I did a lot of research before buying this system and I got mine for around $400 on Amazon, for that kind of money I think I made the best choice.
I like to focus on the negative things first, I think they are the most useful.
Why 4 stars?
1) Remote control is very picky with a very narrow angle tolerance.
2) Sound quality is not 110% satisfactory
- - a) Bass should have been a bit better/deeper
- - b) Volume should have been a bit louder
- - c) Clarity could have been better
- - in other words it didn't exceed my expectations)
Positives
1) Everything else
Would I recommend this ???? >> Absolutely, buy it, you will have not regrets Sony BDV-E580 Blu-Ray Disc Player Home Entertainment System (Black)
I'm downgrading my rating because I'm beginning to have problems with this system. On three separate occasions, I have turned the system on and there was no sound. I had to turn everything off and then restart. The last time, I had to do that three times to get the sound to come back. I'm going to contact Sony, and if they can't provide a fix, I'm returning it.
Original review:
This sleek, stylish system pumps out a lot of sound, especially considering the smaller size of the speakers. The bass is rich without being overly heavy. The speakers have a great look with a piano black finish. If I had one complaint, it would be the lackluster remote. It's very basic, with all the buttons jammed together with no backlighting. You won't be able to use this easily in a dimly lit room.
I did a lot of research looking at multiple surround sound systems and I'm very glad I chose this one. The surround sound and picture quality are great, the FM receiver works well (you'll just need to make sure the antenna is extended up as far as possible to help pick up the weaker stations), and it comes loaded with several different options for listening to music and watching movies/videos via the internet (i.e. Pandora and Netflix, just to name two) which work great. The set up was very easy (it comes with a DVD that I didn't even use), the speaker wires are all color coded so you easily connect the correct speaker to the correct wire to the correct plug on the back of the base unit. The only problem I had with the wires is that the ones for the two rear speakers were about 15 feet too short for the way I wanted to place them. I just bought a 75 foot coil of speaker wire from Walmart for $15 which I then cut and spliced onto the existing wire so I could run them down through floor, across the floor joists, and then up through the floor to place them where I wanted them. The only other minor issue I had is that for the first couple of days it would not start up and shut down properly. I had to turn it on, turn it off, and then turn it on again before I would get any sound. And when I would turn it off it would go into "stand by" mode for at least 30 seconds (during which time it would not respond to any input commands from the remote) before shutting off. But by day 3 or 4 these start up/shut down issues totally disappeared. Even with the two small issues I had I would definitely buy another one and recommend friends to buy one.
Do NOT get this if you have any desires for a ONE remote system. Was hoping this system would be easier to use but am disappointed.
Only get this if you're going to use it for BluRay and normally when watching tv,cable, or sat, you'll just use the tv's speakers. Otherwise it's annoying to be dealing with multiple remotes to get everything set to the correct input.
1) This system doesn't offer discrete input codes (remote doesn't have any and Logitech (our beloved remote) doesn't show any). What this means is that to go from TV to BluRay, or vice versa, you need to push a button called "function" over and over again to loop through all the inputs (tv,cable/sat,fm,hdmi1,hdmi2) . Extremely annoying and very slow. Even worse, there's no onscreen display of what input it's on. And when switching through fm, since we don't use fm, we were rewarded with very loud hiss. Only on the unit itself is there a tiny display, but that display is facing UP! So you can't really see anything from where most people sit, the couch.
2) Even the remote does NOT have any dedicated buttons for jumping to tv or bd direct.
3) TV is confusing because the unit actually has TWO seperate inputs, TV and Cable/Sat.
4) Tried hooking up two ways, A) all devices going through this unit and the TV just stays on hdmi1 and B) all devices going to TV and then an audio cable back to the sony for sound. Both work but what's lousy about B is that you have to rememeber to also loop through the functions to get the sony back to tv when you're done watching a BluRay. B allows easier video selection but not sound. Need to use two remotes.
5) Can't turn off or rename inputs.
6) No buttons on unit. It's just flat and touch sensitive but not reliable, we'd touch but the unit woulnd't acknowledge. It was easier to use the remote standing at the unit.
Ok, I read a lot of reviews on this product, and I understand where most people are coming from when they write these reviews. Ill break it down to my key points to keep it short.- I linked this system to my Sony Bravia TV. It worked perfectly and took me less than 15 minutes to install. If your in the military and live in Germany, this product is dual voltage and does not require a transformer.- I didnt have to use customer service because I have a brain and I used it to troubleshoot. I hear tons of complaints about Sony's customer service. Unless the product is broken in half, you probably just need to read the manual. It isnt that hard, either that or you arent that smart. Its 2011, this is technology, get used to it.- I bought this to hook up my PS3 and XBOX - the two ports in the back of the system were perfect for this. If you need more ports then buy a multi hdmi out. Its not expensive and quit being lazy. Honestly.- Overall ive had this product a month and never had any issues. 9 times out of 10 its the user. Sony makes a great product, people just love to complain. Yay internet, right? Now I get to hear about it all the time.DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT IF YOU EXPECT THE EXACT SAME EXPIERENCE YOU WOULD GET FROM A MOVIE THEATER. THIS IS A HOME THEATER SYSTEM! HOME!!!! FOR A GREAT PRODUCT AT A GREAT PRICE, BUY IT! - Home Theater System'
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