Mini Home Theater

Home Theater Electronics

Home Theater Electronics

Home Electronics: Must-Have for any Home Theater Components

All home entertainment units have three major components that are essential to creating a functional home theater system. The main objective of any theater is the television or video screen. The sound quality is essential. A complete sound system is key to provide the soul and the voice of the theater. A source player is the third element, providing the image and sound. Cable or satellite standard on Most of the houses, but some DVD players and also added to extend the usefulness of a home theater. It is these three major pieces of electronic innovation that make a movie, playing the Xbox or listen to a favorite CD enjoyable and worthwhile.

Visual Element

There are options video display available to a home depending on budget and preferences.

Rear projection TV. Technology television has been based on cathode ray tube (CRT) to the 21th century. In a rear projection TV, there are three tubes, each representing one color primary. This color combination along with quality wiring and a good screen, provide a very high resolution image. Manufacturers are beginning to fall TV subsequent project their product lines however. Research your manufacturer's warranty before purchasing a rear projection television to make sure that customer service and repairs will be available on line.

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) television. An LCD TV can be found as well as rear projection and a flat screen. LCD rear projection TV are much more compact than their CRT cousins and use less energy. I have written about LCD televisions extensively in other articles, so they give up a more detailed explanation here.

Screen plasma TVs. In this technology, different gases are trapped between two panes of glass and an electronic signal can be modified to allow them to display an image. These televisions occur with a slim, stylish and can produce excellent resolution.

No matter what screen video that are leaning toward, make sure to measure the area to put the TV to fit to bring him home. Also consider whether the display is capable of handling high definition (HD) television and DVD.

Audio Elements

The sound system that will make a big difference in the enjoyment and functionality of your home theater system. A good system Audio includes the following elements:

Receiver. This component has the audio signal, and often the video signal and distributes it to the appropriate part of your system.

Amplifier. This component is what increases the intensity of the signal before sending to the speakers. Many times, a purchased receiver will have an amplifier already built into it, making an additional piece of unnecessary equipment.

Surround sound speakers. Sets standard speaker of five years are typical of most home theaters. There is a center channel, a front right, rear, left front and left rear. These different speakers, when properly positioned, the sound comes from the right direction.

Data / signal source

A basic DVD player is a standard signal source in most theater systems. The signal information sent from the player contains data video and 5.1 surround sound. Your cable box or digital satellite signal sources is also a home theater. These sources can be used in a system with wiring and remote programming.

~ Ben Anton, 2008

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LG LHT854 1000-Watt DVD Disc Home Theater In a Box List Price: $279.99 Sale Price: Too low to display   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Average Rating: Description 1000W 1 Disc HTiB, 4 Satellite, HDMi/ 1080p, Made for I Pod, Demo Mode Features HDMI 1080p Up-Scaling Superior image quality from standard DVDs with 1080p up-scaling via HDMI output Direct iPod Dock Connect, charge and control your iPod or iPhone LG Simplink Easy control interface with other LG SimpLink products. USB Media Host Experience your digital music and photo library with USB Media Host Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD Reviews Fantastic product, I highly recommend it. by Greg Hershberger from Wilmington, NC USA on 2010-08-01 I benefited greatly from the reviews on Amazon.com before I bought this product so I thought I would give a review of my own in return. First of all, this product has tremendous volume. I have a living room that is about 15x20, and I could easily rattle all the windows in my house at half volume. Secondly, the picture is very sharp, truly amazing. I have a Toshiba tv, it works just fine with it. It was easy to set up, I had no problems at all and had it up and running before I had read the directions. It took me more time to move things out of the way than it did to set up the system. The system has a USB port on the front, which lets you watch divx video on demand movies from a memory stick. Or you can plug your mp3 player in and listen to music. Finally, the thing I was most worried about was whether it would work with my Xbox 360 or not. Other reviews said that it would not work, or worked in limited capacity. Honestly, I think it works just fine. You may or may not get sound from all speakers depending on what setting you use, but in my opinion the sound is still pretty fantastic no matter what setting it's on. Here's all I did to set up the Xbox: I ran an optical cable from my home theater to my tv, then an HDMI cable from my Xbox 360 to my tv. Voila, fantastic sound. My Xbox 360 does not have an optial cable outlet. If yours does, get an optical cable splitter and you are home free. Just run one cable to the tv and one to the Xbox. Otherwise you can get an Xbox 360 adapter for the optical cable. But like I said, mine is just hooked up with HDMI and I think it's just fine. Whether playing a game or streaming Netflix, the sound is great. Probably the one complaint about this system is that it does not have an adjustable equalizer, such as adjusting bass. It does, however, adjust volume and distance for the speakers from the unit. The bottom line is that this product is top quality for the price. I am very satisfied with it, and I did a lot of research before I decided to buy it, so I knew exactly what I was looking to buy. This product fits the bill. It's not a Bose, but it also is more affordable than a Bose. If you are on a budget and want a quality system that plays DVD's (not Blu-Ray), I highly recommend this product. Customer experience by Victor Acosta from on 2010-07-26 i was in search for a nice home theater system & after reading all the nice reviews about this system i decided to go ahead and purchased it. Package came in a timely manner i just couldn't wait to tried it, i hooked up everything but Noticed the sound wasn't as great as described by other people who left reviews.The sound that was coming from my speakers was restricted and baffled,i had my Dial on #22 and i noticed hardly no power coming out of this 1000 watt system, after double checking my connections i still had the same result, i called the manufacturer i figured i was doing something wrong, the results was the same. i ended up calling Amazon explaining the problem they offered a replacement or a refund, i ended up sending the unit back for a Refund.i felt i had to write a very honest review and i wish i could give it 5 stars***** but unfortunately at this time i can't. Great unit for the price! by Mark Williams from Richmond, VA, US on 2010-07-17 Bought an LG Plasma TV for my "ManCave" but the speakers are under and behind the TV so it didn't provide enough sound without turning it up quite a bit. Looked for a cheap and simple fix but with the TV only having an Optical output for sound, was stuck. Until I found this Home Theater Unit, it is awesome! I have the Tuner now in the garage that I can really crank up when I want, a CD and DVD player, and I can now hear the TV the way I am suppose to. Great system for the money, and with the simplink, it is easy to use. Worth every penny. LG LHT854 1000-Watt DVD Disc Home Theater In a Box by DAVID LEMAIRE from Nederland, TX USA on 2010-04-29 I had one before for about a year and the CD player went out. I liked it so much I bought another one. If the CD player goes out on this one within a year I will not buy another one. Other than that for the price I love it. LG LHT854 Home Theater in a box by LINDA BONE from Missouri on 2010-04-23 My son chose this because it plays in DTS and DIVX, thumb drive support, ipod dock, and a feature that was important to him..an optical input that detects DTS. Most for the price only detected the Dolby. This does both. (the specs listed on Amazon did not mention the optical.) The price is moderate for the sound it delivers. He is quite pleased.

