Customer Reviews:
 no surround sound inputs January 3, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I didn't realize until I got everything all set up that there was not any inputs, except rca which doesn't give you surround sound. I can't get surround sound from my xbox or tv. It sounds good if you only watch dvds. I guess I'll take it back.
 Basic home theater. Good sound, with limitations. December 30, 2007
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I guess I should have read the reviews before purchasing this item:
PROS:
- Easy setup. The most complex part was screwing the main speakers together. Speakers are pre-wired so you just have to plug em into the DVD player.
- Good sound for the price. Compared to my previous Bose surround system, midrange is stronger but treble is noticeably weak. Bass is comparable, but sounds a bit muddier. The subwoofer level can be adjusted separately than the main volume level (5 selectable levels). I would give the sound quality 3.5 out of 5 stars, about what I expected for the price and from the store display.
- Compact. Device simplifies my home theater/stereo setup tremendously by replacing 3 separate components (DVD player, FM receiver/amp, ipod dock). The tangle of wires behind my entertainment center is much smaller.
- Quiet. I was concerned by the poorly ventilated design and the fan on the rear of the unit that I would be subjected to constant "fan noise". Although the fan does kick in whenever the device is powered on, overall operation is fairly quiet including the motorized tray.
CONS:
- Limited inputs. Inexplicably, the device has only 1 ipod/auxiliary input and 1 set of RCA inputs to receive input from your TV or any other device. So you don't get surround sound (only basic stereo or simulated "super surround") for anything but the DVD player. So the audio from the TV can be output to all 5 speakers, but it's not true 5.1 surround without the discrete center channel. And you can forget about adding any other media device (HD DVD or Blu Ray player) to the system. I ended up routing all my other media players (archos, dvd recorder) thru the TV instead of to the panasonic home theater. It may be worthwhile to invest in the 1050 model which has an optical input.
- Ipod setup is very basic. There is no video output for the ipod, so you can ony play music not videos from the ipod. The remote control can't browse or switch playlists, so most ipod functions must be controlled on the ipod itself. The dock doesn't even have the plastic tray adapter for the gen 3 nano, so I have to use the white plastic apple adapter which does not match the black panasonic system.
- Cheap plastic speaker encasing. Even the DVD tray feels flimsy. System is clearly not built to last.
- Limited equalizer functions (only 3 preset modes) plus no balance or fade. So whatever volume comes out of the rear surround and center speakers is the volume you're stuck with.
- Limited info from the LCD display. For example, when playing music CDs, the LCD can display either the track # or time elapsed, but not both simultaneously. The device recognizes CDs with embedded text but does not display the text.
- 5 disc tray is tempermental. Each disc has to be seated firmly in the disc "holder" or the device won't read the disc. My previous 5-disc changer (Sony) was not so fussy -- if a disc was inserted a little bit askew, the machine would "fix" the disc when the tray closed.
Altogether, if I had to do-over, I would definitely get the 1050 instead of this 950. The surround sound speakers are wasted 95% of the time because I can only get surround sound from the DVD player and not the TV. For $400, I think this device should have an optical input. Otherwise, sound and video quality is good.
No External Surround Sound December 21, 2007
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Pro's: The unit has fine sound and excellent video when playing standards DVD's. Price is good.
Con's: No external surround sound.
I expect a Home Theater In a Box (HTIB) to have surround available for more than just the internal functions like playing DVD's. Only Left/Right audio inputs are supplied via the Aux input for connection to a Satellite or Cable box. Digital Optical Audio is reserved for the PT1050, which costs $100 more.
If you plan on using this system for TV viewing, save your money and buy something with better capabilities.
 Good for the price December 21, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Just setup my system two days ago. Setup was not terribly difficult but I have some experiece. Placing the receiver for the wireless speakers away from my 2.4G phone was necessary. I would not have thought the reciever would cause a problem. I moved it about 6 feet. My wireless 54G network had some problems. I have a Linksys WRT54G. It defaults to channel 6. I changed it to channel 11 and it works fine now. I'm writing this report on it now.
The sound difference is fantastic compared to regular sound. The bass really booms quite well and the highs are clear as crystal. The sound quality is really pretty good but not on a par with a high end component system that cost two or three times what this system costs. For the price I think it's great. I have it in a very large room 25'X50'. I expect that if the room was a bit smaller it would really shine. The upvert on Gladiator was fantastic. It didn't do as well with older DVDs pre 1998.
I'm am satisfied and very happy with this purchase.
Good Sound, Bad User Interface December 16, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Bought this unit 2 weeks ago. My experience is mostly in component systems, not HTIBs; I bought this unit based on online reviews from this site and others. Here are my observations:
Strengths: Sound quality was good. Decent clarity at both low and high volume levels. Bass from subwoofer was well matched, not overwhelming. More than enough power from speakers to fill an apartment, or small-mod living room/TV room. Easy setup -- only had to look at the manual once for the wireless surround setup. Yes, you CAN adjust both time delay and volume of all speakers.
Weaknesses: User interface and iPod interface. In the attempt to make the UI menu-driven, many functions that are single button-pushes on component systems (subtitle, language) require 3-4 buttons to operate. Kind of a drag if the lights are down low and you're fumbling with the remote. Speaking of the remote, it's not very well set up -- I keep on having to refer to the print manual to find out what the buttons do. Would love to have some TV channel controls so I can toss out my TV remote. Finally, the iPod interface is definitely something that was obviously rushed to market. The SCPT950 (and 953 and 1050 for that matter) is ONLY capable of playing the entire library by artist IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER. No playlists, no menus, no nothing. Just linear play. Quite a pain when you have 500-1000 songs on your ipod.
Have not tested: HD video output (only have a 480i TV).
Overall, would definitely do a bit more research before buying again. Sound quality is quite good, but the user interface is annoying for technical-minded people.
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