Showing posts with label wireless home theater. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wireless home theater. Show all posts

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Samsung HT-C650W Home Theater System Review

Samsung HT-C650W Home Theater System
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I recently purchased this Samsung system as a replacement to my previous Samsung system that was destroyed in a house fire. I'm no audiophile, but I do know good sound when I hear it.
Before buying this set, I had considered sound bars and other 2.1 systems (mainly Bose) as I live in an apartment and my living room isn't all that big, nor did I want the system to blow away my neighbors. I ended up with this, though for a couple of reasons:
For the money, it's a good system. It's almost identical to the last albeit with wireless rear speakers. Which is my first point. The wireless rear speakers just work. You plug in a transmitter to the back of the unit and then plug the rear speakers into a receiver unit that you plug into the wall. So the rear speakers aren't truly wireless, but they're good enough. I did buy some nice stands to put them on so that I could hide the speaker wire. The receiver box is small (about the size of a Nintendo Wii or similar) and unobtrusive. I set it next to my couch on the floor under a side table and you can't see it unless you're looking for it. Also, the couch hides the wires coming from the farthest speaker.
The speakers are good. Not great, but they'll do. They don't have any grilles on them, which is a bit annoying. They look good, but if you've got toddlers on the move or a big dog, I'd suggest wall-mounting them or putting them up on stands to get them out of the way of curious fingers and/or sharp teeth. My rear speakers exhibit a bit of fuzziness at low volumes, especially when I'm sitting right next to one of them, but turn up the volume and have a steady flow of sound, and you never hear it. I'm guessing this might be a slight loss in transmission from the transmitter to the rear receiver, but I may be wrong.
The setup for this system was incredibly easy. Samsung color-codes their speaker wires so you can't really mess it up. The only bad thing about this is that if you want new, more or better speaker wire, you're going to have to get something Samsung compatible with their connections or either do some MacGuyvering to get their connection onto your wire of choice (which may defeat the purpose of better speaker wire). The good thing about this system vs. my last one, is that the wires weren't permanently attached to the speakers so I can upgrade my speakers at any point by just unplugging the wires from these and plugging them into the back of something nicer. I doubt I'll ever need anything more, but it's an option. Back to the setup, Samsung provides a microphone for an auto setup feature and while I never could get it to pick up every speaker every time (it would miss at least one each time), it did seem to get things close enough for me.
This system works flawlessly with my Samsung 46" LCD HDTV and while I don't use the remote (I have a Logitech Harmony remote), it seemed easy enough to use and matched the remote to my TV almost button for button.
For the money, there aren't much better systems out there. Especially if you're looking for rear speakers that are wireless. It's a good starter set or a replacement to an old setup if you just want to add in the all-in-one capability of the box.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Samsung HT-C650W Home Theater System

wireless rear and upgraded front speakers,Crystal Amp Pro,Eco Power System,Advanced ASC,Smart Volume

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Saturday, June 30, 2012

Sony HTSF470 Blu-ray Disc Matching Surround Sound Home Theater System (Black) Review

Sony HTSF470 Blu-ray Disc Matching Surround Sound Home Theater System (Black)
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Great sound.
Great 5.1 functionality.
Great value.
I have mine teamed with a 46" Samsung C6300 LED LCD and a Sony Playstation 3. I love the fact that I'm down to one HDMI input feeding my new TV for all input sources. . .they all go through the Sony HT-SF470.
Complaints: When I bought the product, I assumed that the rear speakers would work wirelessly without an additional purpose. Note, that to use the S-AIR functionality with this product, one needs to buy a transmitter to plug into the HT-SF470 receiver and a receiver for your powered speakers that get served. I also agree with the previous reviewer about how the system lacks a graphical menu. Finally, and perhaps most needlessly frustrating, I hate that Sony doesn't leave you enough wire for their rear speakers. There's nothing worse that to give up on an optimal setup because you don't have enough wire. Also, Sony uses speaker wire with proprietary connectors(more costly and hard to find upgrades).
Still a good value for the price. . .beware that they attempt to suck you in to future purchases by giving you a nearly complete system.


