Bose Lifestyle 38 - Home theater system - 5.1 channel - white Review

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(More customer reviews)While the sound quality is good, this $3k system is definitely not up to the hype due to poor UI and Usability designs by Bose. I would not have bothered if I was buying even $1500 system but for 3k it is not really worth. While everyone talks about how great this system is, let me talk about some major drawbacks of this system that no one talks about:
1) It does not display Track/album info for custom CDs (for e.g. the ones you ripped off from online music stores) and MP3 CDs! Yes, thats true! How can anyone browse through 100+ songs from an MP3 CD and select the song that they want without seeing any track/album display on the TV Screen? I am extreamly upset with Bose lacking "common sense" here! Come on Bose, even my old $100 cheap DVD system can display this info on the screen! If you let the users play mp3 CDs didn't it occur to you that they would perhaps would like to choose the song they want to listen to?
2) It does not let you store MP3 CDs.
3) It does not let you transfer music from your PC.
4) It does not import the Title/Album info for the custom CDs that you burn with music that you have downloaded. It just names all the tracks and album info for the this type of CD with '-No Label-' title! You have to spend days to Edit (BTW editing is horrible too) all this info to make it right (if you have patience at all). If you end up storing more then one custom CDs, they all look the same when you browse through music library! So, there is no way to distinguish between them and hence you are really screwed! If you were to edit the title of a song/album, there is no way to listen to the song (to make sure it is the right song) while editing it! While listening, you can't edit the title! How stupid!
5) Browsing through music library is a pain. If you have 200 CDs, there is no way to skip to a particular CD in a second. for e.g if you want to go to 100th CD, you have to cick 100 times to get to it in the list! Same thing goes for Artist, Album and track selection.
6) The playlist feature is not really good. You are stuck with UMusic and a very basic playlist option.
7) Editing feature is not really intutive. There is no way you can key in letters using the Remote controls number pad (such as the ones you have with Cellphones. Each number will have 3 letters assigned to it etc...) There is no way to play and doublecheck the song while editing the title for a song/album. So, imagine yourself editing a bunch of songs with no preview!
Well the bottomline is that this pricy system is lacking so many basic features showing how Bose did not do a good job of focussing on usability. It is not just about the sound, the system should be functional too! I hope Bose realizes this soon! In any case Bose just lost their image as far as I am concerned!


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Designed to change the way you think about movies, music, and even your CD collection, the Bose Lifestyle 38 DVD home entertainment system digitally stores and organizes up to 200 hours of music (around 200 to 300 CDs, depending on the timing of the discs). The system also lets you enjoy your movies on standard or high-definition-ready televisions in scintillating progressive-scan video. Meanwhile, the system's Jewel Cube speaker arrays and low-frequency-producing Acoustimass module fill your room with rich, full-bodied sound.The stylish, 2-tone silver/black media center features an integrated DVD/CD player and AM/FM tuner. You get Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 surround processing for lifelike surround effects from your favorite movies, as well as Bose Videostage 5 processing for turning mono and stereo sources into surround programs. The DVD/CD player plays your DVD-Video movies (NTSC or PAL, depending on your TV), DVD-R/RW homemade discs, and CD-based music, including MP3 files written to recordable CD-R or CD-RW.Among the Lifestyle 38's innovative features is its ADAPTiQ audio calibration system, which analyzes your room and adjusts the system's sound for optimal performance in the spots you like to listen from, and the uMusic intelligent playback system.The uMusic system uses proprietary Bose technology to turn the media center into a virtual DJ capable of playing a continuous stream of the music you most enjoy and--even cooler--adapting to your preferences, even as they change. You can instruct system to play what you want, when you want it. Giving instructions requires only that you react to your stored music as it plays. Pressing "Encore" tells the system to search for music with characteristics that closely match what's playing, narrowing its field of choices in response to your command.Pressing the - (negative) rating tells the system to move on because this particular track is not right for this time of day, this activity, or for the person listening. Submitting a + (positive) rating has the opposite effect: the system learns that you particularly like the track playing. Not every track you like requires a + rating, but you can always give special songs this nudge. Over time the system adjusts the type of music it plays when your preset is selected. And you don't need to worry that any response you make now will be etched in concrete: you may easily override your established preferences at any time.When you load your collection into the media center (copying takes about 5 minutes per disc), the system searches an internal and regularly updatable database to assign artist and track names, genre, and other details, which you can edit or update as you wish.The Lifestyle 38 features award-winning Jewel Cube speaker arrays, which measure just 4.5 inches high, for dramatically lifelike sound. These are the smallest and most powerful speaker arrays Bose makes, producing sound you'd expect from speakers much larger. The Acoustimass module (essentially a subwoofer) produces resounding low notes that bring action sequences to life and add fullness to music. Place the Acoustimass module out of sight, so all sound seems to come from the Jewel Cube speaker arrays.Other features include AM/FM tuning with 40 preset stations (20 FM, 20 AM), a sleep timer (10 to 90 minutes), and console input jacks for connecting other source components (such as a VCR, DSS, CD changer, or tape deck).Connections include digital and analog audio inputs and outputs for a range of ancillary components, with a choice of composite-video, S-video, or--with an optional-use cable that connects to both the composite- and S-video outputs--480i/480p component-video outputs, depending on your television.A feature called Bose link allows connections for compatible Bose products in as many as 14 additional rooms using optional hookup gear.What's in the Box Media center, 5 speakers, 1 Acoustimass module, FM/AM antennas, all requisite cabling, a remote control with batteries, a user's manual, a quick-setup guide, AC power cords, 2 system discs, an optional-use IR emitter cable, an ADAPTiQ audio calibration system headset, and warranty information.Note: This system is designed to store the audio tracks of regular CDs only. It will not store MP3 tracks or the contents of DVDs.

