SAMSUNG HT-DS690 Home Theater Sound System

Rating:
Summary: Works great! If you need wireless rear speakers, get it!
Review: Due to the configuration of my house, it's cost-prohibitive to hide rear speaker wires, so when I heard about this unit, I started investigating. I "had" a Bose Lifestyle 12 system that cost me about $2000. I loved it but the speaker wire made the living room look tacky and I couldn't hide it much (ie. i could put it under the carpet but it would still be going up the walls) I was concerned about this unit from the "few" reviews Ive read here and online. I ended up buying it and I'm quite happy. Sound is great. Not quite as loud as the Bose, but then I never listened to it louder than the Samsung is capable of going anyways. The "interference" people are talking about is non-existent (and I have a microwave, a 2.4 gHz phone, and Wi-fi in my house). There is absolutely no static or anything from the rear speakers. There is only 1 CON that I can think of along the "interference" line:

My laptop is connected via Wi-fi. "Occassionally" my laptop will lose the wi-fi signal when turning on the Samsung. It's an easy fix. All I have to do is change the channel the wi-fi is broadcasting on through the base-station and - ouila! - fixed! Too bad Samsung didn't let you choose a permanent channel for the wireless signal, then this problem wouldn't occur. However, while it was quite annoying at first as I didn't know WHY I was losing a signal on my laptop, once I figured it out, it takes me all of 30 seconds to restore the wi-fi connection.

Samsung "could" have given more digital inputs also (seeing as most components have digital inputs now).

You can use all 4 audio inputs for separate components if you choose - DIGITAL IN - DVD - AUX1 - AUX 2 (which is what I do). Obviously, with a built in DVD player, the "DVD" input is non-existent but dedicated to the built-in DVD player (5 disc changer). So you can effectively hook up three additional AUDIO components. HOWEVER, if you choose to run your VIDEO through the Samsung also (chain the components), you only have TWO inputs (not including the dedicated DVD input). Video inputs are as follows - COMPONENT - AUX 1 - AUX 2. However, if you use the component video input, that video will also show on the AUX 1 video. So you can only run TWO video sources through the receiver in addition to the built in DVD player. Personally, I just use the audio inputs on the receiver and plug all other video directly into my TV as my TV has many video inputs. However, if you need to chain them (ie. your tv only has one video input) then beware that you'll only be able to hook two more video components into the Samsung.

All in all, very happy with the system. Works well and easy to use with great sound. I have this system in a LARGE room (30x20) and it fills the room with sound albeit at the higher end of the volume level (but without distortion).

PROS:

1. Great sound
2. Easy to use
3. Wireless rear speakers

CONS:

1. Knocks my wi-fi connection out due to random channel selection. Easy fix but annoying at times. This is only occassionally, by the way.
2. Needs more digital audio inputs (only 1 like most HTIB) and more video inputs (for chaining)

Rating:
Summary: Nice package for the money, not compatible with my DVD-RWs
Review: I bought this system for my bedroom and it is unique from all the other "home theater in a box" systems that I could find in that it has a component video input. I needed this because my cable box supports HDTV through component cables. The Samsung provides this feature with its "digital in" input selection and nicely passes through the component video throught its own component video output.

I didn't need or want the DVD changer but the lesser Samsung model leaves out the component video input. I found using the changer a little bit of a hassle to insert and remove single DVDs and it seems slower than using a single tray.

The speakers are nice and small and that's what I was looking for. The microphone to auto-balance the sound is a really nice feature and works well (it's all automatic). I don't have any real opinion about the sound quality of the unit and speakers -- it seemed fine to me but I'm not good at evaluating sound quality beyond verifying the 5.1 sound.

The wireless rear speakers is an interesting gadget and does remove one set of wires from the unit to the rear. This really didn't matter much to me (my unit is placed against a side wall so running the wires across the floor isn't horrible). I did notice that there was some periodic interruption of the rear sound even within the small size of my bedroom. I rotated the receiver and it seemed to make it go away during the sound test.

I ultimately returned this unit because it was incompatible with DVD-RWs that I recorded from my Tivo in a different room. I'm pretty surprised that such a new unit would have this incompatibility (I've seen some older computer laptops have the same problem). Because of this, I had to attach a separate DVD player and this defeated the advantage of the small, all-in-one unit. I also couldn't take advantage of the component output of the DVD since there is only one component video input on the unit. Since it doesn't upconvert composite video I also had to change the TV input when I switched between cable HDTV and playing my DVD-RWs.

So for me it was just a lot of trouble. I gave up on the idea of a combined unit and got a separate A/V receiver with a separate 5.1 speaker set. More cables, more components to stack.


Rating:
Summary: Sounds great, interference is the only downside
Review: The image and sound quality are really good. I do not know how it compares to a Bose system, but then we would be talking about a whole different price range...

Some nice features, such as MP3 and WMA player are definetely a plus. The reason why I chose this unit is because it is the only system with wireless rear speakes and an extra component input. That is to say, on other systems, you will get nothing better that composite input if you want to plug something to it. If you have limited video inputs in your TV, do not have a receiver, and care about video quality, this product is the best option you can find at the moment.

The only downside is the interference suffered by other appliances that work on the 2.4 Ghz frequency, such as microwave ovens or wireless phones. That is important if you cook and watch TV on Dolby Digital 5.1 sound at the same time. :-) Not very likely.