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Thursday, June 21, 2012

Samsung SWA-5000 Wireless Receiver Review

Samsung SWA-5000 Wireless Receiver
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Let me get to the point:
This product is not compatible with anything that would work with a SWA-4000 or SWA-4100.
The "TX CARD", which is a card shaped transmitter, is a completely different shape and size.
I contacted Samsung and was told the opposite before making this purchase. This item does not even appear on Samsung's website.
Their 4000 series of wireless adaptors has been completely discontinued, even though the theater systems that require it are commonly sold (including here, I just bought one from Amazon).
I understand that Samsung is constantly improving their products and therefore will often outdo their recent efforts. There's always going to be a new version coming out. That's basically why I like the brand. Their TV and Surround sound systems I just hooked up are simply perfect. I love them. However, the incompatibility does not seem to stem from technological reasons. The TX card housings and different... the electronics (as far as I can see) are similar. The pinouts appear to be the same. The card itself is a relatively simple device, too.
But mostly, they should be prepared for this question. The problem should be discussed on their website. They are selling a large amount of 'wireless ready' gear that they no longer support, so they should have been proactive on info.
And they should consider being more consistent with their TX Cards, because it's not a very complicated card and Sony seems to have no problems with this. I would have bought a Bravia TV and Receiver had I known Samsung's 'Wireless ready' claims were notional at best. And of course, in several months or a couple years, this unit will not work with Samsung's next lineup, the 6000 series or whatever it is named. Forcing you to replace more equipment, for no good reason.
I had to buy a 'rocketfish' universal wireless sound adaptor, which does not function nearly as seamlessly as this would have. I do somewhat fault Samsung for not being backwards compatible with a very similar device. Or at least selling an adaptor. But most of my frustration is that, when asked, their staff were giving me the wrong information.
As for quality, the device is attractive, well built, and has a strong wattage for the speakers. I heard a nearly identical Samsung unit at a family member's house and it sounds great. I am very sure it would be a great addition to your theater system if your system specifically calls for the SWA-5000. No matter what you hear from Samsung or a sales representative at a store, this unit will not work with the SWA-4000 compatibles.
This really spoiled an awesome event of hooking up a beautiful TV and hearing a fantastic HT 1250 5.1 system. Shucks.

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Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Sony DAV-FX900W 5-Disc DVD Dream System (5.1 Channel) Review

Sony DAV-FX900W 5-Disc DVD Dream System (5.1 Channel)
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(More customer reviews)
I had just purchased the Samsung HL-S4666W 46" DLP HDTV and I felt I needed a surround sound system to go with it. However, I didn' have thousands to spend, and I needed to get a progressive scan DVD player too. This system answered all my problems at once.
The set-up took about 1-2 hours (mostly just putting the speaker stands together, which are made of metal not cheap plastic). It was probably just as long to actually figure out how everything works. The manual has everything in it; however, it isn't in any logical order.
PROS:
-over 1000W of power
-"wireless" rear speakers w/separate amp (If you step in the way the connection is broken, but it goes back on within a second of walking out of the way)
-HDMI output & optical audio input (plus component, RCA, etc, etc)
-Auto-Calibration mic (I thought it worked pretty accurately, it tells you the distances that it thinks the speakers are from the mic, and they were dead-on in my case)
CONS:
-DVD turntable EXTREMELY slow (I was aware of this before I bought it, and I think most people can deal with it)
-DVD insertion is sort of sketchy (It doesn't tell you when to push the DVD into the slot, you just have to hold it there and hope it sucks it in. I find the easiest way is to "eject" the empty slot and then push the disc in right after the word "eject" comes off the lcd, I've looked all over the manual and haven't found a clear explanation of what I'm doing wrong)
-DVD FF/RW only has 2 speeds (really stupid)
Overall I love this system. I hooked up my PS2 with RCA audio to the receiver and started playing "Guitar Hero", and the sound was great. I've also thoroughly enjoyed watching concerts I have on DVD (Audioslave, Offspring, The Police, Depeche Mode, etc.). They all sound excellent. I have a DirecTV receiver, with the optical connection. It's great watching sporting events and such with this system.
I'm not a professional speaker guy by any means, but for what I use this system for, it sounds great. The DVD player is excellent barring its minor setbacks. On my TV the movies look great through the HDMI cable.
All in all, great starter system with everything included.
EDIT: Now that I've had this thing for a few months, I have a bit more to add. I think there should have been more inputs included with this item. I have a DirecTV box, a PS2, and a record player, and I can't hook up all 3 at the same time. There are a plethora of input types on the back, which is really nice so you can practically hook anything up, but only two things at the same time. Other than that its a great system. It has plenty of power, and I love cranking it up and listening whether it is NFL football or music CDs.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Sony DAV-FX900W 5-Disc DVD Dream System (5.1 Channel)



