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Samsung HT-DB600 5-Disc DVD Home Theater System

Samsung HT-DB600 5-Disc DVD Home Theater System

List Price: $349.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Affordable home theater package
Review: Admittedly I am a novice at home theater setup, but I found the Samsung HT-DB600 fairly simple to set up and use. I got it...at the same price Amazon.com's offering, and it's worth every penny. The first unit I bought, though, quit playing DVD's after a few minutes but the replacement is working fine so far. I couldn't help smiling by the time I got it hooked up and had Lord of the Rings running. Anyway, here are the Pro's and Con's:

PROS
1. Very affordable compared to Sony
2. 5-disc carousel (pretty handy for those couch potatoes out there)
3. Plays nearly every disc format most people use
4. Progressive scan capability makes for excellent picture quality when watching DVD's; I could actually see the pores on Liam Neeson's and Ewan McGregor's skin on Star Wars Ep. I
5. Compatible with most decoding formats
6. 1-year warranty
7. More than adequate 500 watt power - can wake your neighbors up if you wanted to

CONS
1. No fast forward or rewind button, only chapter skip, though it does have slow-motion and repeat
2. The sometimes irritating blue front panel light, which you can dim
3. Remote control doesn't light up (you have to fumble in the dark if you like watching movies with the lights out)
4. Actual unit is on the hefty side because of the carousel; make sure your shelf system will accomodate it

Overall, Samsung gives you more bang for the buck compared to similar products by Sony and Panasonic. I've only had the system for less than 2 weeks, but so far so good. Netflix here I come!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: DON'T BUY THIS PRODUCT
Review: Do not buy this product. This product is faulty as it does not have an Audio Out or Line Out. If you want to copy a DVD to VHS you will only get the picture as the DVD player does not have any capability of outputting the sound to any other media. If one of the speakers go bad and you want to hook the DVD to your TV, again you will not get the sound. I spoke to Customer Service and they said that all their other Home Theaters have Audio/Line Out except this one but they cannot do anything about this. Go figure. Even cheaper Home Theaters have Audio/Line Out. You cannot use this as a stand alone DVD player if you want to. You have to use it in its entirety. Be careful before buying this product. My recommendation - DON'T BUY IT.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: System is ok, but provides absolutely no support
Review: Easy to setup to watch a DVD, but once you try to hook up additional devices to it - watch out.

1 - Manual is way too basic. It provides some help, but doesn't provide full explanations on how things work. It points to things on the remote and DVD player, but doesn't explain what its used for or how to use it.

2 - Website provides no support. Questions answered are akin to the manual. The same very very basic 'plug power cord into power outlet' solutions. Even searching for something like 'component video' yields *no results*!!! How can that be, there are ports right on the back of the player and there are no instructions on how to use it?

3 - Phone Support. Very nice people, but really didn't know how to use my machine either. Firstly they didn't understand my question. They were asking me things like 'tell me what buttons are on your tv remote'... um... '1..2...3'!?!? Even after understanding what I was asking, they didn't have an answer, and coudlnt' transfer me to someone else. They couldn't say 'I Don't know' but kept running in cirlces.

*How can a manufacturer put a product out in the market and not tell you how to use it???*

As you can tell, I TRIED ALL AVENUES OF SUPPORT TO NO AVAIL. So basically, I still don't know how certain aspects of this machine work. In short, I will never buy another samsung product again, since they dont' tell you how to use it. Its amazing that they can spend all this money on differnt channels of support, and to have absolutely no value.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: decent HTS -- Samsung DB600
Review: First, Samsung could pack it much better. I had to return the first unit because of a huge dent on the DVD chassis. Amazon sent a replacement next business day so I wouldn't complain much about this. I didn't expect it perform as $1000-HTSystems when I placed my order. But I have to say it performs pretty well considering it's a sub-$250 system.

Pros:
1. Adequate power to accommodate a small/med-size living room or a bedroom. (80watts x5speakers and 100watts x 1 subwoofer, total of 500Wrms)
2. Progressive scan and 3-2 pull down. PQ is really good.
3. Multi-language support for MP3 discs. Not sure of what languages are supported. So far i was able to use cdr's in Japanese, Korean and English.
(MP3 GUI could be better.)
4. Chassis fan to cool off the unit.
5. Customizable Menu Background.

Cons:
1. No Coaxial Digital Audio input. (it does have an optical input.)
2. It cuts off signals from other sources whenever disc eject button is pressed even though you're not watching DVD movies.
3. No component cable? i wouldn't use theirs but still...
4. Remote control has a lot of room to improve.
5. Proprietary speaker connectors and wires.

