Electronics Gadget Reviews

Sony HT IS100 BRAVIA Theater Micro System Set of Six Black

HT-IS100 is the perfect surround-sound add-on system to existing Blu-ray Disc or DVD players.For those consumers who already have a Blu-ray Disc player or a DVD player/recorder, the perfect upgrade solution is the HT-IS100, combining all the surround processing and amplification into a single hideaway subwoofer unit.Within the subwoofer is powerful s-master digital amplification and sophisticated surround-sound processing, able to handle all the surround-sound formats on DVD and also accept high-definition audio from Blu-ray Disc for an even more thrilling home cinema experience.The system can also accept video signals from all your existing sources, either via HDMI connections or component and composite video sockets, and then will up convert for a single HDMI cable connection to your BRAVIA TV.It has the same digital cinema auto calibration as the other ‘IS family’ systems, and also features the digital media port for fast and easy hook-up of portable devices. If you’re looking for a simple, great-sounding system to take you from just watching TV to truly experiencing it, look no further.

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars I’m not picky but…..
PROS:

Audio: I’m not picky, so in terms of the audio, it’s fine to be. I just wanted an upgrade from the tv speakers. This is loud enough!

Looks: I also didn’t want huge speakers. These tiny speakers are cool and unobtrusive. You find plenty of universal stands for the speakers.

CON:

Notice my con is not plural. I’m just going to summarize. I own a Samsung LN52A850. You might want to consider what brand tv you have before buying this. There is no on-screen menu for me. Nobody else has mentioned this in their review. Because if someone has a Bravia and the HT-IS100 and still don’t have on-screen menu, I would imagine that someone would have mention this “con” by now. So I’m assuming that those with Bravia TVs do have on-screen menu. Or, maybe people just don’t mind not having an on-screen menu. Why am I making such a big deal about this? Because the LCD display on the sub woofer faces the ceiling. Then engineers who made this should realize that if you make the display face the ceiling, then you better provide an on-screen menu. So I’m surprise I’m the first person to complain about this. Like I said, I have a Samsung, those with a Bravia may have onscreen menu. I don’t know, I can’t confirm that. I hope the next reviewer will confirm this. So for me, it sucks that I got to walk to my sub woofer every time to look at the display when I want to play around with the functions. Another con is that the accessories to make the rear speakers wireless is expensive, hard to find and quite frankly, confusing. You need to buy a transmitter, and you also have to buy a subunit. That’s right, it’s not totally wireless. You need to buy another subunit to place in the back of your room and the wires of the rear speakers will go into this subunit. Tricky marketing!!

Man, writing this review has made me more angry and determined to return this.

4 Stars Great for a Small Room/Apt/Studio
I live in a 1bd Apartment and my living room is fairly large (for an apt) The sound that this System produces is truly beautiful. I have my HD Digital Box, PS3, Xbox and Wii hooked up and they all sound great. I had a Pioneer Elite VSX-01TXH (paired with POLK speakers) and although that receiver is far superior in features and sound effects (as well as total watts) This little system worked out better for me because it’s far more simple and practical (and won’t get me kicked out of my building. For those looking for a good Surround System that won’t take a lot of space, Offers simple menus and won’t cost too much $$$$, this is it!

1 Star HT-IS100 micro system
Can only give one star right now because the systems center speaker and remote did not work. Called Sony and they had me send the center speaker and remote to Texas for repair. After a week they sent back still not repaired. Call Sony and they said to send the complete system back for repair. Looks like I will receive tomorrow (3/4/09). I have been waiting over a month now to hear this system. I will review later if it works this time. One thing I can say is the ease of setup, and no wires from front to back for the speakers using the SA1. Also, purchased two stands for the back speakers. They look great and enable you ease of hiding wires to each of the back speakers under the carpet.

It is now 3/7, received system back from Sony repaired and ready to go.