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Sunday, March 18, 2012

LG LHB336 1100W 3D Blu-ray Home Theater System with Smart TV Review

LG LHB336 1100W 3D Blu-ray Home Theater System with Smart TV
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Got this unit at Frys Electronics for $229. For that price it is a great home theater system.
Sounds great. Plays Blu Ray 3D. Lots of features. We especially like the home media DLNA feature.
I'm using an Asus RT-N16 router with Tomato USB software. Router has 2 USB ports and with Tomato you have a lot more control over the QOS settings. Got a 2 terrabit hardrive connected to router. We're putting all our music on it. So far the LHB336 has played every audio file we've thrown at it. No more going through CDs. Put your favorite songs in a folder and select that folder in the LHB336. Wonderful.
Video looks great on our LG 55LW5600. Don't have any 3D movies to play yet so I can't speak to that.
Pros - Value. Sound. Features.
Cons - Wife hates having to use three remotes. Had me plug satellite receiver directly to TV. It is a little more complicated than our using our old TV setup. It seems you have to press a lot of buttons to get to where you want to be. But then our old TV/DVD setup didn't do 1/3rd of what the new TV/Blu Ray home theater system can.
Still working on getting it to play video files from the network drive. Will update review when I figure that out.
Downloaded a 3D video file yesterday. Had to convert it to AVI format. Check out video format specs on LG's website. Blu Ray disk player will play certain formats. Will not play those same formats off a USB Harddrive. So you can't just copy a DVD formated video file over to the hard drive. Had to convert one of our vacation videos from DVD format to AVI to watch it.
BTW, the 3D video was awesome! The 2D to 3D (while still interesting) is just a cheap trick compared to and actual 3D video. Video was clear, vivid and coming out of the tv.

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(March 2011)
Internet-Ready Devices

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Sunday, January 1, 2012

Sony BRAVIA DAV-HDX589W 5.1-Channel Theater System (Black) Review

Sony BRAVIA DAV-HDX589W 5.1-Channel Theater System (Black)
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I purchased this unit to complement a Samsung LN52a550 HDTV. Didn't feel there was enough sound from the unit to complement the samsungs outstanding video. Shopped for reasonably priced HTIB units and decided (despite cautions that most didn't perform) to give this unit a try. In my wildest expectations I never thought this unit would perform up to its marketing description. Placed in a den of that is approx. 15 x 25 and playing a Dolby DVD, it placed me in a cinema that provides sound effects that truly astounded. I'll qualify this by saying that I'm a audio neophyte but for this sound at this amount of money I am truly impressed.
Be aware that this Sony unit is being used with a Samsung HDTV and consequently the transition between DVD usage & HDTV usage (must change input source) is a bit bothersome. I found that in order to obtain full surround sound from the unit when receiving audio only from you TV (not from the DVD) you must purchase a digital optical cable.
Hope I haven't misled any one but if you select this unit I don't believe you'll be disappointed.


Click Here to see more reviews about: Sony BRAVIA DAV-HDX589W 5.1-Channel Theater System (Black)

The DAV-HDX589W BRAVIA theater system boasts an integrated 5 DVD/CD changer, and 1000 watts of room-filling power. With the included S-AIR rear speakers with rear receiver and amp (WAHT-SA10), you can now hear powerful sound from behind you without running wires. iPod support is limited based upon which optional Digital Media Port is being used. The unit will support the following players: iPod touch, iPod classic, iPod Nano 1st, 2nd & 3rd generation, iPod 4th & 5th generation & iPod Mini. The optional TDM-IP 50 adds iPhone support as well.

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Samsung HT-BD7200 Bluetooth Speaker Bar Home Theater System (Black) Review

Samsung HT-BD7200 Bluetooth Speaker Bar Home Theater System (Black)
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Okay, so first lets start with what has not been listed in the product listing:
Blu-ray Profile 2.0 compliant for playback of BD Live material on compatible discs(needs internet connection)
Upconverts DVDs selectable 480i/480p/720p/1080i/1080p output via HDMI
Plays Blu-ray discs, DVD-Video discs, DVD-RAM, DVD-Rs, DVD-RWs, DVD+Rs, & DVD+RWs
Plays CDs, audio CD-Rs, CD-RWs, CD+Rs, CD+RWs, & MP3 CDs
Plays digital picture CDs (JPEG) and DivX videos
Built-in decoding for Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital True HD, DTS, and DTS-HD Master Audio (No DTS ES Discrete 6.1
DTS 96/24 DTS Neo 6)
3-channel amplifier (133 watts x 2 for front speakers, 134 watts for subwoofer)
Has a USB port for connecting an optional thumb drive or hard drive
Wi-Fi capable (needs optional USB adapter) and Ethernet port
Built-in support for Netflix movie and Pandora music services (you need to subscribe)
Has built-in iPod dock with audio, video, and iPhone support
Bluetooth-enabled (listen to your TV with a wireless Bluetooth headset)
No component or composite inputs
No coax input
No XM or AM radioSo, with all of these features, I can tell you that this is ok if you have a small space and no children. The finish is very glossy and shows every bit of dust and fingerprints and likely will easily scratch. The sound is a bit lacking when compared to a a true 7.1 system with a good (Onkyo) receiver. So, even though this decodes DTS-HD as well as DD True HD, it's kind of useless with this system. While it will decode those, you will not really get to appreciate it. Also, the sub is a bit weak. You have a 3 channel amp to run 2 speakers and the sub. So, if you simply do not have the room and you have to worry about neighbors, this is an okay system. I was thinking about giving this 4 stars, but after all, you can do better without spending that much more.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Samsung HT-BD7200 Bluetooth Speaker Bar Home Theater System (Black)

