Panasonic SC-HT740 5 DVD Home Theater System Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Just purchased it yesterday, this is our first HT experience. We are thrilled by the surround sound so far, I am in the process of testing all options, will update the review as well as star rating as I see more.
So far, the Pros are:
1) excellent surround sound
2) special Hbass for additional bass is awesome
3) plays dvds,cds,mp3s very well
4) interfaced quickly to my Philips TV, so can use the same remote for tv too. Now can watch TV shows/movies on home theater!
5) set-up with manual was quick and easy
6) aesthetically my wife loves the tower-front speakers
7) 5-disc changer is such that you can put CDs/DVDs in the unoccupied trays without interruption current CD/DVD play.
So far, the Cons are:
1) does not play mpegs
2) does not play vcds burnt with divx
3) remote has a gazillion options, will take time to master it!
4) Speaker wires which come with the HT are not great, will definitely need replacement down the line.
New addition:
Pros
1) Plays jpegs very well, it scans through your data disc and displays all jpeg files as a slideshow. Files not recognised are skipped. Using "playlist" on the remote, is like using windows explorer on the TV screen for selecting specific files.

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Home Theater System with 5 DISC DVD/CD Player, 1000 Watts, 6 Speakers

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Sony DAV-C900 DVD Dream System Review

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(More customer reviews)I've had this machine for a little over six months. The sound is excellent, looks great. Great feature set for the money.
Lately, however, most dvds stop playing part way into the movie (CDs work fine). Only brand new discs play. I cleaned the player using a special dvd cleaner disc and this did not help.
Now I'm back to a $99 combination dvd/vhs player I bought last year which seems to play any dvd no matter how scratched or beat up.

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Sony's DAV-C900 DVD Dream System consists of six speakers and a 5-disc DVD/CD/SACD changer with 10-bit video digital-to-analog converter for a host of entertainment at your fingertips. It comes with a 2-way center speaker with dual 2-3/8-inch woofers, 3-way surround speakers with dual 2-3/8-inch woofers, and a subwoofer with an 8-inch driver. Listen to the difference our Digital Cinema Sound System makes as you immerse yourself in the magic of Sony DVD.
The DAV-C900 has 450 watts total system power, and offers built-in Dolby Digital, DTS, and Dolby Pro Logic decoding. The Digital Cinema Sound system recreates the acoustics of Hollywood dubbing stages, and you'll be amazed by the Headphone Theater mode. The DAV-C900 also offers an AM/FM receiver with 30 presets (20 FM, 10 AM).
Tech Talk
Dolby Digital: This sound format for movie theaters is more advanced than Dolby Pro Logic Surround. In this format, the rear speakers output stereo sound with an expanded frequency range, and a subwoofer channel for deep bass is independently provided. This format is also called "5.1" because the subwoofer channel is counted as 0.1 channel (since it functions only when a deep bass effect is needed). All six channels in this format are recorded separately to realize superior channel separation. Furthermore, since all the signals are processed digitally, less signal degradation occurs.
Dolby Pro Logic Surround: As one method of decoding Dolby Surround, Dolby Pro Logic Surround produces four channels from two-channel sound. Compared with the former Dolby Surround system, Dolby Pro Logic Surround reproduces left-to-right panning more naturally and localizes sounds more precisely. To take full advantage of Dolby Pro Logic, you should have one pair of rear speakers and a center speaker. The rear speakers' put out monaural sound.
DTS: Digital audio compression technology that Digital Theater Systems developed. This technology conforms to 5.1-channel surround. The rear channel is stereo and there is discrete subwoofer channel in this format. DTS provides the same 5.1 discrete channels on high quality digital audio. The good channel separation is realized because the all-channel data is recorded discrete and processed in digital.
SACD: Super Audio CD (SACD) is a high-resolution digital audio format that promises vast sonic improvements over the current audio CD format. Super Audio CD discs can be played back on dedicated Super Audio CD players or combination SACD/DVD-Video players. Certain SACD discs feature a conventional audio CD layer (hybrid SACDs) which can be played back by any CD player or computer with a CD-ROM drive.
What's in the Box DAV-C900 home theater receiver/DVD player, 5 speakers (2 front, 2 rear, and 1 center), 1 subwoofer, AM loop antenna, FM wire antenna, speaker cords, video cord, remote control (RM-SS900), 2 AA batteries, and printed installation instructions.

