MID PRICED HOME THEATER KIT.
Unless you are desperate for wireless rear channel speakers and cannot afford quality ones, the Panasonic SC-HT940 Deluxe is a definite pass. Poorly implemented features and design flaws are unforgivable at this price level.
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Panasonic: All Style With Little Substance
I feel that this particular home theater system is a definite pass unless you are desperate for wireless speakers.
The SC-HT940 Deluxe offers up a bit of a conundrum for me- I want to like it, and when it works it works great; however, there are just too many serious shortcomings inherent to the system for me to be able to recommend it to anyone.
The good news is that right out of the box the Panasonic sounds great, it accurately reproduces sound with little distortion and great clarity, and at 1200 total watts the system has plenty of power that will work well in a mid sized living room.
The Panasonic is also feature rich, however each feature seems to come with caveats that forces the user to make compromises. For instance, the SC-HT940 Deluxe has the ability (with an optional accessory) to use wireless signals to transfer sound to the rear speakers, effectively removing the most annoying cords.
At first blush this appears to be a great feature, unfortunately the convenience comes at the cost of poor audio. Using the wireless setting resulted in hollow and underpowered rear channel performance. Wireless audio technology simply has not advanced enough to make it usable in the mid priced home market successfully.
Another flaw is the supposed interoperability of the system with other AV components. Panasonic claims that the SC-HT940 Deluxe can be managed with the same remote you use with your other AV components, but what I didn’t realize is that the proprietary HDAVI specification needed for this interoperability can only be found in other Panasonic components.
There are other defects by design flaws that plague the SC-HT940 Deluxe. Its lack of digital inputs means that you are unable to hook up other AV components to the receiver, leaving people with large CD changers out of luck. Another potential problem that I personally did not experience, but is apparently relatively common, is the dreaded Panasonic f61 error. Essentially, this error can pop up at any time, even months after purchase, and renders your system unusable. If your system becomes plagued with this error Panasonic will fix it, but that can often take weeks.
When the Panasonic SC-HT940 Deluxe works, it works well. There are just too many things going against this system for me to give it a good rating. Perhaps if Panasonic offered this as an entry level system I would have been more lenient, but I just expect more from a mid priced system.
Technical Info:
Output Wattage: 1200
Included Components: 5 disc DVD changer / AV receiver, Speaker system
Dvd disk capacity: 5
Dvd playback mode: Title, Chapter
Dvd type: DVD changer
Audio output mode: Surround Sound
Audio output type: None
Surround sound effects: Super Surround Sound
Component type: Home theater system
Built in decoders: Dolby Pro Logic II, Dolby Digital, DTS decoder
Remote control description:Universal remote control
Audio input: None
HDMI output to TV: Yes
Opt. Wireless surround: Yes
Headphones jack: Yes
Mini disc system: None
Tuner technology: Digital
Turntable type: None
Radio bands supported: AM/FM
Cd system type: None
Cassette system type: None
MSRP: $599.99
See the Amazon page for PANASONIC SC-HT940 DELUXE HOME THEATER SYSTEM Review here