Sony BDV-E300 Theater System
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- Main Speakers Power Output: 70 Watts
- Included Components: DVD Player
- Number Of Speakers: 5 Speakers and Subwoofer
- Subwoofer Power Output: 100 Watts
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Sony DAV-C900 DVD Dream Home Theater System - Not My Dream
Pros
Looks, ease of setup, picture quality, inputs, features
Cons
Price, speakers, remote designed for looks, not for functionality
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
The C900 looks cool, easy to setup, but not so easy to use, has wimpy front speakers and costs too much.
The Sony DAV-C900 is a complete home theater package that includes a 5-disc DVD/CD changer that also plays SACD, four surround speakers with stands, a center speaker and a subwoofer.
Style
The system looks nice with all components having silver finish and coordinated design. The 4 surround speakers (front left and right, rear left and right) have tall stands. The player has 5 buttons to select the disc directly, it also has buttons for basic playback control and a large knob.
Features
The system plays DVD Video discs, CD Audio, 2- and multi-channel Super Audio CD (SACD), CD-R and CD-RW discs, VCD. There is no MP3 playback. The system can do Dolby Digital, DTS and Dolby Pro Logic decoding. The tuner with 20 FM and 10 AM presets is included.
Inputs
The system (back panel of the DVD changer) has the following inputs/outs:
Video: component video out, 2 composite and an S-Video out. There are 2 composite video inputs.
Audio: optical digital input, optical digital out, 2 analog stereo inputs, 1 analog audio out, 6 (5.1) analog outs for speakers (proprietary connectors).
Radio: an FM input and an AM input.
There is also a headphone out on the front panel.
Performance
The picture that this player produces is great and it reproduces the movie soundtracks nicely. However, the front speakers have the same wimpy specs as the rears (two 2? woofers and a 5/8? tweeter). This is adequate for movies, but for serious music listening you might consider something with better speakers.
Other Features
The parental control is also present. There are only two slow motion speeds (Panasonic DVD players have 5) and only three fast scan speeds (Panasonic has 5).
The SACD playback as well as Dolby Digital, DTS and Dolby Pro Logic decoding are present. There is no DVD-Audio playback (because Sony and Phillips try to make people choose SACD over DVD-A).
There is a bit-rate meter and program play, repeat play, shuffle, resume, etc. The ?Disc Exchange? feature allows you to replace up to four discs while the fifth one is playing.
The AM/FM tuner allows you enter the names for each station (up to 8 characters). The VCD playback allows to play Video CD at 352x240 resolution. There are several ?Sound Fields? available, which create different virtual surround sound effects.
Remote
The supplied remote control can control other devices: TVs and cable boxes. It looks nice, but there are just too many very small round buttons in the outer part of it. The menu directional buttons are also too small and round. Also, whereas most manufacturers place the ?Play? button on the left side and ?Stop? on the right, Sony does it the other way around and does the same trick with ?Power? and ?Eject? buttons.
Bottom Line
The C900 looks cool, easy to setup, but not so easy to use (remote designed for nice looks, not for functionality), has wimpy front speakers and costs too much.
Style
The system looks nice with all components having silver finish and coordinated design. The 4 surround speakers (front left and right, rear left and right) have tall stands. The player has 5 buttons to select the disc directly, it also has buttons for basic playback control and a large knob.
Features
The system plays DVD Video discs, CD Audio, 2- and multi-channel Super Audio CD (SACD), CD-R and CD-RW discs, VCD. There is no MP3 playback. The system can do Dolby Digital, DTS and Dolby Pro Logic decoding. The tuner with 20 FM and 10 AM presets is included.
Inputs
The system (back panel of the DVD changer) has the following inputs/outs:
Video: component video out, 2 composite and an S-Video out. There are 2 composite video inputs.
Audio: optical digital input, optical digital out, 2 analog stereo inputs, 1 analog audio out, 6 (5.1) analog outs for speakers (proprietary connectors).
Radio: an FM input and an AM input.
There is also a headphone out on the front panel.
Performance
The picture that this player produces is great and it reproduces the movie soundtracks nicely. However, the front speakers have the same wimpy specs as the rears (two 2? woofers and a 5/8? tweeter). This is adequate for movies, but for serious music listening you might consider something with better speakers.
Other Features
The parental control is also present. There are only two slow motion speeds (Panasonic DVD players have 5) and only three fast scan speeds (Panasonic has 5).
The SACD playback as well as Dolby Digital, DTS and Dolby Pro Logic decoding are present. There is no DVD-Audio playback (because Sony and Phillips try to make people choose SACD over DVD-A).
There is a bit-rate meter and program play, repeat play, shuffle, resume, etc. The ?Disc Exchange? feature allows you to replace up to four discs while the fifth one is playing.
The AM/FM tuner allows you enter the names for each station (up to 8 characters). The VCD playback allows to play Video CD at 352x240 resolution. There are several ?Sound Fields? available, which create different virtual surround sound effects.
Remote
The supplied remote control can control other devices: TVs and cable boxes. It looks nice, but there are just too many very small round buttons in the outer part of it. The menu directional buttons are also too small and round. Also, whereas most manufacturers place the ?Play? button on the left side and ?Stop? on the right, Sony does it the other way around and does the same trick with ?Power? and ?Eject? buttons.
Bottom Line
The C900 looks cool, easy to setup, but not so easy to use (remote designed for nice looks, not for functionality), has wimpy front speakers and costs too much.
