Showing posts with label Philips HTS3555. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philips HTS3555. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Philips HTS3544 power problem

Problem
I have heard before that Philips HTS3544 can experience some sort of power problem, but I was yet to encounter it. So, it happened! Came home from a brief trip and the unit would not turn on. The red indicator was red, but the receiver was not responsive to either the power button or the remote. Two factors may have contributed to this:

  • There was a power outage the day before I left. I did not turn on the HTS3544 since.
  • I turned off the entire array of electronics with a master switch, so the unit did not have power for three days.
Solution
I unplugged the home theater for about 5 seconds, waited for the red light to go off, and then plugged it back in. It worked just fine. I assume that a bunch of settings were lost, but at least I can watch DVD again!

Friday, February 22, 2008

Sony BRAVIA DAVHDX265 home theater review + manual

Sony BRAVIA DAV-HDX265 home theater

Pros:

  • Affordable
  • The sound receives good to great reviews.
  • Convenient automatic calibration through a microphone
  • You can change the brightness of the front panel (through the System menu) - a very nice feature if you keep this unit in the bedroom, let's say.
  • Parental control can be set for up to 40 discs.
  • Digital media port for connecting a portable audio device or computer
  • Plays DivX videos
  • Upconverts DVDs to 1080i
  • Theater Sync function - only with Sony TVs.
  • DAV-HDX267W is supplied with a WAHT-SD1 wireless kit

Cons:

  • Lacks digital input. Not a very important feature for some people, but if you have been assuming that a Sony home theater would have this by default, beware. To put it plaintly, you won't be able to get digital surround sound from any other source, other than the unit itself. You can use stereo input through the Digital media port, but that's just not the same, don't be confused by that.
  • Speaker connectors are not standard.
  • On-screen menus can be difficult to navigate.
  • The disc changer is somewhat slow to respond.


Conclusion? My personal favorite remains Philips HTS3555! This one probably only makes more sense if you have a Sony TV.


Here is the manual that also covers: Sony DAV-HDX266 and Sony DAV-HDX267W:


http://www.sonystyle.com/wcsstore/SonyStyleStorefrontAssetStore/pdf/DAVHDX265.pdf



"Official info":

HDMI™ Output with 1080i upscaling of DVD Media

Reads the data on a standard DVD at 480p and upscales the video resolution up to 1080i resolution for your compatible HDTV. This allows for you to enjoy superb video performance while delivering digital video and audio over one simple cable.

BRAVIA®Theatre Sync™

As a leader in products with HDMI connectivity, Sony has created BRAVIA® Theatre Sync™ technology to go beyond simple audio and video transmission. When combined with a select number of BRAVIA® LCD televisions and other Sony audio and video products, control functions will also be transmitted via the HDMI cable. With “One Touch Play” operations that took several steps have been reduced to one. Press the PLAY button on the remote, watch the audio and/or the video component(s) turn on then the BRAVIA® television will turn on and switch to the correct video input...Simple...Easy...BRAVIA® Theatre Sync™

DIGITAL MEDIA PORT

As the demand for digital content continues to be strong, here's the challenge: how do you integrate music in various forms into a home theater system? The answer: Sony’s DIGITAL MEDIA PORT (DMP). Together with one of the DMP accessories (sold separately), this proprietary interface adds networking and connectivity to the options of home theater systems and components, connects with various devices which provide the ability to control and power devices while making set up easy and operation simple. The DMP accessories will include a PC Client device, Bluetooth® receiver and Audio Docking Stations compatible with Network Walkman™ and iPod® products. So regardless of how you store your music, Sony’s DIGITAL MEDIA PORT offers an access point to integrate your portable music into a traditional home theater system.

Digital Cinema Auto Calibration-2

Now the optimal speaker settings for your living room are only a press of button away. Simply place the included microphone in your listening position and allow the strength of Sony’s Digital Signal Processing to take over. Speaker placement, distance, and delays are all calibrated automatically to ensure a worry free listening experience.

Portable Audio Enhancer

Simplified front audio and video connections are part of what makes the DAV-DX265 ideal for today’s portables. Beyond the simplified connection a powerful Digital Signal Processor is used to expand the quality from any device that is connected.

Multi Speaker Formation

Select from the on screen display to configure the system for different speaker layout.

Music/Movie Mode

System automatically adjusts sound characteristics to match the source (movie vs. music).

Saturday, December 15, 2007

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: