Philips MCD 395 Theater System
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- Front Speaker: 3 Way
- Included Components: DVD Player
- Number Of Speakers: 5 Speakers and Subwoofer
- TV Resolutions: 1080p (1125p)
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Philips HTS3566D: Incredible Performance for an Inexpensive Low Priced Home Theater System
Pros
Solid DVD player, fantastic home sound system
Cons
No TV to speaker cable included
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
The Philips HTS3566D is a fantastic, inexpensive home theater system. Great sound, and solid DVD player at a good price.
Philips HTS3566D Home Theater System
- The Product Review
Earlier this year I went to Costco looking for a new DVD player. I hardly worry too much about performance on these things, worrying more about whether it’s going to play discs and be easy to use than blowing my mind away with superior picture quality and sound. However my chief complaint about the last DVD player I had was the noise it made during playback and the sound quality on any of my DVD players in the past has always being a little diluted. A friend told me I needed better cables so I certainly had that in mind with picking up a new DVD player.
I wasn’t looking for a whole speaker set up, but the Philips HTS3566D Home Theater System instantly grabbed my attention. Firstly, with a well known name like Philips I knew that I was getting a reputable DVD player. Secondly it comes with six speakers which more than promised to address my past issues with sound performance. And thirdly the whole package was only $199. With Costco’s policy on returns I knew that I had little to lose. To this day I haven’t been disappointed; in fact I have been blown away by the performance.
The Basic Premise
From the Philips website:
“Indulge in an unbeatable home cinema experience with this system. Delivering incredible surround sound and clear pictures via HDMI 1080p upscaling, it also plays from virtually any type of disc and from USB drives and portable media players”
What’s Included
The package includes a DVD player, six speakers, iPod dock and an FM antenna. Set up is extremely simple with step by step instructions and color coded wires.
The DVD player itself also has a USB port, meaning that the combination of CD, DVD and USB enable a wide variety of playback formats. You can display your photos (JPEG), play music (MP3, WMA) or display movies in digital formats (DivX, WMV, MPEG). It also supports all CD and DVD formats (CD, VCD, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD +R DL).
The six speaker set up is very versatile. Two are towers and are recommended for surround sound, two are TV side mini speakers, one small speaker is designed to sit on top of the TV and there’s an 18” subwoofer. Output is specified as 1000 Watts. There’s a built in Dolby Digital decoder that processes all six channels. Speaker set up can be customized through the various presets or by adjusting each output individually.
Looks
The whole set up is sleek and stylish with its all black color. The DVD player looks modern; it’s wide and thin with rounded corners while the tower speakers are also stylish looking. The subwoofer is a little boxy and kind of sits around like a spare part but that’s a minor complaint.
Performance
Playback on the DVD player is fine, picture quality is great (720p, 1080i, 1080p) and my only real complaint would be the slow boot up and eject – I am an impatient person. Also the playback on DVD-R seems to be a little temperamental. One day a disc will work fine, the next it won’t. I’d say it’s fine about 95% of the time in that regard. Playback of original DVD’s has been flawless. It’s a silent player too, with hardly any system noise and no interference at all.
It’s incredibly easy to use too. Inputs are easy to change from the remote, although to be honest I don’t use mine for any other purpose than DVD playback. In addition to standard DVD features the remote also includes, subtitle and zoom options. I don’t own an iPod so I haven’t tried the dock which gives me a minor gripe as to why Apple has been allowed to monopolize the peripheral and plug-in market.
What really impressed me and really took me by surprise was the tremendous audio output. Speaker volume ranges from 1 to 40 with 25 being the max that I’ve ever tried to watch anything at. Preset surrounds include, “party,” “stereo,” and “Dolby Pro Logic II.” There are additional surround modes for “rock” “classic” “drama” “action” “gaming” “night” and “concert.” This is not something I play around with too much with the exception of older, lesser quality DVD recordings where it can be beneficial in clarifying the sound.
I’ve never really particularly had a need for all 6 speakers, my own home is an awkward layout for positioning the towers so everything sits within the vicinity of my TV. I’ve thought about disconnecting a couple of speakers but never got around to it. As stated earlier, each speaker has its own adjustable output but again I’ve never had any particular need to change anything. It’s one thing that I have to add: with my non-technical mind things rarely ever work first time or the way they’re specified to, but this system was up and running perfectly in less than 30 minutes. The only additional complaint I could make is that the cable to play the TV through the speakers is not included in the package but it’s not particularly an issue because my TV’s sound output is fine as is.
This Philips Home Theater System is a highly impressive performer. The DVD player is solid and while I never thought I needed speakers, I really appreciate the difference now that I do have them. Amazon merchants list the price at $135 now which makes it an incredible deal in my eyes. Now of course it just makes me wish I had a bigger TV.
