Mini Home Theater

Sound Proof Booth

Sound Proof Booth

Sound Proof Any Window

Protecting yourself Through a Hearing Test

A tell-tale sign that a hearing test is needed is asking people to repeat themselves. Voices sound muffled or as if the other person were whispering or speaking unintelligibly. Hearing tests can help determine if you are suffering from certain types of hearing loss, such as conductive hearing loss or sensorineural hearing loss. They can also determine the severity of damage to your hearing and decide what type of hearing devices would be best for you.

A hearing test is a painless experience, but a necessary one, especially if you work or live around extremely loud noises. The first step is to contact your hearing professional or audiologist. Hearing tests are performed in a series of events, beginning with the audiologist asking some questions about your family history. If you have relatives who suffered from hearing loss or deafness, there is a possibility your loss of hearing is genetic. After discussing family history, your audiologist will look into each ear to see if there is any abnormality with the eardrum.

A sound proof booth or room is where you will be placed to conduct the next part of your hearing test. This room provides a buffer from outside noises and sounds that allows you to pick up only what the audiologist wants you to hear. Not all hearing tests will involve a sound booth because not every hearing professional will have one in their office. While in the booth, you will have earphones over your ears and the audiologist plays a sequence of tones at various pitches for you to identify. This is called the pure tone test. You will raise your hand for the ear you hear the sound in during this portion of the examination.

The next type of hearing test that is performed is with a bone conductor placed directly behind your ear. Pure tones bypass the outer and middle ear to directly reach the cochlea. This will help your audiologist see the type of damage done to the inner ear. If you suffer conductive hearing loss, then damage is done to the outer or middle ear, possibly from a build-up of wax, an ear infection, busted eardrum, or some type of birth defect. Conductive hearing loss is reversible with surgery or other medical treatments.

If you suffer from sensorineural hearing loss, your damage is a nerve-related condition. This is caused by long exposure to loud noises, birth defects or problems, age, infections, trauma, use of certain medications or heredity. Sensorineural hearing loss is usually treated with hearing aids, or in some cases, with cochlear implants. How you are treated will depend on the severity of your case.

Whether you have damage to your hearing because of conductive hearing loss or sensorineural hearing loss, your audiologist can perform a test to find the extent of the hearing damage. If you need more tests, your audiologist will conduct those as well. Your hearing test results will be shown on an audiogram, and you will see which of your ears has less damage. If there is no damage at all, you can take the proper precautions to be sure your ears stay at their optimum health.

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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!

Panasonic SC-BT730 Blu-ray DiscTM 5.1 Home Theater System List Price: $599.95 Sale Price: $397.29 You save: $202.66 (34%)   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Average Rating: Description The rear speakers come wireless right out of the box (no additional purchase necessary). The Blu-ray player is wireless ready, and compatible with the wireless LAN adapter DY-WL10 (sold separately). Features Receiver has BD - DVD - CD player and FM Tuner Connections - HDMI Out - 1; Video Out - 1; Digital Input - 2 (optical); Audio Input - 1 AUX (Stereo Mini Jack, 3.5mm) Speaker System - Front Configuration - 2-way 3-speaker, Bass-reflex Woofer - 1-3/8 x 4 Cone Type x2 Tweeter Pure Direct Sound Speaker - Yes (front, center) Advanced Bamboo Cone - Yes (front, center) Approximate Dimensions Reviews Good Product by Goutham from on 2010-09-04 I have had the system for about 10 days now and I am very happy with it. The product is a really great buy for $395 on Amazon. I was worried that the rear speakers would not work, but they did work well for me. Initially there were some problems, but after a good set up they work fine. No static, no cracks nothing. Netflix works great. Upscaling DVD is good, Blu-ray is good, very decent load times. I have no complaints, the sound while playing movies is great. I think it is a great buy for the price.Some cons (cannot expect too much considering the price) -sound quality while playing music is a little inferior. no hdmi inputs no stereo inputs for other sources Wireless problems!!! by J. Geisendorfer from NC USA on 2010-08-21 As received the rear wireless speakers did not work. Panasonic email support suggested fixes. By the time they had given up, the unit would not even turn on. Long story short, I sent it back, at my expense, to the warranty center in McAllen, TX. 45 days later it has been returned in working condition. This was accomplished after repeated follow-ups by me, repeated emails from Panasonic (I count 13) saying "We apologize for the delay in responding", & phone calls from their customer service (no name or contact number was ever given). The system was shipped back in 2 shipments. The first showed up without any notice from Panasonic that it had been shipped. Three weeks later I inquired about the remainder of the system. Seems it had been shipped withing a day of the first shipment, but UPS had lost the shipment. Without notice I was not aware that it had been shipped. Frustration ^%R#$*^!. I'm now 45 days into my 1 year warranty & out shipping costs on a brand new never used unit. I'll stick with Panasonic TV's, but never another audio system. Great System by Jennier Tucher from Boise, ID on 2010-08-19 The system arrived before it said it would (YEAH!) and was easy to set up. I only had one issue on how to hook everything up correctly (TV - Mistsubishi and DTV) -- one call and 15 minutes later everything worked. Sound is great, price is right, set up easy -- could ask for nothing more!Definitely recommend to anyone (even those that are challenged with electronics!) excellent system for most, especially with net content by upsilon prime from scarsdale, NY on 2010-08-15 Summary: A quality, full-featured Home Theater in a Box (HTIB) well worth its current retail price, especially if used with the optional Panasonic DY-WL10 wireless LAN adapter (or hard wired).Caveats: This HTIB is connected to a 720P 42" Panasonic TV purchased in late 2007. I have never previously owned a HTIB, so I have nothing to compare it to apart from stereo systems. Used in a medium-sized living room. I possess average-to-high tech savviness. Several reviewers have had much grief with the wireless rear speakers. Mine worked out of the box, but only after I remembered to insert the digital transmitter into the main unit. I have been drinking throughout this review.Setup: Assembly and setup were reasonably simple. Connections were very clearly marked. I may or may not have successfully used the auto speaker setup microphone due to my own stupidity. The sound levels of each speaker are easy to adjust manually, however. Unlike other reviewers, I was able to play normal TV broadcasts through the system speakers by connecting the optical audio out on my cable box to the digital optical audio in ("D-IN 1") with a $2 Toslink cable (more below!).Sound: I'm no audiophile, but the system sounds great to my ear whether playing music from an iPod/Pandora, movies on DVD/BD's, or even Youtube. Full spectrum with excellent bass. The subwoofer really makes the room shake. It needs to be set pretty low most of the time. The tiny rear speakers produce excellent ambient sounds during movies and hold their own if I use with other sources.Picture: Bluray discs look very good, as expected, excellent in fact. Upscaled DVD's also look very good.Vieracast: You are doing yourself a serious disservice if you purchase this and don't take advantage of the internet features available with this unit. You'll need to purchase a Panasonic DY-WL10 dongle (about $70 today, $85 weeks ago when I purchased) or a wired LAN connection, but there's a ton of content out there that make it worthwhile. In short, Vieracast is Panasonic's proprietary internet streaming service. It currently offers Netflix, Youtube, Pandora (a music service), and a few lesser lights like Bloomberg news, Picasa, and a German news channel, Tageschau (wuh?). Fox Sports and Twitter are still "Coming Soon!" The Vieracast interface is a little clumsy in appearance and makes annoying chiming sounds as you click between content.It sometimes takes more than than one attempt to get started (could also be the fault of the dongle or my router or some other piece of hardware), but it's dropped a connection exactly-only-once.Regardless, a Netflix account alone makes Vieracast (no fee) worthwhile in view of the numerous and varied "Watch Instantly" offerings. Examples: My father came to the TV show "Lost" a few seasons late, so he recently bought the first few seasons on DVD to catch up. Well, all but last season are currently available instantly on netflix. More and more recent offerings are available, lots of kids' stuff and documentaries, older classics . . . On a whim I googled a list of "the best movies of all time" and found that most of the top 15 were available for instant viewing ("Battleship Potemkim" - er, great!)There are some negatives with Netflix. Unlike a DVD/BD, the streaming audio doesn't appear to automatically separate to 5.1, but you can easily use the "surround" and "sound" buttons on the remote to choose the combination of speakers. Still blows your TV speakers away.I found the video quality of streaming video on a 42" plasma to be very good (and it transmits 16:9), but it's not Bluray or even HD. But I'm also old enough to remember when TV nirvana was watching S-VHS on a 36" tube set. If you're rockin' a 60" set, sit three feet from the screen, and can't remember the 80's, your mileage may vary. Youtube is rife with possibilities that I haven't fully exploited, mostly because I haven't had the patience to figure out my account settings for playlists and favorites on Youtube itself. A 12 year old should be able to do things stranger than i can imagine. You enter your Youtube account name/password and your lists, etc. should appear. One cool thing I managed to do was create extensive playlists (e.g. old live Dead, Zeppelin, etc.) and put them on continuous play. This is very awesome. Video quality is obviously limited by the source (whateva), the sound too, but I'm listening to it right now and it's pretty good.Pandora radio is a great internet music service that I have on iPhone. Enter the name of an artist or genre and it will continuously play music from that artist/genre. It's like an artist/genre specific radio station. If you have a (free) account as I did, just enter username/password. Sound quality is excellent.iPod dock: Excellent feature built into the main unit. The interface can be a little clumsy, however, lots of scrolling with the remote if you're looking for That Particular Song. If you have playlists like the rest of the sane, no worries.TV Broadcasts: As noted above, and in contrast to other reviewers, cable/satellite broadcasts can be played through the unit's speakers with a Toslink cable (which costs less than a Big Mac). I have a cablebox (HD with modern connections) and it took a little experimentation to get it to work. The unit's instructions read like, well, stereo instructions, and were not particularly helpful. Each must find his own path, but I was easily able to play normal TV broadcasts through the system speakers by connecting the optical audio out on my cable box to the digital optical audio in ("D-IN 1") with the Toslink cable.FM radio: Does anyone really care? Well, if you're so inclined, it receives FM transmissions pretty well, much better than my last (1998-ish) receiver, and has auto pre-sets available (just like a rental car!) Worked well. Also plays SD cards, another useless thing that these things all do. Useless unless you want to subject someone to a slide show, which was a peculiar form of torture back in the day.Conclusion: This device sounds great and has opened up a whole new world of content on the TV. The four stars is for interface clumsiness, and the remote, which I don't feel like reviewing but I don't really like. You can't go wrong with this unit at the current price point. Another unit with non-functional wireless rear speakers by T HD from North Carolina on 2010-08-09 I guess I had the same problem as some of the other reviewers with this system. Everything looked great and setup was fairly easy, but the wireless rear speakers would not transmit any sound. The rear receiver had a green light showing the wireless connectivity with the front unit was successful, but still no sound. Panasonic tech support walked me through the same steps as another reviewer, to no avail. My only option was to ship it to California (with no reimbursement of shipping costs). Needless to say, I just returned it instead.I bought my first unit online, so I decided to buy one from a big box retailer to see if it was just that one unit with the problems. The second unit's wireless rear receiver would not connect to the main unit at all (no green light). I think Panasonic has some work to do with this system. It only gets 2 stars because the speakers that did work had good sound, and the overall look is sleek.

