Customer Reviews

800-Watt DVD Home Theater System with USB Plug-and-Play

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I purchased my Samsung HT-P38 about four months ago, and I have to say I have been reasonably happy with it. The reason I give it less than a perfect score has more to do with the system not having things I was looking for than any major flaws with it. The reason I bought this was to have a surround-sound system in my room, which would mostly be used for playing video games, in addition to the occasional movie.

My dismay is mainly due to my lack of research I did prior to purchasing it, so I will save you from the same mistake and go over what I should have considered. As I previously mentioned, I bought this mainly for use with video games. The HT-P38 has two normal audio imputs and a fiber-optic hookup. The Playstation 2 is capable of fiber-optic sound transmission, but I don't have the cable for it so I am unable to comment on that. What I am able to comment on is the Pro Logic II that the system has.

Pro Logic II is a digital decoder that can take any audio signal no matter how encoded and convert it to 5.1 surround sound, while preserving stereo effects and surround effects from lesser surround formats, such as 4.0. That is all well and good; both the Gamecube and PS2 support this as an audio format for their games, although it tends to sound more like four speaker stereo sound when played.

However, the disadvantage to this is that Pro Logic II cannot decode actual 5.1 signals, making any 5.1 surround-encoded signals the HT-P38 receives be ignored and transformed into psudo-5.1. The system I was most excited to play in surround sound was the Xbox, which supports 5.1 Dolby Digital, and upon finding this out, I was rather disappointed. However, the home theater does a good job of playing sound from other sources, though it is not for people looking for an all-encompassing home theater.

First and foremost, this is a DVD player. It has a 5-DVD changer that can play DVDs, CDs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs and MP3 discs, as well as Div-X encoded video CDs. It does have skipping problems with burned DVDs, however. Playing movies is this system's strong suit, as it does include Dolby Digital 5.1 decoding for DVDs, meaning true 5.1 surround sound, which makes movies like Spider-Man 2 more exciting to watch. It also has DTS decoding, but I have never used it, as most everything uses Dolby.

The P38 has three video outlets: A standard composite outlet, an S-video outlet and a component outlet. The player has progressive scan available from the component outlet, which makes the quality of the DVD video much, much better. For some TVs, those that can support progressive scan mode, it is almost as if you were watching it through a sheet of diamond, the clarity is so good. Progressive scan means that, instead of displaying alternating lines of video for each frame, it makes the picture from top to bottom all at once, the same way a computer monitor does. This mode is very good for displaying moving objects. If your TV does not support progressive scan, the video quality is still good with the S-video and composite modes, just nothing exciting.

The player also has an AM and an FM radio receiver, with included antennas for each. They act very much like any other radio. It also has the ability to play music directly from an MP3 player by way of a USB cable, however, not owning such a device means I have never tried this function.

It also includes a dedicated remote control, and it is here that the system has the most oddities. It has the standard volume control, channel changer (for the radio), buttons for navigating DVD menus, power button, open/close button, stop, play and pause buttons, etc. It also has controls for switching between the DVD/CD player, radio, fiber-optic and auxiliary audio imputs, as well as controls for controlling the way the Pro Logic II acts, the left/right fade of the front and rear speakers, center speaker volume, rear speaker volume, and sub-woofer volume. The last one should be turned all the way up if you plan on watching a movie like Star Wars, which has lots of explosions, unless people are trying to sleep in the nearby vicinity. It also has a 10x zoom, slow motion, sleep mode, and a few other random features.

While most of my dismay with the system stems from my disappointment over the surround sound, the system does have some weird quirks. The major one being that to fast forward or rewind, you must hold down the skip chapter button for a few seconds. If you do this incorrectly, you may accidentally skip a chapter, meaning you'll have to either rewind it or go back to the start of the chapter and fast forward to the place you were. This might take awhile, however, as the maximum speed of both is 4x normal speed. Most DVD players are capable of at least 16x. For movies like Shrek 2 that have ads that are unskippable except by fast forwarding, this can be very annoying. Also, the remote only has a "skip disc" function, meaning if you are playing a DVD in slot 2 and you want to play the one in slot 1, you will have to go around the horn, which can take a while. The player does have buttons to skip to any of them on top of the unit, however.