Coby DVD938 5.1-Channel DVD Home Theater System with Digital AM/FM Tuner (Black) List Price: $139.99 Sale Price: $81.69 You save: $58.30 (42%)   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Average Rating: Description Coby DVD938 5.1-Channel DVD Home Theater System with Digital AM/FM Tuner, 5.1-channel progressive scan DVD player with integrated amplifier, DVD, DVD±R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, CD+G and JPEG compatible, Dolby digital decoder, plays digital media files directly from USB drives and SD/MMC/MS cards, integrated digital AM/FM tuner with 40-station preset memory, dual microphone inputs for karaoke function, digital and analog AV outputs for home theater use, NTSC/PAL compatible, convenient front panel and on-screen display, multiple language, subtitle, and camera angle support parental lock control, AC 100-240V automatic power switching, FCC approved and ETL listed, Home theater speakers included; 5.1-channel surround sound system, with 600W total output*, 5 full-range satellite speakers, subwoofer with tuned port for deep bass response Features 5.1-channel progressive scan DVD player with integrated amplifier, DVD, DVD±R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, CD+G and JPEG compatible Dolby digital decoder, plays digital media files directly from USB drives and SD/MMC/MS cards Dual microphone inputs for karaoke function, digital and analog AV outputs for home theater use, NTSC/PAL compatible Convenient front panel and on-screen display, multiple language, subtitle FCC approved and ETL listed, home theater speakers included; 5.1-channel surround sound system.Speaker Output: 80W x 5 (4 ohms at 1 kHz, THD 10%); Subwoofer: 200W (8 ohms at 100 Hz, THD 10%); Total Output: 600W Reviews Requires setting adjustments to work properly out of the box. Read the manual for help. by pinenutmeg from seattle on 2010-08-28 This was such a great deal that I went ahead knowing it was probably just functional, not amazing. With these very low expectations, I am happy with it. When I attached my tv using the green/blue/red rca cables i got a pink picture, but found later that you have to select this output in the setup menu for it to view correctly. I am able to connect my cable box and bluray player to the single rca audio input using two cheap rca y adapters for surround sound. The decoder in the unit is able to convert rca to 5.1 channel provided you select digital output spdif/raw in settings (i thought for a while it did not work, but I just needed to change the setting). When I played a 5.1ch dvd on my bluray with rca audio input thru the coby, the sound seemed the same as when I it played directly on the coby player. I can use netflix and pandora on my blueray with audio thru the coby. I plan to use the coby player just for usb/sd/cd music, and save video playback for my blueray. The tuner is a nice back up, but not easy to use. It would probably benefit from better speaker wire for better sound, which just barely fills my 20x20 room. The menus are aggravating and you can only adjust audio settings when the disk is source. Not impressive if you accustomed to top of the line electronics, but certainly good enough for someone like me who had nothing before. No idea how long it will last. coby home theater 600w by rhino18jp from on 2010-08-03 this item is not as good as the 100w rca that it was suppose to replace. wrong choice!!! Great value for the price by Brian E. Nelson from Tacoma, WA on 2010-08-03 We bought this unit based on price, and it is great, for the price. It is a basic unit with basic features.I wish there was more customizability in the unit. It is a pain to always have to walk through the controls from DVD, to Radio to Line input, just to watch cable TV. But what can you expect for under $100?Well worth the price. Overview by R&B Gospel FAN from CA, US on 2010-07-25 This is a low end sound system, works well but output quality is not that great Surround sound system by Doobster from on 2010-07-15 We ordered this surround system. It arrivd in a timely manner via UPS an the box appeared in good condition. We opened it up and hooked it up and nothing worked, except the little red light. The DVD/CD player door did not even open and we could not get any radio stations. We thought, okay, let's send it back and get a replacement. A replacement came right away and the UPS people picked up the defective one promptly. The second one did not work any better and so we sent it back and requested our money back. The best thing about this whole ordeal was that Amazon.com took it back, arranged for the item to be picked up, sent a replacement before they got the defective one back, and when the second one was also defective, they arranged for the second one to pomptly be picked up and refunded our money fast. I certainly will order from Amazon.Com again.

