Home Theatre Systems Test

Tests

"Sony BDV-E300 Blu-ray Home Cinema System Review"

1 Home Theatre System (approx. £420)

Published on 2/2010

On test: Sony BDV-E300

"Buying an all-in-one Blu-ray system is often the easiest and the cheapest way to upgrade your disc player and sound system at the same time. Build and sound quality aren’t always as impressive as carefully matched separates, but for some people the added convenience is worth the compromise." Review details: Single Test. One home cinema system was reviewed and rated on design, features, performance and value. → Test results

"Head-to-head: Blu-ray soundbars"

2 Home Theatre Systems (approx. £640 - £660)

Published on 2/2010

On test: LG Electronics HLB54S, Samsung HT-BD8200

"Cables are to some people what garlic is to vampires, but in the world of home cinema they're a necessary evil, particularly when rigging up rear speakers in a 5.1-channel set-up. However, there are ways to stop those bothersome wires cluttering up your living room. We live in the age of the 2.1-channel system, where real rear channels are sacrificed in place of virtual surround technology, allowing them to integrate more easily into your living environment." Review details: Two Blu-ray soundbars were reviewed and rated. No final scores were awarded. → Test results

"Samsung HT-BD8200 soundbar speakers review"

1 Home Theatre System (approx. £660)

Published on 1/2010

On test: Samsung HT-BD8200

"The Samsung HT-BD8200 offers a 2.1 home theatre experience, bringing with it the benefits of a Blu-ray drive and the convenience of a wireless subwoofer. Soundbars offer a simple out-of-the-box home cinema solution with minimal setup and configuration required by the user." Review details: Single Test → Test results

"One-box Blu-ray systems provide fuss-free fun"

4 Home Theatre Systems (approx. £410 - £730)

Issue 1/2010

On test: Sony BDV-E300, Panasonic SC-BT200, Samsung HT-BD1255, JVC TH-BD50

"Anyone who thinks building a complete home cinema system sounds far too much like hard work needs to take a look at a Blu-ray system. If you've already got a TV, one of these is all you need add to turn your living room into a high-def home cinema." Review details: Four Blu-ray systems were reviewed and rated on picture, sound and features. Final verdicts of 2 x "excellent", 1 x "very good" and 1 x "average" were awarded. → Test results

"Samsung bar is a flexible friend"

1 Home Theatre System (approx. £660)

Issue 12/2009

On test: Samsung HT-BD8200

"Home cinema is more affordable than ever, yet it's easy to see why some remain hesitant to embrace it: installing even the most modest surround set-up involves wires, complexity and a willingness to put up with the aesthetic challenge of having at least one set of speakers crammed into an unlikely corner of your living room. ..." Review details: Single Test → Test results

Home Theatre Systems

A home cinema system comprises of a DVD player with integrated surround sound decoder and amplifier and a set of 5.1 speakers, although some will come with only two. These can often produce sound quality and surround effects on par with five speaker systems and take up much less space, the only major drawback is they are usually more costly. The good things about a complete home cinema system is that every part matches. Often with a DVD player from one manufacturer, a surround sound receiver from another and a set of speakers from somewhere else altogether, the end visual effect is one of chaos and cacophony. A surround system is also perfect for playing music. The room will be filled with sound and the subwoofer will provide really low tones for stomach churning bass. The best thing about such a set-up is that it does not limit itself to playing video. A home theatre system can be just as good at playing normal CDs or even MP3s from a CD or even, son some higher end models, from networked computers, MP3 players or flash memory. A really good home theatre system will provide a lot of output power. This is necessary if it is to be deployed in a larger room. There is also the so-called home theatre in a box. This is less powerful, has smaller speakers and a more consumer oriented design. The sound produced by such a machine is perfect for the home user, it is not too loud but is still more than capable of creating the same kind of feeling. Explosions will be loud and thunderous, whispers from the left of the screen will come from the left of the room and the creepy noises that usually make us run for the back of the sofa will actually be coming from behind the sofa.

This category contains tests on Home Theater System, Home Theatre Systems, Home Cinema in a Box, Home Theater Systems.

Home Theatre Systems

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