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Bose Lifestyle 28 Series II - Home theater system Review

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(More customer reviews)Clarity is superb. Subwoofer is ok but lacks a little in deep base response. Had a little problem positioning the surround speakers in a 20' x 20' room being that my tv is in a corner and not centered. The AdaptIQ proceedure helped alot, but a fade control from left to right and front to back wouldv'e been appreciated. All in all I've compared this system with others in about the same price range and couldn't find any better.

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Yamaha YAS-70BL Front Surround System (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was tired of speakers and wires all over the room just for Surround sound for home theater. Then I came across this sound bar. It was perfect!
A sound bar plus woofer speaker is all that makes up this system. But it somehow sends great sound all around the room. And the quality of sound is like nothing I've gotten from many other tested multi-speaker wired systems. Bells and high sounds sound real. Storms make you want to look outside to make sure its not real. Explosions, gun shots, you name it, very realistic.
I'll never go back to a wired multi-wired speaker system. Why bother?
My only issue is it has only three connections. One digital optical, one digital coaxial and one analog rca L/R (I don't use).
I added a digital optical switcher, to solve this issue. But they could have designed at least 3 optical and three coaxial as standard inputs.
This system sounds so good, why not complement it with more than enough inputs? However, they did not skimp on sound quality in any way.
Highly recommended! Fits perfect above plasma or LCD wall mounted HDTV's.


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LG LHB975 1100-Watt Blu-ray Home Theater System, Gloss Black Review

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(More customer reviews)I purchased this system in May of 2010. When it worked, it worked great and I really enjoyed the quality of the blu-ray player and sound.
About a week ago the wireless subwoofer stopped working. It has power but will not link up with the wireless receiver. I tried everything I could possibly do and couldn't get it to "remate" (connect) again. I then called LG and they were unable to fix it.
LG offered to repair the system but they wants me to spend $70.00 for them to look at it and this does not include shipping. From what the customer service representative told me, the 1 year warranty means that regardless of the cost to repair, my cost is capped at $70.00. I'm not sure how that qualifies as a warranty but according to LG it does.
What is troubling about this issue is that this problem does not appear to be an isolated incident. I searched the internet for reviews from people who owned the system. There are a number of people who are having this exact same problem after using the system for about 6 months. Mine started in just 5 months. It's starting to look like this product has a defect.
I own an LG cell phone, washer and dryer, and this blu-ray theater system. I've never had a problem with any LG product before. I'm surprised that LG would put out a product that seems to have a systematic defect. I'm even more surprised that the LG customer service would be so bad and not customer friendly. This experience has really questioned my brand loyalty towards LG. At this point, they must know this product has a problem. Rather than do the right thing - which is to correct the problem and send a new unit to everyone who is having this problem free of charge - LG is instead forcing the consumer to pay for service, pay for shipping, and hope that the repair is a long term fix. I'm afraid I'll spend the money to get the system "repaired" only to have it break again in another 5 months.
Rather than deal with the nonsense I'm going through, anyone who looks at this home theater system should just avoid it.


