No comments about ONKYO HT-S3100 5.1 Channel Home Entertainment System.

5 comments about Samsung HT-X40 5.1-Channel DVD Home Theater System.

1. Who would think that you could buy an excellent sounding surround sound system for $200 (and that includes freight!) I installed this system in a 12x14 bedroom converted to a den, linked it to a 37" Toshiba screen, and it's everything I need for home cinema.
   
   The Toshiba control does not work with the Samsung HT-X40. The Samsung control works for everything except screen control (size & color menus) and Off/On.
   
   The Samsung control takes some getting used to, but after fiddling with it for an hour, (and reading the very helpful manual), I figured out all of the internal menus and sound options.
   
   The most difficult part of this system is the wiring - if you want it to be hidden - it will take some time to drill the holes and mount the speakers. Remember, there are 6 speakers that have wires and/or need placement. If you don't care about seeing or stepping over wires, you'll be up and running in about 20 minutes.
   
   I couldn't have asked for more. For a small room - buy it!



2. this is an excellent system for most users - it has easy to setup and great sounding speakers, your tv automatically recognizes when you insert a dvd and changes inputs accordingly. great for playing music also, the speakers have a good amount of power for any apartment. can't beat it for $200 bones.



3. Good quality sound, decent matrix surround sound, and crisp at high volumes. It's lacking in input choices, however, and no s-video output for those of us with CRT tv's. USB plug and play worked perfectly with my Sony walkman. While a wireless rear channel device is available, the cords included are long enough for a medium-sized room.



4. I bought this for $220 at Fry's on Friday, and didn't get around to start setting it up until Monday. I was about to hook it up when I realized there was no headphone jack. I even called Samsung just to make sure I couldn't get some sort of accessory or something for it. No headphone jack. I brought it back and got the HT-x70. The HT-x50 and 70 have headphone jacks, but the 50 was silver, and I wanted all black. And now since they are 5 disc systems, it doesn't fit on the bookcase shelf I reserved for it. Other than that I am so far quite impressed with the 70, so I be the HT-x40 is good, if you don't care about using headphones. (The HT-x70 is quite loud, so I need the headphones if I'm going to get along with housemates.



5. It's a good functional piece of electronics. The video quality is adequate, but not substantially better than the basic DVD player that I already owned. The sound quality is good for the price point.
   
   I have two main complaints, both centered around the fact that it doesn't interact as smoothly with the Samsung LCD television that I just bought as I would expect:
   
   - When turned on (HDMI input), it automatically takes over the television. If you then switch sources while the player is on, even if the content is paused, you can't switch back without resetting the entire system. This is doesn't happen if you use AVI inputs, but then the picture quality is reduced.
   
   - I expected the upconversion to be more intelligent, and to maintain a 4:3 aspect when the source is 4:3. Instead it automatically goes to 16:9. This is annoying, but can be fixed at the TV level.
   
   Overall this is a reasonable system for the price. It is also something I will upgrade when I put together a full media room in the future.

2 comments about Bose Lifestyle 28 Series III DVD Home Entertainment System - Black.

1. Recently got a Bose Lifestyle 28 refurb unit, it was still pretty expensive. Quick thoughts:
   
   Setup: the build quality and cables are all top-notch. Everything has a plug and every single wire was easy to set up. The wires didn't hide too wel in the two sets of stands I bought from Bose. Using the adapti-q system to balance the speakers was the appeal of the system.
   
   Video: the new progressive scan features use a combo s-video and composite y-adapter to component to send a full progressive scan signal. I was skeptical at first, but was pretty pleased with the image quality and black levels put out by the unit on the LG 32LC2D HDTV. Not bad picture and it really did put out progressinve scan!
   
   The central unit still relies to heavily on legacy ports: composite everywhere, 2 s-video, 2 coaxial and only 1 optical input. If you have an Xbox 360 and a PS3 (or two) only one of them will work with optical on this system.
   
   Audio: there was no hiss or noise that I could hear when the system was on and no sound was playing, that's a plus. Video games through the optical sounded pretty good through the optical input, although separation was lost a little in the speakers. CD-based Music sounded pleasingly warm.
   
   Now the bad part: this speaker set produces pretty crummy sound for movies. Dialog sounded muffled and quiet, voices were causing the acoustimass module to kick in a little too much- resulting in deep tones associated with normal voices on the Hot Fuzz DVD, while voice work in Star Wars sounded like people were talking through a pillow! Large battle scenes lost their high-end sparkle- the clangs of swords, shattering of glass, or screeching of tires all were toned down and warmed by the over-powering tilt towards mid sounds in the acoustimass module.
   
