Customer Reviews

Sony HTC-800DP Home Theater System

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

 

 

I hooked this system up to my TV last night and for the price, it delivers. Looks good, too! Sound is excellent, simple controls, easy to set up, clean design. The remote is a little unwieldy with too many buttons of the same size and shape. Maybe I'll get a universal. Watched MI-2 and this system rocks!

This DVD player does have S-Video and Component inputs, though you have to buy the cables separately. I hooked it up (with the optional speaker stands that are sold separately) in good time. Sounds great (not that I'm a coniseur). I didn't give it 5 stars because they don't have optical audio inputs (I had to backtrack to Composite audio). Their remote control is pretty bad too. It lacks any kind of flair and the direction keys are tied in with the enter key, a annoyance of mine. May go with a universal remote. It was a fairly cheap home theatre from a good name.

For the price, this set up is pretty good. Sound and picture quality is great. The remote is pretty good too and was easily able to control my Sony TV. I eventually had to upgrade to a powered sub-woofer as the one included cannot handle deep bass at higher volumes.

One complaint is that I have not been able to find a universal remote that can control it. Each one I have gone through I had to custom program each button into the new remote. This is a small complaint since most integrated systems have this problem.

My biggest issue is with long term use. About 18 months after purchase (and only a 1 year warranty) I noticed the device would become sluggish after long periods of use. What I mean is the buttons would be slow to respond from the remote or on the face of the device. In an hour after this behavior starts, it progresses to be slower and slower until all buttons are unresponsive. An indicator is when watching a DVD and the time progression (HH:MM display) stops changing even the DVD is still playing. The only button that will respond is the Power button on the device -- stating Stand By on the display but either showing this message indefinitely or taking about 1 minute to power down. The only fix, verified by Sony support, is to Reset the system, which means unplugging it from the wall for 1 minute.

For watching TV it would take a couple of days of it being powered on, but for DVDs it would take around 6-8 hours of constant use. That is not saying much since it is a 5 DVD changer and in theory that may be 10+ hours of movies. It does not appear overheated, seems more like a software memory leak in the device itself.

In summary, when its working it is great, but it is hard to say how long that will last.

Just received a 42" Plasma tv for the holidays. I wanted a home theater system with S-video to take advantage of the great picture quality. The online marketing material says it's there but after unpacking the system, there was clearly no port input or output and no mention in the manual. After getting on the phone with Sony, they said this model doesn't have S-video. Argh! The speakers sound great though. Ended up buying the Sony HT-6600DP Home Theater in a Box instead.