» Philips Home Theater System HTS3357

There are several Philips home theater systems of high quality available. One of those is Philips HTS3357 DVD home theater system. It is a package of a high definition DVD player and 5.1 surround speakers for European consumers.

Video Features

The home theater system has high definition video support 1080i, which means up to 1080 lines of vertical resolution with non-progressive scan. This means that coupled with an HD television set, HTS3357 can display high definition video at a great precision that should satisfy the needs of even a very wide television set.

HTS3357 DVD player can play DVD and CD video discs, but also data DVDs and CDs. It supports DivX and MPEG coded video from data discs. DivX is one of the most used codecs for video distributed online.

Audio Features

The HTS3357 has 5.1 surround home theater speakers. Dolby Digital and Pro Logic II ensure surround sounds for any video content, even those with only stereo audio included. Sounds are enhanced with a class “D” digital amplifier.

The Philips home theater audio system can also play music from DVD or CD discs - both audio discs and MP3 or WMA data discs. It also has an USB connection for direct MP3 player plug in, and an “MP3″ line in for incompatible models. This ensures that you can play all your music through the speakers.

Review

Both the video and the audio features are enough for most home theater designers. Surround speakers and high definition video support are a must for serious home theater systems and Philips HTS3357 comes with both of them. The connectivity is also very good, and the DVD player can be plugged in to almost and television set or home theater projector without problems.

The installation is also very straightforward and the user guide is helpful for common problems, but the user interface has some glitches. Video quality is as good as should be expected from the features. Audio is a bit lacking on the mid range sounds, but enough for the average consumer’s movie experience.

The best sides of the Philips home theater system are the ease of installation and every day use for DVD movies and television. The mid range price leaves it a very good investment for most consumers building a home theater.