   Bass response was powerful although undefined and needs tighter response. Staccato sounds become a constant tone.
   
   Giant battle scenes in Star Wars and LOTR became a mess in surround- nothing was distinct or separated. The opening Tripod sequence in War of the Worlds had heavy bass, powerful mids, and almost nothing else. The bursting of the pavement was ominously powerful, but the crumbling dirt, smashed cars, and zaps of energy beams were all muted and lost by the overzealous acoustimass module. Screams of the crowd became lost in the soundtrack of the movie! Brass and violas were more readily audible than the scream of a charcter on camera.
   
   I turned the treble compensation all the way up to little improvement, except it made "s" sounds in dialog sizzle too much, while keeping vowels in the deep mid-tone prison. Easing down bass compensation dropped the Low frequncy channel effects, but left dialog sounding way too bass heavy and overly warm in that same area of overcompensation. I ran the adapt-IQ system again and again, I moved furniture, and called customer service. These did not help and I became increasingly alarmed about spending $1850 on this system.
   
   Ultimately, I decided to return my $1850 Bose Lifestyle 28's and stick with my $150 Klipsch Pro Media 5.1. These speakers are not great, but at least I can hear what people are saying in films. There is better seperation in this setup than in Bose's direct/reflecting speakers.
   
   The Bose cost ten times as much, produced 10 times the room filling sound, but left nothing distict enough to hear in movies for an average OR discerning listener.
   
   If you have the money, try the Lifestyle 35's, as they produce a much brighter sound and still have enough mid and deep range to make movies pop.
   
   Avoid the Lifestyle 28's and get a Home theater in a box solution from one of the major retailers.
   
   A big, and expensive disappointment.
   
   Customer Service notes: I have to end this with the fact that despite my clear frustrations, I was treated with incredible courtesy and friendliness by everyone at Bose. I have not had a better experience so far with a customer service department.



2. excellent , i can't stop using it... i have listened to many others home theaters brands , but nothing like bose home entertainment system

1 comments about Panasonic SC-PT960 Deluxe 5 DVD Home Theater System.

1. I'm a little disappointed, the rear wireless speakers are so weak that I had to put my ear against it to hear it, there's an adjustment to make it louder, still sad.
   
   The right speaker hisses, not as bad as the left or center but enough to be noticeable.
   
   It's easy to put together, all the cords are color coded and the instructions are well written and the unit has nice features.
   
   I listened to the SC PT950 in the store and it was flawless, comparable to a bose system I was checking out.
   
   I wished I had purchased the PT950 and instead of the PT960.

2 comments about Panasonic SC-PT760 Deluxe 5 DVD Home Theater System.

1. After unpackaging the system and connecting everything, I noticed there was no base. I did not want to box everything back up so I opened the subwoofer up to see what was wrong. The speaker was not mounted correctly. I had take the entire thing apart, remount and glue the speaker in the proper place. For the money spent, a customer should not have to do this. When the system is working, it is a great system.



2. I got this to go with my Samsung LN46550 since it's speakers are horrible for anything but dialog. I got everything hooked up and for the money I think this is a great little set up. The back 2 surround speakers are wireless so you can set them up where ever a power outlet is. There are different bass settings which is nice and the up converting capabilities are not bad but not great. I would recomend this system to anyone.
   
   The only thing that I thought was strange is that it did not come with instructions, but thats not really a big deal since you can get them off the web.

4 comments about RCA DRC6355N DVD / VCR Combo Player.

1. I bought a similar RCA DVD/VCR combo a couple of years ago which I've been very happy with. Since then RCA has removed the universal remote and the display from the unit. There is only a mono output, if you are just using the yellow video out. This unit was built to be cheap. I could have bought an equivalent at WalMart for $23 less and returned it just because I didn't like it. Amazon would have taken it back if I paid the shipping both ways. Do more homework before you order anything on line.



