Panasonic SC-BT730 5.1 Blu-ray Home Theater System

I've had this system for about 2 months now and it's been great so far. The sound is enveloping crisp and powerful enough for a mid-sized room. The speakers are all relatively small and sleek for their output. I like the wireless rear speakers, although once in a while they cut out as if there is interference. The Viera cast system is fantastic, I use Pandora all the time, the ipod/iphone dock works like a charm, Netflix is a big part of my life (even though titles are limited and it's not so high-def), Amazon On demand is a life saver when I really need to see a show or movie immediately as it has almost everything and is fairly high-def (though kind of expensive).Overall, the sound, appearance, and features of this system are well worth the relatively modest price tag.UPDATE: I've had to remove two stars because the rear wireless speakers are very inconsistent. They will cut in and cut out during a program, which is quite frankly worse than if they didn't work at all. I haven't braved the customer service system to see if they can be easily fixed because I have a feeling that is going to be an exercise in futility. It's a shame because otherwise it's such a great system and the wireless concept is great, it's just the execution that is not so great.Second Update: The rear speakers seem to work again. And have for a couple months now. I guess they deserve another star...

I am 100% satisfied with this equipment, it took no more than 30 minutes to setup and then, power on, perfect, everything worked at the first try! the auto setup using microphone was perfect and the result was really impressive.OK my room is not that big, but the sound is really powerful and makes me feel in a real theater.Youtube and all Internet features (including auto upgrade of the firmware) worked without any configuration (I am using a wired internet connection, so I didn't need the optional wireless usb device), the image is not being displayed in full screen, I didn't have time yet to find out if this is just a configuration problem or a characteristic of the device, could be a possible problem.UPDATE: yes, it displays Internet content in full screen! No problem at all with it.Blu-ray images and sound are perfect and even DVD images are very well upscaled.No HDMI input is a possible problem, but all my equipments were already connected to the LCD TV, so I connected the TV to this unit with an optical cable and disabled the TV sound, no problem at all, wii console, cable box, broadcast TV, all sources are correctly played using all speakers.Considering the price of this unit, I am really happy with my purchase.

This is my first Home Theater system. I have an LG Plasma TV that I purchased a few years ago and was never happy with the sound. I selected this Panasonic Home Theater System because I got a coupon with my Avatar DVD/Blu Ray disc. The set up was very easy with step by step instructions. The sound is very nice. I purchased an optical digital audio cable separately which improved the sound quality, in my opinion. My environment required wireless rear speakers which came with the SC-BT730. I also wanted the Blu-ray player (my first) which came with this model. For under $500, this set up is fantastic. The sub-woofer will rattle windows. It sounds much more like sitting in a theater now. My wife says she knows when I am in the Man Cave watching a movie because she can feel the vibration throughout the house.Bottomline: This is an awesome system for a reasonable price. You can still afford to purchase some Blu-Rays and popcorn.

I read a few positive and negative reviews but decided to take the plunge due to a good price and assumption that every product has a few bad apples, AND I already had a Panasonic Viera HDTV (came with my house). Everything went smoothly with the set up. All functions work as represented, including the wireless rear speakers. You will be connecting these two speakers to a "clock radio sized" wireless transmitter box that needs a home and an outlet somewhere in the back of your room. The remote works with my Panasonic TV as I had hoped it would. The Netflix and Pandora functionality are enjoyed by my teenage son quite a bit, and the IPod dock is a big plus. You can view some aspects of the IPod song menu on the TV while it is on in IPod mode if you wish. The Blueray works well, though some older DVDs may give occasional trouble when upconverting as I suppose they all do to some extent. Speaker wire comes with color coded plugs assuming a particular layout. While this is easiest to install IF you want the same layout of device to speakers to TV as the designers decided, I would have preferred Panasonic to ship the wires all the same (LONG) length and I could then cut to size. As it is, I swapped and spliced some of the wire to get things to my liking. Not hard, just a little extra work.Some have complained that the extra cost for the special wireless network adapter that enables the unit to connect to a wireless home network is overpriced. I agree. You'll need to connect to your network somehow if you want to access Netflix, Pandora, Panasonic's Viera-cast, or any future network services (including upgrading the firmware on the unit, which I already have done once rather easily). In my case, I have simply connected to the router with a CAT 5 cable since my wireless home network is in the same location as the unit, so problem solved. If you are using cable modem service, think about moving it near the unit so you can do this too before you commit to buying the wireless adapter.Hard to beat this deal for cost, sound and compatibility with a Panasonic set. Sound is very good for general television, sports and movie watching. You'd have to really be a demanding listener to be unhappy with this setup for the price and ease of operation. Really improved my HDTV experience.One note regarding TV audio: If you want to listen to TV audio from this unit/speakers (as opposed to using the Blueray source) your best bet is to connect your cable or satellite box to the unit with an optical audio cable. I got a short (3') one on sale at CompUSA for $9 and it works great. If you don't do this then you will get the surround sound only when watching movies on the Blueray and I am sure you want the sound quality of this unit while watching TV as well.