DAVHDX265 - no digital audio in either.

I understand how a lower model of the Bravia home theater line does not have digital in. As it turns out, DAVHDX265 does not have it either. It also makes me wonder why Costco carries the lowest model of the line, but that's a different story altogether.

Really, is it that unreasonable to expect a digital audio port in a home theater system? I could have gotten a Philips HTS3151D for $90 as an open box. I really like these Philips home theaters. But this digital in issue keeps coming up. I do not want to get something that will intimately not do the job for me.

DAVHDZ235 vs. Philips HTS3555

To my great dissatisfaction, it turned out that Sony Bravia DAVHDZ235 does not have a digital in. I don't know why I assumed that it would. It seems as if Philips is more digitally diligent. Their HTS3555/37 has a DTS and Dolby Digital Decoder. And the speakers are not as huge as on some other models, and the main unit is somewhat slim.
It also has a MP3 line-in and a USB port. It does upconversion to 1080i and even plays DiVx files.
BestBuy has it for $180 or something, but from the reviews (quite good, I must add) it looks like it sold for $156 at some other point.

Here is the manual to this Philips HTS3555 home theater:

DAV-HDZ235 upconversion

As it turns out, DAV-HDZ235 does upscaling to 720p/1080i. Suddenly, this model is becoming a lot more appealing :) This feature is not mentioned on a few sites where they sell this model. And Costo price is still unbeatable - about $50 below competition. Also (well, I am new to this home theater world...) it comes with a microphone. When connected and placed in the exact location where you expect to be listening to this system most of the time, it balances out the audio levels for all the speakers!

Sony Bravia DAVHDZ235 home theater and Sharp SH12U

Here is one thing to consider when choosing the size of your new TV. A bigger TV, especially if we're talking smaller sets, will be very likely to have more connections. I learned this the hard way. My Sharp SH12U, even though the screen size is quite sufficient for me, does not have an analog audio out jack. It only has digital audio out with Dolby or PCM. Because digital channels that I get over QAM do not have a loud enough audio signal I started looking around for a way to boost the sound. If only I had analog audio out on the TV! Like a headphone jack or something... I would have gotten a Logitech X-530 or Logitech X-540. This last one even has a 'matrix' feature that creates surround sound when there is not 5.1 source. Unfortunately, I now have to look for a more expensive (which is fine) and space-consuming (not fine!) option. Costco has a Sony Bravia DAVHDZ235 home theater for $170, but it is obviously bigger than a Logitech speaker system. All the speaker components are significantly larger and then there is the set-top box. I understand that this give you more power, but I just don't need that much power! Frustrating.