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.

Samsung HT-C6730W Blu-ray Home Theater System List Price: $799.99 Sale Price: Too low to display   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Average Rating: Description Be surrounded by superior sound with the Samsung HT-C6730W Blu-ray home theater system. Features 7.1 channel home theater audio system 2 Towers Plus Witreless Rear Satellite Speakers Eco Power Management System 3D Surround Sound iPod/iPhone dock Intelligent Power Reviews Solid System by Jacob Bonenberger from Chapel Hill, NC on 2010-07-22 First things first, I didn't buy this on Amazon. It's certainly available far cheaper than the Amazon price as of this writing.The system is a solid home theatre system. I've had it about 2 weeks now and have yet to fully figure everything out, but each new piece is exciting when I get to it. Initial setup probably took me 3-4 hours from box to working system. Wifi setup was very simple. Cords for speakers were color-coded for ease of setup. Really no part of it was hard. I did purchase the $10 HDMI 2 Mediabridge cables through Amazon. They're great.The sound is fantastic, but I'm not a tough critic. I went from no HTS to this so of course the jump is incredible in terms of sound. All I can say is Avatar looked and sounded great and met all expectations.It seems like most of the complaints are when something goes wrong and Samsung fails to act. If I were in that position, I'd be angry too, but instead I'm a satisfied customer. My only complaint is a very lackluster remote that's confusing and not backlit. Also load speeds are slow at times and system assumes that if a DVD is in the player then it should play it upon start-up. Quirks I can live with. Amazing system by Franklin E. Young from Houston, Tx on 2010-07-07 Just bought this sysstem a couple of weeks ago and have to say I am more than impressed. I love the wireless rear speakers and the sound is just flat out amazing. Needless to say it may seem a little pricey, but trust me the sound/picture quality is worth it. A good buy by Glenn T. Miller from maine on 2010-06-28 This product lives up to expectations. The sound is excellent, and the blue ray clear. The internet hook-up works well with the partnered companies, such as Netflix, but is not expandable to include other media providers. This latter problem could be easily fixed by the company. I really like this system by Steve from SF Bay Area on 2010-05-04 I recently purchased this, my first home theater system, because of the following features: blu-ray, ability to stream Netflix from the internet, surround sound, wireless rear speakers, and compatability w/ my Samsung LN52A650 LCD TV. I'm no audiophile and didn't want to pay for something at least 2X the cost. I am very happy with the system. The sound is excellent (I only have it set up as 5.1), blu-ray is awesome, and the ability to watch Netflix anytime (even between discs) is fantastic. The system really enhances the TV watching experience. I agree that the manual is not the best, but I got good help from the Samsung support person. My only quibble is that I need to use 3 remotes (Comcast is the 3rd) and the HT remote sometimes resets the source for the TV and then you get into a little loop until everything gets square. Question by ken from Littleton, colorado on 2010-05-03 How can this unit claim to have nearly 1300 watts? I checked the back panel in the store and it says it only consumes 75 watts. Anyone who knows stereo equipment knows to divide this number in half to get an idea of total output power, which is 37.5 watts! A little false advertising I'd say.