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Sony BDV-E770W Blu-ray Player Home Entertainment System Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is a really a great Home Theater/BluRay combo unit. I hate clutter and went for it as this would be a single unit for Music, DVD/BluRay and Internet streaming (Netflix etc). Blu-Ray discs with 3-D surround sound are really amazing as I expected, DVD up conversion is great and sound quality of wireless S-AIR rear speaker is as good as wired (beware, they are wireless just with respect to main base/amp unit. The rear speakers have their own receiver unit that requires power plug and is wired to rear speakers. However, it serves my purpose as I don't need to run wires across my living room.). I was apprehensive that I am paying $100 extra and probably compromising on the sound quality just for little compromise of running wires across room. I did not find any compromise on sound quality (and I am quite picky). I did separate my WiFi router away from S-AIR, after reading about the possible cross-interference. That created another logistics problem: I sometimes watch movies on Netflix streamed through Internet and for best quality like to hook up the wire. Keeping router away meant that I ended up running cable across. Netflix streaming quality was awesome with wire and as good I had observed with PS3 (It's just a shade worse than DVD but way better than connecting via computer). The surprise was that WiFi connection worked almost as well as wired. So I ended up getting rid of this wire too. I have Sharp Aquos 52' LED TV and it seamlessly detects sound from this Sony unit whenever I switch to TV or switch on TV. One more tip that I discovered by chance. I have cheap $2, 6 ft generic HDMI cable and ~$10 mediabridge 6 ft and 15 ft (to connect my laptop to use TV as external monitor). While DVD and Blu-Ray disc quality was same on all 3 cables, Netflix streaming quality was way better with 6 ft mediabridge cable than other two. Probably one needs to buy decent quality shortest cable for limited signal/information relay via streaming. And don't believe in the crap that is floating on Internet. I know digital is 0 and 1. However, those morons forget that it's not just one 0 and 1; there is a stream of millions of 0s and 1s getting across. So it matters how many of those are faithfully transmitted. If input is great it does not matter, even crappiest of cable would do. However, if input is limiting, it does seem to make a difference. I did blind test with monstrously overpriced Monster cables and did not find any improvement over Mediabridge; so just the shortest and decent ones would do. I read one user complaining about lack of headphone jack on the system in reviews somewhere. IT EXISTS. Sony actually did one better. It put it on one of the rear speakers so that it's close to your couch. They just did a poor job of highlighting it. Not so detail oriented people might start crying it does not exist after not finding it on the main unit. Finally, I played tons of music from my iPhone using 3.5 mm to RCA connection (this unit can also play iPod/Phone via USB cable; I just had a very good quality 3.5 mm to RCA with me) and quality was good. It also has Pandora and other links that are suppose to become functional in next update. I tried Pandora via iPhone and it was great. I really can't see any problems with the system.
Bottom-line: It may not be the system for extreme music lovers who want to push sound quality to ultimate purity and can hear notes that pass through 99% of the people. It is indeed a very good composite unit to hook up with your TV (for improved sound) and watch movies on BluRay/DVD/Netflix and avoid clutter of equipments without compromising on the quality of either of the individual functions. I am not into gaming but Sony should come up with PS3-BluRay-home theater combo too. If I have to find fault, my only disappointment is the unfriendly user manual, hard to navigate Sony website (locating information before deciding to buy was pain) and Sony customer care (or lack of it). Also, its website use to describe iPhone app that would let you use your iPhone as a remote for this system. They have pulled it from promos and descriptions. I was indeed looking forward to it and I hope they revive it.
Note: Sony has acknowledged on their website (on eSupport page of this unit) that some of their units are prone to freeze upon software update. I was lucky that mine did not ask for any software update. Its shame that they are not paying to ship the units back to them for repair (as reported by other reviewer). It's enough hassle that you have to pack and ship the unit for something that is clearly their problem. Its not surprise to me as I have heard from many friends that their customer care has always sucked big time. Looks like, they are slipping. They are bit like Apple on making big money via accessories/support. However, apple is quick to suck up when they screw something. It's a tip for Sony management if they want to survive Apple's dominance in consumer electronics.
Update 07-19-10: I did both the software updates provided so far. It added Pandora and improved quality of HD movies available via Netflix streaming among many other small things. Software updates were easy. Only things one needs to be careful about is having wired internet for update, removing discs from the system and not switching the power off while update is in progress. This is a very good system that would take you movie or music experience to another level esp if you have a good TV. All my friends were blown away by its features and quality. We have used it extensively for playing BR discs, Netflix streaming, and music from Pandora, ipod/iphone and experience couldn't be better. It pains me to see that it has just 3.5 star rating, thanks to users who does not want to do more than clicking "add to cart" and switching on the power switch. Just reading the specs before buying and user manual after buying would address almost all of the the issues.


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Experience movies in full HD 1080p resolution and powerful 5.1-channel HD surround sound including wireless rear speakers with the BDV-E770W 3D Blu-ray Disc home theater system. This great system minimizes movie wait times so you can begin watching faster than ever. You can also wirelessly stream Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Slacker, YouTube and more.

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