One final sound gripe: The system has a THD (total harmonic distortion) of 10%, while most mid-level home theaters have less than 1%. This is normally not too noticeable, although when you have the volume turned up you can sometimes hear faint static in the background when people are talking. Ok, I lied, but the rear speakers should be turned up as well, as they are not very loud normally.

In conclusion, the Samsung HT-P38 Home Theater System is a good first home theater system, with many nice features save for a few annoying ones. If your main intent is to simply watch movies, and maybe have a VCR or something like that hooked up to the system as well, then this is a good choice. For people that are looking for outstanding audio performance, look for different home theater, one that supports Dolby Digital for incoming audio signals and that doesn't sound staticy during quiet love scenes. You can find this in stores for around $250, although, for that price you could get a DVD player and surround receiver separately. If space is a concern though, this will suffice.

I liked it when I first got it, but the more I use it the more flaws I notice. Apparently the way Samsung uses 100 watts per channel and how Yamaha or Pioneer use them are two totally different things. In a small living room I had to have the volume over halfway up (22 out of 40) to distinctly hear things. Thats just asking for an amplifier burn-out. To adjust any audio settings you have to go through an endless series of menus. Simple things like adjusting volume on the rear or subwoofer channels require 5 steps. Also, the picture freezes up whenever you cycle through a menu or adjust any option, and the sound cracks and pops as well as you are going through any adjustment menus. I will say it has very good speakers, theres just not enough power there to take advantage of the crisp clean sound they offer. The USB option is nice (even though its only 1.1), but you cant browse files when you are playing, and the menu only displays like the first 10 characters of the file name, which can get very confusing. The remote is jumbo sized, but for some reason all the important buttons are the tiniest ones and they are crammed together on the very bottom of the remote. I would have liked an option on the remote to control satellite or cable boxes, not just TV. Also, there are nowhere near enough inputs. There are no digital inputs, and only two composite A/V inputs (no S-video inputs either). Hardly enough for a unit designed to be a home stereo system. Overall its a slightly-below-average performer, probably best used in a small bedroom. It just doesnt have enough power for living room use, and the clunky interface and remote make for a pretty frustrating experience. Good marks for the quality of the speakers and cosmetic design, otherwise you're better off looking elsewhere for a unit with more punch, like I am after I take this back.

I picked up the Samsung HT-P38 System from Circuit City and do not regret purchasing it. After days of researching for different high-end home theatre systems, most of which are in the category of more bang for your buck. I found this 800W 5.1 Ch. HT which I thought would be the perfect set up for my bedroom. First off, I was alittle frustrated by installing the speakers. It gets so out of place so times because the lines are so long and there 6 of them all of which are sticking within the back of my TV shelf so you can imagine it is a complete mess in there.

I thought the audio quality was fantastic and the amount of power it has for the low cost. It's a nice, clean sounding system. The center is strong, the subwoofer is average but thats okay if this is in your bedroom or a small living room, the front speakers are mighty powerful and the backend speakers provide fantastic sound effects (LOTR for example is heavinly when played on this HT). All in all, excellent sound quality, no complaints here.

I wasn't expecting much out of the quality but I did pick myself up some high quality component cables (the best for any HT) at the price of $40 at Circuit City and I watch on a 27' Samsung Widescreen HDTV. The DVD player is indeed progressive scan, I wouldn't say the quality is terrific but all the colors are in place and am very satisfied. I have yet to watch more then a few movies but so far so good, a solid 5-disc dvd player.

The style is one of the high points of this HT. The main system itself is verystylish when turned on. It's has a nice blue light out of the button shafts and just looks great, even better when I have guests over. The subwoofer has a sexy but original look to it, it looks absolutely picture perfect with my Samsung Widescreen HDTV. The speakers look very simple but they are more then meets the eye. They have a hole in the back specifically made so you can nail it on to a wall so you don't need to waste $15+ dollars on a speaker mount.

All in all, for the power, the clear and rich sound, the crisp images, and stylish look there isn't much to complain about other then setting it up. So if your in the market for a good all around system at the right price, the Samsung HT-P38 is your best buy.

This was my first surround sound home theater. I used it in a small apartment living room. I am by no means an audiophile.

I bought this model at a local electronics retailer. I ended up exchanging it for another unit of the same model because the DVD player skipped.