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.

LG LHB535 1100W Network Blu-ray Disc Home Theater System, Black List Price: $499.99 Sale Price: Too low to display   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Average Rating: Description If you want to make the most out of your HD entertainment, the LHB535 Network Blu-ray Home Theater System more than delivers. Instant streaming movies, shows and music direct from your Wi-Fi connection to your TV. Full HD video and superior audio performance with Blu-ray. Crystal-clear, dazzling sound from state-of-the-art speakers. It's the total package. Features Integrated WiFi Connectivity NetCast™ Entertainment Access Blu-ray and DVD disc playback 2 HDMI Inputs Silk Dome Speaker Technology Reviews Great features and the sound quality is good if you can't hear the ultrasonic noise by Rouslan Dimitrov from London, UK on 2010-08-29 After reading the other reviews I was very skeptical about this particular HTIB, so I went to a store determined to get a good set for about $500. Here I focus mostly on the sound quality because that is what matters most to me. I compared:Onkyo 5300 $500 Yamaha 593BL $500 LG LHB535 $400 + Bluray and all the other hightech pluses.and they perform in that order. The Onkyo sounds very clear and is a winner. This Yamaha comes with the plastic speakers (unlike the 693) and it sounds just a bit better than the LG, but both have a somewhat flat and resonating sound at mid-frequencies. The reason why I picked the LG is very simple - it sounds just a bit worse, but it's quite feature rich and modern. I find that Pandora (its online radio) matches my tastes really well and I use it very often early in the morning during breakfast.Electronically, the whole unit is efficient due to its impulse driven power supply and power amplifiers. It has USB and LAN connections and is a third the size of the others I mentioned. I just feel glad I bought a piece of modern technology, really. The Onkyo and the Yamaha come with classical class AB amplifiers and normal 50Hz transformers and thus are heavy and output a lot of heat. I know that is meaningless to most people, but everyone is idiosyncratic in a way :)Update: I saw many complaints about the high pitched sound coming out of the center and right speakers. Yes, it is there in the January 2010 built and though subtle (ie cannot be heard in a store), it is noticeable in between songs. I returned mine and got one made in June 2010. It works flawlessly so far. LG LHB535 Blu-ray HTIB by Okevino from on 2010-07-12 I received this with my 50" plasma TV. After using both for over a month here are my thoughts. I have my Dish Network PVR run to the blu-ray play on hdmi 1. The first thing I noticed, as did everyone else who watched/listened to it (through the PVR on hdmi #1) was the popping noises. They were quite loud and startling. It seemed as thought hey were going to damage the speakers they were so loud. It does not pop on dvd/blu-ray playback. Maybe it is a problem with the PVR or the blu-ray player I do not know.The included wireless network was able to easily connect to our home network with just a few keystrokes. Using the network was slower through the blu-ray player than with the LG TV (same widgets and options). It even updated itself quickly and with my permission.Overall I would not recommend this HTIB to anyone I know. The sound from the speakers is somewhere between ok and bad. The satellites and sub don't seem to compliment each other at all. All of the sound options were less than desirable. I do not recommend this set unless it is cheap or you are given it for free. Excellent system for the price. by DeAd MiKe from Brooklyn, NY on 2010-07-06 At the time of my current purchase (yes, current purchase - I'll explain that later), the unit is $420 and is worth every penny. For that price, you get a very good Blu-ray player, decent speakers (I'll get to that later too), and the ability to do all kinds of streaming to the device using either an Ethernet cable or the device's built in Wireless N certified antenna. The main reason I wanted this particular unit was two-fold. One, it is the only decent Home Theater System that has built-in DivX HD support, which means that it has the ability to play pretty much all types of media (MKV, AVI, DivX, MP4, MPG, etc...) off of a USB or from your home server. This was crucial. This device also just so happened to match the design of my LG 42LH40 1080p 120hz LCD HDTV (seen here: http://www.amazon.com/LG-42LH40-42-Inch-1080p-120Hz/dp/B001VJHWTQ - AMAZING television as soon as you turn off the 'TruMotion' feature). So, this Home Theater System matched my needs.This was my first Blu-ray player, but I didn't even really get it for that. I mainly wanted to be able to stream all kinds of media to something in my living room that could also playback my DVDs and eventual Blu-rays. My Xbox 360 can handle all of my media, but that's in the bedroom. I needed something decent for the living room, and something to take advantage of my beautiful TV. So, after getting this system, I tried some Blu-rays out - and WOW! I've since bought over 20 titles on Blu-ray. The picture and sound is amazing - but I'll get to that later!I've mentioned "current purchase" and "first purchase" in this review so let me explain that. This device originally had a manufacturing defect which caused a loud high pitch whistle sound (sounded like a tea kettle) to emit from the front right, rear right, and sometimes the center speaker. I was the first to document this online, and I did it on the Amazon message board on this very page. I also replied to several reviewers on this and the page for the LG LHB335 device. Others mentioned this problem on various websites (I'm not going to plug them here in my review), so trust me, this was a big problem. On top of that, I was in constant contact with the head of LG's Quality Assurance team. After talking to him about the issue, he admitted it existed and promised to find a fix. I grew impatient and saw the price for this device drop (around $80 from what I originally purchased it for) so I decided to return it and thought I would re-buy it at a cheaper price once he assured me a fix was found. Well, a fix was found. I re-purchased the device and it's working flawlessly. The devices with the issue were manufactured January 2010. The fixed ones are April 2010 and later. I'm sure there are some January 2010 devices that didn't have the whistle, but I couldn't confirm that. If anyone has a January 2010 device with no whistle sound out of the right speakers, please let me know!So, back to the review. There have been some firmware updates lately that added some new features (MLB TV and Napster), so make sure the first thing you do when you get the device is to update the firmware. It's also good to do a factory reset the first time you do that just in case (me and at least one other person have noticed a bug that was solved when we did that - but it's possible that the bug would have been fixed with the firmware update that was released a few days after that - I don't know). It's also a good idea to go into the speaker settings and adjust the speaker distance (the amount of feet between each speaker and your usual listening position). Now, this device came with rather short speaker wires (probably the shortest out of any Home Theater System I've ever purchased). This was solved with less than $10 and a quick trip to Radio Shack. I'm glad the speaker connections aren't proprietary like some other manufacturer's models out there. Let's get to the sound.The sound is pretty impressive. It's possible that the people complaining about the sound are doing it for two reasons. For one, maybe they used the short speaker wires and thus, their speakers are too close together. Mine are pretty far apart from each other, so I have no sound problems. For two, it's possible that they left the default 2-channel sound output set to Natural (or was it Natural Plus?). For two-channel stereo audio, I didn't like this very much. Changing it to 'PL II Movie' made two-channel stereo audio sound NICE. I have 0 complaints about regular stereo audio anymore. By default, the receiver is properly set to output 5.1 channel audio with the 'Bypass' setting. This means that the receiver does no artificial mixing of 5.1 channel sound. It outputs it exactly as it is given it. This is the right way to do it. The receiver will also remember your settings for 5.1 channel and 2 channel, so don't worry about having to manually switch it to Bypass for 5.1 and to PL II Movie for 2 channel. Go to something that is 2 channel (like the FM radio, or a DVD menu), change the sound output to PL II Movie once, and never worry about adjusting the sound output again (unless you are strictly listening to CDs or MP3s and then you will have various different music outputs to choose from). So, due to changing the stereo output and having the speakers at a nice distance, I really love the sound output of this system. I did notice that the bass was a little low by default so I increased the sub-woofer volume to 3 and it sounded really good. I tried changing it to 6 at first but that was WAY too much bass for me. 3 was a perfect level.Hooking the system up to my Wireless N network was a breeze. To make matters easier, I set my SSID to 'broadcast' so the Wireless N device inside the device would pick up my network, I put in the password once, and it was a go. I then disabled the broadcast of my SSID, turned the unit off, turned it back on, and it automatically re-connected without a problem. It remembers your password and automatically logs you in to your network so you never have to worry about that again. Good. Clicking on Homelink, I was greeted to my wireless network. I saw the CIFS network login for the PC, and the one for my Windows 7 Homegroup (which is the one I wanted to use). Before it would connect to my PC via the Windows Media Player server (the Windows 7 Homegroup), I had to go into the Homegroup settings in my Windows 7 PC, click on 'All Networks,' and make sure the device (which is listed as 'Unknown Device') was set to ALLOW. Once done, I was inside my PC's video library. 