Excellent all-in-one system
Written: Dec 27 '00 (Updated Jan 07 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: complete all-in-one system in a sleek silver design
Cons: mediocre remote control and documentation
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| ejdeleon's Full Review: Sony DAV-S300 |
The Sony DAV-S300 is my baptism into the realm of DVD and Dolby Digital Surround Sound and I must admit it was quite an impressive experience. I have been quite hesistant to jump onto the bandwagon of DVD for the longest time primarily because of the price of the players and the availability of the titles (there are many more copies available on VHS at your local Blockbuster store). But this Christmas I thought it was about time to invest in a good DVD player. Going over the manufacturers, I focused primarily on Sony because I've had very good experiences with their products in the past. There were several players available within reasonable price ranges. I was actually going to get the Sony S360 for about $250 and was actually walking out of the store with the newly purchased player but on my way out, I came across the "dream machine" which I previously saw only in magazine advertisements.
I returned the S360 and decided to do a little more research before buying.
Here's what caught my eye about this product:
1. Nice sleek design (metallic finish is the way to go in the millenium).
2. Built in decoder for Dolby Digital, DTS and Dolby Pro Logic
3. Included surround sound system speakers with 180 watts of power (5 satellite cube speakers with sub-woofer included)
4. Sony name and quality
It took me 15 minutes to set the new system. The majority of the time was spent figuring out the best location for the satellite speakers. Installation was a breeze.
Sound was amazing. There were so many preset sound environment settings it took a little experimentation as to which one provided the best setting per type of movie, i.e. musical, action, etc.
Picture quality was nothing less than impressive. What else would you expect from DVD?! Whether using the S-Video out or the RCA video cable, picture clarity was uncompromised.
If you don't have a component system hooked up to your entertainment system then this would be your best bet. But if you've already got a dolby digital receiver, surround sound speakers and the like, you might as well just buy a DVD player that supports DTS and Dolby Digital. Since I didn't have the expensive equipment above, this system fit nicely into my lifestyle AND budget. Truly it's hard to find a comparable system price-wise as well as quality-wise unless you're willing to shell out the big bucks and put it together yourself.
For the average techie slash fashion conscious slash budget watcher, this would be your "dream machine" as Sony so frequently advertises it to be. But for the serious digital and electronics aficionados, this may fall short of your "dream machine".
My only disappointment was that the documentation was not very impressive. It had the basics but somehow I was expecting more. The remote control was also mediocre. Not very intuitive. They could've spent more time making it more user friendly and although it could control your basic TV functions, it lacked support for other Sony products like VCR controls. Not too much of a hassle, but I'd rather not have to deal with so many remote controls in front of me (considering all my products are Sony).
All in all, I'm a happy man. I haven't seen too many reviews on this product and I thought that my 2 cents worth of insight may influence you in your search for YOUR "dream DVD machine".
**UPDATE 3 weeks later:
Although the system has performed remarkably well for the past 3 weeks, I have one other complaint -- it is quite irritating that there doesn't seem to be a balance between the special effects and the dialogue volume. I've tried all of the settings but it seems that the special effects (roaring of the engines, explosions) seem to boom out of the system while the dialogue volume is quite low. It may not bother those who like their sound really LOUD, but for me, I find myself constantly fiddling with the volume control so as not to wake the neighbors. This is a small setback, but something you wouldn't see in more expensive systems (e.g. Bose).
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
ejdeleon
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Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 1 member
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