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Monday, March 29, 2010

Yamaha RX-V365 Home Theater Bundle

Easy Setup and Great Sound at an Exceptional Value

Yamaha's 500-Watt 5.1-Channel RX-V365 is a high-value home theater receiver that offers many advanced features to enhance your entertainment experience. These include HDMI switching with 1080p video pass-through (2-input, 1-output), iPod and Bluetooth audio compatibility, CINEMA DSP, Yamaha's Compressed Music Enhancer, and four SCENE buttons. This receiver also uses 192kHz/24-bit DACs for all channels, which provide accurate sound field reproduction for high-quality multi-channel sources as well as outstanding separation and precise musical delineation for two-channel sources.

Add the Infinity TSS-500 6-piece speaker system to the mix, and you'll enjoy a truly rich home theater experience at a fantastic value. This system uses materials that are both incredibly stiff and lightweight, providing accurate, natural sound without distracting distortion. Each of the four satellites feature a two-way design with 2-1/2-inch drivers and a 3/4-inch tweeter, and the center speaker houses dual 2-1/2-inch midrange drivers to give you even more sound. And with the added 8-inch, 100-Watt powered subwoofer, low frequencies are deep and tight. The result is performance that rivals speaker systems that cost many times its price.

This bundle consists of:
# One Yamaha RX-V365BL 500 Watt 5-Channel Home Theater Receiver
# One Infinity TSS-500CHR High-Performance 6-Piece Home Theater Speaker System


Infinity TSS-500CHR High-Performance, 6-Piece Home Theater Speaker System (Charcoal Black) 

Technical Details

  • Four two-way satellites with 2-1/2" woofer and 3/4" tweeter
  • Two-way center channel with dual 2-1/2" woofers and 3/4" tweeter
  • 8 inch 100-Watt powered sub
  • Satellites and center are magnetically shielded
  • Includes adjustable-mount wall brackets for the satellites and center channel

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Infinity TSS-500 - Precision Sound at an Affordable Price

Advancing the Science of Sound for 40 Years
Are you passionate about good sound? Infinity is. With groundbreaking technologies, revolutionary materials and advanced manufacturing techniques, Infinity loudspeakers have set new standards for performance, simplicity and style for 40 years. Since Infinity was founded in a California garage in 1968 by engineers passionate about music, its critically acclaimed loudspeakers and design leadership have remained unchallenged. Through the years, state-of-the-art engineering facilities and unmatched resources have allowed Infinity manufacturers to design and develop innovative loudspeakers and loudspeaker technologies that push the limits of accurate sound reproduction.



Hear Your Music and Movies the Way the Artist Intended


Precision sound in a sleek package
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Stiff, Lightweight Speaker Design for Fantastic Sound
A well-engineered loudspeaker should be like a window into an artist's soul, meaning that you hear exactly what they intended without changes or alterations. Unheard of at its price point, the Infinity TSS-500 speaker system does just that by using speaker cones that are both incredibly stiff and lightweight. Using satellites that feature a 2-way design with 2-1/2" drivers and a 3/4" tweeter, the TSS-500 speaker cones are able to reduce distortions caused by bending or flexing of the cone while remaining lightweight. The light weight of the cones helps the TSS-500 reproduce detail from your music naturally and effortlessly. The center speaker uses two of the 2-1/2" midrange drivers to step up the sound even more. And with the added 8", 100-Watt powered subwoofer, low frequencies are deep and tight. The result is performance that rivals speaker systems that cost many times its price.




Exceptional Sound Anywhere in the Room


A waveguide ensures an optimal
experience everywhere in the room
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Superior Engineering Resources Guarantee a Quality Listening Experience
Many loudspeaker manufacturers are actually loudspeaker assemblers, buying parts off the shelf from different companies with the goal of assembling them into a final product. While this system might help to keep costs down, it does very little to guarantee how the speakers are going to sound. Infinity manufacturers design, engineer and build all parts of the loudspeaker. This integrated process allows Infinity to control all aspects of speaker creation, and results in smoothly engineered loudspeaker systems that sound great in any room.

Optimized to Ensure Great Sound, No Matter Where You Sit
The place where you sit in a room as you listen to speakers can have just as great an effect on what you hear as the speakers themselves. Though you might try to sit in the "sweet spot," sometimes it just isn't possible.