14GB 1080p MKV files streamed flawlessly over my wireless connection where my device was 50 feet from my router. The only time I would run in to a problem was when I would try to fast-forward a large file. I'm not sure if this is because of the device, or my wireless network, so I won't blame the device. However, fast-forwarding a file when played on a USB (and naturally, off of a Blu-ray disc and a DVD) worked fine. So the issue was definitely wireless related. It's probably too much to ask to be able to fast-forward such a large file over WiFi, but I don't care as long as it PLAYS the file fine. It does. You can pause it all you want and it will resume instantly as soon as you press play. This was all I wanted. In addition, since fast-forwarding large files doesn't work, I've noticed that you can press 'Info' and skip directly to the time that you want, which works just as well if not better than fast-forwarding.The player had no problem playing files off of each of my USB sticks, but there was one thing I noticed. If the USB external hard drive was formatted to NTFS, I could just plug it in and the device would pick it up right away. If the USB flash drive was formatted to FAT32, I would have to turn the device off and turn it back on for it to recognize it. It may be because of my particular USB flash drive, or it may be because it is FAT32 and not NTFS. Either way, not really a big deal. As long as I can play all file types off of FAT32 and NTFS, I'm happy.YouTube, Pandora, VuDu - all worked fine. I don't have a Netflix account (yet) but I'm sure that works fine as Netflix is the feature they promote the most (a sticker for it is on the device itself, and in the box, and on the box). If you open up VuDu, make sure to go into the options and check out the overscan settings and make sure it is appropriate to your HDTV so nothing is cut off. YouTube works well, it seems to stream videos at whatever their default resolution is (whether it is 360p, 480p, 720p, 1080p). You can log in to your YouTube account so I'm sure that if you have your account to display HD video by default, that it would do that on this device. I don't really care to find out since I have a PC for YouTube. I just wanted to see if it worked. It does. It will store your YouTube history and not present you with an option to clear it, though. Doing a factory restore will clear your history (among other things) in the event that you reaaaaaaaally need to clear your history.Let's talk Blu-ray. When I first got the device, I had a little problem with some movies when playing them at 24 frames per second (which you will want to enable as long as you have a 120hz/240hz LCD, or Plasma HDTV) but that was promptly fixed with a firmware update a week after I e-mailed LG about the problem (apparently, their whole line of this year's Blu-ray players were affected so I'm sure I was not the only one contacting them about it) and I have not had a problem since. If you don't know why you would want to set it to 24hz instead of 60hz - to make a long story short, it will play the movie at the proper framerate because film is recorded at 24 frames per second. Don't worry, it WILL know when you are playing something that should be in 24 frames per second (Blu-ray) or 29.97 (DVD) and play things at the proper frame rate as long as you have 24hz selected. If you have 60hz selected, everything will play at 60hz. So, once again, do 24hz if your HDTV is above 60hz (like 120hz or 240hz). If not, don't worry about it.Lower resolution movies (DVDs and movies off of the USB) looked a little 'off' to me, at first. That is, until I went into the options as a movie was playing and set the output to 'Movie' from the 'Standard' output. This made everything look perfect to my nicely calibrated HDTV. The 'Standard' output makes things a little too bright and sharp for my setup. So, if you're dissatisfied with the picture quality (or you just want to see if it can get even better), go ahead and switch it from 'Standard' to 'Movie.' They also let you adjust the settings yourself (such as brightness, contrast, sharpness, digital noise reduction), but I'm perfectly happy with 'Movie' so I didn't need to do that. When in 'Movie' setting, upscaled DVDs look perfect (when watching 'Underworld' - I would have thought it was a Blu-ray if I didn't know any better - it looked and sounded that good). It also upscales lower-resolution files off of the USB beautifully (better than any previous DVD player, my Xbox 360, or my very expensive PC/monitor). So, I'm totally satisfied with the picture quality. A solid 5/5 (when in 'Movie' setting).DVDs (and movies off of the USB) load instantly. Blu-rays can take anywhere from 5 to 15 seconds to load, depending on the movie. This seems to be normal. Apparently certain discs are very Java-extensive (like 'The Dark Knight' which may take 15 seconds) so they take a little longer than regular discs (like 'The Fifth Element which only takes around 5 seconds). Playing a movie off of my home network takes about 5 seconds to load, no matter the file size.I noticed some people describing the menus as sluggish. While this was true of the old firmware, it's definitely not true of the current one. The menus move just as fast as any menu.Also, since I have an LG HDTV, hooking this device up to it via HDMI eliminates the need for my HDTV's remote (it has since gone into a drawer). The remote that came with this device (which is very nice, comfortable, and offers lots of buttons for all kinds of different things) can turn on the TV, change inputs if you need, and do some other things. It can't do everything, so make sure your LG HDTV is set up properly, then hide the remote once you get this since you won't really need it again.This device has TWO HDMI inputs and one output. This is more than enough for me. I have the cable box as one input, and since it has a built in Blu-ray player, the HDMI output handles that since the receiver doesn't need another HDMI input to handle Blu-ray. I tested out my Xbox 360 in the second HDMI input and that works just perfectly too. The device will remember your last input, so if you leave it on HDMI 1 and power it off, it will return to HDMI 1 when you power it back on. This is how it should be (some other manufacturers don't do this for some bizarre reason).It's very easy to work, especially when everything is working properly. I haven't tested out the iPod dock yet (since I don't own an iPod or an iPhone), but it plays MP3s off of my phone and standalone MP3 player just fine. The FM (and AM) radio work fine as well. The system can be pretty loud. I normally keep it on 10 for regular cable viewing (15 if it's a movie where I want to really enjoy the loud sound). So, don't worry about the system not being loud enough. On my old unit, I noticed a lot of pops when changing channels, or when the bass got too loud, or whatever. On the new one, I haven't come across this yet - so either I am lucky enough to have not come across it again or LG has fixed that along with the whistle sound.All in all, this was a very buggy product at first, but NOW it is working properly, so I will give it a 4. It would be a solid 5 if those problems never existed in the first place. I would have given it a 3 or less if I were still running in to some problems. But, everything is working as expected, so I really have no complaints other than my time being wasted in the past with researching the whistle sound and sending it in to LG for repair, or back to Amazon for a replacement, and everything else. I would also like to point out that Amazon was very generous to me in regards to replacing and returning this item several times. I'm up and running now with no problems and my movies look and sound perfect, so I'm willing to forgive LG for the bugs and wasted time. Got a great otherwise I would not recommend! by Borqueztony from on 2010-07-04 I got this unit with a package deal and the price was awesome. The unit it's self is great, the surround speakers are just ok, the Sub Woofer just sucks. What I did was get a another 12 sub with it's own amp and run the receivers sub out line into a high pass filter then into the the sub input. This made the system 100 times better. I does pop and crackle every now and then, a bug LG really needs to work out. My recommendation is to pass on this system unless you get a really good deal, then make the fix I stated above. LG LHB535 by Jeremy Jones from HENDERSONVILLE, NC, US on 2010-07-04 I have to say that I am really enjoying my new blueray home theater system. Overall its a great product. The only thing that I can say that didnt impress me was the quality of the front speakers. I replaced them with some small cabinet speakers from Blue and Yellow because after I set it all up, I began to understand what other people meant when they stated that the speakers made everyone sound like they had a cold or had a tinlike sound. If youre in the market for a good entry level combo, the LHB535 is the ticket.