Despite it lacks some of features; DB600 is a definite keeper for me. You can't simply beat the value, performance and features of this HTS.

***Update***
After a month of use, i'm loving it.
i don't know if there's any other HTS(under $200) does everything DB600 does. You will love DVD movies with DTS. It brings a theater-like experience to your living room. yet i still think their remote control is worst thing i've ever seen. it probably has a range of 15 degrees off of any axis otherwise it'll not work.

the reviewer above said there's no audio output. well, there "IS" one. a headphone jack is located in front of the unit. so with a right cable, you should be able to output audio to any device. but then why would you want to copy a DVD to VHS? not to mention Macrovision will prevent you from copying DVDs anyways. if you still need copying feature, you might want to check out Zenith XBS344 HTS. it has a DVD/VHS combo player and costs about the same.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Functional for Good Price
Review: I am not a sound expert, actually pretty much a newbie to audio equipment. Which means I can't complain about the speaker wire being too thin or receiver missing certain functions that I don't understand and will probably never use. My opinion is based what small knowlege I have on audio/video equipment.

I liked...

+ Simple installation - I actually set this up in 1/2 hour, I had to cut the rear speake wire to use existing wire but that's about it. All the speaker wires were color coded and back of unit was clearly marked.

+ 5 Discs - I didn't realize how useful this was until I actually used it.

+ Heavy - the main unit was darn heavy and so were the speakers. I usually grade A/V equipment's quality by its weight. I know it sounds dumb but I just don't understand why some units are huge but empty inside.

+ Looks good - it's got a nice finish and doesn't look cheap. It doesn't look like $1,000 set but it sure looks worth more than $240

+ Sound - I had a yamaha receiver and set of speakers that were more than 10 years old and I didn't have a subwoofer. OK, you can just guess what happened next. Sound was crisp and clear.

I didn't like...

+ No Audio Out? What the... - I bougth a projection TV last year and I think it has good speakers in them. I looked and looked but could not find audio out. Just video out, what the.... wasted fine speaker on TV. Maybe I could buy a TV w/o a speaker at cheaper price next time.

+ Remote - it's functional and it packed everything that you need. It's really non-complex looking remote. However, some functions require you to joggle around such as audio and subtitle of dvd. I use this function alot and seperate button would been a plus.

+ Aux - this unit only offers 2 Aux in, and I tell you 2 is not enough these days. I have the Dish, VCR (for my kid's VHS tapes), PS 2, and Karaoke machine. I have a selector unit but I think A/V quality degrade when it passes through this thing.

If you're looking for beginner set of Home Theater in a Box and don't want to spend lots of $, this unit will be it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Functional for Good Price
Review: I am not a sound expert, actually pretty much a newbie to audio equipment. Which means I can't complain about the speaker wire being too thin or receiver missing certain functions that I don't understand and will probably never use. My opinion is based what small knowlege I have on audio/video equipment.

I liked...

+ Simple installation - I actually set this up in 1/2 hour, I had to cut the rear speake wire to use existing wire but that's about it. All the speaker wires were color coded and back of unit was clearly marked.

+ 5 Discs - I didn't realize how useful this was until I actually used it.

+ Heavy - the main unit was darn heavy and so were the speakers. I usually grade A/V equipment's quality by its weight. I know it sounds dumb but I just don't understand why some units are huge but empty inside.

+ Looks good - it's got a nice finish and doesn't look cheap. It doesn't look like $1,000 set but it sure looks worth more than $240

+ Sound - I had a yamaha receiver and set of speakers that were more than 10 years old and I didn't have a subwoofer. OK, you can just guess what happened next. Sound was crisp and clear.

I didn't like...

+ No Audio Out? What the... - I bougth a projection TV last year and I think it has good speakers in them. I looked and looked but could not find audio out. Just video out, what the.... wasted fine speaker on TV. Maybe I could buy a TV w/o a speaker at cheaper price next time.

+ Remote - it's functional and it packed everything that you need. It's really non-complex looking remote. However, some functions require you to joggle around such as audio and subtitle of dvd. I use this function alot and seperate button would been a plus.

+ Aux - this unit only offers 2 Aux in, and I tell you 2 is not enough these days. I have the Dish, VCR (for my kid's VHS tapes), PS 2, and Karaoke machine. I have a selector unit but I think A/V quality degrade when it passes through this thing.