Samsung HT-C5500 Blu-ray Home Theater System List Price: $499.99 Sale Price: Too low to display   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Average Rating: Description Be surrounded by superior sound with the Samsung HT-C5500 Blu-ray home theater system. Features 1000W Output Power Crystal Amp Pro Intelligent Power Advanced Auto Sound Calibration Eco Power Management System Reviews Excellent Sound and good value by Mitch Deerfield from Florida on 2010-08-20 I would strongly recommend this Home Theater System, especially if you have a Samsung TV, as the two units "talk" to each other and you can control your HDTV with the Blu-Ray Remote Control.The best thing besides the sound quality is the fact that you can buy an adapter and stream [...] music at 192 Kbps, and also Netflix or Blockbuster movies. I might subscribe to Netflix in a few months and cancel my Starz subscription, because NetFlix includes it. I love the sounds quality with Pandora and listen to it exclusively.It only has one HDMI output and one Optical Digital sound input, but that is enough for most people. The back speakers are only wireless if you buy an adapter .. not worth it for me. The Samsung LAN adapter for Netflix and Pandora costs between $45-75 depending where you buy it or if it is refurbished. Needs some quality control by WorkingGuy from on 2010-08-19 I just returned my system after 1 day of use. The console produced a crackling sound out of the left front speaker and within a couple minutes would turn off all sound while playing a Blu-Ray. This error was repeated using different speakers on the same signal. I'm not interested in wasting any time with tech support. It either works straight out of the box or it doesn't. That's what Quality Control gets paid for. I do give the system a couple stars for what it was capable of doing, when it did work. Overall, not nearly as impressed with the software and usability as I am with the Samsung TV I got at the same time. That TV gets 5 stars. Nice hardware, terrible software by Xaprb from Charlottesville, VA USA on 2010-07-27 It's a nice form factor, looks great, and would be just what I want if it would only work. I had to connect to the internet and let it upgrade itself before it would even play DVDs. I could select chapters in the menu, but not play them! It doesn't actually do half of what it is supposed to do. It detects my iTunes server, but says "unsupported format", even though the user manual says MP3 is supported. So much for that. Then, when it's playing DVDs or Blu-Ray discs, or streaming from Netflix, the sound and picture get way out of sync, like a second to a second-and-a-half. All the movies start to feel like bad Japanese dubbing. And the blank area around the 16:9 is filled with unattractive "video junk" that looks like a buggy video card driver or something.Overall, even if it actually worked, the interface is extremely tedious and confusing, so it's difficult to switch from DVD to Netflix, for example, if there is a disc in the tray. I never did actually figure out how to use it, even after reading the manual a couple of times. I had to randomly try buttons on the remote until it would get me to the system menu where I could choose the function I wanted.I returned this unit to exchange it for a Sony BDV-E570. So far, the Sony seems to function much better and has none of the above problems. It also has much better bass, although I was not really looking for a system that would impress me -- just one that would be small and unobtrusive, and function nicely. OK by Jarett Pitlock from on 2010-07-26 The theater system is brand new so samsung obviously has some bugs to work out. It has trouble turning on when pressing power, it turns on its chime when already turned off in settings mode, and a little difficult to operate in general. Price and sound are great though. FIRE HAZARD, and a general piece of crap anyway by G from BALLWIN, MISSOURI, US on 2010-07-17 The first time I received this abomination, I set it up, and with the excitement of a kid on Christmas, I plugged it in. It was at the point that the speakers started making a horrible sound and the receiver CAUGHT ON FIRE! I decided this must be a freak incident and decided I would do an exchange and give it another try. Well, luckily, the next one didn't try to burn my house down. It does, however, have the functionality of a mentally retarded chipmunk. The eject button works sometimes. The menu button works sometimes. Half the time I turn it on my TV says "no signal." The rear speakers will randomly turn off. The front right speaker crackles. When the menu button does work, the menu usually pops up for a whole second, then goes to a black screen. It will not progress the FBI Warning screen on a dvd without manually pressing the dvd menu button. I used the musical room calibration to automatically configure my speakers. Phh, that was a joke! It correctly determined the front left and right speakers to be about 10 feet away, but then it said that the center speaker, which is attached to the same wall as the other 2, was 30 feet away! It said one of the surround speakers (which are equidistant from the reciever) was 8 feet away, and the other 18 feet away! Not that any of this mattered, as it didn't actually save the setting next time i turned it on.Some other cons that have nothing to do with this thing being the spawn of satan, basically, design failures: 1) 1 hdmi input, 1 optical input. I only needed one of each, but I can see how this would really suck for a lot of people. 2) When ever any button is pressed on the remote, the BD Receiver button flashes bright yellow, very rapidly. I feel like I'm going to have a seizure every time I press a button. It actually gave me a headache, like everything else about this system. 3) The volume knob is very wobbly and just feels cheap.One last thing, I am not the only one who has experience the fire issue. I read a review of another model from samsung where the person had the same issue with it catching on fire, except he has his for a while. He just happened to be there when it happened. I don't know why these samsung products are apparent death traps, but I will not be purchasing another samsung product until this issue is addressed and dealt with, and I recommend the same to all of you out there reading this who don't want to burn to death.

LG LHB335 1100W Network Blu-ray Disc Home Theater System, Black List Price: $399.99 Sale Price: Too low to display   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Average Rating: Description LG has redefined what to expect from home theater. This isn't speakers and a receiver in a box. With the LHB355 Network Blu-ray Home Theater System, you get unrivaled Blu-ray technology, out-of-this world sound and instant entertainment...all in one. More than making the most of your Full HD with Blu-ray, NetCast™ Entertainment Access lets you directly tap into instant streaming movies, music and videos direct from the Internet to your TV. Features NetCast™ Entertainment Access Blu-ray and DVD disc playback Silk Dome Speaker Technology HDMI Input Standard DVD Up-Scaling Reviews LG is great, several models to choose from though by Brian W from Gresham, Oregon on 2010-09-04 LG is a good manufacturer, and this system is great, but the LG LFD790 - Home theater system can be had, used at least, for at little as $150, so why not? Both produce great bass and balanced sound. LG Buyer Beware by Gregory A Ritter from Middleburg, PA, US on 2010-08-30 Purchased this unit on recommendation of Best Buy Associate. It did not work right out of the box. Blu ray would not play, pixels would rain down the screen, regular DVD's would only give error messages. Instead of replacing, LG had me send back for repair, when I received back from them, only DVD would play, still no blu-ray. Am now waiting for a Firmware update CD which I have still not received and my guess is that it will not work. Best Buy would also not help me at all, because I kept in box past 30 days and so even though product is new they won't exchange either. Should have came straight to Amazon. All associates at LG and Best Buy tell me they are sorry but no real customer service. Would not purchase LG product again. It's fine... by Mr. Paul R. Boggs II from Athens, GA on 2010-08-18 I was a little worried making this purchase due to all the poor reviews it received. My system is fine, no buzzing or anything like that. If you do not have a cable/satellite box though, you will find it difficult to hook your cable into the surround sound as there is no coax input. Great low cost system, worth the money. by Evey from Florida on 2010-07-31 Let me first off say that I have an old Mitsubishi HD 65" rear projection CRT television that just won't quit. Because of this, I decided to invest in an HD Fury II to convert HDMI to RGBHV (or VGA). I'm glad we did. Because that gave us one HDMI input, we were limited. The LG LHB335 gave us the option to run our DirecTV HD receiver's HDMI output, through the LG LHB335 and to the TV. I couldn't have found that more convenient.The noise that people are complaining about, is just non existent on mine. Either I lucked out, or they fixed the issue and I have an updated revision. I've turned everything off, except the LG unit, put the speaker up to me ear and heard nothing.It's not bone crushing loud, but the sound is respectfully good. The iPod connector is a HUGE plus, AM/FM tuner, USB, network capabilities are well worth the investment. For what we use it for, in a nice, darker room, where it's not normally loud to begin with, we have a good experience watching movies. It just amazes me what this thing can do for the price.The interface is simple, but a little sluggish. I suppose if they lose the animation, it would perform a little bit better, but because of everything else it does, it's a small trade off. I've seen worse .. .. have you looked at the Pioneer receivers?Because of the reviews, I was skeptical when I received it so I kind of just threw it all together to get a feel for what it can do. Tomorrow, I'll make it more permanent. It's here to stay. I've known people that have paid $300+ for just a Blu-Ray player alone. This gives me my 5.1 surround ... from my DirecTV receiver ... because of the HDMI "through" ports.It's the perfect, low cost 5.1 surround sound Blu-Ray capable system for us that still lets us hold on to our old (but trusty) sets. LG has been notoriously known for making units that are compatible with a lot of different standards. Anyone remember the old DVD player/HD tuner with VGA output - yep, used that, too. Worked GREAT ... LG ... Life's Good. GUI unusable by ChrisWeho from on 2010-07-19 Like the features, but after setting it up found the GUI was totally unusable. The remote sent commands, (I could see the red light on the reciever blink...) but it wouldn't respond... it acted like it was running Windows for the OS and was trying to load Outlook or something. LG customer service was useless. What a waste of time!

