Panasonic SC PT750 (home theater system - 6.1 channel)

Pros: Decent punch in the sound, DVD playback options are great. HDAVI works great. iPod dock works great and you can control iPod from remote.

Cons: No optical audio input (Panasonic's site says it does), so you're restricted to L/R RCA input from other audio components. No option for wired Surround Speakers. You HAVE to use the wireless option.

Summary: This is a sleek looking system and paired with my Panasonic Plasma TV gives a neat compact look to the home theater. The HDAVI control works great so you don't have to fiddle with multiple remotes. Changing inputs on the TV automatically switches the Home Theater to the right audio input too. And the one touch play is sweet. Hit the button and the player and TV comes to life with all the right inputs (as long as you use HDMI). While you cannot view iPod Video through this system, the iPod music control works great from the remote which unfortunately isn't back lit and has no glow in the dark keys (are those that expensive???). Set up is fairly easy and for casual users works great out of the box. Do yourself a favor and read the manual to get acquainted with all the features it has to offer and for speaker placement.

The 5 disc changer has a decent response times compared to similar Sony systems and is quiet. Reading a burnt DVD takes about 10-12 seconds, but that will vary with the different DVD burning options used. Surprisingly, this system is pretty loud for its size/price but it wont blow your roof off (if that's what you're looking for). So far I have played DVD+R, CD, CD-R, JPEG CD, SVCD and MP3 CDs and it played all of them with no problems.

Some users had reported problems with the wireless receiver system if you have a wireless network setup in the house (2.4 Ghz). I have placed the receiver about 12 feet away from the wireless router and so far it has never dropped the audio signal. While it says "wireless", it only means no wires running across the room from main unit to the rear surround speakers. You still have to run wires from those speakers to the wireless receiver input which thankfully is compact enough to fit under your couch so its hidden.