Rating: 
Summary: Great theater sound!
Review: Bought this system after much searching, looking for the best quality and sound for the least amount of money. Price was the most important issue followed by sound. This is my first Surround Sound System and I am very pleased with this choice. This 400 watt unit has deep, crisp sounds that makes you feel like you'r at a movie theater and the ease of set-up and use, makes it an easy recommendation for me, to anyone looking for a Home Theater System. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Great system
Review: Great stuff. Looked around and thought the pioneer was best, bought this on sale for a little over 400 and consider it worth every penny. About 35 minutes setup time.Only complaint is that I had to go out and buy addtional cords to hook it up to my TV for TV sound, but that is more a complaint with all of these "out of the box" systems. It really has terrific sound-- deep and solid bass and the raindrops in Forest Gump (Vietnam scene) are crystal clear. The picture is equally as clear. Would definately recomend to a friend.
Rating:
Summary: Great system
Review: Great stuff. Looked around and thought the pioneer was best, bought this on sale for a little over 400 and consider it worth every penny. About 35 minutes setup time. Only complaint is that I had to go out and buy addtional cords to hook it up to my TV for TV sound, but that is more a complaint with all of these "out of the box" systems. It really has terrific sound-- deep and solid bass and the raindrops in Forest Gump (Vietnam scene) are crystal clear. The picture is equally as clear. Would definately recomend to a friend.
Rating:
Summary: From a neophyte home theatre enthusiast
Review: I am not an expert in home theatre components or electronics. I am just a fella who loves great sound and great picture- which this system certainly delivers. I received this system as an early X-mas present and I must say, my family and I have been totally blown away. T2, PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, LOTR and MOULIN ROUGE all sound incredible on the system. We hear things we never heard before. Our family room is only about 15' x 12', so the 5.1 sound system, when turned up to about 30, really knocks our socks off. The five disk changer does seem a bit of a luxury that will only come in handy when watching multi-disk sets. I have found that the disks sometimes come a little dislodged in their bays at times and need re-seating, but that is a small worry. I'm sure their are better systems out their, but for us, the textbook neophyte home theatre enthusiasts, this system works just fine. That and for the price, it really can't be beat.
Rating:
Summary: Just Right!
Review: I have had this Home Theater System for almost two years. I have watched countless movies on it. I should say this is a great system. It is ideal for small rooms like the apartment living room I have it in. I admit there are more serious Home Theater Systems out there for sale. But at the price it is being offered, this system really rules. It has both Dolby Digital AND DTS decoding. The sound reproduction is extremely accurate and crystal clear. Its common for me to get fooled by it into thinking someone is knocking at my door, or my cell phone is ringing etc etc. The speakers come in a wooden cabinet as opposed to plastic ones that most systems in this price range come with, and that helps the sound. The passive subwoofer does a pretty decent job. It is not the obnoxious blarring subwoofer that comes with some other systems, but it never fails to make its presence known. The pictures are crispy clear too, thanks to the S-Video output (visibly better than the regular A/V output. Yes, I did experiment!). It also has a Cinema mode which gives that nice film-like tint to the picture. It also can produce 16:9 signal for widescreen TVs. It has a midnight mode that enhances lower frequency sounds subtly to give better (deeper) sound at low volumes. So you dont have to bother your neighbors when watching movies late night. It also has a number of DSP modes too, which is handy if you want to watch your TV programs in Dolby Digital (using Pro Logic) through the A/V input (cable not included). Installation was easy with all speaker cables included and color-coded. The bad things ...? This isn't the sleekest system I have seen. Quite frankly, its bulky. But for me, what it can do is more important, and not what it looks like. The speaker wires were not long enough (6 meters for the sorrounds). I had to get my own speaker wires from a local store.
Rating:
Summary: Very pleased
Review: I have owned this system for a few months now and am very pleased with the features and sound quality. I wanted the latest technology in home theatre (DTS) and found it for a very reasonable price. (450$) If your looking for a system that offers just about everything but are on a budget like me buy this system.
Rating:
Summary: EASY and the sound is great!
Review: I looked into this Home theater stuff for about 2 months before buying anything. I am not what you would call an audiophile. I do know that I like a nice picture and nice sound, though. I recommend this Home Theater in a Box because: 1. I got many nice reviews here and on other audio/video/electronics sites. 2. Everything was included. 5 speakers (including 2 surrounds) subwoofer, receiver, dvd player (yes, they do sell receivers without players, I guess if you want to spend more money, or you have to have more boxes on your shelves, or you are really into this and can mix and match components well.) The player has a 5 disc carousel-type changer. You don't even have to get up to switch from Sponge-Bob to Independence Day, to Guys and Dolls! Wires, and easy remote were included (even the batteries,) too. 3. Macro-vision is disabled. If you don't know what this is...I didn't either until I tried to copy a video from my old VCR...just be glad it is disabled. From what I understand, it is just some sort of junk code they put in videos and DVDs so we all won't copy and sell them. I know so many people that do that, don't you?!? They get all jumpy and ugly. 4. The set up was EASY. It has this big sheet for dummies (like me) and everything was COLOR-CODED much like computers do now. (Put the purple plug in the purple hole...heck...I didn't even have to know how to read to do it!)My husband was impressed that I set it all up in about 30 minutes! I think the hardest part was getting the (big) box off of my porch. But I did it & I am no weight lifter.
