakers. Even if I play with settings, it doesn't get any louder.

4) Volume control on unit is over-sensitive - The volume control is on a wheel...if I just touch the wheel, it'll jump 2-3 notches up or down. Or, sometimes I'll turn the knob slowly in ONE direction, and the volume will go back and forth a few notches. There was also a strange occasion where the volume would turn all the way down out of nowhere. That happened only for about a day.

Overall...not a very good unit, which surprises me since I hear alot of good things about Phillips.

Hi,

I recently got this system from overstock.com and put it with the Philips 23" flat screen LCD TV I bought from Amazon.com. Together these are great. I have had no problem with the DVD play and I love having a radio tuner built in... one less appliance needed and with lovely sound. Granted, I live in a small apartment and I doubt I would turn the sound up to really take advantage of the system (don't want the neighbors calling). But for the price it is perfect and the two together look great in my home and perform very well.