Panasonic SC-HT80 Home Theater in a Box

Panasonic SC-HT80 Home Theater in a Box 

DESCRIPTION

Complete Home Theater System

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-10 of 34  
[Oct 22, 2005]
neilpaignton
Casual Listener

Strength:

Does most of Home Cineam in one box.

Weakness:

Fussy with disks due to not enough power to laser. Panasonic is not much help on this. Fix can be attemped as I have outlined.

I have found the DVD player and surround sound to be very effective. I did replace the front two speakers with larger 4ohm speakers. A major problem began 2 years ago Some New DVDs would not always play. Message on LED display says "NO PLAY". I discovered today that the problem lies with the laser being underpowered for some DVDs. On the web I found a fix. Follow or get someone competent to fix SA-HT80 with the following instructions: 1. Remove all disks from player. 2. When door is open slide front door cover upwards to remove. 3. Leave door open. 4. Important! UNPLUG FROM THE MAINS. 5. Remove the 3 screws from under the front panel then remove cover screws. 6. Disconnect player from the mains. Remove cover. 7. Once you have removed the cover you will see on left side is the drive parts. 8. Pull out the two flat cables which go to the Drive from the vertical circuit Board(Hold the cable with thumb and forefinger close to the connector and slide the flat cables out of their connector. 9. Remove the screws fixing the drive unit to the base of the cabinet. 10. Now remove drive unit. 11. Placing the drive upright on a flat surface proceed to remove the two screws holding the Plastic bridge that sits over the disk. 12. Also undo the screw on the small circuit board which holds the disk sensor switch onto the bridge and unclip that small board. Remove the disc retainer(This has a magnet which helps to clasp the disk in place when in operation. 13. On underside of drive remove the two small screws from the drive circuit board. You can now gently prize this board loose.(There is some resistance as a plastic clasp is holing onto the underside.) 14. Turn Drive back to upright position. 15. Remove the screws which hold the drive in(Screws go through rubber mounts to cushion the drive). 16. Once you have loosened the drive look at the underside and you will see one flat cable goes to the Laser. Where this cable meets the metal part you will see a tiny device connected on the outside edge of the flat cable. 17. Turn the POT 1/5 off a turn clockwise(looks like a small washer and be gentle with it) I used pointed nose pliers for this. 18. Now reassemble DVD player.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
2
[May 17, 2004]
Pafo
Casual Listener

Strength:

Worked for a while...

Weakness:

Not progressive scan, doesn't play all DVD's

I just started to get the same problems as all of you with the no play or sometimes it says something like can not read format etc. There seems to be something called a Panasonic Service Disc v2.0 TS20 do a search for it. I don't know whats up with it other than through extensive googling on this subject I came upon that. I am gonna try and see if it has anything to do with the region my player is set up in. Also it seems to be only happening with rented movies. Who knows how they mass reproduce them, maybe that's it. Also when searching I find topics on modding chips and such. FORGET trying to get anything out of Panasonic. They are clueless and/or avoiding the situation. Sounds like a class action lawsuit waiting to happen...

Similar Products Used:

I have a 53" HDTV by Panasonic, can't wait till it can't broadcast HDTV in 3 years...

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
3
[Apr 09, 2004]
127PJSNY
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Plays OLD DVD"s and CD's

Weakness:

Panasonic Product

Will not play new release DVD movies. Will play Special effect discs included with the new release movies, but not the movies. Will play old DVD's. Have not gotten a satisfactory response from the Panasonic Customer Call Center. They must know about this problem by now. Do not buy a Panasonic Product! They sell defective products and will not support their customers when they have problems with these products.

Similar Products Used:

Rocks and Stones

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
1
[Dec 15, 2003]
rob colchester uk
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

what i thought were strenghts have all been diminished by this 'no play' scenario and has clouded my mind to any strenghts it once may have had

Weakness:

won't play dvd's, 8 out of 10 anyway. sometimes if i keep persevering i will get one to play eventually....but after 40 attempts i have given up wanting to watch the damned film anyway. speakers are absolutely useless

at first i thought WOW what a great buy, but now the damn thing won't play dvd's. I have got the 'no play' message as some other reviewers are saying. I am bloody annoyed as I have only had it about 2 years. Looking back i must have been looking at it through rose coloured glasses. I used to have to live on the remote control as normal audio was so quiet you had to crank up the sound just to hear it, but as soon as any special effects came on you would get deafened...most unsatisfactory. No joy from contacting panasonic either, how can they sell such a crock of rubbish and not be interested in repairing it for you. These posts scream out that it is not a one off fault, but people, customers, all over the world are suffering from it. This is all a shame as I previously have got along with panasonic products. To this end i am awaiting delivery of a panasonic sc-ht900 as a replacement. Am i fool or the eternal optimist. Watch this space......

