BDV-HZ970W
4
5
13
13
Crisp Sound
We purchased this system to replace an aging Yamaha receiver/surround unit. We really wanted the wireless rear speakers. After some research we found that there is a unit that is wireless and the speakers plug into that with regular cables. At this price point that seems to be the only way they connect. What I LOVED about the setup was how the speaker cables connected easy and were color coded to avoid any confusion with positive and negative is or which speaker was which. The system integrates well (we have a Samsung 8500 LED TV and the BD player will turn on he TV and calibrate the settings when a BD is inserted.) and sounds great.
November 21, 2011
5 out of 5
i like sony tvs and sony home thetures and my tv is better joseys tv becuse it is a rca tv witch sucks it is not as good as sony sony is the most pricey stuff it has good sound and piture rca i to cheap and not as good bose is better than samsund and sony but sony is the best right now i had my sony tv for one year i is stell working realy well., time likes my sony tv becuase it has the best piture it is better than the roberts tv i like sony i will buy sony stuff all the time i have a old pineener home thure in my place now it work ok bot not as good as my new sony stereo
November 15, 2011
Real theater experience
This pairs with my new Sony HD TV seamlessly. It works together like it is a single entity. As such, I very much recommend pairing this with a modern Sony HD TV. Many settings happen automatically depending on what media and situation you are using. Still, settings can be easily adjusted if needed with well designed menus. The Blu-Ray player is actually a "disc" player in that it plays about any kind of disc, Blu-Ray, DVD, CD and even data CDs. Big plus as it means much fewer components! The wireless system for the rear Surround speakers is a plus, as I needed to mount them rather far back in the room. Easy calibration procedure with the calibration mic determines the distance of each speaker, so the balance is correct no matter where you place them. The system even includes the USB wireless adaptor, so Internet video access is also on the menu (Of course you need your own wireless- or wired- home system for that to work). Physical setup was a bit of a hassle, but with five speakers to wire, you have to expect that. If you don't have the time or inclination, Sony will send people to do it for you for a reasonable fee. The front speaker stands come with two different "rods" of different heights, The only way to "adjust" the height is to select the rods you want to use and assemble with those. I initially set it up with the higher rods, but it was wobbly and seemed unstable. Switching to the lower height rods meant un-wiring and disassembling the speakers stands and starting over. Once set up though, everything worked great! First movie viewed was "2001, a Space Odyssey" which I had seen in great theaters, which made an excellent comparison. The experience was very much like being in a real theater! Be aware that you will need to separately order or have a high speed HDMI cable to connect to a modern TV system.
October 4, 2011
Disappointed, to say the least
I purchased this model on Amazon because I wanted the wireless rear speaker set-up. A unit is positioned in the back of the room which needs to be plugged in. This, in turn, is connected by wires to two rear speakers. The wireless part is the communication between the master unit and the rear unit, not the speakers directly/indirectly. Not a deal breaker there.
Let me tell you what is, though. I purchased the unit in May. By August, the carriage/disc tray had conked out. I sent the unit back to Sony at the service center in Dallas on my own dime after speaking with an outsourced customer service rep who assured me that this would be replaced entirely, free of charge. Good, right? Nope. I get a call a few days later saying that although repairing the carriage was within the limited warranty, there were "aesthetic damages", i.e. scratches, on the unit that would require changing the entire faceplate of the unit. It was inferred that I was to blame for these scratches because of how the unit was packed and sent back. I said, well, just fix the disc tray and send it back to me. I don't care about the scratches. The tech says that they do not do partial repairs, and that because the scratches were there, a "total repair" needed to be done. This would not be covered by the limited warranty, and would cost me $264. A new unit would cost $450. I tell him that they're only trying to get out of the warranty by pressing for a "total" repair, as opposed to just having the carriage replaced, and that he was making an excuse that the scratches are what constitutes the need for a full repair. I tell him that Sony is cheating all its customers by establishing policies to weasel out of its warranty. He was unapologetic, and merely agreed with my statement. I pointedly told him that I was never buying from Sony ever again, not their computers, televisions, home theaters. Nothing. Shame. I've been almost exclusively giving them first looks with any purchase, but most other companies have surpassed what was once their touted superior quality and craftsmanship. Too bad, Sony. You dropped the ball on this one.
September 27, 2011