Sony BDV-E570 Blu-ray Disc Player Home Entertainment System, Black List Price: $549.99 Sale Price: Too low to display   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Average Rating: Description Experience Full HD 1080p and powerful 5.1channel HD surround sound with the Sony BDV-E570 Blu-ray Disc Home Theater System8. You can also wirelessly stream Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, Slacker, YouTube and more or turn your iPhone or iPod touch into a remote control by downloading a free app Features 1000 watt, 5.1-channel surround sound system with Blu-ray Disc player Enjoy Blu-ray Disc movies in Full HD 1080p, including 3D Blu-ray Discs BRAVIA Internet Video for instant streaming of content from Netflix, YouTube, Slacker, and more Share your home videos or photos on the big screen or listen to your favorite music with USB Input Turn your iPhone or iPod touch into a remote with a free app Reviews Nice System for Us by D. Klobe from Tempe, AZ on 2010-09-02 Ordered this system because of the features and the price. Overall we are well satisfied. Took a few days to ship to us through the free shipping. No complaints there.SETUP: Took a couple of hours for me to complete the setup. Mounted the speakers on the existing mounts located on our ceiling in our living room. They fit fine and have holes for the standard mount. It also has holes in the back of each speaker to mount on a wall. I had to splice the wiring on the back of the unit to connect to the existing wiring we have. Sony has specialized plugs for this unit. I knew that when I bought it so no problems there, just an inconvenience.Took about 10 mins. to update the system over the internet. There were several updates. Ran a wired connection to the back of the unit from my router. Later on I tried to connect to my wireless router with no luck. The system would just not connect. I followed all of the instructions in the manual and on the setup. Frustrating since I had to run cat6 cable from my router to the back of the unit. Took an additional hour to run to the store, cut a couple of holes in the wall and run the internet cable. The wired connection works well. The wireless is disappointing!Setup for the speaker output was easy enough. Just connect the enclosed mic to the back of the unit, hold it where you will be sitting most of the time while watching movies, etc. and it will automatically adjust the output of the speakers. Takes about 5 mins.Take some time to read through the enclosed manual. It is informative.PERFORMANCE: We are very satisfied with the performance. Makes up for the frustrations of setting it up! Sound is wonderful! DVD movies are very clear and detailed (can't wait to play some blu-ray movies) and we love the internet features. We haved watched a lot of Netflix and listen to Slacker radio a lot. There is a screen-saver feature while listening to Slacker that will not burn-in your plasma screen. Have had no problems accessing the internet. The remote though could be setup a little better and it would be nice to have the buttons light-up.Overall we are please with the system and would recommend it to friends. There are some inconveniences but the performances make up for them especially for the price. Sony BDV-E570 by A6 from on 2010-08-27 Upside: Very easy setup, great bass and cinematic sound. I don't know if it's a better hdmi cable or Blu-ray disk player but I've found that the image is even sharper than what I've had off of my PS3. Downside: I'm having trouble getting the iPod to work consistently, I find I have to reboot the system or do something to get it to output the sound. It will read the iPod, but there's no sound output. Also this system is great for movies but if you're used to a Bose or higher system for music you may find the output somewhat lacking. Great for my purposes by L. Richardson from Alexander, AR USA on 2010-08-27 I need to say first that I am not really a techie - I can pretend to be, but when all's said and done...I'm not. That being said, this was pretty easy to set up, that is, it was incredibly easy to set up once I figured out that the reason I wasn't hearing anything from the speakers was because the sound level was defaulted to 0 when it arrived. Yeah...I still haven't been able to get the software updates to go through, but I read from someone else's review that had to do with the wireless internet so I'll probably get around to trying what they suggested and see how that works out. Hasn't bothered me, at any rate, so it's going on my very low priority list. The sound from these speakers are more than adequate for my wishes.My only gripe with the product is I haven't figured out how to get my Creative Zen to play music through the system yet. If anyone has any suggestions, I welcome them, but for now I can access my photos stored on the device but not the music. Like I said, not a techie... 1000w rms or 460W rms that it's the question? by AH from on 2010-08-22 I had great a expectation for the power output that this model should have 1000W RMS, I'd thought this is going to be a huge blast from my 300RMS DVD Home Theater but for my unpleasant surprise this system only outputs 467W RMS. You need to get to almost 2/3 of the total volume to get some excitement. So why lie to you in order for you to buy? It should say that only FAT 32 discs can be attached to. And only .divx files are supported, not .avi nor xVid. It reads MKV files though, with ease. The rest of the specifications are as the sony people said they are going to be. The image quality through the HDMI it's crisp and very nice. So the sound quality, but not with the power you may expect. A good plus is the wireless adapter included. The service from Amazon as always top notch! Prime Delivery the best way to get your stuff, fast. Good system for the $$ by Daniel Hill from on 2010-08-18 Good system. Blu ray plays and looks good. Calibration mic helped when I was setting up for Modern Warfare 2 surround sound. Easy setup and nice feature-set.WARNING: This system does not have HDMI input. If you want surround sound from your Xbox 360, PS3, Cable/Sat box...you will need to have a digital coax or optical audio(TOSLINK) connection from the box to this receiver. Then you can have surround sound. Use the FUNCTION button on the remote to toggle audio inputs. Might be a bit confusing but [...] has good support via email.