Coby CSP96 300-Watt 5.1-Channel Home Theater Speaker System (Black) List Price: $54.99 Sale Price: $50.97 You save: $4.02 (7%)   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Average Rating: Description Immerse yourself in your movies and music with Coby's 5.1-channel home theater speaker system. Fill your room with 300 watts of surround sound from five 3-inch satellite speakers and a floor-rattling subwoofer. The integrated amplifier and switch allows you to easily change between two source connections. Independent volume/treble/bass control and magnetic shielding also included. Features 300 watts of home theater surround sound designed for use with 5.1-channel DVD players, computer systems, and more Integrated amplifier with two connection options (RCA stereo and RCA 5.1-channel) Built-in switch allows you to easily change between audio connections, full-range satellite speakers with 3-inch drivers (40 watts peak output x 5) Wood subwoofer with tuned port for deep bass response (100 watts peak output) Independent volume, treble, and bass controls, magnetic shielding, wall-mountable or desktop design Reviews Very Pleased.... by JoeGiants from on 2010-09-04 I am very happy with this purchase.The price,the quality,the ease of set-up,more then what I had expected.I am more then pleased with this product and recommend it to anyone trying to improve their home theater experience at a price they can afford. Despite the price, not worth it. by Corn Eater from on 2010-09-01 I understand that these are really cheap speakers. I wasn't expecting much in terms of quality. But to be honest, I was really disappointed with how awful they performed. These are cheapest looking pieces of junk i've ever seen. The subwoofer didn't work and when i moved it you could hear pieces of junk rattling inside of it and the packaging wasn't damaged at all, so it's not as though this could have been blamed on shipping.even disregarding the broken subwoofer, the quality was abysmal. If you have a shelf system or even a boombox you're better off using that to increase the volume of your TV. I wouldn't even recommend this to people who don't care about quality and just want their tv louder.you may think you don't really care about quality, but when you hear how awful these sound, you will understand that there is a bare minimum amount of quality that is even tolerable. Pure garbage by T. Wang from on 2010-08-25 I bought a ten dollar speaker that works better than this. The worst purchase I've ever made. You get what you pay for by Jessica Petrohoy from Allentown, PA USA on 2010-08-23 We purchased this speaker system for our 42" Philips television. It was 40 dollars so we that we were getting a good deal, however we didn't expect much since it was so cheap. It arrived promptly and we set it up. Set up was not too difficult but the speakers only came with a small booklet. Without a receiver (a DVD player with volume control, stereo head), we had to get up to change the volume knob. Finally our problems were solved when we bought a cheap cd player/radio/aux player for another 39 dollars which had a remote. Now we can change volume with ease all for 79 dollars. Still cheaper than some of the cheapest home entertainment systems -- and the sound quality is sufficient. This product is a classic, "you get what you pay for". Coby CSP96 300 Watt 5.1 Channel Home Theatre Speaker System by W.Harvell from on 2010-08-09 I recently bought this Coby speaker system and for the price I paid, it's well worth it. We had recently upgraded to a DVR and for some reason it cut the sound of our television down so low until we couldn't hear it if we had our ac running. Since we weren't financially able to buy a higher prices speaker system, I had searched and found this one and it works really good but sometimes it's not much louder than the tv. But for the amount paid, it's well worth it and at least we can hear the sound when we watch tv or movies. I also got free shipping at Amazon.com so that made it even better.One thing to think about though, you need to check your television and DVD/VHS player to see if it will connect. Luckily it connected to my DVD player, but not to my television. I suppose if I had a newer tv or DVD player, it would work lots better.

