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’s bright, colourful visuals look sumptuous, oozing with rich, noise-free colours and crisp detail. Indiana Jones is also full of scenes that demonstrate the system’s superb detail handling, from the sharply-rendered swarms of ants to the detail inside Orellana’s dingy tomb, a sequence that also reveals top-notch shadow detail and contrast. The sound is sweet and crisp with loads of top-end detail, courtesy of the smooth and well controlled treble. Dialogue is similarly clear and open, allowing you to hear Pierce Brosnan’s voice in all its flat, awkward detail. It’s a genuine surprise to hear such assured sound quality from a one-box system, although the lack of dedicated surround and centre channels does reduce the overall impact somewhat – we can’t wait to hear what the 5.1-channel HT954PB has to offer.
The main reason to choose the HT-C6200 over a £100 Blu-ray player is, of course, for cinema sound. Although the machine can decode the Blu-ray HD audio formats - Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio - you’d best forget 5.1 sound effects. The system’s two speakers can deliver stereo only - its quasi-surround mode is less than successful. Instead a DPS button on the remote supplies modes for Smart Sound , Power Bass (initially frighteningly boomy - especially with action movies) - and a superb MP3 Enhancer that audibly lifts lo-res music.
Samsung HT-BD7200 2.1-Channel Blu-ray Home Theater System
Blu-ray pictures look fantastic, with bucketloads of detail, vibrant colours and convincing skin tones, with the dusty desert detail of ”Iron Man’s” opening shots looking razor-sharp. Although its performance with the HQV Benchmark disc isn’t flawless, its suppression of jaggies is very impressive. To properly experience our LG.com website, you will need to use an alternate browser or upgrade to a newer version of internet Explorer .
For now it gets a Recommended Award on the presumption that LG will make sure the price is keen. You won’t find many players with a better operating system, which makes the deck gratifyingly simple to use. It employs the dubiously-named but ingenious XrossMediaBar, which displays a horizontal row of icons interjected by the corresponding options. One of these is the setup menu, which presents all of the options in an understandable way, including the HDMI and secondary audio options, although there’s no specific setting that makes the deck output in LPCM. There are three optical digital inputs too, plus coaxial digital and analogue stereo ports for good measure.
Warranty & Returns
BD-Live 2.0 CompliantThe Samsung HT-BD8200 supports BD-Video Final Standard Profile 2.0, a new version of the Blu-ray standard that adds a variety of enhanced features such as downloads video, games and more, and even chats with friends when watching the same movie. The system is easy to use thanks to the superb interface, which revolves around the eye-catching Home menu – your central access point for all supported media. It offers a choice of Movie, Music, Photo and Setup and each one is represented by a full-colour graphic. The remote is thoughtfully laid out with large icons drawing attention to the most important buttons, although it’s a tad cluttered towards the bottom. Around the back we’re pleased to discover two HDMI inputs , which allow you to channel two other sources though the system, such as a PS3 and Sky HD box. That way, you can improve the sound quality for TV viewing and gaming, and you only take up one HDMI input on your TV.
So it’s not actually a home cinema system, though it does boost the sound from any flatscreen TV. USB Host PlayThe USB Host Play function allows direct playback of multimedia files from your USB devices without the need for a PC. High Fidelity SoundWith the integrated Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, DTS, Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus decoders, enjoy ultra-realistic HD surround sound like it was meant to be. The player can also upconvert standard-definition DVD to a full 1080p output, which is exactly what we did with our HQV demo DVD. On the Color Bar/Vertical Detail test, the tiny white lines were clearly visible without flicker, although the color bar was not particularly smooth in its transition from dark to light.
Where Movies and Technology Meet
The argument is, of course, that not everyone has the space, budget or desire to incorporate a 7.1 or even a 5.1-channel system into their home, and a three-channel system is a great way of upgrading from tinny TV speakers without encroaching on precious living room space. All LG Blu-ray home cinema systems and Blu-ray players come complete with Dolby and DTS High Definition decoders to produce uncompressed high quality sound. On the rear of the slim, gloss black Blu-ray player is a host of ins and outs that include HDMI switching , Component video and Composite video, both optical and analogue audio, and a slot for attaching an add-on iPod dock.
The two front speakers, boasting a new top mounted speaker design which expands the listening area, are constructed with rigid, low-density bamboo cones to achieve pure sound and crisp dialogue. The system’s 96-kHz Surround Re-master function enhances the sound quality of CDs and other sources and even raises the quality of the multi-channel audio data on Blu-ray Discs and DVDs to produce highly realistic sounds. The HB354BS marks LG’s entry into the world of Blu-ray systems and is one of two one-box packages hitting the market in May. The step-up HT954PB features a 5.1-channel configuration with ‘Champagne’ style speakers, and bumps the power up to 1000W.
1 Blu-ray Home Theater System delivers virtual 7.1 sound
Because the Blu-ray player is Profile 2.0 you can access BD Live extras, but it also supports YouTube video streaming as found on LG’s standalone BD370. The feature isn’t found on the first batch of systems but a later firmware update will enable it. Starting with the system’s sound performance, we gave it a run out with the ”Iron Man” Blu-ray disc and although we can’t pretend that the two channels do justice to its scintillating Dolby TrueHD soundtrack, you can certainly hear the high calibre of the speakers.
The BD-Live-ready player supports a wireless local area network, and Samsung supplies a WLAN USB dongle for Wi-Fi right out of the box. Once plugged in, the little LAN adapter was immediately recognized, the player asked permission and then accessed my home network after just a few clicks of the remote, once I remembered what type of security my router uses. Like many of LG’s home cinema systems, the HB354BS has been specially tuned by audio guru Mark Levinson, which could give it the edge over rival 2.1-channel systems when it comes to performance.
Netflix Instant StreamingNetflix instant streaming enables you to watch movies and TV programs from a selection of over 12,000 in total. The multi-device, partially backlit remote controls it all, although I'm not a fan of the layout. We also took Indiana Jones for a spin and its Dolby True HD track is also presented with plenty of detail and vitality.
John P. Falcone is an executive editor at CNET, where he coordinates a group of more than 20 editors and writers based in New York and San Francisco as they cover the latest and greatest products in consumer technology. With an easy search facility and the ability to sign in with a YouTube account, finding your favourite videos is easy and simple. Good variety of movies OV, but expensive, and for the money, nothing special. The snack service is moving-theater-slow, but the folks working there were nice enough, and spoke English. Things to do ranked using Tripadvisor data including reviews, ratings, photos, and popularity.
BD-Live worked perfectly, assuming that the network connection was operating properly, after I had installed my own thumb drive. Yes, we have to look at a thumb drive sticking out the left side of this soundbar because Samsung--one of the inventors of the SD card--couldn't put, what, 14 cents worth of flash memory inside an $800 product? I did notice that the WLAN linkup was a little moody, and the little adapter grew hot, despite the constant, significant fan noise whenever the unit is powered on. Within the wings of the HT-BD8200 soundbar are two integrated tall-boy loudspeakers. Like many other aspects of this package, these speakers utilize existing Samsung technologies, namely their BioKelp cones, driven by their hi-fi digital Crystal Amplifier, both of which could be heard in the Samsung HT-AS730ST Home Theater Receiver with 5.1 Speaker System. At the center is a wonderfully svelte vertical Blu-ray player with a motorized pocket that extends forward, accepting and ejecting discs to/from a top slot, although the loading mechanism needs a little encouragement before swallowing a disc.
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