Let me preface this review with a little story. I purchased a very expensive Samsung home theater system several years ago (tower speakers, 5 dvd changer, HDMI throughput). This was one of the most troublesome pieces of electronics I have ever had. Wouldn't even play a new DVD after 4 months. Very little help or support from Samsung either. It always sounded good, but just after the warranty the HDMI ports quit working. I was done with them and haven't had a home theater since.
Fast forward 6 years and I find myself intrigued with Samsung and their designs. Quality seems to have improved. I have some friends with Samsung TV's which are quite nice, and I love my Galaxy S-3, so I put Samsung on my list to consider when looking for a home theater. I wanted BluRay, wireless rear speakers and to be under 400$.
When I did my research, this unit kept popping up in my search criteria. It was closer to the 400$ mark than most, but it had some extra features like wi-fi and apps similar to the Roku2XD that I already have been using. I saw mostly universal positive reviews (save for the clown on here griping about speaker covers, which is a non-issue imho). I went for it.
Granted I have only been using the unit for 3 days, I am in love. This sounds amazing. I was even able to get rid of my Roku because this internet connected unit has all the channels I was already using. My only complaint is that the Samsung UI is a little slow. Th Roku loads about twice as fast, but the Roku has a lot less going on and I am not here to compare apples to oranges. The menu screens for apps like Netflix and Amazon instant video are laid out much better than Roku though.
I watched Star Trek (2009) in HD streaming from Amazon and it felt like I was on the bridge of the Enterprise. The speakers are small but substantial. You can tell there is a massive magnet in that little box. I set this up in my small living room in about half an hour. Everything is straight forward. The hardest part is navigating the on screen keyboards to enter your information into the apps.
I would recommend this unit to anyone looking for a full featured home theater on a budget.
***UPDATE*** One month in and this unit never ceases to impress me. The bass and depth of sound is amazing. I love watching movies over that I have seen and catching the little nuances in the background. I still wish the Samsung apps loaded faster, but we absolutely love this at our house. My recommendation stands at 5 star!
*update 12-1-13* Here we are coming into the holiday season and I would still recommend this home theater. This has become an indispensable part of our media life. The sound is phenomenal and the unit works perfect. I had an app that was crashing the system, but an update took care of that. You can't go wrong, and I see the price is much better than when I purchased it.
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