DVD Home Theater with 1080P HDmi Upconversion List Price: $179.99 Sale Price: $171.22 You save: $8.77 (5%)   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Average Rating: Description 1080p HDMI up-conversion to hi-def for sharper imagesHigh speed USB 2.0 for music playback from USB flash drivesDolby Digital and Pro Logic II surround sound with built-in FM tunerPlays CD VCD DVD DVD+R/RW DVD-R/W and DVD+R DLMultiple digital inputs for quality sound from other sourcesEasyLink for easy control of connected devicesMP3 link for music playback from portable media playersDock for ipod included and compatiable with iphone Features 1080p HDMI upscales to high definition Hi-speed USB 2.0 Link for media from USB flash drives EasyLink for control of connected devices via HDMI CEC Dock for iPod compatibility; FM tuner bands Video- audio- still picture playback Reviews Great system, love it still 6 months later by Ben from on 2010-07-20 I recently moved to a new apartment for college and decided on getting a nice home theater system with the money I had saved up for a while. Nothing too expensive, but since I'm a film major wanted more than your average joe so I searched around on amazon for the best deal I could find. I ended up buying a 40 inch proscan which was on sale at the time for less than some 32 inch tv's (look HARD, amazon is great at finding amazing deals if you know where to look) this home theater system and a usb drive for all my movies and tv shows. I was really impressed at how great it was for my first home theater system. The setup was fairly simple, and the 5.1 sounds great using dolby pro logic for movies and regular 5 channel for audio which is as easy as a press of a button on the remote. The ipod dock was a great bonus, I use it often with my itouch but the only thing I was disappointed about was the lack of video output for ipod video, but with a price like this you still get more than you pay for. The remote can be used to pause / play / ff /rw / skip from one song to the next without having to get up to manually change the song on your ipod which is awesome, and I don't even use the cd function or mp3 reader because I have all my music on my ipod and its much easier. I don't pay for cable so this system is awesome for me because it can read avi and divx files and they are really common and I basically have my whole library of movies and tv shows digital now, on one flash drive. Check out the seagate portable 500gb, it goes awesome with this. The image quality is good with my 1080p tv and the fact that it has a hdmi output is cool but I wish my tv worked better alongside it. (the tvs fault, not the systems) I didn't exactly notice the dvd upconversion but its good enough to not notice any bad image quality so... I don't own any blu-ray disks so I don't mind that it only plays dvd, but it does support HD quality Divx and Avi files so I'm happy.My diagnosis: If you're a college kid with a tight budget but a need for a great sound system, this is a total YES. If you want an affordable system with most of the perks you can ask for that sounds great in your bedroom or living room or wherever else you put it, go for it. I would say the only reason not to buy this is if you have a ton of blu ray disks and no dvds, if you have a lot of money to spend and you're pretty picky about these kind of things, or if you hate awesome yet inexpensive home theater systems that makes half the block jealous. Seriously, the only person I know with a significantly better system than me is my dad and he paid a few grand for it. Worth the money a few times over. Connectors by Magnubis from on 2010-07-13 This system used proprietary connectors that according to their customer service you are unable to buy anywhere, not even from them. So if you have a living room that is larger than their cables will reach... or if you try to run the cables along the wall you may be out of luck. The only solution (provided by customer care representative) is to splice the wires which voids the warranty. I for one will never buy another philips product after this. WOW by Ronald F. Ranc from Otego, NY USA on 2010-06-22 Purchased this unit to play Dolby Surround 5.1 from my High Def TV Satellite Receiver.Connected the unit via its Optical Input. WOW what a surprise. The sound quality is fantastic.It also has DVD Player, FM Radio, USB flash drive connection that plays MP3's, WMA's, JPG's, is unbelievable for the price. Every one of these devices sounds great.The JPG's look great.DVD player also plays all MP3 CD's I've burned on my PC.User manual states you can Rip your Music CD's as MP3's to a FLASH Drive you put in the units USB port. I haven't tried this feature yet.You will NOT be disappointed when you buy this unit. Can't beat the quality at this price! by J.R.W from Reading, PA on 2010-05-13 I purchased this DVD home theater system along with the Samsung LN40C630 40-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV and they work wonderful together. The TV is amazing but I'm almost more impressed with how well this Phillips home theater system has performed. The sound is superb which is surprising considering the price of this unit. I have another Phillips DVD player which I bought last year which is also nice but I've had some problems with humming from the DVD player while playing scratched or uneven discs. This unit has been a lot quieter while playing those same dvds so I'm very pleased with that as well. There are a few drawbacks with this system that I'll get to in a minute but nothing that has left me unsatisfied with this purchase.I used a digital optical audio cable to connect my tv audio to the Phillips dvd player. With the standard settings there is some audio lag from the tv to the speakers. if you have your tv speakers on and the home theater speakers as well, you'll hear a bit of echoing. The good news is that you can sync audio with this system by delaying output to speakers, or even each individual speaker. Depending on which TV you have you may be able to delay audio on that as well to get audio synced. It may take a bit of tinkering but the end result is spectacular.My biggest gripe with this system is that there is no audio equalizer to fine tune sound adjustments. There are however a number of preset audio settings to choose from, and they each do have their uses(I use just about all of them depending on what I'm listening to or watching.) There is no custom settings that you can play with however. The system outputs in Dolby Digital, 5 channel stereo, and stereo. I leave it on dolby digital for just about everything including music because the small sattelite speakers will have some distortion when recieving source audio that has a lot of bass when outputting in stereo. In dolby mode this problem is negated and everything sounds spectacular.The Ipod docking station is awesome. your Ipod will actually charge while you have it hooked up and playing on your home theater system. Not only that but you can control it with your phillips DVD remote. Many of those tiny tabletop IPOD docking stereo units cost more than this whole home theater system, plus they dont sound nearly as good and can't even do half of what this home theater system accomplishes.Overall, this Phillips home theater system is a HUGE bargain and I'd recommend it to anybody and everybody. Outstanding quality and features for a very small price. GREAT SOUND FOR THE BUCKS by MIKE from on 2010-04-26 I LOOKED AT A FEW OTHER PRODUCTS & THIS SEEMS TO COME OUT ON TOP... I HAVE A SMALL CABIN & THIS SYSTEM WAS THE RIGHT CHOICE FOR THE SPACE I HAVE.... GREAT SOUND & EASILY SET-UP....