Sony BDVE300 5.1-Channel High-Definition Blu-ray Disc Player/DVD Disc Home theater System (Black) List Price: $599.99 Sale Price: $389.00 You save: $210.99 (35%)   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Average Rating: Description Experience high-definition picture quality and sound with the Sony BDV-E300 Blu-ray Disc home theater system. With this all-in-one system you enjoy the benefits of a Blu-ray Disc player - Full HD 1080p and DVDs in near HD picture quality, plus a powerful 5.1 channel surround sound system that decodes DTS-HD, DTS-HD MA, Dolby Digital Plus and TrueHD high-definition surround sound formats. The system is upgradeable for multi-room listening – up to 10 rooms – and wireless rear speakers for convenient positioning (AIR-SA10, WAHT-SA10 and EZW-T100 sold separately). Features Plays your Blu-ray Disc movies in Full HD 1080p Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio BD- Live ready Plays DVDs and upscales them to near high definition HDMI output Reviews Sony BDVE300 BRAY Home Theater by Billy from on 2010-09-06 Excellent product. Delivers great sound and the product was shipped fast and in excellent condition. Great Product by Marc Jones from New York, NY on 2010-08-29 This is a great buy. Very easy to install, speaker wire are long enough for large living rooms and the remote can also control your iPod when on the dock. Sound quality is great. Fantastic Home Theater System by DD from Pittsburgh, PA on 2010-08-13 I bought this system as a christmas gift to my family and we love it. It was so easy to setup; we were using it within 45 minutes (including taking out of the box). The kids love the IPOD dock so they can listen to their music. The sound is great. It fills the room and gives that movie theater feel at home.The only negative is that some standard format DVDs would not play but they were rented or borrowed from the library and could have been damaged. All DVDs that we have purchased have played just fine. Plus all my own home video clips from the video camera have played just fine.I would recommend this system. Works great!! Easy to set up by Jennifer Silvas from on 2010-06-13 I recently just purchased this to replace my five disc Sony dvd player surround.I got this on sale at Walmart for $298. I brought it home and since the speakers are the same color code as my old speakers,I didn't have to do any rewiring. I just simply unplugged the speakers from the back of my dvd player,unplugged the Hdmi cable and unplugged it. I plugged the speakers back into this one and reconnected the Hdmi wire and plugged it in. That was it. I have all my speakers set up in the front of my room on my entertainment unit. This is a set up option. I had never seen a blu ray before,so I rented some from blockbuster to try this out. Avatar(which I own on dvd) was amazing on Blu!! Then we watched Wolfman and I wasn't as impressed. Being as I hadn't really done the setup on this,I decided to do so. Then I found out that the default settings on this unit is 480p!! I read the manual and calibrated my speakers,upgraded to 1080p,and did everything the manual said for best pic and sound. I reinserted Wolfman and it was very crisp and a huge improvement. It actually made me wonder that Avatar must be that damned good to awe me at 480p!!! Anyway,the sound on this is incredible!!! Blu rays really have awesome sound compared to dvd and this really uses all the speakers and you can hear what everyone is saying loud and clear!! On Blus I never have to go above 20 on the volume. Dvds I usually have to up to 22 unless they have DTS. It really upgrades the dvd picture quality too!!Music sounds incredible. I don't ever use the radio since I live out in the country and cannot recieve any signals and the Ipod dock is useless to me since I don't have an Ipod or Iphone. I sold my old player for $200, so I really ended up paying $100 for this. You can't beat that at all!!! Syncs perfectly with my Sony Bravia 46 inch LCD tv too!!! good sound and good overall unit by Mr. Kazi from Columbia, MD United States on 2010-05-18 I just returned the system because the dvd tray cover fell off. I liked the system very much but I am not sure why tray cover was so fragile. Lot of reviewers complain about speakers wire length. I bought seperate speaker wire and extended the length to my heart content so that is not really an issue. One side of the wire has a propritary plug on it but other side is regular wire. FM revieve is a little bit weak catching all the stations but I was not too worried about that. The size of the unit is pretty big and did not fit very well in my entertainment center so you may want to check that before you buy. I agree with other reviewers that sound is not very loud but it is a good quality sound. I don't think you can connect to utube or netflex directly either.All in all I liked the system.