So what if you want great sound anywhere you might sit? To make sure that listening to the TSS-500 is a great experience everywhere in the room, Infinity speakers use a proprietary waveguide. This conduit confines and guides electromagnetic waves around the tweeter, ensuring a wide dispersion of high frequencies throughout the room--all while keeping them both accurate and natural sounding. The result is an incredible sound experience throughout the entire room, even if someone beats you to the best seat in the house.


What's in the Box
This package includes four TSS-500 satellite speakers, one TSS-500 center speaker, one TSS-500 subwoofer, brackets for all five speakers, and speaker wire for convenient installation.

Product Description

TSS -- Complete Movie and Music Loudspeaker system with Powered Subwoofer. Realistic surround sound, deep, powerful bass and clean dialogue reproduction will entice you into enjoying your favorite movies and music again and again

Yamaha RX-V365BL 500 Watt 5-Channel Home Theater Receiver 

 

Technical Details

  • 5-channel 500W powerful surround sound (100W x 5)
  • 1080p-Compatible HDMI 1.3
  • Bluetooth music streaming using Yamaha YBA-10 Bluetooth Audio Receiver
  • Connect an iPod using Yamaha YDS-10SL Universal iPod Dock

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

From the Manufacturer

Yamaha's New Home Theater Hub

Yamaha's new 500-Watt 5.1-Channel RX-V365 is a high-value home theater receiver that offers many advanced features to enhance your entertainment experience. These include HDMI switching with 1080p video pass-through (2-input, 1-output), iPod and Bluetooth audio compatibility, CINEMA DSP, Yamaha's Compressed Music Enhancer, and four SCENE buttons.


Multiple inputs make the RX-V365 your home theater hub
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High Dynamic Power Capability for Great Sound
The Yamaha RX-V365 is capable of delivering large amounts of reserve power for accurate reproduction of the high energy peaks that are especially prevalent in digital audio sources. This prevents clipping and emphasizes the music's dynamic qualities. This receiver also uses 192kHz/24-bit DACs for all channels. The DACs provide accurate sound field reproduction for high-quality multi-channel sources, and outstanding separation and precise musical delineation for two-channel sources.

CINEMA DSP Digital for Enhanced Surround Realism
Conventional multi-channel audio reproduction systems base their sound on Dolby Digital and DTS decoding, using matrix and steering technologies to create surround sound effects. Yamaha CINEMA DSP is much more advanced, actually creating richly realized independent sound fields that envelop you in an unmatched surround sound experience. With dialogue, music and effects ideally located in these separate sound fields, you will hear sound with accurate placement, smooth movement, exceptional clarity and richness, and startlingly realistic presence. It will seem as if the walls of your room have disappeared and you are in the middle of your own immense theater. The decoding circuitry performs Dolby Pro Logic II, Dolby Digital and DTS Digital Surround decoding with extreme accuracy, as well as all digital sound field processing.


Four HDMI Inputs and one output support 1080p

Refresh your MP3s with the Compressed Music Enhancer
SCENE - A New Level of Operating Ease
Four SCENE buttons make operating the Yamaha RX-V365 easier than ever. Pressing a single SCENE button automatically launches the multiple operations that initiate play of the source controlled by that button. They are initially set to default settings for DVD Viewing, Disc Listening, TV Viewing and Radio Listening. Other SCENE settings are also available, such as iPod Listening, XM Listening, TV Sports Viewing and Action Game Playing.

Audio Delay Compensation Keeps Your Experience On Track
The latest display devices perform complex internal processing, causing time lag in the video signal. It is a small difference, but because the audio arrives first, the viewer may feel that something is not natural. The Audio Delay function for adjusting Lip-Sync matches the audio to the timing of the output of the video on the screen.

SILENT CINEMA DSP
SILENT CINEMA makes it possible to hear large-scale surround sound through ordinary headphones. This is a variation of CINEMA DSP technology that Yamaha developed to let you listen in private to movies and other multi-channel sources for hours without listening fatigue.


Optional docks for your iPod or Bluetooth phone
set your music free
Next-Gen Connectivity and Flexibility
Bringing your own tunes to the Yamaha RX-V365 is easy. It is equipped to use Yamaha's optional YBA-10 Bluetooth Wireless Audio Receiver, giving you the flexibility to stream music from Bluetooth enabled mobile phones, portable devices and even your personal computer. The optional YDS-11 Universal iPod Dock connects the Yamaha RX-V365 to all versions of Apple's iPod.

Compressed Music Enhancer Refreshes Your Music
Yamaha employs sophisticated digital signal processing with exclusive algorithms to enable playback that improves the performance of compressed music formats, including MP3 and WMA. With the Compressed Music Enhancer, highs and especially lows are richer and smoother, bringing music back to life to be as close to the original as possible.