Samsung HT-C6930W 3D Blu-ray Home Theater System List Price: $899.99 Sale Price: Too low to display   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Average Rating: Description Be surrounded by superior sound with the Samsung HT-C6930W Blu-ray home theater system. Features 3D Added, 2 tower speakers Ad wireless rear included Reviews Beware! No Amazon VOD or Yahoo Widgets by Doruk Sart from Riverside, CA, US on 2010-09-06 I've been using this system for about a month now and I like the way it looks as well as the sound quality. Don't expect an ultra professional system, but it's worth what you pay. I would agree with another reviewer, the sound is better with movies than music.I didn't know this since I purchased the system: (this may change with a firmware upgrade in the future), but the Internet@TV contents of this system are not the same as the contents you get with an Internet@TV enabled Samsung HDTVs (xxxx6500 or later). Unfortunately, you do not get the Amazon VOD or other Yahoo! widgets with this sound system, the ones you get with this one are all Samsung Apps which is a different set. This was a bit disappointing. This should have been clearly indicated in product descriptions. Terrible Product; Incompetent Customer Service. by Microbrew from on 2010-08-28 The player/receiver stopped sending a signal to my TV after about 1 month of use. I did basic troubleshooting to verify it was a problem with the receiver itself. After contacting customer service and dealing with their staggering incompetence (sending me a shipping label with an incorrect address even after I spelled it phonetically for the customer service agent and some other errors) I finally managed to send it off to be repaired. When I got the product back in about 3 weeks after my initial problems I set it up and experienced the exact same problem. Nothing was fixed. I believe they just put a sticker on it and sent it back. I had to send it for `repairs' AGAIN. Hopefully it will be working when I get it back.I would like to comment on some of the other features but this Blu-ray player has been inoperable or out for repair longer than I have had it working. I don't remember being incredibly impressed with the features when it did function.Do yourself a favor and avoid this home theater system and stick with Samsung TVs/monitors which have never given me a problem.I tried to post a negative review on Samsung's official site for this product but the review was unsurprisingly denied. Upgrade firmware to version 1008.4 OR be prepared to suffer by Randy L. Dodgen from on 2010-08-11 Setting this product up was the WORST experience I have EVER had with a Samsung product. Someone at Samsung should be fired for allowing a product with Beta firmware (at best) to be shipped. I love my Samsung TV (55" 8000 series) but.....their C6930W 3D Home Theater system is mediocre at best. I would rate their UI, firmware, and user manual a 1 star. I would give them a -1 in these areas if Amazon allowed.The wireless rear speakers were either not well thought out or Samsung was just too cheap to do it right. You can only attach two of your four rear speakers to the wireless receiver. The other two rear speakers MUST be attached to the Blu-ray/FM receiver, so...out-of-the-box speaker placement options are constrained and therefore may affect your listening experience. I would rate them a 2.5 in this area.As with other manufacturers, you will likely need at least two remote controls to operate your entire home entertainment system. I have a Scientific Atlanta remote control that I use for most stuff, but....I still need at least one other remote control for certain functions. Navigation in general on home entertainment systems leaves a lot to be desired, so I wont rate them on this one. My hope is that the intersection of TV & internet will finally spur someone to create a better mouse trap.The overall sound quality is reasonably good for a sound system in this price range. I would rate them a 4 in this area.The glossy finish on the product looks nice when its clean, but it's easy to scratch and shows ALL fingerprints, dirt, etc...The version 1008.4 firmware update solved a lot of the initial problems I was experiencing, so...I rate the product a 3 overall. I've had above average experiences with other Samsung products (this has been by far the worst). Most of the problems I see with this product can be corrected via software, firmware, and user manual updates, so....hopefully Samsung will continue to address. Awesome for Movies, Bad for Music by Anthony Ortiz from Clifton, NJ on 2010-07-27 Well as you can tell by the title what I think about this system. I would have given it 5 stars if only the music sounded good, but it comes off as boom box sound with a sub woofer. The DVD/Blue-Ray video and audio playback is where this system really shines. DVD up conversion is really good but not as sharp and pristine as Blu-ray. Setting it up with the sound calibrator works wonders as my right rear speakers are six feet further from my listening position than my left. Once calibrated you get the correct, in my opinion, amount of bass for the soundtrack and correct sound leveling for all speakers. Word of caution as the sound calibrator is very loud in when setting up. Paired up with my Samsung 46" LED LCD 6900 series TV sets up optimum video performance automatically, which is a beautiful thing. I cannot comment on 3D video playback because my TV is not equipped to do so but was worth getting just in case I do. A wireless card comes with the unit and will allow you to software upgrade the unit, view netflix movies and has a lot of other cool apps that may be to your liking. The rear surround speaker are wireless, not the rear speakers themselves, which are attached via a wireless receiver box that has to be plugged into a power outlet. In conclusion this is definitely a 5 Star unit for movies at this price range, but I have to take off 1 star because of the boxy music sound. Horrible customer service from Samsung by Joe Ontiveros from Victoria, TX United States on 2010-07-25 My wife purchased this system for me as a father's day gift. Upon receiving this package, I put the system together and discovered that the dvd player in the home theater system did not work. Making the mistake of reading the user guide, I contacted Samsung as the guide recommended and they instructed me to send the head unit back paying for returning the unit myself. I wouldn't mind doing this if the unit had worked for a few years and I was sending it in for service, but the fact that I just received it and it never worked in the first place really upset me. After mailing it back, and calling to complain about having to pay for shipping a faulty product, they had the audacity to tell me that if I had called before sending it back, they would have sent me a mailing label to cover the shipping costs. They also stated that paying for return shipping costs is at their discretion and not normally done. They made it seem they like they would have been doing me some great favor by paying for returning their faulty product. They also said they had no means to compensate me for the shipping costs that I had paid out of pocket. In conclusion, I would not recommend buying this product, but if you must be sure to demand a shipping label for returning their faulty equipment, or make sure to keep all your packaging and send the whole thing back to Amazon, as I think they will cover return shipping costs.

