Sounds great, but considerable reliability concerns.
Pros:
Cheap, Loud, Clear, Multitude of features.
Cons:
Durability in question, proprietary speaker connections.
The Bottom Line:
Well worth the money. Look for it on sale and/or refurbished. Get an extended warranty if available.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
The Philips HTS3544/37 with its DVD player, HDMI output, aux-in and 6-speaker surround with subwoofer is a good value at less than $200. Sometimes found on sale for $100 or less, the power and features offered here are rare. It's sleek and attractive too, and will look good in your entertainment center.
DVD player quality is good and without having to connect it to an external sound system, the sound from the DVD player is equally strong. HDMI output helps picture quality and as such, the DVD player looks and sounds great.
The sound is good, Dolby PLII works well through all 6 speakers. The subwoofer is not powered and sounds mediocre, but considering the cost of this unit many consumers may choose to add a powered subwoofer to the setup. Proprietary speaker connectors are annoying, but if you want to use different speakers or an external subwoofer you can just cut the wire and splice in your own. Not ideal, but a viable option.
I've owned two of these - the first died and refused to even power on after about a year. The second still works, but the DVD player part does not work any more. I thus have some reliability concerns about it, but the $200 combined I've spent for almost 3 years of great sound was very much worth it.
