Yamaha RX-V665BL 630 Watt 7-Channel Home Theater Receiver Review

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(More customer reviews)I chose the Yamaha V665 after careful comparison with other units, and was very impressed with ease of setup and features. The sound quality is excellent, and while I had initial concerns with power output, at 90 watts it demonstrates more useable power than my previous NAD unit at 100 watts. I particularly like the four "Scene" buttons which allow linked input sources and sound fields and switch the unit on with one action. Contrary to other reviews on Amazon you can easily assign whatever input you wish together with a preferred sound field and assign it to any of these buttons. On the downside, you cannot assign different tone adjustments to these four "Scenes" which means I have to manually attenuate the bass to listen to spoken radio broadcasts which tend to create disturbing bass reverberations at times.
However the one big disappointment, which because of its nature I only discovered too late to return the unit (and I would not have purchased this unit had I known beforehand) is evident when a TV input from some (possibly all?) cable boxes is connected to the unit and passed through using the receiver as a switching unit (one of the key features of any modern receiver after all). In this mode the signal is subject to frequent dropouts of sound and video. Some days these dropouts are hardly evident and only for a fraction of a second, other days they are frequent and last long enough to leave the screen blank for a second or two or to delete entire words on the audio track. This happens with every possible connection I have tried, whether HDMI or component video (I have also tried monster cables to no avail). I have since seen other reviews reporting this same problem on other Yamaha units. My cable box is Time Warner but there are similar reports with Verizon Fios, so the problem seems endemic. Updating the current Yamaha firmware seems to have no effect.
There are always so many variables that it is difficult to track down the source of the problem, and I would hate to criticize Yamaha unfairly, but as the problem apparently occurs throughout the Yamaha product range, it would seem wise to hesitate on purchasing Yamaha until this problem is resolved.

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Yamaha RX-V665BL 630 Watt 7-Channel Home Theater Receiver

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3DTV Glasses (ONE) for Nvidia® 3D Vision laptops, desktops, monitors or 3DTV Corp Gen2 Emitter Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought these glasses by the end of Febuary had the chance to test them by the end of April. I needed an extra pair of glasses that were affordable and compatible with my NVIDA 3D Vision that I set up on my PC coupled with an Acer H5360 projector . These glasses are very good. They work fine and I can say sync better to the Nvidia emitter than the actual Nvidia glasses that I have: While watching 3D content on the projector the Nvidia glasses lose sync VERY often and the right eye of the glasses flashes a lot(blink) Which is a bit annoying. This problem does not appear with the 3DTV Glasses. My wife uses 3dTV pair while I use the Nivia's.
(Note: I've noticed that the problem I described earlier with the Nvidia glasses only happens when I view content using the Projector and not on the Samsung 3d ready monitor that I have.)
- The only complain I will have for 3dTV glasses model NV1 is that in the description of the product it does say that the glasses come with extra pair(s) of nose clip but my box came without and I don't see any place where the clips could be fix on the glasses. So I would just say that they don't use nose clips. and it will be good if the seller take out this information in order not to have many costumers miss lead or complaining about this minimum detail.
- One other thing one should be aware of is that these glasses DOES NOT USE regargeable batteries, so once a while one will have to replace them(the batteries).
Overall the glasses are great and I'm planning to acquire extra pairs of them.

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Toslink Digital Optical Audio Cable 6 ft. Review

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(More customer reviews)As stated in other reviews, bits are bits. If they get from one system component to another, you're doing just as well with a $5 cable as a $60 one. Monster and other companies are ripping consumers off with gobbledeygook buzzwords designed to obscure the mind and open the pocketbook.
I have installed this cable in my system, and its performance delivering 5.1 channel audio and DTS from my PS3 to my receiver is flawless. It performs identically to the other more expensive optical cable I have.
As of my last check of this product page, $1.31 as a list price and $2.98 for shipping makes for a total of $4.29. This is an outrageously good deal, beating even many other discount outlets. If you have a receiver that uses optical digital for audio input (as opposed to HDMI, which most newer receivers utilize), you simply can't go wrong. A definite must-buy at this price.

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Samsung HW-C450 Soundbar Speaker Review