Polk Audio RM705 5.1 Home Theater System (Set of Six, Black) List Price: $599.95 Sale Price: $249.99 You save: $349.96 (58%)   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Average Rating: Description Sound this big from speakers this small just has to be heard to be believed. The Polk Audio RM705 complements today's stylish high-tech flat panel TVs and audio electronics. The new RM705 Home Theater System is a complete six-piece 5.1 channel system that presents a sleek, minimalist design while delivering impressively big sound. Heavy-duty, non-resonant composite enclosures feature an elegant, high-gloss finish that creates the ideal décor accent. Polk speaker technology ensures superior system performance, delivering rich, full-bodied, big speaker sound. Mount the speakers on shelves, or next to your plasma or flat-screen television using their flexible wall-mount brackets. An included cradle supports the center channel. The RM705 is part of our 700 Series, also available in 6.1 and 7.1. Features 6 piece 5.1 channel home theater system Includes 4 RM7 satellites, 1 RM7 center channel and a powered subwoofer Over all frequency response: 40Hz-22kHz 8-inch downward-firing powered subwoofer Magnetically shielded for safe placement next to today's state-of-the-art TVs and monitors Reviews Great for the Complete Package by Erik J. Malvick from Davis, CA on 2010-09-03 I purchased this set to go with a Denon AVR790 receiver for my living room and as part of a media system I was setting up. While I see a lot of reviews complaining about the subwoofer, I've found these speakers to be more than adequate for my home. With my receiver, I have the audio setup that has you place a mic around the room and optimize the output for the best listening. With the subwoofer in this system, I find that I had to bring the levels down on the manual controls quite a bit to make it fit within range for the receiver, so I really don't feel I needed anything bigger for my ~170 sq ft room.The whole system works pretty well on the whole. The sound is fantastic. I've had them for nearly a year, and I am still loving the sound they put out. It is fantastic for movies and fantastic for music. They are in a nice package and size. While I was a bit worried when unpacking them, once I had them mounted and wired up, I found they were quite perfect.The subwoofer is tricky according to some because it looks like you have to have two wires for input. However, it works well with just one wire (or you can split them up). The only complaint I have right now is that the auto setting on the subwoofer doesn't always turn on when my audio is on. This is somewhat by design as it is more a result of my levels not being high enough to trigger the subwoofer. There probably isn't an easy solution, but these levels aren't really all that low either. I often turn the audio up for a short time to trigger the subwoofer to come on and then turn it down. I'm not sure there is a better solution as when it is on without input, it gives an audible buzz that can be annoying in a quiet setting (it isn't that loud, but when things are quite, you'll hear it).Overall, I am very happy with the sound, and I would never hesitate to by Polk products again. Polk Audio RM705 by Ryan Metcalfe from GRAND PORTAGE, MN, US on 2010-08-21 Just received my new speakers a couple of days ago. I really haven't had a chance to properly hook them up. The speakers are powered by a new kenwood VSX 820. I am only running crappy speaker wire (I think it was 18 gauge) and the system still sounds great. I need to set it up properly for music. While watching movies these speakers are great. I usually test new speaker stuff or a tv with the movie "gone in 60 seconds" I put the movie on the big jump sequence on the bridge and see what it sounds and looks like. These speakers make it feel as though you are in the car. They make the sounds of the movie crisp (both background sound and speech). Even the satellite speakers throw out base. The sub is good enough for me. It will easily shake my house. I know some reviewers didn't feel it was strong enough, however it is more than enough to piss off my fiance. Hope this review helps. Very good overall for the price by Meghan Graham from on 2010-08-21 The center and satellite speakers sounds very good. The Sub is ok, it sounder bigger than I would have expected. But, I can hear just a little noise when turned on and no signal is being sent. But, that is not noticed when listening to the speakers at a normal distance, I could only hear a hum when I was close to the sub's driver. Connectors are a little hard to deal with; but, the brackets are a great help. For $250 a full set of 5.1 speakers that are pretty accurate and a sub that has an adjustable crossover and volume is a great deal. This is an older model that still looks very modern. You get a little more than you pay for with this one... by Keith Howard Browne from Montgomery, TX United States on 2010-08-10 When ordering this Polk HTS, I reminded myself not to expect something unrealistic. At this price point, I think a realistic expectation is that you will get a 5.1 sound system which will adequately fill a small to medium sized room with quite accurate soud rendition, but it will be at least one level below a Boston Acoustics, Klipsch or Bose sound system.The product arrived on time and in good condition. I hooked it up to a Yamaha HTR-5840 Receiver with the intent of reproducing good quality sound from my Samsung Blue-ray DVD and Samsung HD 4650 TV (I had spent almost as much as the Polk HTS buying monstercable speaker wires and a few optics cables to supplement the quality of sound supply from the TV and blu-ray players). Polk supplies very little in the way of installation manuals / user guides with their product, but I had no trouble getting everything connected using the most current user guide from Yamaha for their receiver.The sound quality is as expected, and a little better. You will not be instantly transported to the Royal Albert Hall when listening to this system, but the sound from bass (actually pretty good sub-woofer) all the way thrugh mid-range and into the high trebles is fine. With two satellite speakers positioned behind the listeners, the sound for the most current movies (whether live transmission or blu ray) is great and a substantial improvement over the standard sound you can expect even from a high-end TV's standard speakers. Crank the volume up, and there is very little distortion (unless of course you try to max it out).All in all, for a few hundred bucks you get a very nice sound system that is adequate for every-day movie and TV viewing. Streaming Pandora also presented very well. Poor timing, bad luck by Antares from Wisconsin USA on 2010-08-06 Three days after ordering this item from Amazon, but to be fullfilled by another company (6ave), Amazon posts a new price $25 less than I paid. This time, such orders will be fulfilled by Amazon itself. Win some, lose some, I guess.