Great Picture Quality for High-Definition Formats
The Yamaha RX-V365 features dual HDMI inputs and one output that can support all HD video formats, including 720p, 1080i and 1080p. This means you can connect two HDMI sources, such as a DVD player and a high-definition set-top box, and enjoy the highest possible quality with HD display (does not support audio signal).

Component video inputs offer much higher picture quality than standard S-Video or composite connections. With the Yamaha RX-V365, you can enjoy three different component sources without having to change connections.

Product Description

Yamaha RX-V365BL 500 Watt 5-Channel Home Theater Receiver


Thursday, March 18, 2010

LG BD570 Network Blu-Ray Disc Player

LG BD570 Network Blu-Ray Disc Player 

Price: Too low to display & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. 

Product Description

BD-P, Netflix, YouTube, CinemaNow, BD Live, Advanced Audio, Quick Booting, 1GB Memory, Wireless 802.11n, DLNA, 7.1ch Analog Output, Instant Tray Open, 1080p up-scaling for DVD, USB Media Host

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #143 in Consumer Electronics
  • Color: Gloss Black
  • Brand: LG
  • Model: BD570
  • Dimensions: 1.80" h x 16.90" w x 7.90" l, 4.40 pounds

Features

  • Blu-Ray Player with 1GB memory 802.11N for Wireless networking NetCast for YouTube & CinemaNow
  • BD-P NetFlix HD BD live
  • Full HD 1080p output via HDMI with Cinema mode at 24 or 60 frames per second USB Media Host
  • Superior audio performance with 7.1 channels with Dolby Digital Plus & TrueHD & dts-HD
  • Quick boot with instant tray opening


LG BD590 250GB HD Network Blu-Ray Disc Player 

 

Product Description

250GB HD, BD-P, Netflix, YouTube, CinemaNow, BD Live, Advanced Audio, Quick Booting, 1GB Memory, Wireless 802.11n, DLNA, 7.1ch Analog Output, Instant Tray Open, 1080p up-scaling for DVD, USB Media Host

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #351 in Consumer Electronics
  • Color: Gloss Black
  • Brand: LG
  • Model: BD590
  • Dimensions: 1.80" h x 16.90" w x 7.90" l, 4.40 pounds

Features

  • Blu-Ray Player with 250GB Hard Drive 802.11N for Wireless networking NetCast for YouTube & CinemaNow
  • BD-P NetFlix HD BD live
  • Full HD 1080p output via HDMI with Cinema mode at 24 or 60 frames per second
  • Superior audio performance with Dolby Digital 7.1 analog output TrueHD & dts-HD
  • Quick boot with instant tray opening

Customer Reviews

Excellent Blu-Ray Player with a wide array of internet entertainment options5
I purchased the BD590 from Best Buy a couple of days after it first appeared in stock. I have had some experience with LG Bluray before since I own the also excellent BD390 so when I needed another one for a different room in the house the newer model LG was at the top of my list.

Having owned it for a few weeks I have the following to note.

Pros

1. Fast Blu-Ray loading times. Very crisp clear image and fortunately since I own a receiver capable of decoding Lossless HD formats I really like the sound as well. Does the Blu ray format justice
2, My favorite aspect of this and the BD 390 by far is the VUDU functionality. I think Vudu is a tremendous service (perhaps will get even better now that's its been purchased by Wal-Mart). To have a large library of 1080p HD available at your fingertips is fantastic and the LG does a nice job displaying very pleasing audio and video off Vudu. I would buy this for this feature alone.
3, Although no shortage of Netflix ready devices in my HT lineup having this and other internet sources such as Pandora are nice options.
4. I read some complaints about the new interface compared to the older LGs but to my eyes its nicer looking and just as easy to navigate
5. I used Ethernet to connect this player but did test out the 802.11n and was able to connect to my Airport Extreme powered network with no problems
6. CD ripping is a great feature and I was able to archive a library of 200 CDs or so with little trouble. Gracenote does a nice job tagging the tracks.


Cons
I really didn't find much not to like about this player. Mostly just nice to haves. I would have liked if it supported Amazon VOD since that's my other source for video and I did think that the footprint was still a little large although sleeker and lighter that my older model.

