Customer Reviews

Sony BRAVIA DAV-HDX265 Home Theater System

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I spent weeks listening to high end audiophile systems and was dismayed to learn that to be happy with these systems I had to spend over $3000 on amp and 2 speakers, which I had no intention of doing. On the way home I bought one of these for under $300 and was shocked to find I liked it better!

The sound is quite good, amazing on DVDs and very good on CDs. The speakers are attractive and unobtrusive. However, there are some drawbacks:

1. no digital audio input. Multi-channel audio is limited to the built-in 5 disc changer, no chance for upgrading to new DVD formats or to connect a digital input from a satellite receiver.

2. the style of the main unit left me wanting something different (your tastes may vary)

3. the speaker wire uses proprietary connectors- need a few more feet than are included in the box? you'll be splicing.

4. I read that the digital audio connector to computers only plays windows formats- no iTunes connectivity.

5. The 5-disc changer loads one at a time and takes a long time to switch; I found myself forgetting what was in each slot and it took a long time to switch around and find out.

But, like I said the sound is very good. So if you can live with the feature limitations this is a very very good deal for the price.

We purchased this as a Christmas gift for my father/mother-in-law. Hooked it up the same night and watched Star Wars Attack of the Clones. The sound is fantastic, absolutely fantastic. The action scenes rocked the house, but yet you could hear every word the actors said. The unit looks great and is easy to set-up. The price (through Amazon) was very good.

Now the headaches. The on-screen menu is nightmare. The player reacts slow to commands. I'm fairly competent at connecting and operating much of the new electronic equipment I encounter, but this one stumped me in several ways. First, the manual says you can use the unit to get surround sound for the television broadcasts and VCR. I tried everything, but could not get either to work. So far, the in-laws are limited to enjoying the great sound of this unit to just DVD's. There are several other quirky things with the unit. It took me four tries to calibrate the system (using the provided calibration mic). The rear speakers worked intermittingly at first, but after calibration seem to work all the time now.

If you are looking for outstanding sound at a more than fair price, this is the unit for you. Some say you cannot connect your cable converter box to this unit and some say you can. Once I get this figured out with the in-laws unit, I will definately purchase one myself. Hope this helps.

This works great if you only want to watch DVDs in surround sound. However, if you are hoping like I was to also hook your cable service up to the receiver or a HD/Blu-Ray DVD player there is no hope because there is no digital in option. However, you cannot beat this system in terms of ease of installation and price so if you just want to watch DVD movies in surround sound this is a solid purchase.

This is a wonderful unit if you don't want to spend a lot of money. I'm not an audiophile but did want improved sound from my Sony Bravia. Also, I'm not ready to commit to buying and HD or Blue Ray DVD player until the market figures out what it wants to do...also those players as you know cost waaay too much.

Set up:
The set up is really easy. Each speaker is color coded and labeled so you know exactly where to place the speaker. The connections in the rear of the receiver are also color coded so it simply a matter of placing your speakers in your entertainment unit and/or room and connecting the speaker wires to the appropriate plug. The color coding is key...we moved speakers around a bit before deciding on a final spot and it was nice to not worry about which wire goes where. By the way, the speakers are attractively small. They fit in nicely with any decor.

DVD Player:
This player upconverts DVDs to 1080i. The picture is very nice. The player holds 5 DVDs or CDs; so it's nice to watch a movie; pause it if you need to; and then play some music.

CD Player & General Sound Quality:
Amazing sound for something that costs under $200 (at Circuit City). For non audiophiles, this sounds like a stereo costing hundreds more. Watching DVDs is like your own little movie theatre. TV sound is vastly improved from the standard TV set, particularly live sports and cable movies.

Remote:
It's OK. The buttons are bit small particularly the ones that you need to use frequently, e.g. changing the format from tv/video to DVD player.

Connections to TV & Configuration:
This is where RTFM really comes into play, particularly for Sony Bravia TVs. Follow the instructions carefully; otherwise, you will be dumbfounded as to why sound is only coming from the TV and not the speakers. If you have a Sony Bravia TV, you must go to the HDMI menu and turn off one of the audio controls.

Cables:
Aside from all the color coded speaker wires which are already connected to the speakers; you get a video cable to connect the player directly to your TV or set top box. Strangely, it doesn't come with the audio cables. Luckily, I happen to have a spare set. You'll need the audio cables along with the video cable connected to your set top box if you want to get TV sound from the speakers. Finally, if you have Sony components; the remotes work for each of them. It's easy to configure the remotes to turn on/off various Sony devices.

Receiver:
This also acts as an FM receiver; however, I have no need for that. I actually like how the unit looks a bit retro; like a thinner version of some 1970s hi-fi unit. Definitely, the remote is the best way to use the functions of the system as the buttons on the actual unit are very small and not labeled clearly.

If you are seeking a decent home theater DVD player on a budget with good, quality sound, then this is a good buy. Yes, there are better choices out there with amazing sound; but not at this price point.

VERY easy to setup, everything is color coded. They gave me plenty of wire which was surprising. most kits usually don't. Sound quality is superb. The unit has it's own remote but I use my Harmony remote which is fully compatible. I do have one small gripe. There isn't an array of inputs on the back of the unit so that you can plug other devices in for surround sound. That does suck. I have to run my playstation off of the TV sound, but it does have an input for cable so you can get cable/satellite to input to it, just not much else. Had i known that before i bought it I probably would have gotten another model. It wasn't worth the hassle of returning it to me so we just kept it and have been happy with it overall. Video quality is great.

Very satisfied with product.

However I had to order a different model as I bought a new HDTV and I'm using a DVR from a local cable company. This Sony model didn't have both an input and output HDMI so that I could hookup my Blu Ray player with this Home Theater system as I needed to for surround sound in all units.