Verdict: 5 Stars – A perfect system
See the full specs in Philips technical accompaniement:
http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/h/hts3566d_37/hts3566d_37_pss_aen.pdf
- The Product Review
Earlier this year I went to Costco looking for a new DVD player. I hardly worry too much about performance on these things, worrying more about whether it’s going to play discs and be easy to use than blowing my mind away with superior picture quality and sound. However my chief complaint about the last DVD player I had was the noise it made during playback and the sound quality on any of my DVD players in the past has always being a little diluted. A friend told me I needed better cables so I certainly had that in mind with picking up a new DVD player.
I wasn’t looking for a whole speaker set up, but the Philips HTS3566D Home Theater System instantly grabbed my attention. Firstly, with a well known name like Philips I knew that I was getting a reputable DVD player. Secondly it comes with six speakers which more than promised to address my past issues with sound performance. And thirdly the whole package was only $199. With Costco’s policy on returns I knew that I had little to lose. To this day I haven’t been disappointed; in fact I have been blown away by the performance.
The Basic Premise
From the Philips website:
“Indulge in an unbeatable home cinema experience with this system. Delivering incredible surround sound and clear pictures via HDMI 1080p upscaling, it also plays from virtually any type of disc and from USB drives and portable media players”
What’s Included
The package includes a DVD player, six speakers, iPod dock and an FM antenna. Set up is extremely simple with step by step instructions and color coded wires.
The DVD player itself also has a USB port, meaning that the combination of CD, DVD and USB enable a wide variety of playback formats. You can display your photos (JPEG), play music (MP3, WMA) or display movies in digital formats (DivX, WMV, MPEG). It also supports all CD and DVD formats (CD, VCD, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD +R DL).
The six speaker set up is very versatile. Two are towers and are recommended for surround sound, two are TV side mini speakers, one small speaker is designed to sit on top of the TV and there’s an 18” subwoofer. Output is specified as 1000 Watts. There’s a built in Dolby Digital decoder that processes all six channels. Speaker set up can be customized through the various presets or by adjusting each output individually.
Looks
The whole set up is sleek and stylish with its all black color. The DVD player looks modern; it’s wide and thin with rounded corners while the tower speakers are also stylish looking. The subwoofer is a little boxy and kind of sits around like a spare part but that’s a minor complaint.
Performance
Playback on the DVD player is fine, picture quality is great (720p, 1080i, 1080p) and my only real complaint would be the slow boot up and eject – I am an impatient person. Also the playback on DVD-R seems to be a little temperamental. One day a disc will work fine, the next it won’t. I’d say it’s fine about 95% of the time in that regard. Playback of original DVD’s has been flawless. It’s a silent player too, with hardly any system noise and no interference at all.
It’s incredibly easy to use too. Inputs are easy to change from the remote, although to be honest I don’t use mine for any other purpose than DVD playback. In addition to standard DVD features the remote also includes, subtitle and zoom options. I don’t own an iPod so I haven’t tried the dock which gives me a minor gripe as to why Apple has been allowed to monopolize the peripheral and plug-in market.
What really impressed me and really took me by surprise was the tremendous audio output. Speaker volume ranges from 1 to 40 with 25 being the max that I’ve ever tried to watch anything at. Preset surrounds include, “party,” “stereo,” and “Dolby Pro Logic II.” There are additional surround modes for “rock” “classic” “drama” “action” “gaming” “night” and “concert.” This is not something I play around with too much with the exception of older, lesser quality DVD recordings where it can be beneficial in clarifying the sound.
I’ve never really particularly had a need for all 6 speakers, my own home is an awkward layout for positioning the towers so everything sits within the vicinity of my TV. I’ve thought about disconnecting a couple of speakers but never got around to it. As stated earlier, each speaker has its own adjustable output but again I’ve never had any particular need to change anything. It’s one thing that I have to add: with my non-technical mind things rarely ever work first time or the way they’re specified to, but this system was up and running perfectly in less than 30 minutes. The only additional complaint I could make is that the cable to play the TV through the speakers is not included in the package but it’s not particularly an issue because my TV’s sound output is fine as is.
This Philips Home Theater System is a highly impressive performer. The DVD player is solid and while I never thought I needed speakers, I really appreciate the difference now that I do have them. Amazon merchants list the price at $135 now which makes it an incredible deal in my eyes. Now of course it just makes me wish I had a bigger TV.
Verdict: 5 Stars – A perfect system
See the full specs in Philips technical accompaniement:
http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/h/hts3566d_37/hts3566d_37_pss_aen.pdf