If you're looking for beginner set of Home Theater in a Box and don't want to spend lots of $, this unit will be it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Samsung HT-DB600
Review: I bought this item for a week now and I love it, used to have a Kenwood and returned because it was too bulky and it overheated to much. The Samsung has way more EQ settings to create different sounds effects you can even put your favorite JPG foto or movie still as a wallpaper when the disks are loading. The remote is nice it controls your TV's power and volume and channels, it has programmable FM/AM radio stations, and the built in fan keeps the unit cool. The speaker are great too for being 3 1/2" deep and the gray on crome is especially nice, there is also plenty of speaker cable to reach all the speakers in the room. My living room door rattles with the 100w bass the subwoofer provides, The sound from all 6 speakers is really awesome. The only bad thing is that it is about 17" deep with the fan and I have to cut out an opening on the back of my entertainment center for it to fit properly. Other than that I highly recommend it without a doubt. 5 stars

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: HUGE PROBLEM
Review: I bought this just the other day and hooked it up with the included A/V cables and it worked jut fine. Then I went out and bought component cables to take advantage of the system's Progressive Scan capabilities. I hooked it up and tried to watch the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition. It worked fine and looked amazing but then I switched it to DTS and there was a random loud thumping noise coming from the subwoofer. It's very audible and very distracting during quieter scenes. It sounds like someone rubbing their hands over an inflated balloon. I checked around on the internet and found a few other people having this problem. One of them spoke with a customer service representative and he told him that this happened because DTS and Progressive Scan are not compatible which sounds crazy to me. We think it's a design flaw. I've emailed customer service myself and I hope they can help me but until then, be very wary when considering this system. If you don't have a progressive scan TV, don't worry about it and get this system which is actually a very good deal. If you want progressive scan and DTS (my personal favorite audio language) then avoid this system until Samsung gets this worked out. Any help you all can offer will be appreciated.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Crappy-quality DVD bundled with OK speakers
Review: I bought this Samsung based on the good reviews on this board, and because I have a Samsung TV. It was replacing my $99 AMW soundsystem. I was fairly happy with my AMW, but it broke after about 6 months. Obviously bad quality. I thought the Samsung would be tons better, considering it was three times the price! Not so. If the sound was better, I can't tell the difference. One thing was for sure, the DVD player was considerably WORSE - not only does it skip over most of my DVD-R's, but it's loud! Yes, the DVD reader is loud when playing - if you have the sound turned low, you can hear the laser seeking through the disk. Annoying as heck. Other items were found sub-par:

1) No disc memory - if you turn off the player, you start the DVD from the beginning.
2) The remote looks like it was designed in the 80's. No ergonomics, and certainly not easy to see/use. It couldn't even be programmed to control my SAMSUNG tv.
3) It is kind of annoying to have to run audio cables again, considering I already had some in place under my carpet. But samsung was nice enough to put cable attachments (that serve no purpose) on the ends so they are not interchangable. They are standard wires themselves, so can be reused with other systems if you cut off the connector, but you can't put regular cables on the unit.
4) The fan on the back isn't too loud, but I *can* hear it. I think it's just a little weird to have a fan at the back. Since it's not even inside the case, I imagine the skilled engineers at Samsung found that the test systems ran too hot, so attached this fan to solve the problem. Not a big deal, something to keep in mind.
5) There are not a lot of menu controls that can be adjusted for the sound or picture.
6) MP3 playback is severely limited and extremely slow. Sequential only, and to skip past tracks means waiting about 3 seconds per song.
7) Last but not least, there IS NO FAST FORWARD OR REWIND. Not all DVD movies have good chapter marks, some don't have any. Since the player has no memory, you'd have to play through the whole movie if you wanted to get to the part where you left off. Not worth the trouble.

This baby is going back!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: System worth buying
Review: I bought this system over 6months now. To date I am relatively pleased with it. Imust say that the sound is EXCELLENT for a pricerange like this one's. Once you use proper Svideo cables, anormal tv picture will be of high definition.
One problem I've had is that the lens is supersensitive. Any grime on the disc causes the picture to stick/skip. It hasn't been a great problem because I've found that cleaning the discs before, helps its performance.
I agree with other reviewers that the remote is crap but could be worse. At least it works although there is a slight delay in the transmission of the signal.
I haven't found the unit to be noisy and the blue neon light is adjustable.
Lets face it at this price the features available on this unit are top dog! I have mine in a basement room about 12x18ft and it performs like a boss! Also the speakers are rather decorative and easily wall mounted. Not forgetting its also a radio and 5 disc changer playing all formats of discs including mp3 I easily recommend it to anybody wanting adecent home theatre system. If you want to spend more there are better systems available but this is adefinite quality budget player.


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