Ended up purchasing a Sony STR-DG910 that works excellent.

This first model goes into my bedroom onto the regular digital receiver where it will work great.

The one downside of this purchase is when I tried to return the unit initially so I could buy the better unit, I went to Amazon and tried to get info on how to return. As I had opened and hooked up the system, I saw that they could charge an unspecified amount as a re-stocking fee I suppose.

I wrote an email to obtain info as to what that amount would be as I had completely opened and installed the device. I never received a response and thus was forced to keep the unit.

Further, contacting and talking with Sony's tech support is more difficult than learning to fly without wings. All support seems to have been outside of the US and totally worthless.

For instance, to hookup a wireless headset to the 2nd unit described above, I called and talked to a "tech support rep" for about 45 minutes who must have been reading the manual for the first time regarding my question of how to "adapt" the wireless plugin to the one on the front of the receiver.

After 45 minutes he finally told me that I would probably have to use an adapter. Funny, that's what I started the conversation with: Do I need to buy some sort of an adapter and if so, which one. The first time I had contacted Sony's tech support I spend 2 hours talking to a rep that due to communication problems, could not solve my problem. My young son did later.

I went to a local Radio Shack and it took all of a minute for the sales person there to provide the solution.

So I have 2 problems not directly related to the unit itself. One is Amazon's lack of response to my return inquiry and the second is probably common to many electronic distributors of today. That's the lack of tech support at a local level with people who know how to communicate.

Good Luck!

Absolutley loved the sound and the price. If I had paid $700 plus, I still would have been very happy. And I bought just as a CD player.

But the CD changer is too slow. Used it a a party and when the 5th CD was done, I had to open each of the 5 CD's indiviudally at about 10-12 seconds each. It's maddening.

And I was organized putting the CD cases in order to match the CD slot it was in, so I could replace CD's like the guys who change tires at a NASCAR race.

My wife warned me, but I didn't listen. She wanted a player that randomly (and seemlessly)jumped from CD to CD and track to track all on its own (if there is such a thing).

Anyway, have you ever been at a rocking party or bar and then the music went off for 1 full minute or two. It's MUTINY. It kills the whole mood.'

So unfortuantely I have to return...or forever face her wrath at future parties.

This product has treated me incredibly well. I have my 19" Magnavox LCD monitor (a little small, but good for this room), and a Comcast HD/DVR receiver hooked onto it. The sound on DVD's is fantastic, and is movie theater quality (well, comparatively so).

It was a breeze to set up. The first time I did it, the calibration microphone was intuitive and simple to handle. I have since moved and can't find the microphone to do a recalibration in the new room, but it doesn't seem to affect the sound too much. It still sounds just as good, if not better, in the new room.

Yes, it doesn't have a digital audio imput. But I use my iPod and connect it with a Mini/LR Audio plug into the audio slots, and it sounds as good as a CD/DVD to me. No, it's not Bose quality, but I also paid 10% of a Bose unit of the same size. As a classical music/opera listener, the system is fantastic. My MP3's still provide the spatial sound that you would get in a concert hall. So, the brass choirs in the Berlioz Requiem really do come from all around the room. Unbelievable.

The drawbacks are few, and minor. One, there is only one set of audio inputs, so when I want to change to my iPod, I have to unplug the cable box and plug in the iPod. Meh... I'm lazy. Secondly, it is sometimes difficult deciding which settings are best for movies, sports, regular TV, music, etc... but I'm sure I'll get a hang of it.

Appearance-wise, the unit is very lovely. Unfortunately, the unit itself and the subwoofer are both about an inch too wide to fit into the respective places in my stand, but that's ok. The speakers all mounted on the wall very well, and are staying securely. I had a more than adequate amount of wiring for the room as well.

Go ahead and buy it. You won't find much more for the price and features than this.

In it's price range, this is by far the superior surround sound system. The sound is crystal clear down to the faintest whisper and the bass makes the floor vibrate, and I have yet to max out the volume. It is very sleek looking and the whole system was a sinch to set up. Speakers and wires are all color coded so hooking everything up is fool-proof. I had it running through it's self-calibration process in no time. And this is coming from someone who is electronically and mechanically challenged!
The The five disc changer seemed pointless at first but it is handy for nights that we rent several movies and we can load them all at once and in the order we want to watch them. It really never was that much of a hassle to get up and change the disc in the player, but it is nice to start the next movie without breaking my comfortable position on the couch.
And as a videogamer, the new generation games all support 5.1 surround sound so it really brings games to life. You really have to experience a first-person-shooter in surround sound to get the full experience!
BOTTOM LINE...this is a very affordable system that gives far more expensive systems a run for their money. I had been shopping around for a while and have heard just about every system on the market. Sure there are better systems out there, but be prepared to shell out ALOT more money!!
With superior sound quality and no-hassle set up. Choosing this awsome system is a no-brainer!

My setup consist of the following:

Panasonic 42 Plasma
HD TimeWarner Cablebox
Sony Bravia DAV-HDX265

I am new to the HTiB scene and after researching which route to take, I chose this HTiB from Sony. It has 5 disc DVD and up-converts. The sound is quite amazing. Far better than my old setup. I have a small living room and it is loud. Auto calibration makes it easier to configure the surround sound feature. The setup is fairly easy. I am able to use this HTiB with my cable setup box. Watching a basketball game on these speakers instead of the built-in on the TV is an audiophile's dream. Alright, maybe not an audiophile but heck for the price that amazon.com charges, it's comparable. I know some people complained about not being able to use this HTiB speakers with cable. It actually works by connecting the AudioOut cables from the AV to the cablebox Audio inputs. Configure your TV's speaker sound to "off".

I give it a 4/5 stars because I will not rate a product a 5. It makes the manufacture complaisant and ignore on improving their product.