Motorola DCP501 All-In-One Home Theater Receiver

by Motorola

Product Details

Product Manual [4.10mb PDF]

|

Data Sheet [121kb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 39 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B00008ZPJN
• Item model number: 484927-001-00
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,041 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Motorola's DCP501 home-theater system not only simplifies the hookup of everything from cable TV to VCRs and satellite receivers--it also unifies audio and video media playback and amplification within one easy-to-use device. The DCP501 combines the functions of a digital cable receiver, a DVD/CD/MP3 player, a 100-watts-per-channel surround receiver, and an AM/FM stereo receiver. For DVD viewing with immersive, high-quality surround sound, just add speakers and a television. The plug-n-play unit supports Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS, and Pro Logic II surround formats.

For cable reception, the DCP501's 50 to 860 MHz tuner supports clear analog, 64 and 256 QAM clear and encrypted digital cable services. Where available, the tuner is also compatible with Motorola-enabled digital cable services in both two-way and telephone-return cable systems. (It also supports Motorola DCT2000 digital cable applications.) The receiver's high-performance, Tripath Class-T audio amplifiers deliver 100 watts to all five main channels (left, center, right, and left/right surround), while built-in preamplifier outputs let you use the device as a preamplifier with a more powerful stereo or multichannel power amplifier.

Extensive inputs and outputs include front-panel audio/video hookups for a camcorder or gaming console, including a Toslink optical input for a direct digital-audio hookup with an external device. Two additional digital-audio inputs are found on the back panel (one each optical and coaxial), and an onboard NTSC decoder uses a digital adaptive comb filter to upconvert all composite-video signals to S-video for use with higher-resolution S-VHS VCRs and compatible TVs.

Crucially, any video input source can be converted and/or channeled to any of the three video outputs for maximum convenience when using the DCP501 with a VCR, DVR (digital video recorder), or other device.

What's in the Box
DCP501 cable-ready home theater system, a universal remote control, remote batteries, a self-install kit, FM/AM antennas, six-foot composite-video/analog audio interconnect, six-foot S-video cable, six-foot coaxial video cable, and a user's manual.

Product Description

Motorola's DCP501 home-theater system not only simplifies the hookup of everything from cable TV to VCRs and satellite receivers--it also unifies audio and video media playback and amplification within one easy-to-use device. The DCP501 combines the functions of a digital cable receiver, a DVD/CD/MP3 player, a 100-watts-per-channel surround receiver, and an AM/FM stereo receiver. For DVD viewing with immersive, high-quality surround sound, just add speakers and a television. The plug-n-play unit supports Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS, and Pro Logic II surround formats.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

120 of 122 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars High percentage of failures, February 16, 2005

By 

S. Smith (Telluride, Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Motorola DCP501 All-In-One Home Theater Receiver (Electronics)

We bought these for our lodge (63 2 & 3 Bdrm Units). While the combination of components in a small package is exactly what we needed, we have experienced a large amount of product failures. Out of 67 units ordered, we have experienced a 30 to 40% failure rate. Types of problems in order of occurrence:

1) Audio section - a) Subwoofer worked, but not satellite speakers b) "Overload" becomes too sensitive

2) Digital cable subsystem failures - a) Constantly losing the digital programming b) or just complete failure

3) Premature DVD Read problems - I say "premature" because the oldest unit is less than 2 years old.

4) Front panel lockout.

While we are a "lodge", this is a private residence club whose members tend to take good care of the appliances in each unit. So abuse is not a major cause of problems. Also, the manufacturing dates range over several months.
A failure of 10% or less would have been acceptable, but close to 40% is just ridiculous. These units were professionally installed and we have worked closely with the local cable company to try and find an outside cause, without success. The surround speaker system used with the DCP501 is a high end Yamaha setup, while brand new Panasonic flat-screen TV's were connected using S-Video.
We do have other Motorola Digital cable boxes in use here, and none of them have displayed any of these issues. So we were very surprised to experience all these problems. It's too bad, because now we will have to look for a multi-component type of setup that we really don't have the room for.

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lots of features in a small package, but ..., May 17, 2004

By 

Charlie Penrose (Western US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Motorola DCP501 All-In-One Home Theater Receiver (Electronics)

I bought this device mostly on the Motorola name and the incredible discount. Overall, I am happy with this device. It sounds good, looks good, and I haven't had a problem with it yet. My biggest gripe is that the front panel display is quite difficult to read from even a few feet away, especially during the day. If the display were larger and brighter I would be much happier with this device. This problem could have been mitigated with more "on-screen" info coming through the TV, but the DCP puts very little info on-screen. For example, when changing TV channels I would like to see the channel number displayed on the TV, but the DCP501 doesn't do that. It will tell me the volume, but not the channel- it's a little odd that way. Dolby digital works as it should. I don't need the MP3 feature but it is nice to have. Not Earth-shattering audio power, but good considering that it's integrated. In short, I got a nice AM/FM tuner, CD/DVD player, home theater system, for a great price. I think this M S R P'd for a little under n in e hun dred, but I got it for about t wo f if ty.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good value - great sound, January 26, 2007

By 

Patrick M. Harris "polkadotslighting" (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Motorola DCP501 All-In-One Home Theater Receiver (Electronics)

Not sure what all the gripe is about with this unit. I have had mine over a year and it hasn't had any of the problems others have stated (maybe I'm lucky). No sound distortion, clean crisp at high volumes (I'm using Precision Audio ceiling speakers). Good radio station pickup. Good dvd performance. I really enjoy the Dolby Prologic II- as even our ITunes files get surround sound.

That said, the only issue I have had is when i turned the powerbar off while the unit was still on. When restarted sound only came out of one speaker and not all five. I got through right away to Motorola and they were very helpful and gave me a short set of instructions to go about resetting the unit- it now works good as new... below are those instructions for anyone who needs them:

1. put the unit in DVD mode.
2. power off using the button on the front of the unit (do not use the remote)
3. Hold down the setup button and the 'down' button at the same time
4. While holding those buttons, press the power button on the unit
5. Release all three buttons at the same time
Unit should power up in the FM mode and be reset. Motorla says if it doesn't come up in the FM mode, try again.

Happy listening and watching...