2. even with the manual, this thing is a nightmare to set up. you have to have 50 million cables going all over the place. I just had to unplug one thing from my dvd/vcr that I replaced with this--so I wasnt prepared. I have gotten it to record a dvd one time, and that was after I played around with it until something worked--of course, this was AFTER the movie I had wanted to record was over, so I didnt continue to record, so I dont even know what the quality wouldve been! I dont remember what I did, and I havent gotten it to work since. I guess I will have to pull out the 1000 lb TV one more time and make sure I have the cables where they need to be (there's about 5 sets back there!) and try one more time before I take a sledge hammer to it.



3. Have been buying RCA tv,s vcr's, and dvd players for at least a dozen years. They all fit together well, where the remotes worked interchangeably, and they were all very satisfactory.
   
   This new device, however, must be from another planet. It wouldnt be so bad, but the remote that came with this dvd/vcr c0mbo is so small and inconvenient that I'm ready to replace the combo device with my old vcr, and dvd player. (the reason I bought this is because my old VCR was no longer giving me a good recording, so I thought it was time to replace)
   thanks so much for being the source of great frustration, RCA. in fact, i think I will work on replacing it with my old devises today. Thanks for letting me vent. What should i do with this item? I dont want to sell it or even give it away, because the recipeint will never forgive me. How could you design such a nightmare, RCA?
   
   Another thing,,If there is a dvd installed, I can't watch a Video cassette without the dvd also playing!!!!!!
   
   Need to know more? guess that's enough.



4. Great product to turn those old un-watched VHS' into DVDs that you can actually enjoy again. Great product and also has TVGuardian that allows you to protect your family from foul language. The best part is it can not only play movies... it can be used to view your photos (jpeg or photo cds) and listen to music (mp3, WMA, CD, CD-R/RW). This thing does it all

5 comments about Panasonic SC-PT950 Deluxe 5 DVD Home Theater System.

1. I didn't realize until I got everything all set up that there was not any inputs, except rca which doesn't give you surround sound. I can't get surround sound from my xbox or tv. It sounds good if you only watch dvds. I guess I'll take it back.



2. This is a great system, but its cheaper at a number of other stores than it is here. especially if you go to those stores, then you dont have to pay the higher price or the shipping costs. Shop arround, save seventy bucks.



3. I have researched plasma and HTS for about 5 months, and decided on this unit.(with help from [...] reviews) I was going to order from my local Sears, but they wanted [...] more! I'm not high tech and this was pretty easy for me to set up with my plasma pz77u I bought also. The surround sound on the HTS, was great with the movie Transformers, the neighbors even called to see what all the rumble was! It's also great just watching cable. Got the best deal here, no shipping fee's. I live on the west coast, and it shipped from New Jersey, HTS arrived on the 7th day & the plasma arrived on the 8th day, in perfect shape! I am very pleased to say the least, thanks Amazon, AGAIN!



4. Pros: Works great for watching only DVDs
   
   Cons: Can NOT be connected to any other type of digital audio equipment. Extremely limited system.
   
   I originally recommended this system for my father-in-law who was setting up his first home theater. He was finally ditching the 25yr old 27" TV and basic cable. It was on sale at Circuit City for the same price as on Amazon. After unpacking and setting up everything, I was very unhappy to discover that there are NO DIGITAL AUDIO INPUTS for this system. This means that you can not hook up your HDTV, Satellite, Blu-Ray player, or any other digital device to this system. I find that totally outrageous. The only thing that will give you theater-quality surround sound is the built-in DVD player. This is a totally useless system. Unless you are trying to use Panasonic exclusively to simplify the amount of remotes to use with your Panasonic HDTV, then I would recommend the Sony version of this system. It has plenty of digital audio inputs. If you must stick with Panasonic, then your only real option is to upgrade to the PT1050 which offers a single optical input that you can connect to your HDTV. The PT1050 worked perfectly for my father-in-law. The PT950 was a useless waste of everyone's time.



5. I bought a set of these from Circuit City yesterday after comparing its sound quality to every system they had in the pricerange of $300-$700 and deciding this sounded the best for the money it cost. I brought it home excited as a schoolboy to set it up. Setup is nice & easy, it takes longer to pull the components out of their packing than it does to set up the system & start enjoying the new sound, which by the way is miles above that of the television speakers on my 42" LG LCD.
   
   I make fun of the concept of wireless rears, because you find yourself connecting wires to your wireless speakers, & thats just dumb, but to be honest...its quite nice. My living room is 21x22 feet, and it did svae me about 50 feet of running wires through my crawl space to install the surround speakers. Instead, there's just a 10 foot wire from the wireless receiver to each of the remote speakers. I'd prefer them to put a receiver in each speaker so that the wireless can actually be...hmm...wireless. :) In fairness though, this feature is pretty convenient & its something I don't want to give up if I wind up exchanging this system.
   