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LG's NetCast Interface lets you easily access a vast array of internet content. This model comes with two tower speakers.

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Samsung HT-BD8200 Blu-Ray Sound Bar Home Theater System (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)When my 10 year old projection TV finally died recently, it was finally a good enough reason to buy a flat panel TV. I ended up buying the Samsung UN55B6000 55" LED. Of course once I got it home it confirmed to me what I knew would be the case, the sound on flat panels isn't great. It's just hard to make speakers small enough for a flat panel that are big enough to be good.
So after all of my hunting, I found the HT-BD8200. I thought it would be perfect. I could get rid of the stack of stereo and AV components and replace them with this. In theory it can replace the Radio tuner, CD player, DVD player, Blu Ray player and receiver.
I received it, hooked it up and started admiring it (I discovered rather rudely that Samsung does not put an HDMI cable in the $800 box so had to go buy one). The wireless subwoofer is awesome and I was able to hide it out of view behind the couch. The unit itself looks like it was made for my TV. It's the same glossy black glass look with the red touch of color.
I had visions of wall mounting my TV with the HT-BD8200 wall mounted right under it (it comes with a wall mount kit).
The controls on the unit are super cool touch controls. No buttons, just symbols on the top of the disc drive area that light up. Just touch the glass over the control and a small beep lets you know it's activated.
It comes with a wifi adapter so that you can stream netflix, pandora, blockbuster etc. to it over your wifi network at home.
I could babble on forever about the cool things it does which is why it breaks my heart to have to list the bad things and ultimately why I had to return it.
Once I got over the thrill of having a new toy, I started to notice buggy behavior that makes me think Samsung rushed this out or cobbled it together without enough QA testing.
- "MODE NOT SUPPORTED"
Since I connected the unit to my TV with HDMI, it activated the Samsung "Anynet" feature which basically let's the TV and soundbar talk to each other and activate Samsung specific features. For example, when you put a disc in the soundbar, it'll automatically change the TV to the correct input and start playing the disc so that you don't have to go through the "source" menu on the TV. What I found was that from time to time I'd put a disc in the soundbar, it'd change the source on the TV but then the TV would just display "Mode Not Supported".
Nothing in the manual said anything about this error and a google search came up with a million unrelated postings about the error on various Samsung products. I was able to get around it by switching the HDMI cable to another port on the TV. When the error would come up again, I'd switch it back to the original port and it would work again. Pretty crappy for an $800 product.
- "Misbehaving Night Light"
Like my TV, the soundbar has a small accent light at the bottom of the center of the unit. You can set it to be on while the unit is on, off, or all the time. I set to to be on when the unit is on. When I went to bed I turned the unit off and the light went off. The next day when I came home from work the light was on and the unit was off. I checked the setting in the menus and it was still set to be off when the unit was off... but it was on. Annoying
- "Ghost in the machine"
The soundbar started to turn itself on by itself. The first time it happened I thought maybe I had left it on without realizing it. So I made it a point to verify it was off when I went out the next day and sure enough it was back on when I came back that night. I had to start leaving it set to an unused input before turning it off to make sure it wouldn't come on blasting the radio mid day or mid night.
- "Low Volume on TV"
The volume when watching movies or listening to CD's can reasonably loud. Don't get me wrong, you cannot ever go deaf listening to this unit on max volume because it just doensn't go that loud but watching TV, the max volume seems to be roughly one third lower than on movies. I found myself watching tv on maximum volume all the time. If it was loud outside or someone was making noise in another room, max wasn't loud enough.
I thought maybe the HDMI audio was the issue so I went and bought an Optical Cable (buy the AmazonBasics one, good price and decent quality). I hooked up the Optical cable to my TV and the result was exactly the same. I then hooked the optical cable directly to my cable box. Exactly the same. Nothing could make the soundbar louder while watching TV. The TV speakers themselves were often similar in volume or louder than the soundbar. The difference was that the soundbar had richer sound. Still not acceptable when the main reason I'm buying it is because I need more volume.
- "Anynet" annoyance
As this list grew and my patience thinned, I finally hit the last straw. I wanted to play a music CD while putting around the house. The TV and soundbar were off. I turned the soundbar on and dropped in a CD. The soundbar automatically activated the anynet feature, turned on the TV and switched to the HDMI input for the soundbar as if I was going to watch a movie. Apparently Samsung didn't bother programming the soundbar not to switch if it's an audio CD. "no big deal, turn off the TV" you say? I did... and Anynet promptly shut the soundbar off with the TV. ARRRRGH!
Could I just disable anynet? Sure! But losing a big chunk of functionality when I bought two Samsung products that are supposed to work together is unreasonable to me, especially when they are as expensive as these are.
So I resigned myself to thinking this was a defective unit and I'd give it another try. I boxed it up and sent it back to Amazon. I was ready to reorder a new one, but they weren't in stock. I decided this was a good thing as if mine was defective, hopefully I'd get a newer one from a newer batch.
I waited a couple of weeks and Amazon finally got them back in stock. I ordered another and it arrived. I connected it and found that only ONE of the issues above had gone away. The new unit didn't turn itself on by itself. All of the other issues were still there.
I finally had to give up and admit that this product is just not what I hoped for and the quality was not worth $800. I sent it back and am now looking for an alternative.