Coby DVD765 5.1-Channel DVD Home Theater System (Black) List Price: $99.99 Sale Price: $66.36 You save: $33.63 (34%)   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Average Rating: Description Coby DVD765 5.1-Channel DVD Home Theater System, 5.1-channel progressive scan DVD player, compact and slim design, DVD, DVD±R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, and JPEG compatible, Dolby digital decoder, 5.1-channel audio for surround sound systems, digital and analog AV outputs for home theater use, NTSC/PAL compatible, convenient front panel and on-screen display, multiple language, subtitle, and camera angle support, picture zoom function, parental lock control, AC 100-240V automatic power switching, FCC approved and ETL listed, Home theater speakers; 5.1-channel surround sound system with 300W total output, 5 full-range satellite speakers, Subwoofer with tuned port for deep bass response Features 5.1-channel progressive scan DVD player, compact and slim design, DVD, DVD±R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, and JPEG compatible, Dolby digital decoder 5.1-channel audio for surround sound systems, digital and analog AV outputs for home theater use, NTSC/PAL compatible, convenient front panel Picture zoom function, parental lock control, AC 100-240V automatic power switching 5.1-channel surround sound system with 300W total output 5 full-range satellite speakers, subwoofer with tuned port for deep bass response Reviews Price was good, not the product by H. K. Dawuid from NC, USA on 2010-08-23 This is a cheap product, that's why was 60 something dollars. But I didn't want an expensive one either, so it is good over all. The rear speakers didn't work though, from the first time, but i'm gonna wait until my new TV arrives and see if they work then. Not bad for a $40. system by K. Eckley from Bay Area, California on 2010-06-14 I purchased this system for $39.00 brand new. Sure, the bass isn't all there, but it does become better when you're watching a movie with lots of bass. The speaker wires are short but you can get more speaker wire to make it work. I liked that all the wires, ( speaker wires ) and ( rca jacks ) are color coded or have tags identifying where each wire plugs into. I think the system sounds okay. You CAN control the volume while watching TV. I don't know what these other reviewers are talking about. Maybe they didn't connect it correctly. There's a switch on the back of the subwoofer that indicates, "TV" "DVD". You must slide it to the appropriate position. Your TV will need a red and white rca OUTPUT for this feature to work. ~common sense~ The remote control is probably the worst thing about it. You have to aim the remote directly at the dvd player and no further than about six feet away. That's the trouble I experienced anyway. Even with new Energizer batteries. I can't understand people buying this. by Arrow from on 2010-05-07 I seen this on here and had to comment. How can people waste thier money on a cheap toy like this, then have the nerve to act surprised when they find out Fisher Price makes better product (and would cost more as well). You can't even buy a single speaker that is OK for less than $100; let alone 5, a sub, a DVD player, and an amp. Come on! It use to be such people that purchased things as this were rare, most people wanted something at least descent. But I'm finding these days that people really have no standards when it comes to audio/video anymore. As long as it makes noise and has colors on a screen, people will say it sounds & looks good to them?!?! It simply blows my mind. Somewhere out there, people have purchased this same setup and probably think it's great. If you can't afford to get something at least descent, why would you buy anything at all. Save your money. It's called 'doing without'. Warning: Do NOT buy!! by Player from Pittsburgh on 2010-03-08 This is the worst DVD home theater system I ever bought.It stopped working less than a month after I bought it!The wires are EXTREMELY short. They didn't even reach half way across my 15 foot room.The power cord is really short.The volume is horrible. The only way I could use it is with the volume maxed and it still wasn't enough. No kidding!The remote only works from a distance if the player is on the floor because of the angle they installed the IR detector. I installed mine in my TV cabinet and would have to stand up, stretching my arm up as high as I could to get it to work from across the room.Trash! Total Junk by Tommy L. Gaskill from on 2010-03-06 I do not recommend this product to anyone. Only played one DVD correctly. When playing the second DVD the system kept cutting off. In addition, sound quality was poor, when this item arrived a couple of the speaker bases were broken. Save yourself some trouble, do not buy this item. Last note, I should have read other peoples comments before I made this purchase, could have saved myself some problems.

Yamaha NS-SP1800BL 5.1-Channel Home Theater Speaker Package List Price: $199.95 Sale Price: $116.39 You save: $83.56 (42%)   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Average Rating: Description The Yamaha NS-SP1800BL 5.1-channel home theater speaker package is a low cost, convenient way to enjoy the full benefits of 5.1-channel home theater sound. The NS-SP1800BL features advanced Yamaha active servo technology (Advanced YST) is a unique system in which the speaker and amplifier work together to cancel out impedance so the speaker unit has a perfectly linear motion. Advanced YST helps to ensure the highest levels of sound pressure and overall performance. Features 2-way satellite speakers with 2.5" woofer & 1/2" tweeter 2-way center speaker with dual 2.5" woofers & 1/2" tweeter Magnetic shielding (all speakers) 8" 100W cube-type high power subwoofer Wall hanging capability Reviews Great speakers for an affordable price! by Thong Tong from Chicago, IL on 2010-08-25 For around $120 (I say around bc Amazon price for it kept fluctuating +/- $10), it's a good set of speakers with a nice 100W (prob peak rating) sub-woofer. The build quality is great! It doesn't look nor feel like it's a $120 set of speakers.The Xbox 360 games came alive with sounds coming from all the speakers. Now I can hear where the gunshots are coming from. I can hear the screeching of a car stopping or accelerating behind me. When an enemy is behind me, I can hear it and turn around to shoot, where before I was oblivious.Movies came alive with jets and spaceships and gunfire coming from all around me. The center speaker does an admirable job of reproducing voices from the screen, and the sub-woofer does a great job at pumping out the bass when a big explosion is on screen.It's not going to sound like a $1000 set of speakers, but it does sound pretty damn good for a little bit of $100. Maybe a little bit tinny, like most small satellite speaker systems. I might have to calibrate a little more to add in some bass or sub-woofer volume.Highly recommended for those who are in small apartments or those wanting to get some surround sound going for gaming or movies. Not recommended for the audiophiles out there or those with large spaces to fill with sound. Price is Right by C. Hawkins from Atlanta on 2010-08-18 I purchased this speaker system in Oct 09. installed them in the bedroom, man they have been exceptional for the price. Clear, the bass thumps from the woofer, their small for hanging on the wall, and they punch. I have them connected to a Pioneer rec, Insignia BD, & Uverse Cable box. I love what I paid for these great sounding speakers, you can't go wrong for the sound and the price.C-Hawk Awesome! by K. Beba from Chicago, IL on 2010-08-07 If you're looking for a great sounding 5.1 speaker system with an active sub, look no more. This is probably the best item you can get out there at this price. I bought these speakers about 3 months ago to use with my HK 254 and they are doing a great job. Sound is extremely clear even at really high dBs and I must say I was pleasantly surprised to experience how much you can get from such tiny speakers.As I said, I'm using these with my HK 254 and I have some issues with the output level of the receiver (you can see my review for HK 254 under that item) and I have not tried these speakers with another item. Having said that, I still believe these speakers are a great buy!Let me know if you have any ?s. Great buy! by Joshua Joseph Jimenez from Houston, TX on 2010-08-01 I have recently ordered these speakers and they sound great! Excellent product for the price. Great speakers by Javier from on 2010-07-22 Don't think you have to spend a lot of money to get great sound these speakers are AWSOME they are super clear and for the price you can't go wrong I mean you can spend more money but why these speakers sound like 400.00 dollar speakers recomend for anybody not just for us on a budget.

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