However, they forgot to enclose the remote, so I am waiting another 4 days for the most important part. I can say now that this system sounds great, of course mine is not tuned because of no remote. But, it really makes a difference in watching blue rays. It puts you right in the movie, what a great sound from such small speakers. I now rate this a 4 star system

3 Stars It would be a great system if wireless accessories could be bought…
Its a great system from looks and sound wise and I first purchased it without the wireless accessories to see if I need them. After a short time I decided to opt for the wireless amplifier for [...]. When it arrived in the mail I was first excited but then quickly realized that additionally an EZW T100 is neede for[...]. First of all I find this to expensive to have to add 200 dollars to a 700 dollar system to make it wireless, if 400 dollar systems are available that already have that function included. But the real dissapointment was that the EZW T100 is sold out for 2 months and I have invested 850 bucks in a system that is still wired and the required accessories are not available. That is not acceptable.

5 Stars HT-IS100
I’ve been back and forth about home theater systems for the last month or so and I finally came across this bad boy at frys for 549 promo sale and got it after hearing it at best buy and all I can say is WOW if your considering this system dont be afraid to pull the trigger on it. The system feels my room full of sound just like the movies. I’m glad I did a little research and went for this with all the connectivity it offers you cant go wrong. Amazing hooked up to my kdl52-wl140 is not enough for this system.

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Samsung HT Z410T 5 1 Channel 5 Disc Home Theater Surround Sound System Set of Seven Black

The Samsung HT-Z410 offers auto calibration in order to ensure that consumers will have the best possible surround sound regardless of where they place their speakers.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Good Value for the Money
This Samsung HT is good value for the cost of the unit. Setting up the unit was a bit confusing using instructions in HT booklet. Fortunately, I have a Samsung plasma TV and used the instructions in the TV booklet. I’m using the unit in a large rectangular room and power is plentiful. However, speaker wires are cheap. The small speakers are 60W so purchase adequate speaker wiring. Overall, I’m very satisfied with Samsung products.

5 Stars Very Nice!!
This is a very nice product. Only thing to consider is to maybe get some better speaker wire due to how the thin the stock speaker wire is. I had my ipod hooked up to it and the next day the ipod was fried. Other than that the sound is amazing when playing ps3 games and HDTV. To get the best audio and video out of it i recommand using hdmi and optical (TOSLINK) cables. This allows full digital audio and video for the best experiance.

5 Stars Samsung HT – Z410T
Samsung HT-Z410T 5.1-Channel 5 Disc Home Theater Surround Sound System (Set of Seven, Black)

After I bought a Samsung 40″ HD LCD TV set I found that my Panasonic Home Theater System (very old) was uncompatible with the new TV. It had no HDMI output nor did the DVD player upgrade conventional movie DVDs to near HD quality. I searched the Internet and finally decided on the HT-Z410T. Not only was it fully compatible with my new TV but the 5-disk player would replace my 5-disk CD player. The HT system arrived within a few days of placing my order. Instructions were great and the installation was flawless. Everything worked as promised. Someone might wonder why I did not buy a HD home theater system since I had a HD TV but both units are for a rental house in a resort area where Blu-Ray DVDs are not available for rent (at this time) and I figured that it was unlikely that a renter would bring Blu-Ray DVDs along with them. Maybe I’ll upgrade in the future but for now my purchase is just right!

5 Stars Much better than I expected after reviews
I use the product only 2 weeks, but I’m impressed by the quality. Good DVD pic, and sound is Exelent. Where else you can buy 1000 Wt 5.1 chanel speakers for $150? I connected my Dish receiver to Samsung DVD and now I have surround sound for TV too. Even if DVD die the use of the speakers will pay back.

5 Stars awesome for the price
Well what can I say, 5 disc changer, 1000 watts, fm stereo(only), but most importantly to me is that the upscaling is so good at first I thought the picture was better than my hd cable service providers. At the price bluray home theatre’s go for, this was such a good steal. I can pop a $3 dvd in my system and I can honestly say get full 1080p. Is that awesome or what! I would highly recommend this or the samsung ht-z510t which slightly has more watts(200 more), and speaking of loudness this system makes my body vibrate, hows that for loudness? It’s a steal buy!