   The Ipod controller is cool, the setup microphone is very cool...it automatically adjusts the levels for each speaker to give you optimal surround at the listening location you choose. The sound is full and clean, able to fill my 21x22' living room with vaulted ceilings very well. It upconverts your DVD's to the point where they look about as good as broadcast HD, not quite blueray quality, but very good. If all you're going to do with this system is watch DVD's or listen to music, then I highly recommend it...at least 4 stars. BUT, if you want more, then not so much...keep reading.
   
   Ran into a problem thats pretty disappointing, I'm trying to decide whether or not to return it for something else right now. There is only 1 audio input, just a red & white RCA...no optical in, no hdmi in, no digital coax in, nothin. I didn't see this as a problem in the store, my TV's got like 18 million inputs on it and an audio out, so I'll just use a set of RCA's to run the TV's output to this thing & have surround sound for everything I watch. NOPE!!! Doesn't work that way. I called tech support to tell them my rear speakers won't make any noise, and found out that you can't get 5.1 from the auxiliary input on this unit. You have to have an optical or hdmi input to get the true 5.1 surround sound from anything other than your DVD's. So your HD cable is pointless, your Blueray is pointless, your video games are pointless, these speakers will ONLY give you true 5.1 surround sound on DVD's you're watching from the unit itself. BOOO!!!!
   
   **update** I decided to get rid of this afterall. After talking with a Crutchfield advisor, I found that the next model up, the SC-PT1050, is going to do exactly what I want. THe main difference is that it has an optical input, so I can connect my cable box & PS3 to the TV with HDMI cables and then my TV to the SC-PT1050 with the optical cable & that will maintain my true 5.1 surround sound instead of the 2.1 through 6 speakers that the 950 does.

No comments about Sony HTDDWG700 Component Home Theater System - Black.

5 comments about Onkyo HT-S990THX 7.1 THX Home Theater Entertainment System.

1. You're not going to find a better sounding package with THX in this price range PERIOD!



2. I hope you don't like the paint in the room you intend to use this system... because it will peal it off the walls! I bought this system primarily for gaming and it didn't disappoint. I was able to clearly hear people walking behind me! Having precision surround such as this system provides really gives a player an edge.
   
   For movies it is great. The fact that it doesn't have an HDMI input is no deterrent whatsoever since you can just plug the cable from the HDMI device straight into your TV and still have the audio run through the system. The THX demo disc was fun to play for guests.
   
   The only thing I wish this system included is one of those self-adjusting microphones that allows the system to automatically adjust the intensity levels of the speakers from different locations in your room.
   
   Overall this system is great if you want an outstanding sound experience without shelling out thousands of dollars. Even then I would argue that this system would perform just as well with some cable upgrades.
   
   I do intend to replace all of the speaker wires with high-grade, banana clip wires. Even without them though, great stuff here.
   
   When it was shipped one of the woofers was blown in the left-front speaker. I called Onkyo and they directed me to a service center that had it fixed, free of charge, in less than two days!



3. 
   
   Great price, great sound, easy set-up (takes a little time, but that's normal)
   I don't see how you can do better for the money.



4. Enjoy the sound system. Only wish more tv channels would broadcast in 7.1. Most have 5.1 which make the programs quite enjoyable to hear all the different activity as well as still being able to here the actor's every word.



5. I have had no problems at all. The kit came out of the box and went up in less than 3 hours, wires ran and boxes flown. Everything sounds great and the surround is awesome! However, the biggest flaw to this system is its lack of HDMI support. I have a PS3 and the only way to get true 7.1 from it is to use an HDMI cable, but there are no HDMI inputs on the receiver. So I can only send a 5.1 signal through the optical out which is then upconverted to 7.1 by the receiver. The unit copies the sound from the surround L/R and mimics it on the rear L/R, sounds great with COD4 but still is not a true 7.1. If you really want a true 7.1 from a PS3, then either build a system or pick up this one and another receiver. Other than the PS3 7.1 issue, this system is kick @$$! I can crank it up and clearly hear the music outside of the house with all the windows and doors closed! The sub likes to rattle the trim around the house too, I love it. :)

No comments about Samsung HT-Z410 Home Theater System.