And finally the quest is over! I have a home theater. Philips HTS3544! The manual is both for Philips HTS3544 and HTS3555. I have not idea what the difference between the models is. I connected the digital audio out from my TV. Bear in mind, that digital out is only possible for digital channels. This means that I get true Dolby sound for a good number of channels.
The sound is amazing. I never really care as much about sound, but this is the kind of thing that when you get it, it's difficult to go without it. My concern was that it would be too loud, but the sound is spread over all the channels, so when you close the door in the room not much of it escapes, while inside you have a real theatric experience. For $159 at Target, not bad at all! There is no hissing or anything unpleasant about the sound.
You can really watch all the movies you have with a totally different feeling. HTS3544 is also quite slim, it does not look like an antiquated piece of equipment. There is an iPod dock which can also be used for some Philips mp3 player I never heard of (GoGear). You can control the functions of the iPod and if you connect the dock to the television with a video cable you can watch pictures or videos on the screen. I actually was not able to achieve that, because I don't have a single picture on my iPod. Unfortunately, it does not seem to be possible to view iPod's menus on the TV screen.
There is an MP3 port and I was able to get excellent sound from it. The only complaint is that the button on the remote toggles between AUX and Digital In. Takes a few seconds to switch from one to the other.
There is one valuable option. You can indicate whether your TV is NTSC or multi-system. I have a bunch of PAL DVDs. My old DVD recorder (also a Philips) could play them, but the TV was unable to display them properly. A TVs problem, primarily, but very inconvenient.
I ordered a Belkin HDMI cable from Buy.com for $10. When I get it I will be able to test upconversion. I cannot emphasize it enough that you do not have to pay $40-$60 for a cable at your local BestBuy or what have you. This is just a total scam. For a short cable you don't even have to have a real brand. I got a 6 inch Belkin, so this should be just fine.
One thing I have to try is playback of DivX disks.
So far, I was unable to make my Philips universal remote to work with this home theater... I was hoping that Philips products would work together...
