tkerodd's Full Review: Samsung HTBD7200 Theater System
I own a Samsung HDTV, and thanks to a couple of children, I struggle to hear it. That being the case I recently decided it was time to invest in a good (but reasonably priced) home theatre unit so that I could better manage the sound from my televison. This Samsung HT-BD7200 seemed to be a good candidate.
Want options? This one has them...it will do a lot, which is one thing that I found very attractive. The DVD will upconvert DVDs from 480i to 1080p output via HDMI. It will play Blu-ray discs, DVD videos, DVD-RAM, and almost any other medium of recorded DVD media. The same applies to CDs, including all types of recorded CDs, mp3s, and JPEG videos. The unit has built-in decoding for Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital plus for improved sound quality as well.
You get a 3-channel amplifier, with 133 watts X 2 for the front speakers and 134 watts for the subwoofer. It is Wi-Fi capable with an optional adapter and Ethernet port. The unit is ready for subscription-based content from Netflix or Pandora (subscription separate, of course). It has a USB port for attaching a hard drive or thumb drive with media for play. A really nice feature is the i-Pod dock with audio, video, and iPhone support. It's even Bluetooth enabled if you want to listen to the television with a wireless Bluetooth headset. A surprise, however, was that there is no capability to bring satellite radio services into the unit.
The unit itself is very attractive, with a very glossy finish. It has a real "wow" factor when you see it on the shelf. But that is not why I bought it...I wanted to see and hear it work. The Blu-Ray player was astounding, with a picture on my HDTV that was absolutely stunning. The player is very simple and direct to use, and we were watching the disk within minutes of setup. The upconvert DVD player is impressive as well; we popped in an older Star Wars DVD and could easily tell the difference. Again, the ease of use - even with the remote control - was a big, big plus.
The sound quality was another story. Of course, I knew that this system was not going to give me the surround sound quality of a 7.1 system, but I was optimistic that it was going to help provide a fuller sound than my television speakers. To me, the sound was a big disappointment. There was a definite lack of depth to the sound from the side speakers. The woofer was better, but certainly nothing to get excited about. It helped in a smaller living room, but for a larger living area I could see where this system just would not have the power to produce a good simulated home theatre experience. I spent a good bit of time experiementing with different sound style modes to try to "brighten" or increase the sound quality, and while the options did produce different sounds, in the end I still felt that the sound was a bit muted.
The question is how to rate a system like this - weak sound, but great video, with some very good options covering all of the most popular playback media types. I would have to say that it is average simply because when you get a theatre system the sound is a BIG part of the package...and this one simply did not deliver.
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