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Sony HTDDWG700 Component Home Theater System Black

The Sony HT-DDW700 home theater system offers a great value in an optimum home theater. This 5.1 A/V receiver with 900 watts (RMS) and comes with an included iPod DIGITAL MEDIA PORT (DMP) dock. This system is complemented with high quality 2-way front speakers and 8″ active subwoofer. This system is equipped with the DMP interface and provides control for one of Sony’s DMP accessories (additional accessories sold separately). In addition to DMP, the Portable Audio Enhancer integrates portable music into a traditional home theater system while providing enhanced audio quality. Finally, it is XM Connect & Play Ready so you can listen to all the exciting stations available through XM satellite Radio (SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED). iPod Cradle (TDM-iP10) for DIGITAL MEDIA PORT included Digital Cinema Auto Calibration (Mic Included) BRAVIA Sync Digital Media Port

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Sony HTDDWG700 Home Theater
Easy to set up, operate, remote took a little work to get familiar with,and sounds good for the price. The Sony HTDDWG700 worked out of the box unlike the Onkyo HT-S5100 7.1 I just just returned. If you have a job and don’t want to quit to spend time WORKING on a home theater system, get the Sony.

5 Stars Why pay $600+??
If you want a feature packed surround sound receiver that will out-do all other out-of-the-box systems this one’s a sleeper for the money. Sony hasn’t missed anything in this one in fact it has more than I’ll ever use in my set-up. Super value & I dare anyone to find better for less than six bills.

4 Stars Great Home Theater System for the price.
If you need to add a little juice to your sound, this is your answer. For 200.00 you will shake the house, hear sounds during gaming sessions you never heard before, and make your wife mad late at night. Great value.

Cons:Remote has to point directly at the receiver. Small learning curve at navigating the menu.

4 Stars sony htddwg700 is a very good deal for the cost.
A great sound improvement over my TV stereo speakers. For $200 to have solid quad sound and a very good sub is well worth it…not for audiophiles or for very big rooms where you have to overdrive the speakers. But for me, a smallish square room, I never have to turn it up past halfway and my DVD movies, satellite TV and music fill the room with clear sound and the sub rumbles and shakes the room.

3 Stars Good Low Budget Option
The system was purchased as a Christmas Gift and overall is a very good option for the money. It only came with 1 very short audio cable so, in order to get it set up, we had to head to Radio Shack. Once we had it connected though, it worked very well and is pretty straight forward to use.

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Sony HTSS360 Blu ray Disc Player Matching Component Home Theater System Black

The 5.1 channel HT-SS360 system features a component A/V receiver with three HDMI inputs (one out) and 1,000 watts (RMS) of power. Through these HDMI connections, the model supports full HD1080/24p and 60p video, as well as LCPM audio. Additionally, the system’s center console has a sleek black gloss exterior, which matches Sony’s new BDP-S360 and BDP-S560 Blu-ray Disc players (Blu-Ray players are not included – optional). This system also has a Digital Media Port, allowing for easy connection to portable music players like iPod and iPhone. Further, Sony’s new DMPort Booster technology enhances the sound quality of all audio and video passing through this connection by adding previously removed information to compressed music files. To help simplify set up and use, the system utilizes Digital Cinema Auto Calibration and BRAVIA Sync.

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Sony DAV HDX275 BRAVIA 5 Disc DVD CD Player 5 1 Channel Home Theater System Black

The Sony DAV-HDX275 BRAVIA Theater System includes an integrated 5 DVD / CD changer, 1000 watts of home theater power, and an included iPod dock. Using exclusive Sony technology, S-AIR brings the promise of multi room audio distribution that most anyone can set-up, it’s that easy. DAV-HDX275 comes equipped with Digital Media Port that works with various accessories (sold separately). The DAVHDX275 can control a select number of BRAVIA televisions with BRAVIA Sync via the HDMI interface. With “One Touch Play,” operations that took several steps have been reduced to one. Also, HDMI interface upscales DVD media up to 1080p. This BRAVIA System optimizes speaker placement in just 30 seconds with Digital Cinema Auto Calibration.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Home Theater
From reading the other reviews on this product , I am almost afraid to install it. This product is being used at my summer house, so I haven’t really had a chance to install it yet. Because it is being installed on a “Sharp Aquas” flat screen, I hope that there won’t be any problems. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