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(More customer reviews)Ok let's start by telling you, that I am not just some guy doing a review. I have purchased and tested 3 other Soundbars and tested all the rest in the stores... First was the Vizio Bar - Ok sound, but did not produce a real surround sound effect. And I was able to max... out the volume at 3am in the morning with out waking anyone up... Needless to say it ain't all that loud... Although it had easy one wire hookup with a fiber optic cable... Second was the Sony HTC100 with HDMI hookups. This one was loved for it"s ease to hookup HMDI components straight to it and it acted as a switch. The big thing is, this unit was horrible on sound. I turned it up to it's max of 50 and could still hear my dishwasher in the background... As a matter of fact when me and best buy guy Dave tried it, we could talk over it on max vol... Now for the Samsung HW-C450: Amazing - amazing- amazing... This unit out did all the others on volume of only 26 with a max of I don't know (I think 60), because I'm afraid to turn it up because it may bust the speakers it's so loud... This Sound bar is great for the person who knows nothing about 5.1 and 7.2 channel theater systems. You will be very happy. Now I am a owner of a old Sherwood Receiver and 5.1 Dolby Surround System, with Cerwin Vega speakers... And it doesn"t give the back noise as great, but it definitely stands it's ground for a one pc speaker... Now for someone who knows about theater systems, don't get scare, this is the best low cost unit you can get and you will be amazed, but all I'm saying is, don't expect a 5.1 Dolby Sound from this. It is amazing sound, but doesn't hit every corner like your seperate speakers will. Now for design, A+++... Samsung gets thumbs up from me. It's not a big as the others @38" I think... But this thing hits harder then the rest. But the look is classy with revealed speakers with the crome tone tips... Just nice... Oh and I almost forgot it's touch operated, which is a nice added feature... Now for room size, mine covers a petty good sized family room. And still rattles the walls upstairs. And clearly heard outside the house. This one has 2 options for sound hook up, Analog RCA (Provided) and Fiber Optic (Provided). I opted for Fiber Optic, because my TV automatically sends the sound from the TV to the Soundbar. Which is the easiest thing for me, because it saves you from having to hook up and waste money on a receiver. All you would have to do if you had all HDMI hookup (Seeing if your TV didn't already have enough of them) is buy a HDMI switch from online or Best Buy. I use my Cable box HDMI, Blu Ray Player HDMI, DVD/VCR HMDI. But if you havee more things like Wii, Xbox360, etc. The switch will help you send the signal to the TV. I have not found any negatives with the unit as of yet. It has played both, burned DVDs well and regular ones with great sound... So there has not been any problems... Great sound, Great look, and Great price... And the Wireless Sub is fantastic. Use Cinema for Music, not Music... Under the equalizer. Has about 5 options...

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2.1 Channel,Wireless Active Subwoofer,Optical Input,Smart Volume,Virtual Surround

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Onkyo TX-SR606 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)I'll start by saying I'm not an Audiophile. I just wanted a decent mid-range receiver that does all the latest lossless audio formats and has 7.1 channels so it's ready to take advantage of BluRay as that format evolves. So my primary focus is on a system that plays audio for movies and video games as it's primary function. Currently I have this receiver setup in a 5.1 configuration since that's the type of receiver it replaced. I have more speakers on order to expand it out but to be honest, right now if you're building a home theater from scratch, you only need 5.1 . The 7.1 specs aren't really supported yet and DVDs and Playstation/Xbox are all 5.1, so if you're starting from scratch save some money and setup for 5.1 first and expand as support grows.
I used the automated speaker calibration feature to setup all the channels. This is where you place the provided mic at ear level at three different listener positions. The receiver then sends out tones which will drive you and your dog nuts for about 15 minutes while the entire process goes on. Once it was done however, I was/am very pleased with the results.
I've heard some people ask about humming, i can detect no humming. I have some WiFi equipment close by which is 2.5 ghz and so far have not heard any humming. Some other people have said the Receiver runs hot to which I would ask those people, is this your first receiver? They do run hot ! This one runs no hotter than the old one i replaced from a different manufacturer so as far as I'm concerned, the heat issue is normal. I have it in a small component rack that's enclosed on the sides and back with a door on the front, it's got maybe half an inch space around the sides and 2 inches of space on top and so far everything is good.
The back has tons of inputs, but the primary reason I waited for the 606 over the previous model is the number of HDMI ports, the next generation audio/video cable which is a requirement for full resolution BluRay playback. They're rev 1.3a to support all the latest audio formats as well (none of which are currently supported by the discs themselves yet though). The receiver will pass through a 1080p signal from a BluRay or other high def video source. If you feed it a standard def 480i video source, it will upscale it to 1080i or 720p. It does a decent job but i would say upscaling isn't the receivers strong point, it does an acceptable job though. But lets face it, Onkyo doesn't build TV's, their bread and butter isn't video, it's audio.
I'm pleased with the performance and the styling of the receiver, it's just very basic and sleek. No built in graphical user interface and all that other nonsense that receivers 3x this price but no more times the performance come equipped with. This receiver for a mid end system for movies and video games just really can't be matched in terms of performance per dollar spent.
I have matched this receiver with some Polk Audio speakers. Specifically i have a Polk CSi3 center channel and six Polk RTi4 bookshelf speakers (all of which you can find at great prices here on Amazon where I ordered them from) and I am very very happy with the results. The Polk speakers like the Onkyo 606 receiver are over achievers for their price point, so they match together extremely well.
The only thing I have left to say is buy it, I wouldn't hesitate recommending this receiver to anyone looking for a solid movie/video game home theater experience.

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As part of the second generation of Onkyo high-definition-capable receivers, the TX-SR606 is at the forefront of affordable home theater. The key is to have the most capable version of HDMI. The TX-SR606 provides high-definition video and audio processing for four source components—another first for Onkyo at this level. From Blu-ray Disc players to gaming consoles and cable/satellite boxes, you have everything in the digital realm covered. Apart from 1080p video, the TX-SR606 can upscale all video signals to 1080i, regardless of the connection, for output via HDMI. Onkyo's own RIHD (Remote Interactive over HDMI) also gives you inter-operability with the displays and playback components from other leading brands. And with an expanded version of Audyssey's room correction technology, the TX-SR606 maintains the fullness of surround sound audio quality at low volume levels. The TX-SR606 offers all-round excellence rarely seen at this level.

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