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Sony EZWT100 S-AIR Signal Transmitter - Black Review

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(More customer reviews)Installed this into my STR-DN1000 and tried to link it with a brand new AIR-SA10 and they would just not recognize each other. The wireless strength was zero and the main unit would not pair with the sub. After 30 mins on live chat with Sony they suggested that I unplug the receiver for a minute and try again. Amazingly that worked and the SA10 immediately linked with the receiver without pairing. The install instructions do say to unplug the receiver before installing this transmitter. That is a major deal for me with the way my components are installed into my built-ins, however, it turned out to be the critical missing piece of the puzzle. The instructions don't say 'if you don't do this you will have hours of frustration' so I am writing that here to try to save others from injuring their heads on their walls.
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Now that it's working, the total investment for the transmitter and the SA10 seems like a good deal when compared to other wireless speakers available at this time, plus the SA10 allows you to switch between whatever feeds are available on your main unit without walking back to the main unit to change it.

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Optimize your S-AIR ready BRAVIA Home Theater system with the EZW-T100 transmitter. This wireless card uses S-AIR technology and allows 8 channels of LPCM (CD quality) audio to be sent from your home theater's main unit to a wireless surround speaker kit (WAHT-SA1) or to a wireless multi-room speaker system (AIR-SA10).

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Yamaha YSP-4000BL Digital Sound Projector (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)I now have the new Yamaha YSP 4000 and having tried it out on over twenty different disks, can say without equivocation that it is amazing. So long as you have a room with a good back wall and at least one sidewall, it will deliver incredibly good 5.1 surround sound. Will it be as good as top end systems with five distinct and separate speakers costing $5,000 or more? Of course not. Will it be as good as or better than receiver/speaker systems available today for $3.000? Yes. In other words, this newest Yamaha stands clearly at the point of diminishing returns. After installing it and listening to it, you may decide that you do not need a subwoofer. It did Chicago beautifully. I decided I wanted one for some of the accurate bass on great classical music.
The setup is easy, but when the screen tells you to get out of the room - GO! The sounds emitted during the setup are designed to send cats and dogs into fits of madness. Do not try to audition this unit in a 'big box' store. It relies on nearby walls to help it work. If you have a friend who has taken the plunge, go and listen to it within a real listening area. Anyone who lives in or visits Central FL leave a comment on this thread and I will cheerfully invite you to visit and make up your own mind. If you live in a place where you cannot drill holes in your wall or if you do not want wires and speakers all over the place - this may be the solution for you. It was for me.