5 Stars Great System
Ordered the home theater system, and then my Sony TV went. Ordered the TV back in 2003 LCD and the bulb melted my TV. No warranty, but I went to Sams Club and bought the 52″ Samsung, very happy with this TV, no bulbs to replace and was told that the Sony home theater would hook up no problem. The picture on this TV is magnificent, colors golore and almost like you were standing there at the event. The sound from the Sony Bravia DAV-HDX275 is amazing. The FM radio comes in just find. I only have one complaint, and that is my MP3 player is not hooking up. I still have to investigate what the problem is. Overall, this is a winner for the money!

Thanks Amazon,

Donna Haight

Cold Spring, NY

4 Stars Pleased as punch
I ordered the Sony Bravia 5-Disc DVD/CD Player after my old DVD Player bit the dust. Here’s some of the selling points that convinced me to select it, and what I think now.

- I’ll start by saying I do like the system a lot. From a sound quality standpoint, and from a DVD quality standpoint, the system meets my desires. However, here’s a few things that disappointed me.

- I wanted the DVD upconversion. I have a Sony Bravia 40″ TV with 1080p. Unfortunately, I can’t say I notice the upscaling… DVDs don’t appear any better than they did with my old crappy DVD player.

- I wanted the Sony Bravia Sync feature. It’s nice to be able to control my TV from the DVD remote and vice-versa, but the sync features are not extensive enough to put one remote in the drawer and forget about it… and I’m always reaching for the DirectTV remote to change the channel anyway.

- My parents have a Panasonic 5 disc changer sound system. The Panasonic has a large tray that opens and gives the user access to four trays at once while the fifth disc stays put. Panasonic’s disc changer is light-years better than Sony’s. With the Sony, it can be difficult to get the right disc out of the system when you want as the tray only has room for one disc… there’s a sequence to the buttons that must be followed or you’ll end up ejecting the wrong disc. Also, and this is ridiculous, it’s impossible to eject one disc while another is playing, plus, whenever the disc drawer is opened, the system automatically switches the function to the DVD. So, say you are listening to your iPod and you want to put in a DVD or CD for later, as soon as you open the disc drawer, the system automatically switches the iPod sound off and assumes you’re going to play the DVD right then and there, to add further insult to injury, the iPod isn’t automatically paused, so you miss a part of the song as you’re dealing with the discs.

- I have an iPod Hi-Fi (Apple’s discontinued iPod dock that is quite nice)… and I prefer to play my iPod through the Sony Bravia. No matter how nice an iPod dock may be, it can’t beat true surround sound. Since I love listening to my iPod, the dock is my favorite part of the sound system. The speakers play music without any distortion to my ears. I should also mention that setting up the speakers was really easy. (The included microphone is a really cool feature.)

- I have used the AM and FM antennas. They work fine.

- I am not sure that it is the Sound system’s fault, but after switching out my old DVD player for this sound system, I can no longer get most of the over-the-air HD channels I had been receiving. I don’t know why this is the case, and it should not be the sound system’s fault, but it was the only change I made to my TV set-up, and now I’m out a few over-the-air HD channels.

OK, to wrap up. I am happy with the purchase, it’s a beautiful sound system both aesthetically and aurally. That said, if I had it to do over again, I think I would have foregone the benefits of Sony Sync in favor of the improved Panasonic disc drawer characteristics.

5 Stars Great product for the price
Im not going to say anything about the spec’s or anything tech savvy you have enough of that from other reviews, but what i’ll say is for 250$$ a 5 disc upconverting dvd player with 5.1 surround speakers(sony to boot) was a great buy in my opinion. The sound was great, the hook up was easy. Keep in mind the value of this item you really get the bang for the bucks. Everyone wants a great item for less and to me this was a great buy i would suggest it to anyone who wants a system but dont want to spend hundrends of dollars for something they might not need. Ive had it for over 2 months and no problems and amazon shipped it fast another plus.

5 Stars Sony Bravia Home Theater
This product comply with my expectations: great sound, easy to install (following the instructions of course), ipod connects easily to it.

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