Customer Reviews

Sony HT7100DH Component Home Theater System with HDMI

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Just purchased this system to go along with my 52" Sharp HDTV. I have been looking for several months to find a suitable system. I even brought a Bose system home only to find out it does not have an HDMI interface. This system has that and more. I am a non-audiophile who just wants good sound when watching TV and movies. This system certainly provides that. The connections are reasonably staight forward and use standard cabling unlike some system that have custom cabling that is often too short for proper installation. The only negative is the fine print on the receiver and DVD player. I need to have a flashlight to read it. Otherwise I am extremely happy.

I've had this for a few weeks now and I'm happy with it. The reciever and speakers sound fine, and the 5-disc DVD player is very nice. My dislikes with this are that it comes with two remotes, one for the DVD an one for the reciever. I purchased a Harmony remote that works great, so it's not that big of a deal but still...why two remotes for one system? My other dislike is that all the menu's and options for the reciever are a bit difficult to navigate. I appreciate the clean appearance of the receiver (not a lot of knobs/buttons), and it's a bonus that the kids aren't always playing with it but...if I want to change the sound/tone level of a speaker it takes me seveal attempts to get to the right menu. In time, once I get used to the navigation, I'm sure it won;t bother me as much but in the beginning, it can be a little frustrating.

DVD player is great. The one thing I love about it is that it handles jpeg discs, with audio too! I was really impressed with this and given the we have a new LCD on the wall, it is a truly great feature to have. I did one already and my wife was over the top thrilled with it, and the kids like seeing themselves up on the big screen too. Overall, the DVD player plays fine, looks good, and with the 5 discs it's nice to keep a few of the kids movies in there rather than swapping them out individually. It also remembers the position of each disc when you stop it so you can pick right up where you left off. Plays MP3's fine too, but I don't think you can randomize the playback, either that or maybe I just haven't figured it out yet, not sure.

Amazon had a screaming deal on this so I picked it up for about half price of Best Buy and other retailers.

The included speakers are pretty weak, I ended up using my old speakers instead.

The included speaker wire is long, but very thin. I bought my own.

The HDMI pass through works as advertised and the sound is good through better quality speakers.

Not a whole lot of configuration options and not a ton of inputs, but this is a very decent unit for the price.

The upscaling DVD changer works great and is probably the best feature of the bundle.

I am using this as the brain for my entertainment system in the living room. So far I have a Sony 40" Bravia 1080p connected, a HD-DVR, a turntable, the 5-disc changer, a separate CD player, a nintendo wii, and an ipod dock. I haven't run into much trouble with the lack of an audio feed through the HDMI, since all the audio is going through this amplifier anyway - I just keep the television audio muted and it just plays directly through the 5 speakers - no problem. I would have liked one more HDMI input, but other than that, it's great and I still have more room for additional audio sources, which you can't say for most HTIBs. I wasn't impressed with the auto audio calibration, and had to go back in and raise the volume of the speakers independently to get the volume and balance that this system should have. I guess it was a good starting point, and then I just adjusted from there. The DVD player hooked up through HDMI running to my sony 1080p TV looks awesome - 480p DVDs almost looks truly HD. One thing I would have liked is for one of the inputs to have a pre-amp built in, for a turntable or unpowered iPod dock, but that's a small 'wish'. Overall, fantastic buy - and I got mine for under $400.

For the most part, this system does what it says it will do for a reasonable price. Set up is a little complicated, but just thumb through the manual(s).

Only complaint is that in order to utilize the DMP(Digital Media Port) you have to buy a $100 docking station from Sony that is ONLY compatible with (taken from an email from Sony Support):


We are glad to assist you with your query regarding the compatibility of the iPods with your Sony Cradle for iPod. The iPods that are compatible with the Sony TDMIP1 are as follows:

1. iPod nano 2nd generation

2. iPod 5th generation

3. iPod nano 1st generation

4. iPod 4th generation (Color Display)

5. iPod 4th generation

6. iPod Mini

Of course, I only own an iPod Touch, so I am SOL (Soooooo out of luck)and apparently is anyone who has purchased an iPod in the last year or so.

a disappointment for a Sony product. The speakers are pretty whimmpy...you have to fine tune the levels of each to get a good setting for yourself...the autocal system for sound is a nice feature, but the best results prolly will need your own tuning...the subwoofer is pretty bulky...the receiver is good...the DVD 5-disc changer is a nice feature, you can use it as a 5-disc CD chger if you like...yes, you would serve well if you have an optical cable...the speaker wires connections can be tricky and difficult - depends on how well experience you are with these things...this is definitely not a plug and play system...will take time and patience for the hookup and fine tuning of the sound...but once you have spent some hrs on such, you will do fine...I'd not pay 600 bucks full price for the system in some bigbox stores...but at 400-500, it is ok...this is no Bose lifestyle system...but it doesn't cost 2000 bucks for the Bose system either...you get what you pay for...but for a Sony product, I was hoping the performance be a bit more robust, esp. with those whimmpy speakers...

Pros: Upconversion 5 Disc DVD Player, Sounds Good, Speak AUTO Calibration, Value

Cons: HDMI Passthrough only, Limited to 3 HD components, Fine Tuning Tedious, Too Many Cables Needed

Overall this is a good sytem for the price. If you have more than 3 HD components then this is not the system for you since there is only 3 digital audio in connections and the HDMI connections are for video only. The DVD player is excellent.

I've had this system fully connected for close to a week and I'm still fine tuning it. The subwoofer is pretty good but I can see why some reviewers say it lacks punch. I like it but the wife has me tune it down when she's around. Be sure to read the reviews out there as I did to ensure an easier time setting the system up.

Bang for the buck is great got my for under $300. Lots of features, easy setup with mic and sound is good but not great. The hook up of the speakers wires to the receiver is unbelievable diffcult and them keep coming loose. (2) remotes why? Seems like a pieced together home theater package.Last but not least the DVD/CD player plays great but only shuffles one disc at a time! If I would have know that I wouldn't have bought this unit, who wants to shuffle one CD! I would have payed $50 more to have that feature. I hooked up my old player thru the optical input works great.
You get what you pay for.

I've had this system for about two months now and am pretty satisfied with it. Setting up the speakers was a pain in the ??? though. Connecting my HDTV,dish network box and DVD player(now a PanasonicBD35)was a little frustrating because I didn't realize you needed a optical digital cable to get any sound eventhough I connected my componets with HDMI cables. If your planning on getting a Blue Ray DVD player you might want to get a higher end receiver, so you can really get the theatre surrsound. Even with these little problems this system puts out good surround sound for a small area. The auto calculation feature works well for those of us who are not "audiophiles". So if you'er looking for system that puts out good sound for the price and can be easy to setup if you already know the pit falls then this is the system for you.

Sony HT7100DH Component Home Theater System with HDMI

Item was selected based on Consumer Reports reviews. Amazon offered it through a third party, the price was right and it was purchased. Delivery was timely and, although more work than anticipated, installation to the point of testing components shows great performance. Nice, compact package for our 1950-something sized living room.