Blu-Ray Home Theater

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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Sony BRAVIA DAV-DZ170 Home Theater System Review

Sony BRAVIA DAV-DZ170 Home Theater System
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Purchased this system for our family room which is a little on the smaller side. The sound is rich and full, the subwoofer is better than expected, and overall we're very pleased. Good TV sound and excellent DVD and iPod sound. Moderately priced as well, which is a bonus. *NOTE: Fiber Optic audio and HDMI video cables are NOT included and must be purchased separately.* The system does include a cable for basic video connection. The Fiber Optic audio cable (recommended for best quality audio) is about $20-25 retail. [If purchasing the fiber optic cable, make sure to remove the small clear covers at each end of the cable before trying to connect it to the receiver and cable box or TV. Otherwise...yikes, you've plugged the jacks]. The remote is small, very handy and easy to use. Front connection for an iPod, which works great. There's an antennae for FM radio which we haven't connected yet so I can't comment on that.
Set up is easy but time consuming, so as with most electronic set ups buyers should allow enough time to run the wires, position the rear speakers, attach everything and run the tests. There's fairly generous amount of speaker wire [wish they could have included about 5' more for the back speakers]; depending on how the room is arranged buyers might need to figure out creative ways to run the speaker wires for the back speakers. If it's impossible to properly place two speakers in the back of the room there is a setting which adjusts the sound for a set up where all speakers are located in the front.
The system comes with a 1-2-3 Step easy set up guide and also the more detailed instruction booklet. Speaker cords, input jacks, and speakers are color coded and clearly labeled. There's a disc included to run as part of setting up the speakers and testing the system. For the most part the instructions are self explanatory and easy to follow. However, some of the steps are slightly more confusing than necessary because the drawings of various components [e.g. TV, Cable Box, Sony Receiver] aren't labeled. The person setting the system up can clearly see what needs to be connected, but it's not always clear to what component [cable box or TV].
We now use this system exclusively and keep the speakers on our TV turned down. We will probably purchase this system for use with our basement TV as well.

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Sunday, November 20, 2011

A/S TX CARD ONLY / USE WITH SWA4000 AMP Review

A/S TX CARD ONLY / USE WITH SWA4000 AMP
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I returned this item. the way I read the order I thought had to buy this and the rear speaker wireless amp. It came with the amp and I could not be happier with the way the Amp gives me more control over the rear speakers and the fact that I don't have to run wires all over to feed the rear surround speakers for my Samsung Home Theater.

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Samsung HT-BD3252T/XAA Blu-ray Home Theater System (Black) Review

Samsung HT-BD3252T/XAA Blu-ray Home Theater System (Black)
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I bought this system within a few days of it being available...the features I most liked were the wireless rear speakers and the included wireless internet connectivity - the included iPod dock was a plus. I am not an audiophile and felt like I was taking a bit of a gamble with a Samsung product since, while the picture is great, the sound on my 52" Samsung TV is not good! I have had the TV for 1 year and have been using it with an older DVD HTIB and just felt like it was time to upgrade. Had been looking at soundbar and other HTIB systems but wanted something wireless with Internet streaming - I am a gadget freak.
The system sounds great. It looks great. The Internet connection for Netflix, Pandora, and connecting to a PC work exactly as advertised. Very easy to put together and configure with limited directions. The wireless rear speakers make no noise other than what they are supposed to. I did go out an buy stands for the rear speakers...I just felt like I needed to get the speakers off the floor and I am glad I did.
The reasons I am not giving it a 5 star rating: First - twice so far it has lost the network connection and I have had to restart it...never during playback; only after doing some other function and then trying to switch to a network function. Second - I have my DVR connected through the BD3252 for both audio and video and there is a slight delay in` the sound when first resuming play after pausing or fast forwarding video. Third - it is not possible to change any of the configuration on the BD3252 unless you are in BD/DVD mode. To me, none of these are anything more than a mild annoyance but they are an annoyance none the less.
After about 1 month, all in all I am very happy with the purchase and would not consider returning it. I was able to get it delivered to my door for less than $650 which made it even better.


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