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The new YSP-4000 Digital Sound Projector offers versatile new features such as, 1080p-compatible HDMI, analog video to HDMI digital video up-conversion, and component/composite inputs. Other features include: iPod and XM HD surround compatibility, built-in FM tuner, RS-232C for custom installation and a wide variety of beam settings, including My Surround Beam, for a true multi-channel surround sound experience from a single component. The YSP-4000 applies the Digital Sound Projector technology to precisely control the orientation of the sound by focusing it through multiple beams. The center channel sound is heard directly, while sounds from other channels are heard after reflecting off walls. The result is true multi-channel surround sound that sounds just like a multi-speaker system but without the need for extra speakers! As amazing as it seems, the YSP-4000 can actually deliver multi-channel sound that surrounds listeners the same way that sound from front, center and rear speakers does. DVD movies and other digital sources sound just the way they are supposed to. Dolby Pro Logic II is included, so even 2-channel TV's sound can be heard in true multi-channel surround. Its elegant space-saving design avoids the need of numerous speakers and cables. It can be wall mounted or placed on a shelf or rack. The YSP-4000 has a powerful and efficient digital amplifier built in. It powers the 40 beam drivers at 2W each and the two woofers at 20W each, for a total of 120W of power. There is no need for the customer to purchase an additional amplifier or receiver.

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Yamaha YSP-3000BL Digital Sound Projector (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)When I first heard about the Digital Sound Projector from Yamaha I thought it would be a prefect solution for my family room where I do not (or cannot) run the cables to hook up rear (L/R) speakers. I pre-ordered YSP-3000 from Amazon in September 2007.
I have the YSP-3000 hooked up in my family room for more than a week now, here is the list of good and bad about the device:
The good:
-Excellent sound quality with Dolby Digital 5.1 supported sources such as my digital cable box (via HDMI interface/cable).
-Setup is easy. You ran Intelibeam from the device; in less than 20 mins you got a customized sound projecting environment. You can always tweak the settings manually but I found the auto-setting works just fine.
-YSP-3000 also functions as HDMI switch (1 output, 2 inputs) where you can switch audio/video between DVD player and cable TV without selecting input source from your TV set. That is, connect the output HDMI port off YSP-3000 to your TV, then connect your cable box and DVD players to YSP-3000. You only need to use the YSP-3000 remote to choose between DVD and cable box.
The bad:
Here is my biggest problem with YSP-3000. It does NOT support newer version of Dolby Digital TrueHD, nor Dolby Digital Plus off the box!!
I hooked up a Toshiba HD DVD player (model# HD-A30), and guess what, my audio channel on YSP-3000 became 2-channel stereo instead of 5.1. To by pass this problem, I had to hook-up my DVD player using optical audio connection as oppose to HDMI, and change the video output from HDMI to component video output. By doing so, I no longer can switch between DVD and cable using YSP-3000, and (in theory) receiving less quality image because I cannot use HDMI for my DVD.
I contacted Yamaha support, I was told that YSP-3000 does not indeed support Dolby Digital TrueHD nor Dobly Digital Plus, which have became the standard audio format for every HD DVD movie shipped out there. My Toshiba HD DVD player only offers three choices of audio output 1) AUTO (which is the one I am using, and it is recommend for digital sound), 2) PCM (which is 2-chanael, not 5.1 with surround sound, and 3) Downmix PCM, which is also 2-channel instead of 5.1.
So I have the latest Digital Sound Projector (YSP-3000), with latest HD DVD player (Toshiba HD-A30), with latest HD-DVD movies yet I cannot enjoy 5.1 sound environment without downgrading my video output from HDMI to component. That's a shame. I hope there will be a firmware upgrade in the future with either Yamaha or Toshiba devices (by the way, I already updated the firmware on Toshiba HD DVD player to v1.1, which is the latest as to date) to provide support of DD+, or DD TrueHD.


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The New YSP-3000 offers great new features such as 1080p-compatiable HDMI, iPod compatibility and wide variety of beam settings including My Surround for true multi-channel surround sound enjoyment from a single component. The YSP-3000 applies the Digital Sound Projector technology to precisely control the orientation of the sound by focusing it through multiple beams. The center channel sound is heard directly, while sounds from other channels are heard after reflecting off walls. The result is true multi-channel surround sound that sounds just like a multi-speaker system but without the need for extra speakers! As amazing as it seems, the YSP-3000 can actually deliver multi-channel sound that surrounds listeners the same way that sound from front, center and rear speakers does. DVD movies and other digital sources sound just the way they are supposed to. Dolby Pro Logic II is included, so even 2-channel TV's sound can be heard in true multi-channel surround. Its elegant space-saving design avoids the need of numerous speakers and cables. It can be wall mounted or placed on a shelf or rack. . It powers the 21 beam drivers at 2W each and the two woofers at 20W each, for a total of 82W of power. There is no need for the customer to purchase an additional amplifier or receiver, so the system is compact and economical.

