Saturday, 12 December 2009
Home Theater System
I did a lot of research before buying this unit to replace an older JVC home theater system. I wanted "wireless" surround speakers, but didn't want to sacrifice sound quality. We've had the system for about a month and we're totally satisfied with it. The sound is superb and the picture quality is great, plus I have the capability of upgrading to a 3D television w/o having to buy a new DVD player (I'll have to work on the wife to get that done, lol). For those unfamiliar with "wireless surround speakers", they are not totally wireless. The system has a remote receiver that plugs into an electrical outlet and the rear speaker wires plug into it. It does eliminate having to run speaker wires across the room from the main unit, but you still have wires between the remote receiver and the speakers. I would highly recommend this system. Samsung Electronics HT-D6500W Home Theater System
The Samsung Electronics HT-D6500W Home Theater System is an excellent Home Theater In A Box. I compared it to the Sony BDV-E580 Blu-Ray Disc Player Home Entertainment System (Black) Both spent a week at my house before returning them BOTH for various reasons. First, I want to preface that the reason I returned the item is because it had a faulty Auto Sound Calibration (ASC) unit. The Samsung has quite a few positives against the Sony model. Here we go:
PROS:
+ 2D to 3D conversion included
+ Extra tweeter in speakers (Truly makes a difference over Sony)
+ Well thought remote
+ Much better quality sound
+ Can play MKV and several other formats, either from a USB Stick or DLNA device like a home server (Good if you don't already stream through a game console or HTPC)
+ Wireless rear speakers (not true wireless, but you needn't string wires from the TV to the back of your couch)
+ Fully customizable and preset sound options (Big deal over Sony)
+ Menu Layout is WAY BETTER than Sony
CONS:
- Sony has much better 3D Support, current and future.
- Customer Service is lacking, not very helpful.
- The Sub woofer is the weakest part of the system. It's not very powerful, and it's not a down-firing sub either, unlike Sony.
- The wires are MUCH shorter than Sony, you will likely need RCA AH1650SN 50 Ft. 16-Gauge Speaker Wire
- No power saving options, unlike Sony
Overall, the Samsung is truly superior. The biggest strengths is that it has 2D to 3D conversion, and the sound quality is far superior. However, Sony does have a much better/louder Sub woofer.
We purchased this system 15 days ago. It was easy to set up and it works fantastically. The sound quality is very good. From adventure movies, to war movies, to the sound of the rain in Out of Africa....we are very very pleased with this system.
Needed a new home theater system, my 6 year old Bose Lifestyle (mabe a little older) had a broken CD player, and the remote chronically ate batteries like candy. In retrospect, the length of cables provided by Bose created a mess in my room. Since I have a Samsung LCD, I went with Samsung. Components are all physically much lighter than Bose; don't let that fool you. Excellent sound, played a movie with bombs, moving cars, guns:better than the Bose. Can't say the installation was flawless, since HDMI cable from cable box to TV had to be removed so another could be inserted, AND, since the LCD only has 2 HDMI inputs, I had to disconnect Apple TV (which I use infrequently anyway). Note well: a button on the remote changes the speaker use from just the two front to all of them, with all the sound options!!! Don't forget to push this. If you don't you may think only your front speakers work when they all do. Buy two HDMI cables at Radioshack, they take returns. Amazon was out (weird). IPOD dock work perfectly. I am getting some delay when switching sound from CD to TV. Don't know what that's about. Oh, the ugly triangular bottom slides off the front speakers if you don't like it; I took mine off. All speakers connect to the wall if you want. Rear speakers have no problem connecting "wirelessly;" they are connected to a small reciver, but have no other connections, i.e. almost wirelessly. Why spend almost $3,000. when you can get this for $500.
First off I will start by saying this is my first home theater system.... so of course I'm going to think its WAYYY better than my TV speakers alone. Also I will make the disclaimer that I'm a 23 year old female who is not extremely tech savvy. After making those disclaimers I believe this system was fairly easy to set up. Really all you have to do is plug the wires into the speakers and then into the receiver, it's all color coded so it's pretty simple. The rear wireless speakers are just as easy to set up.
Now my reason for four stars.... after getting it all set up I discovered I was getting a picture from the cable box but no sound, I was getting sound from the Blue Ray player, the radio and the apps so I figured it wasn't a problem with the speakers. I contacted Samsung and they ran me through several different sequences of unplugging HDMI cables and plugging them back in, and switching their ports, and finally resetting the entire system, after all of this they determined the HDMI ports on the receiver were faulty.... I called Amazon and told them what Samsung had told me... the friendly representative told me she would speak with her manager to get the approval to replace my system... I really didn't want to send it all back and she said that sending me just the receiver was not an option. So while I was on hold I did my own trouble shooting and plugged my old Blue Ray player into the HDMI cable that the Cable Box had been plugged into ( Samsung technical support had not even suggested this) and WAHLAA, I had sound. So once the Amazon representative came back I apologized and told her that I believed the problem was actually with the cable box. I called by cable company and they were able to reset the box and everything worked fine! It's not really four stars for the product itself, more for Samsung customer service.
All in all the system is a good system for a first time Home Theater user. I decided on this one after extensive research, since I didn't know anything about home theater systems at first. I had some options that I knew I wanted, and could live without others (such as XM radio receiver built in.)'
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