The one new unit had a completely separate problem: the color would periodically fade from the picture while watching DVDs, a problem which I traced to the receiver's S-video output port. I ended up returning the second unit for a full refund.

Despite my experience with the HT-P38, I am willing to acknowledge that I just had really bad luck. Despite that possiblity, this model had other drawbacks that I was not willing to live with. The biggest drawback was that despite having a 5-disc carousel, if you are watching a DVD or listening to a CD and want to fill an empty tray, it stops the playback; you cannot "play and exchange" with this model. In my mind, there is no point in having a multiple disc tray if you cannot play and exchange.

I ended up buying a JVC TH-C3, which I am much happier with: higher wattage (which admittedly isn't an accurage guage of performance), better frequency range on the subwoofer, "play and exchange" capability, easy control of each of the speakers from the remote.

I use this ALL the time. I bought it to replace another 5-disc changer that died about a year ago. It's so great that it can play .avi files since I do a lot of my own dvd burning. The speakers are great, in fact I have to turn the subwoofer down because it shakes the whole place. It only seems to skip when the discs are dirty or there's dust in the machine. In the year that I've owned this I've never had to clean the laser or anything! And the price couldn't be beat for a 5.1 home theatre system! And it looks pretty sweet too. I love being able to put my own picture on the screensaver for when the movie is paused too long.

I just got of the phone with Samsung earlier and my dvd/home theater is dead. My warranty expired 4 months ago. It is going to cost $150.00 to repair the unit, and I just paid a little over $250.00 when I bought it. It worked great until it died this weekend. All other tv components are plugged into the same surge protector and they work just fine. I bought this at the same time we bought a Samsung DLP tv. Samsung would not cut me any slack on the repair cost. I suggest you skip this product and buy something different. Next time we will probably skip buying any Samsung products.

I bought this unit in January 2006 from BBuy. I admit I was mainly looking for a surround sound system but the price seemed reasonable and with all the other features (5-disc changer, divx capable, etc.) I thought what the heck. At first I didn't really use the dvd player that much, but when I did I had a problems with a few discs skipping after about an hour into the movie, at the time I just figured the discs themselves were bad, like I said I didn't use it to watch many movies. Well recently my wife started working at a movie rental store, so with free rentals we've started watching a lot more movies. Now I see that the dvd function on this unit is basically useless, pretty much every movie we play begins to skip and then freeze at about an hour and fifteen minutes into the movie. I know it's not the discs, sometimes she gets free unopened movies as promotional items and the same thing happens, an hour and fifteen minutes or so into the movie it begins to skip, every single time now. I have tried disc cleaners with no luck. After some research online, it seems that alot of people have the same exact problem with all types of samsung dvd players. Maybe there are just a few bad units floating around out there but nonetheless I would recommend going with another brand.

Things were going great for 5 months, until suddenly I can't play DVDs. The DVD audio is choppy and the video pixelates then stops altogether within seconds. Samsung of course is difficult to deal with to have them complete a warranty repair. Rather than just send a new unit, which most reputable manufacturers would do to minimize your inconvenience & displeasure with their company, they want me to send it off to them for 2-3 weeks. (Not a partcularly enticing option when the unit comprises the sum total of your home audio/video equipment.)

We'll see how this plays out, but I'm inclined to return to Sony products. After all, I had the same receiver, CD player, tape deck, & DVD players for many years (nearly 20 years in the case of the receiver), and now my Samsung replacement dies after 5 months.

Other down sides that I was willing to overlook, but deserve mentioning:
* when you plug in your iPod to the USB port, its next to impossible to control what song is next. It doesn't pull up the song/artist info, but rather you get a series of 4-5 random letters, so you're stuck just clicking next until a song plays that you may want to hear at that particular moment. The work around I started using is just to plug the iPod into the stereo using the iPod's headphone jack & controlling things from the iPod itself. The USB port is a great idea for Samsung, but its not thought out well enough to actually be effective.
* The remote control is not well organized. Difficult to navigate DVDs without really concentrating on the buttons you're looking for.
* The disc #s on the carousel should be white on black, rather than black on black. Its real hard to read them -- even up close -- in a dark armoire.
* No CD mode that I can discern. So if you just want music, you gotta take out the DVDs, otherwise, it'll play them when it comes around to them. My old Sony DVD player has this feature and would skip the DVDs in CD Mode.