Excellent HTS . Review on Philips HTS 3366/98

I was hunting for a good 5.1 Home Theatre system from a long time, I previously owned Artis S6600R/FM 5.1 home theatre speakers which were performing good, I also had a LG DivX compatible DVD player, it had normal connectivity options and I found it really did not offer me the real 5.1 surround effect, above that I always got stereo sound output from my Tata Sky DTH, when connected to my Artis home theatre speakers.

I had set my eyes on a Sony HTS(Home Theatre System), which was costing around Rs. 20, 000, I visited Croma store at Ishanya mall near my place, when I heard the sound output from the Sony HTS, it dampened my spirits as the speaker sound lacked good bass output.

I asked the sales person to play music on the Philips HTS nearby and I was taken by surprise with the level of high quality audio playback this HTS had, I could not test the DVD playback since that unit was not connected to any television, again Philips won me over with a good product within my budget, Rs 15, 000 was the price of Philips HTS 3366/98 when I purchased it.

I got this HTS within a week’s time and set it up myself, no help required, setting up the HTS did take some time, but was done without any problems, before I go ahead writing more about this HTS, I would like to share a painful ordeal I had to go through because of a strange issue with this HTS system, it used to freeze on DVD playback after 50 mins – 1 Hr, no other problem with CD and USB playback.

I had to follow up with Philips on this issue from July – October’08 to finally get a working DVD player, tested at their service centre, because initially Philips agreed and arranged to get the first unit I brought from Croma electronics exchanged there in the showroom, however the second DVD player unit also had the same issue, even after this issue I would still recommend this product strongly to anyone who wants to buy a good HTS in a tight budget.

Philips HTS 3366/98 has 6 speakers, 2 small front speakers, a subwoofer, centre speaker, 2 rear tower speakers, DVD player with USB playback(Movies, Photos, Mp3) with connectivity option for music players, karaoke, mic input in the front panel, a rotating volume controller, disc tray, on the rear panel you have plethora of connectivity options along with color coded speaker connectivity options, digital audio out(HD Audio), composite, analog audio and video connectivity.

It has two levels of sound customization, 4 main modes: Party, Stereo, Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II, secondary customization has wide range of sound modes: Classic, Lounge, Rock, Pop, Action, Drama, Gaming, Night, Sports. With these many options it delivers amazing sound clarity, even on high volumes it does not distort the sound.

I have connected my Xbox 360 and my Tata Sky connection to these speakers, with Party sound mode on, I get 5.1 sound output through 2.1 sound transmission of Tata Sky set top box, I can notice the sound difference on movie channels, SAB, Sony, some news channels, it does distribute the sound giving a good surround effect.This product gives me great audio output on my DVD’s, playing Mp3 and DivX movies from USB is a big relief for a movie and music buff like me, freedom from burning RW DVD’s and CD’s, I would not dwell much into the technical aspects of this HTS to confuse readers, what I can summarize is that this HTS delivers on sound quality at all fronts; TV, Radio, Gaming, Movies, Music.

Philips is known to offer good quality products at affordable price, and I respect this brand more than any other electronic brand, with my Philips LCD on which also I have written a review earlier, I feel my home entertainment package is now complete along with my Xbox 360.