I first lucked into the BD390 when it was highly recommended by a HT installer. I am pleased to note that the 590 is a nice upgrade with newer functionality on an old favorite. Highly recommended.
Best BD player on the market to play Blu-rays and other stuff?5
Little background on me: I owned or have owned a BH100, BH200, BD300, BD370 and BD390. So pretty much every LG Blu-ray player except the 270.

Pros:
Fast - I noticed DVD and Blu-ray loaded just a wee bit faster than my LG BD390. The difference wasn't amazing, but maybe a few seconds.

VuDu, Netflix, Pandora etc - They work just as they should. VuDu is identical to that on the BD390, but Netflix is the new version that allows you to view new movies/TV to Instant, has Genres, collections etc. No, it's not EVERYTHING that [...] offers, but you probably have a rotating selection of 300 different programs to check out if you don't feel like breaking out the laptop.

GracieNotes - Wow. Freakin' awesome. I managed to pull song information from a DVD, BD and a 'movie' file. As an added bonus; Hit the Display button while watching something (I assume DVD/BD only) and at the very bottom is 'Movie Information'. Click it and it will tell you what you are watching (small picture), synopsis, actor names etc. Woah!

250GB HD - Big selling point and works well. You are able to copy directly from an external HD/USB to the intern HD or via WiFi. Your choice. Obviously a wired copy will be faster than WiFi, so I set mine to copy 100GB from my external HD and went to bed. Woke up, and watched some stuff. Works very well and was fast. Maybe it can be upgraded? Out of the box it had 246GB out of 250GB available. So everything else is stored on internal memory. I bet this can be upped...

WiFi - Faster. Before, VuDu was a bit choppy, but now it was perfect.

DNLA - Works fine on my MacBook (some had issues?)

Cons:
Pandora - Ok, it's great to finally get this, but why can't I assume the colored buttons to be an easy Thumb Up, zzzz, Thumbs Down, Bookmark? Seems like it would be much easier, but the colored buttons do other things in Pandora. Feels like a wasted opportunity.

Music on HD - Well, it won't play iTunes DMR files or ones in m4a format (iTunes automatically converts them this way when you rip from CD unless you tell it not to). I spent 2 hours converting everything in my library to .mp3 so I could import them. Funny thing is, it actually imports the folder name, but none of the tracks. Took me a while to figure out why it skipped several CDs (I did 10 right away).


Size - Why is this bigger? I get it has a 250GB HD inside, but those are the size of an iPhone and the back of the units reeks of being a Gen2 unit and not a Gen5 version.

Menu - Sigh. All of the online stuff is in the Netcast icon, which means you have to click it, wait for it to load, and then you get presented with Netflix, VuDu etc. An extra step, but c'mon, there is a ton of room on that menu screen. Which is now redesigned to look like animated Ice Cubes in a pool. Odd choice...

Picture Settings - Remember how the BD390 could allow you to add/remove Edge Enhancement, DNR etc. That's gone. I even tried using my BD390 remote and the player didn't do anything. WTF? This is the top of the line player (out of 3 now!) and this was removed? Update: FIXED! The Picture Setting Menu is now found when you hit 'Display' during a movie. There are as many options as the BD390, but its better than none.

USB - Really, under a trap door? I get that some people may not want to pull their gear out to plug in a USB dogle, but get a $2 extension. Thankfully, with the Internal HD, I'll never use it.

Meh:
Remote - I don't hate it...but I like the BD590. I'll never use the numbers, so I would prefer them to be hidden in a trap door so I would have less to look at. The Center and arrow keys do feel better, and the Power button is HUGE compared to the identical sized Power/Eject of the previous. The Play/Pause/Skip are clear white...not sure why. They don't glow. So confused.

DVD Upconversion - Looks about the same.
Great unit!5
This is a fabulous player and I honestly couldn't have asked for more. I had initially considered purchasing the Oppo 83 but I'm glad I went with the LG. I essentially wanted a media player that was capable of playing Netflix, Youtube, blu-ray, DVD-ROM, Pandora, and ripped movies stored on my PC. The LG is that perfect device. I had read one review that stated you can't play movies via a USB external hard drive but that simply is not true. With the latest firmware update, I plugged in my WD500 Mybook and bam... all my movies were accessible to the LG unit. I've had this player for approximately 3 weeks and am simply in amazement of what a great system it is. It really is a do it all player with excellent quality and great speed. Streaming movies over wi-fi via Netflix or my PC has been simply flawless. Spend the time to set it up correctly and you will simply have no regrets purchasing this unit. I fully recommend it to anyone looking for such a unit.