Posts tagged "Home theater in a box"

Sony BDV-E580

Sony BDV-E580 Review

An Affordable Home Theater System: A Review of the Sony BDV-E580

I’m not too much of a hardcore movie buff, but when my rickety old DVD player broke down I decided that it was time to upgrade and not replace, and started looking at modern home theater systems. Feature-wise, I wasn’t looking for anything too complex; I knew I wanted the ability to play the new Blu-ray format, backwards compatibility with my DVD collection, and a decent surround sound system. I looked at several different brands online, and settled for a Sony BDV-E580 Blu-Ray Home Theater System because it had great reviews, a good price, and I’ve had positive experiences with Sony products in the past.

A Home Theater System In A Box

The Sony BDV-E580 is a home theater system in-a-box that comes with a full 5.1 surround-sound speaker system, which consists of 5 speakers and a sub-woofer, a receiver that doubles as a Blu-Ray player, as well as all the accessories you’d expect like the cables and a remote. In addition to being able to play Blu-Ray movies it comes with a plethora of additional features like an iPod dock, the capability to stream movies, videos and music from the internet, and more. You can also view pictures, movies, and play music from a USB flash drive by plugging it into the USB port on the front of the receiver. One of the more interesting features of the device is actually an iPhone app that you can download that gives your phone the functionality of a media remote, allowing you to control the device with your phone instead of the remote. Connectivity-wise there are only 2 HDMI ports in the back, which can be extended with something like an HDMI splitter, but that’s not included in the package.

Set Up Was Easy!

I purchased my unit from Amazon and got a great deal on it. Setting it up was simple enough; just plug the TV and speakers into the receiver, hook it up to power cord, and you’re good to go. To formally test out the system, I arranged to watch a couple of different movies, chosen based on how much I liked them, but I also tried to pick movies that were different in terms of sound effects, music, and color so I could get a feel for how the system performs. I picked 3 movies, and went out of my way to secure Blu-Ray copies of each so that I could test its Blu-Ray capabilities at the same time. I picked The Matrix (not the Trilogy), The Dark Knight, and Iron Man 2. I watched each movie on a separate day, and made sure to watch the entire movie from start to finish. In addition to the movies, I also watched regular cable TV, mostly news channels and re-runs of How I Met Your Mother.

Sound And Picture Quality Are Top Notch

The sound and picture quality is top notch. The bass is nice and powerful, and the sound came through clear as crystal on all three movies, regardless of how high I turned up the volume. When viewing regular TV channels, there was a slight delay in the audio, the picture wasn’t always in sync with the sound, but I was able to correct that by adjusting the settings via the receiver interface. Speaking of the interface, it was very well designed. Visually, it resembles the PS3 menu so if you’ve got a PS3 and can navigate that without a problem, then you can navigate this one as well. I especially liked the streaming capabilities of the BDV-E580.

I’m a Netflix subscriber that previously watched all my movies on the computer; I had never watched them on an actual TV before. When I first tried out its Netflix streaming capability, I was blown away by how smooth everything was. The video quality was top-notch, and it was amazing hearing the sound played through a surround sound speaker system instead of a cheap pair of headphones. After an experience as wonderful as that, I doubt that I’ll ever go back to watching movies on the computer. I don’t really have any complaints about the system.

What Other Customers Are Saying About Sony BDV-E580

Read Even More Sony BDV-E580 Reviews

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Sony Bluray Player Home Theater System BDV-E580 Unboxing

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Sony BDV-E580 Review Conclusion

Overall, what you have here is a wnderful entry-level home theater in-a-box that would be perfect for smaller living rooms or first-time buyers. They’ve packed tons of features into this thing compared to other products in this price range, and the price isn’t all that bad to boot. If you’re searching the market for an affordable home theater system, you should definitely check out the Sony BDV-E580.

Sony BDV-E580 Best Price

As mentioned before I got my Sony BDV-E580 on Amazon. I of course did a lot of price comparison and was pretty amazed when I noted that the system was offered on Amazon $150 off (!!!). This was by far the BEST DEAL! if you want to save some money, I suggest you head over to Amazon now.