Samsung HT-BD1250 Blu-ray Home Theater System Sale Price: $549.99   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Average Rating: Description Blu-Ray Home Theater Features 1-disc BD/DVD HDMI-CEC function allows all products in the system to discover and communicate with each other. Wireless ready Stream Blockbuster, Netflix, YouTube & Pandora BD Wise: perfect replay of Samsung Blu-ray disc iPod connectivity compatible Reviews PLEASE read before buying! by A. Boomer from Pennsylvania, US on 2010-08-04 I purchased this Samsung unit when it was a 'Today's Deal". I won't complain about hookup or other techie stuff; those are not Samsung's problems (imo). About one week after setting it up, it started behaving oddly: it would pause spontaneously, or start fast fowarding, etc. Checked the remote, restarted, reset, all the usual stuff, but the problem got worse, to the point that it would TURN ITSELF ON AND OFF throughout the day (and night, scaring the h*** out of me initially). I sent it back to Amazon for a replacement.Second unit arrived, was set up. I enjoyed high-quality and flawless performance for about five months. No messages to upgrade, no errors or anything. Then the same problem started again... first, turning itself on and off for varying intervals, playing loudly in the middle of the night if I was careless enough to leave a disc in. It seemed to be fine when in actual use, so I dealt with the problem by cutting off the power source when not in use. However, the problem has gotten progressively worse to the point where watching anything using the unit is impossible now. It will pause, play, pause, fast forward, play, pause... over and over again. It is constantly spontaneously turning itself on and off if the power cord is plugged in.Tech support is a joke. They had me reset the unit several times to no avail. They (level II) tried to blame my television, my internet provider, AND my HDMI cable. Um... I don't think so! The second unit with the exact same problem, which worked fine with all it's accessories until a few weeks ago? (I ought to point out that my nearest neighbors are at least a quarter of a mile away.) I pushed a supervisor (fourth level of support) for a replacement, but the only concession I got was that they would pay the cost of shipping the unit to be repaired.I will send the unit in for repairs and keep my fingers crossed (apparently others are still waiting to get theirs back from repairs), but in my book, this unit plus it's support gets zero stars. Love the Samsung Link by Ferrell Ferguson from Houston, Texas United States on 2010-07-02 I paired this with Samsung PN58B560 58-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV after deciding that my family really needed the convenience of one less remote (see my review). I have been happy with how the Samsung products talk to each other.. it's not perfect but once you understand the system you really only need one remote. It's not fair for me to compare this to what I really wanted to get which was an Onokyo theater system which is about the same price and no Blu-ray. BUT.. the sound quality for this theater system is a bit lacking and really not comparable in any respects to Onkyo HT-S5300 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver/Speaker Package with Dock for iPhone/iPod ( Black). Having said that, it is a great all in one theater system and DVD player. Personally I have NEVER had a DVD player last me more than 2 years so I purchased the extended warranty on this. The blue-ray player is freaking awesome! I love the Netflix streaming and cannot recommend it enough! It sounds amazing by Dustin F from on 2010-06-30 This system sounds amazing.It sounds better than systems costing far more.It's just beautiful. This is reflected in the professional reviews, but more importantly, it's reflected in reality. I've used many home theater systems, and this one sounds much better than any that are anywhere near its price range. The woofer is really good without any obnoxious overkill unless you go out of your way to make your wife mad (which I am happy to report is also possible!).And that, of course, is the most important piece of information you could have about this unit.It also loads blu-rays very quickly. Some blu-ray players take much longer to load movies. Everything was in Sync and I never wanted for any feature or functionality (though it's not 3D compatible... I didn't mind).The setup was easy though it lacked a microphone for calibration of the output (it was very easy to set up, though I did lower the center channel quite a bit).Anyconnect (Similar to Sony's bravia feature which enables one Samsung HDMI device to control other Samsung devices) works easily with Samsung TVs, and it is so easy to get TV audio through the surround system with either remote. I don't think this feature is super amazing, but it's convenient. I bought an all Samsung setup for this feature, and I suggest other buyers ignore it if they can save money doing so. It's nice, but it's not quite perfect enough and you still have to hit 2 or 3 buttons for most tasks.There is the ability to plug a USB stick into the device and play AMVs, JPGs, MP3s. I used it a lot and it works fine, though with no frills. I think this is a great feature, but it's probably not cutting edge anymore.Because of the firmware concerns from last year, I simply didn't connect this to the internet (it comes with an Ethernet jack in the back). I love Pandora and youtube and netflix, but I'll just pretend this doesn't support them.Plenty of hookups. Of course, no HDMI input because that's the industry standard for some stupid reason. But twin toslinks is more than enough in my opinion. Decodes and works without any hassle.Now, I had a HUGE PROBLEM with this system. It was enough to make me nearly swear off buying Samsung ever again. The box is emblazoned with a massive 'Wireless Rear Speaker Ready' badge. It is no more wireless ready than the cheapest surround system you can find if Samsung no longer makes the SWA-4000 Wireless rear adapters. These are now available, used, via ebay or amazon for more than the price of a non-proprietary rear wireless system.I contacted Samsung and was told the SWA-5000 would work. And this seems reasonable, since the device is highly similar. The pins on the transmission card of the swa 5000 are identical in size and number to the pinout on this 1250 receiver, too, but the card's housing is much larger and can't fit (and the software probably doesn't support it, though I did not force the card in). This is probably forced obsolescence and my later investigation of Samsung's wireless rear systems leads me to believe they just keep doing this to force upgraders to buy a little more equipment. Worse, Samsung does a poor job advertising they no longer support wireless functionality in recent iterations of their systems and gave me incorrect info when I called them. Samsung knows they could use the same standard the way Sony's S-Air does. There is no technical reason to change the size of their TX card so frequently.But Amazon saved Samsung, because they accepted my return with no hassle and I bought a 'universal' wireless rear that isn't seamless but works. I have returned things of this nature for reasons of this nature to brick and mortars to be charged a restocking fee. Amazon is better. Samsung also saved themselves because this system sounds so great that it's hard not to love it despite the huge disappointment of spending thousands on a setup that didn't work on day 1. Imagine someone so mad about a problem they want to rate a product 1 star, but after enjoying a few movies, are so happy with the audio quality they instead give 4 stars.That's how good this dang thing sounds. Please ignore the 'wireless rear ready' claims, and you won't be burned. I think Amazon should remove that from the product description, too, since it's just not supported. Any wired system can be made wireless, though. Thank goodness. Equipment good; instructions bad by Spitoon from Charlotte on 2010-06-25 Very pleased with quality and appearance of this sound system. However, the instructions that accompany same are extremely hard to understand and lacking in a sensible approach regarding installation and operation of the system. don't pay anymore than $400 for this by PuPu from on 2010-05-29 I got this product for free so it's not like I can complaint about how much it cost. I find the system look pretty nice, the amplifier is all glossy and everything eventhough the speakers look rather cheap but I actually like the way it looks. but the thing annoys me the most is its lack of features. For example, when you have disc in the player, you pretty much can not do any damn thing beside watching the movie on the disc until you take the disc out, seriously, do they expect to get up, get the disc out before I can switch to listening to music? The remote control is also not every responsive. I have to actually try to point to the player and press each button slowly (or maybe I'm just too used the ps3 control which has blue tooth technology, but I don't see myself having that much trouble with my tv remote control) . The Ipod feature is also a let down, while I'm glad that it has the ipod feature, I'm also annoyed by the fact that it doesn't have the shuffle option. What kind of sane person would forget such an obvious feature? Despite some of the let downs, the system is good system for the money. It has fairly good sound quality, there's option for watching netflix, youtube and pandora. But beware that despite what they say about having built wireless, you have to buy a wireless adapter and it costs about 80 bucks, which is about 1/4 the cost of the whole system so i just use my ethernet cable and save myself $80 since I don't mind having wires lying around. Anyway, buy this system if you're looking for something basic, cheap, simple and easy to set up. However, if you're looking something with advanced feature and crystal clear sound and picture then it's not the system for you.