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Yamaha YSP-3050BL Digital Sound Projector Review

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(More customer reviews)The Yamaha YSP-3050 is my first soundbar purchase, and I settled on it after reading lots of reviews (both professional and peer) which praised its sound quality. I was interested in a soundbar because I was averse to setting up a true 5.1 or 7.1 speaker system for various reasons, and Yamaha was consistently rated at the top of the field. I took advantage of Amazon's offer of a free Yamaha YST-FSW050BL Advanced YST II Down-Firing Active Subwoofer with purchase.
SOUND: This is the most important factor, in my book. I'm happy to say the reviews I read were accurate, and the sound quality of the device does not disappoint. I was pleasantly surprised at how good of a job the soundbar does at simulating 5.1 sound. My room does not match either of the "ideal" layouts described, and I utilized the automatic calibration function, and the sound is excellent in 5 beam mode and stereo + 3 beam mode. My friend owns a Sony HTC Soundbar, and he commented that the Yamaha seemed to have slightly superior sound. Either way, the audio for my Blu-Rays and video games have never sounded better. I haven't spent as much time testing out "built-in" subwoofers because I have an external one, but from what I can tell the addition of the external subwoofer is a substantial benefit for bass fans. I'm glad I got it.SETUP: Setup was relatively simple, especially for HDMI devices. It should be fairly obvious what connectors go where. However, there are a few potential snags for the unwary. One annoyance was the fact that all the inputs/outputs (except HDMI) on the rear panel are downward facing, so reconfiguring them requires turning the entire soundbar on its side. Another confusing feature was the ability to reassign audio inputs to video inputs. As an example, you can select AUX1 optical as the audio input to associate with your component video input, or you can select an RCA analog input to associate with the same video input. This is an extra level of configuration that is helpful (and by design saves space on the rear panel), but can be confusing to learn. Unfortunately the manual doesn't do an amazing job of explaining this feature either. Generally speaking, the manual is great at covering the basics, but lacking on the advanced features (which I would assume are the ones users would be more likely to refer to the manual for).
For those who are having trouble figuring this out, the confusion arises because the remote control selections are labeled by AUDIO input, but the input assignment menu is grouped by VIDEO input. So although it looks like you are assigning AUX1 audio to Component Video, for example, in reality you are assigning Component Video to AUX1 audio. This is because the mode you will select when operating the soundbar is AUX1, and the soundbar will then know to pass through Component Video to the television set. I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense as written, but it's somewhat non-intuitive as I explained.
So far, my biggest gripe is actually with a technical limitation. The YSP-3050BL only supports up to 1080i input through component, and not full 1080p as it should. (Though some will mistakenly claim otherwise, component video does indeed support full 1080p, and I've been using 1080p over component on my Xbox 360 for a long time now.) This limitation was not made obvious anywhere, and took an e-mail to Yamaha support to determine why my component video was not being passed through. Thus, I have been faced with the choice of lowering the quality of my video to 1080i or sending the video signal directly to the TV and not taking advantage of the receiver-function of the soundbar. To Yamaha's credit, their support was knowledgeable and quick to respond.
PRICE: Let's face it, $1000 is a little steep, especially when major competitors (e.g., Sony HTCs) are in the $300-range. That being said, all accounts point to the Yamaha as offering superior audio. It's probably not $700 worth, and you certainly can find a full 5.1 system for less than $1000. But there are many reasons a full 5.1 or 7.1 setup are not practical, and if you have the extra cash this is guaranteed to deliver a good audio experience.

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The new YSP-3050 Digital Sound Projector offers great new features such as 1080p-compatible HDMI, analog video to HDMI digital video upconversion, XM Satellite Radio ready, iPod compatibility and wide variety of beam settings including My Surround for true multi-channel surround sound enjoyment from a single component.

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