Blu-ray sound bar roundup
Setting up a full-fledged home theater system can be a daunting task even for tech-savvy users. There're all the usual speaker placement constraints, dreaded long cabling and numerous boxes to hook up. This is why both consumers and manufacturers are now favoring sound bar kits which come in a neat package replacing a suite of multichannel speakers and component decks. The latest reincarnations available in the market are capable of supporting Blu-ray Disc playback. They offer pristine 1080p picture quality and high-resolution Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD surround sound. So all you need to add is an HDTV to complete your dream home cinema.
With onboard analog and digital audio inputs, you can also connect your HD settop box, game console and video recorder to these sound bars for enhanced audio playback. These entries will further double as an FM radio and CD/DVD player out-of-the-box. What they lack at the moment are onboard HDMI inputs which will enable them to provide fuller A/V receiver capabilities. By the way, you can expect a third contender for Blu-ray sound bars soon in the following months.
| Model |
Philips HTS8160B |
Samsung HT-BD8200 |
| Design |
 |
 |
| Power |
500W |
300W |
| Subwoofer |
Wired |
Wireless |
| Disc player |
CD/DVD/Blu-ray |
| Blu-ray profile |
2.0 (BD-Live) |
| Surround sound decoding |
Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II, DTS-HD, DTS |
Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD Master Audio Essential, DTS |
| Multimedia playback |
MP3/WMA/JPEG/DivX Ultra/MPEG-1/MPEG-2/MPEG-4/AVCHD/AVI/MKV/WMV |
MP3/JPEG/DivX/AVCHD |
| Networking function |
Ethernet |
Ethernet, Wi-Fi |
| USB input |
Yes |
| Digital audio input(s) |
Optical x 1, coaxial x 1 |
Optical x 1 |
| Analog audio input(s) |
3 |
1 |
| Price |
S$1,999 (US$1,471.77) |
S$1,499 (US$1,103.64) |
Tags:
1080p,
Wired Inc.,
Blu-ray Disc,
Philips Electronics N.V.,
FM-radio
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