Electronics Samsung HT-Z310T 5.1-Channel Home Theater Surround Sound System (Set of Seven, Black)
Books and Publications Average Rating:

Rating: - dvd broke after a few weeks of use
I was impressed at first, by the sound and the easy setup. But Just under a month the DVD drive stops reading DVDs and spits them out saying error. I tried numerous DVDs and the dvd drive still has an error. Spending $200 on this system would be a good deal if the DVD drive still worked. Otherwise it is not worth the money.

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Rating: - Great sound if your expectations are realistic
I bought this to pair with my new Samsung LN40A500 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV. I love the AnyNET feature. Only needing 1 remote is a huge plus. It's also a smart receiver. I have all of my devices hubbed into the TV, and I run one Optical Toslink Male to Male Fiber Digital Audio Optic Interface Gold Plated Cable - 6 Feet to the Digital Input. It automatically senses whether i'm using that or the DVD function, and also switches the TV to the correct input for video. Love it!

The sound is great too. It's not quite as bass heavy as my previous system, but I'm in an apartment building now, so I think that fits my situation perfectly. The bass is there when it needs to be; it's just not overwhelming.

I don't know what these other people were expecting from the DVD Upconversion? I think it looks great. It's not going to BE 1080P, only APPEAR to be. The pixels are only noticeable if you get really close to the screen, which is rare considering I have a 40", and it's in my living room.

Only cons: When Auto-switching from DVD sound to Digital input (TV) it takes a few seconds (but only if it's auto detecting. If you switch it manually w/ the remote, it is instantaneous). Oh, and the cables for the rear speakers could stand to be longer, but that's just being nitpicky.

Overall, I love it. It fits my needs perfectly, and at around $200 w/ free shipping, I see no room for complaints.

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Rating: - Best bang for the buck
I purchased this system for use in the bedroom with my Media Center Extender. I needed a system with a digital/optical audio input, an infa-red remote, Dolby Digital processing, and good sound. For the money, this system is very impressive.

Easy setup with color coded cables and speakers. I love that all of the speaker stands double as wall mounts, means no additional cost for mounting speakers on the wall, awesome!

The good:
- Great sound, excellent range and great bass.
- Cheap
- Looks sleek, even comes with a micro-fiber cloth for cleaning the front
- Easy setup with color coded cables and speakers
- All the parts you need to mount speakers on the wall (except the screws).
- Optical audio input
- Good digital media support

The bad:
- No EQ adjustments when using sound processing (Dolby Digital, Pro-Logic), this isn't a huge problem as the sound is still really good.
- DVD up scaling auto stretches 4:3 to 16:9 with no option to adjust

The bad stuff I listed doesn't really effect me enough to give this product a lesser score. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on this project was looking to get something for the bedroom that was around a 100 dollars. I've tried several different products before returning them. This was definitely worth the money. Great buy!

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Rating: - Fundamentally flawed - no coax input.
This system sounds pretty good for the money, but it has a fatal flaw. The ONLY surround sound input on the unit is via optical cable.

We went to hook up the system after stringing all the 5.1 wiring and got ready to hook the cable box to the surround sound and find that our cable box has no optical audio output. It has a coax 5.1 out, but no optical audio output.

Coax 5.1 is very common. Optical 5.1 is somewhat common, but not as much so if you have a standard definition (not HD) cable box. Basically, you need to make SURE you have an optical audio output from your cable box, or as some folks here have mentioned - if you have a new enough tv, you may have an optical audio output from a newer tv that you can use as a converter. Otherwise you end up with a surround sound that ONLY works for the DVD player.

We are on the phone with the cable company and it looks like we are going to get an HD DVR (even though my dad doesn't have HD TV) at $1.50 a month extra with an optical audio output.

The big problem that I see with this is that with this being a lower-end surround sound, a lot of people buying this are likely to have less expensive TV's and may not have an optical audio output available to them. If this surroud sound had a coax audio input along with the optical audio input this would be a 4 or 5 star review.

Now, with all that said, the audio isn't bad - for the money it is pretty darn good. The bass can get a little boomy, but mostly it is pretty good.

The DVD player seems pretty good too and is very easy to use. This was one of the reasons we got this for my dad as my parents won't use it if the complication-factor is too high. The player is easy to use and looks good on his Toshiba standard definition TV. We were getting some "wiggling" when the color red was on the screen - but we have the video hooked up with cheap cables and hope to see that improve when we get quality cables. I will add to this review if that doesn't improve.

Overall, if you KNOW you have an optical audio output from your TV or Cable Box then this is a good system for the money. Four stars all the way. If you do not have an optical audio output from your TV of Cable Box, 2 stars at best.