4. It sounds GREAT! The first DVD I played was Shrek. No biggie, right? Man, my dog jumped off of the couch when that subwoofer started (like when the dragon in the movie blows fire.) I felt like I was in the theater. The family actually turned off all the lights and made popcorn the first night! I didn't turn it all the way up where you can feel the bass actually pounding in your body...I'm sure you could, though...I didn't want the dog to have a heart attack or anything! 5. It plays DVDs, radio, MP3 formats, (check out the technical stuff on Amazon's description) AND you can attach your T.V. to it so even your old videos, broadcast stuff, Nintendo, etc., comes through the speakers (I did need a [...] cord for this.) You can adjust the speakers (with the remote) to make even mono stuff simulate stereo. 6. Name - I trusted the Pioneer name. Like I said before, I can't decode a lot of technical data supplied by these manufacturers and reviews, so I had to actually trust the company. I have not been disappointed. 7. PRICE. Oh, yeah. I couldn't spend thousands of dollars on this kind of thing (although I wish I had that kind of money) but I can still get the bang from my bucks. All my friends who were looking at home theaters, HAD to come over and play with it. Some have gone with this system. You can really change the settings and sound quite a bit by just pushing the remote. I bet you can even learn more if you would read the manual!!! I told you it was EASY. I will get to the manual someday...now I am too interested in watching stuff (and buying more movies).
Rating:
Summary: EASY and the sound is great!
Review: I looked into this Home theater stuff for about 2 months before buying anything. I am not what you would call an audiophile. I do know that I like a nice picture and nice sound, though. I recommend this Home Theater in a Box because: 1. I got many nice reviews here and on other audio/video/electronics sites. 2. Everything was included. 5 speakers (including 2 surrounds) subwoofer, receiver, dvd player (yes, they do sell receivers without players, I guess if you want to spend more money, or you have to have more boxes on your shelves, or you are really into this and can mix and match components well.) The player has a 5 disc carousel-type changer. You don't even have to get up to switch from Sponge-Bob to Independence Day, to Guys and Dolls! Wires, and easy remote were included (even the batteries,) too. 3. Macro-vision is disabled. If you don't know what this is...I didn't either until I tried to copy a video from my old VCR...just be glad it is disabled. From what I understand, it is just some sort of junk code they put in videos and DVDs so we all won't copy and sell them. I know so many people that do that, don't you?!? They get all jumpy and ugly. 4. The set up was EASY. It has this big sheet for dummies (like me) and everything was COLOR-CODED much like computers do now. (Put the purple plug in the purple hole...heck...I didn't even have to know how to read to do it!)My husband was impressed that I set it all up in about 30 minutes! I think the hardest part was getting the (big) box off of my porch. But I did it & I am no weight lifter.
4. It sounds GREAT! The first DVD I played was Shrek. No biggie, right? Man, my dog jumped off of the couch when that subwoofer started (like when the dragon in the movie blows fire.) I felt like I was in the theater. The family actually turned off all the lights and made popcorn the first night! I didn't turn it all the way up where you can feel the bass actually pounding in your body...I'm sure you could, though...I didn't want the dog to have a heart attack or anything! 5. It plays DVDs, radio, MP3 formats, (check out the technical stuff on Amazon's description) AND you can attach your T.V. to it so even your old videos, broadcast stuff, Nintendo, etc., comes through the speakers (I did need a [...] cord for this.) You can adjust the speakers (with the remote) to make even mono stuff simulate stereo. 6. Name - I trusted the Pioneer name. Like I said before, I can't decode a lot of technical data supplied by these manufacturers and reviews, so I had to actually trust the company. I have not been disappointed. 7. PRICE. Oh, yeah. I couldn't spend thousands of dollars on this kind of thing (although I wish I had that kind of money) but I can still get the bang from my bucks. All my friends who were looking at home theaters, HAD to come over and play with it. Some have gone with this system. You can really change the settings and sound quite a bit by just pushing the remote. I bet you can even learn more if you would read the manual!!! I told you it was EASY. I will get to the manual someday...now I am too interested in watching stuff (and buying more movies).
Rating:
Summary: serious sound not so serious price
Review: I purcased this system about a month ago for my bedroom I have always trusted companies like pioneer and yamaha but I have always gone with the bose systems. I have one of the top of the line bose dvd systems in my living room connected to my flat screen tv and I love sitting down and enjoying every minute of it ,it is almost an addictive type of entertainment, so after a series of long nights laying in my bed I decided to go ahead and purchase a small yet powerful system for the room. Now I must tell you I am not the average shopper I will research every aspect of a item before I actually purchase it. I have to say since I came home with this unit and hooked it up I have found myself in my bedroom laying in bed alot more(not saying that is a good thing) but like I said it becomes addiciting . I would hope that anyone who reads this would go to the store that sells this unit(if you can find one being that I was told they are being discontinued) and listen to it and remember it sounds alot better out of he store and in your home.For the money this is a very good system and I have to say except for some features this system can almost hang with a bose.
Rating: 
Summary: Loved it until it busted
Review: I would have to agree with all of the other reviews listed here... Fantastic sound, lots of features, incredible picture, crystal clear decoding. This system is a steal for the price. However, I got a lemon. Less than a year after the purchase the dvd/cd mechanism (brains) failed. The repair technician said it happens sometimes and nothing you can do about it. But no worries, it was still under warranty and Pioneer is stepping up to the plate. They are replacing the system with the new HTD520DV system, and I couldn't be happier with the service. It has taken awhile, but should be worth it once I'm back on the couch watching my favorite flicks.
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