Similar Products Used:

none

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
2
[Dec 11, 2003]
AlfredL
Casual Listener

Strength:

All in one design, attractive at time of purchase.

Weakness:

DVD/CD unit fails.

Sad to say this unit fails to read CDs and DVDs and its only three years old. It is only used about 10 to 12 times a year and only DVD's from our collection,no rentals. This is the last Panasonic product I will ever buy. I believe a $450.00 appliance should last a little longer than three years.

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
1
[Nov 12, 2003]
Berten De Canne
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Yeah right....

Weakness:

It's a Panasonic.

Glad to have found these reviews. After approx. 1 year problems with the DVD player started. At first 2 out of 10 did not play, nowadays 8 out of 10. Had it checked up, cleaned, etc... nothing helps. Replacing the laser is ridiculous if you consider the price... If the laser only lasts 3 years with normal usage... then... NIE WIEDER PANASONIC, never again. One ulitmate solution I'm trying to find out is to attach a new DVD-player (which also plays MP3, CD-R, DVD-R etc...) to the Panasonic and use the Panasonic only for the surround. Anyone tried this out already? Tell you one thing, the new DVD won't be a Panasonic. PASS THE WORD: DO NOT BUY PANASONIC.

Similar Products Used:

None so far.

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
3
[Oct 27, 2003]
kingrichard
AudioPhile

Strength:

At first it sounded good, it still plays CD's and the changer works fine. For a small space the speakers are the right size and this is why we bought it to begin with.

Weakness:

If all you need is radio and cd player then this is your option. It is a good paperweight at this time. The speakers a proprietary and cannot be used with other receivers or they will be burned out, or worse yet it will burn up the receiver.

I purchased the SC-HT80 and at first it was wonderful for our small condo. Now it will only play older DVD's. I have contacted Panasonic and they do not reply to emails. A year ago they said bring it to a local service center. I called the center and they told me to clean the disc's and laser head. This did not help. As reported by others, the unit played some new DVD's and when I tried to play a second time it failed. This is very frustrating. I will never buy another Panasonic product again, and I tell as many people as I can about their shortcomings and lack of customer service. The service center told me not bring it in they could not fix the problem. What a waste of money.

Similar Products Used:

Had a Kenwood receiver for years without a lick of trouble.

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
1
[Aug 31, 2003]
Jeremy van Frank
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

None

Weakness:

Besides the above I really dislike the fact the player won't continue on to the next CD - it just stops, you have to manually go the the next one - REALLY BAD DESIGN!

I'm joining the bandwagon! For the past 6 months this piece of s&*t has been a royal pain in the a$$. It started off by us having to 'trick' the player into playing each DVD, now it just won't play certain DVDs at all and all we get is a "no play" - STAY AWAY from this unit!! Last time I ever buy a Panasonic DVD player! Customer support is NON-EXISTANT!

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
1
[Aug 20, 2003]
Dissatisfied
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Makes a great doorstop or bookend

Weakness:

Takes up the space in my entertainment center where a DVD player should be

What a find! I hope more people hit this site to drive it up in the Google rankings. So sorry for all the rest of you but glad to know I'm not alone and this is a design flaw. Piece of ****! Every time I see "NO PLAY" I just want to scream. Can I force Panasonic to reimburse the wasted video rental fees?!? From the sounds of it, they don't even give a rat's a** about replying to customers. If you have this model and get "NO PLAY" all the time, add you two cents!

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
1
[Jul 15, 2003]
Jason
Audio Enthusiast

"NO PLAY"...i can't believe i found other customers with the same problem!! I, too, am quite dissatisfied with this product. I find it very hard to believe that the machine should only last for 3 yrs!!! I didn't think it sounded that bad for my first DVD player. I've contacted Panasonic too, but have not yet received a response...

OVERALL
RATING
2
VALUE
RATING
3
Showing 1-10 of 34  

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