Sony BDV-E770W Blu-ray Disc Player Home Entertainment System, Black List Price: $649.99 Sale Price: $504.62 You save: $145.37 (22%)   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Average Rating: Description Experience Full HD 1080p and powerful 5.1channel HD surround sound featuring wireless rear speakers with the Sony BDV-E770W Blu-ray Disc Home Theater System9. This great system minimizes movie wait times so you can begin watching faster than ever. You can also wirelessly stream Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, Slacker, YouTube and more or turn your iPhone or iPod touch into a remote control by downloading a free app. Features 1000 watt, 5.1-channel surround sound system with Blu-ray Disc player Enjoy Blu-ray Disc movies in Full HD 1080p, including 3D Blu-ray Discs BRAVIA Internet Video for instant streaming of content from Netflix, YouTube, Slacker, and more Wireless S-AIR rear speakers minimize wire clutter Turn your iPhone or iPod touch into a remote with a free app Reviews Great system and great price. by Brian V Patton from Cocoa, FL USA on 2010-08-17 Second day after setup and I have been pleased with the Sony BDV-E770W. I am viewing on a Sony KDL-40EX700 HDTV. This is a good and inexpensive entry level HTiB which should be more than adequate for most folks. Later in my review, I will address some issues that others have posted in earlier reviews. Forgive the length, but I figured I would lay out everything for the next person who comes along and can benefit from my online homework.As previously mentioned by Common Sense in his review, many issues can be resolved simply by viewing the online manuals while you are waiting for your unit to be shipped. Included in the box is the manual and a Quick Setup Guide, both of which are available online. The Quick Setup Guide does a good job of showing the different ways to hook up your video and audio.Even without reviewing the online manuals ahead of time, your system will be up and running very quickly simply by using the Quick Setup Guide. Everything is color coded and easy to understand. The rear speakers are attached (by color coded speaker wires) to the wireless amplifier. I placed the wireless amp under my couch and ran the rear speaker wires to the left and right sides of my couch. I kept having a problem with my rear amp dropping the signal and the rear speakers would go mute. There are three different selections (frequencies) that are easily changed on the back of both the main amp and rear amp. Once I changed the frequency, I was in business. The Auto Speaker Calibration does a good job of calibrating everything. If you desire, one can calibrate each individual speaker, but I was happy with the auto calibration. While writing this review, I cranked Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight," and it sounded great. A previous poster had mentioned the small speakers, but I found this not to be a problem. Sound has been great. The Blu-Ray disks on the system are unbeatable and the DVD Up conversion was a very obvious improvement over my standard DVD player's output.Two things I would like to address that others have had to deal with.First, the Update that has "bricked" others' systems. As a previous person suggested, I used a LAN cable instead of the wireless adapter that comes with the system....and I sat on my hands and didn't touch a thing. My system turned itself off when it was finished....the whole thing took about seven minutes. If you can't use a LAN cable, then setup the included USB wireless internet device and test it by going into the system's online library and view some videos before accomplishing the update. If all is well, then initiate the update.The second thing I would like to address is a previous poster's need for an optical cord for the Audio. What he was referring to is the Cable/SAT/DISH audio to your Blu-Ray system's speakers. Your Cable/SAT/DISH audio and video signals run to your HDTV. Your Blu-Ray video signal runs to your HDTV and the Blu-Ray audio signal goes to the speakers, but how do you get the Cable/SAT/DISH audio signal (the audio for the television shows) to your new speakers? The first two ways are in the Quick Setup guide... one being the optical audio cord and the other using RCA jacks directly from your Cable/SAT/DISH box to the back of the Blu-Ray. But there is a third way that is listed on page nineteen (19) of the owner's manual. There is something new called Audio Return Channel function which is an industry standard and NOT unique to Sony. If your HDTV supports this function, then you only need to use an HDMI cord between the Blu-Ray and HDTV and the audio signal coming from the Cable/SAT/DISH box will then run backwards through this HDMI cord into your Blu-Ray and it's speakers. This function is something that has been added to the HDMI technology as they continually update it. You only need to have an HDMI cord that is version 1.4 (the latest HDMI version). So my system only has two HDMI cords....one from the cable box to the HDTV and one from the Blu-Ray to the HDTV. The system does not include an HDMI cord nor an optical cord. Buy these (if you need both) before your unit arrives. At first, the Audio Return Channel function didn't work, but I found in the HDTV manual that this function only works from the HDMI input labeled Number One (I have four in al). Once I switched to HDMI port number one, I was in business.The last thing I would like to address is a question I had asked Common Sense concerning using the 770W with something called Sony S-AIR wireless speakers. I found out the answer and here's the bottom line....This system is designed to work with these wireless speakers. They are truly wireless and can be plugged into sockets around your house to hear whatever is being heard from the system's speakers....music, the TV, or the movie playing in the Blu-Ray. The 770W is already transmitting to the wireless rear amp, therefore the other speakers would act as receivers as well, the difference being that these units are all-in-one receivers/speakers....no need to run wires to a seperate speaker. This solves my problem of piping music out to the garage or back porch while having a BBQ. Take a look at the link below for the S-AIR speakers available.[...]>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 26 August 2010 S-AIR wireless speaker reviewFor some reason, Amazon will not let me post the URL for the Sony Style S-AIR speakers. I will try to post it again as well as a product link from Amazon. I just tested the socket speaker I received (used from eBay) and it works great. It worked on the back porch and the garage also. Good sound. Don't expect the volume to crank on the socket speaker, but it was just fine for the back porch for family BBQ, etc. If you want some volume, you might consider the "Premium" which is a bigger wireless speaker.[...]Sony S-AIR AIR-SA50R - Wireless speaker system - 16 Watt (total) - black Does Everything! (with some cables) by Will from Army, All over on 2010-08-09 The INFAMOUS "UPDATE" takes FOREVER, even with super-fast fiber internet. When it says it's "100% done installing" you STILL NEED TO WAIT and don't shut it off until it turns off and back on itself!!!!!!!!!!!! (Mine works fine after the update.)I bought this system because the wife hates wires, I want Surround sound. The box is fairly compact, plays CDs, DVDs, Bluray discs with ease. Easy to setup out of the box, the speakers all have color stickers, they and the unit are marked with lettering also.I have the system in a family room where the rear speakers are all the way in the back. You can have it auto-adjust all of the speakers with an included microphone, it adjusts volume and delay automatically. I did that then adjusted the volume for the rear up just a little, for the bigger surround effect. It's also nice that the rear speakers can be turned on/off with just one button on the rear receiver.Speakers are all fairly compact and attractive. Typical black with silver sony lettering. The subwoofer isn't too big, for best results put it in a corner. (Tried hiding it in a bookshelf and it made the entire thing rattle.)You need an HDMI TV to really take advantage of it, I also feel it was well worth the $10-15 to buy a digital optical cable. I have the TV and Bluray connected with HDMI and the DOC. The TV also has Wii, VCR, HDMI computer hooked up, and pressing "TV" on the Bluray plays whatever is coming from the TV, without problems.--------------------------------------- I've had only one complaint- the Internet Streaming sometimes just cuts out. Netflix streams in VERY HIGH QUALITY on our fiber internet. But it's rare we watch an entire hour show without it freezing and saying the network is down. Not sure if this is a problem with the router/internet we're using or the Bluray player, but this never happens with my Wii. (But the picture is obviously poorer on the Wii.)Overall, I really like the simplicity, sound, and functionality of the system. Has everything I want except AM radio, and that's an antenna issue for a different day.. Thanks Common Sense for Your Review by D. West from Atlanta, GA on 2010-08-09 I purchased this item in part due to the thorough review by Reviewer "Common Sense". The sound system has amazingly good sound, was relatively simple to set up if you (as the Reviewer said) took the time to read a bit of the poorly written instructions and plan what was needed for set up. I got it all unpacked and fully set up while my husband mowed the lawn. We immediately watched a variety of TV shows and Movies and the sound was better than the Bose system we had before. I actually jumped out of my seat because the sounds were so vivid I was positive a car had crashed into our house! I am not a techie so if I could set it up, anyone can. Hooked it up to a Sony HD flat screen TV and our very poor cable service (soon to be replaced) and we are very happy. I've already recommended it to several people who plan to purchase the system as well. Couldn't believe it has everything we want for that price - great sound, ability to connect back speakers wirelessly, radio, ipod connection, wireless internet connection - the works. 3D doesn't work by sararood from on 2010-08-07 I bought this DVD player a couple of weeks ago as a bundle with a Sony TV and two 3D glasses. It was a good price. However, so far I haven't been able to figure out the 3D. I bought a 3D movie "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" and it has two options: playing in 2D or 3D. When I try to play in 3D from the movie's menu, I get a message saying, "To enjoy 3D experience, your TV and player must be 3D." And both are, but still I can't play a 3D movie. I contact Sony and talked to two people for 1.5 hours, but they weren't able to help me. One of them suggested getting a better HDMI cable, so I bought a high speed HDMI cable for about $90, and it still doesn't work. Other than this problem, the DVD player is OK! Sony Blu-ray surround system by MARVIN KEEFOVER from Farmington Hills, MI United States on 2010-08-07 Absolutely no complaints about this item - easy to setup and works perfectly in out new basement entertainment rooom

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