BDV-F7
3.8
5
6
6
The Perfect System
I never write reviews. But since my interest was piqued with this system; I was surprised with the dearth of user reviews on the net. And because of this, I was indecisive and it took me a week or so until finally 'bit the bullet' and went with this system. So, I thought I would write this review and help those who are unsure of this system .
On the face of it, this system had everything I was looking for. It's sleek, simple and powerful. And it was a design match for my new Bravia. I acquired this system because I wanted a simple system for my second home. I also wanted something that would complement my new Bravia 55? TV. First, this system is not only sleek and a work of modern art, it produced amazing sound which belied its size. I installed in a relatively large great room and the sound filled the room fully, powerfully and with clarity. We listened to Pandora music, and both my wife and I were simply amazed of the high fidelity. Yes, it?s not 5.1, but all I just wanted a simple sound bar and small woofer with great sound. And the small subwoofer fit perfectly behind my TV stand, and was more than adequate to shake my room.
It was relatively simple to set up. You connect one Ethernet cable to the cable box which was right next to my unit; although you have the option to do a wireless hookup. Then there was one set of speaker wires to the sound bar and one wire to the subwoofer. But the HDMI connection is where I had a problem. One of the reasons why I wanted this system was because of the ARC ?HDMI connection. For those who don?t know, the ARC feature basically enables the TV and added components to communicate back and forth. I incorrectly took it for granted that all the HDMI inputs were ARC enabled. In this case, I had incorrectly installed my cable box to the ARC HDMI and the system was connected to the standard HDMI. And because of this, I couldn?t get any sound when everything finally connected up. I was mystified. I had to re-read both the TV manual and also the system manual, to finally ?get it.? I switched the connections, and all was well. But Sony should have really made this clear that the system must be specifically connected to the HDMI input indicated with only ARC enabled HDMI input. Sony should really address by highlighting this. The other issue is that you cannot easily switch back and forth to regular TV viewing and BD viewing. Unless I am doing something wrong, you have to deal with 2 remotes and remember the process. But it?s not a real problem for me, because I don?t really watch a lot of DVD?s. All in all, these are really minor issues.
But I have to say, the system greatly exceeded my expectations. It?s a clean set up and the monolith design of the system matches perfectly to the Bravia TV. Also, I found that the upright position of the unit is a big advantage for me. I have my TV mounted on a stand and the upright unit hides my router modem. The sound is full and the woofer rumbles my room while watching Avatar. The BD also played perfectly. BTW, I supplemented the sound bar with the TV speakers. I recommend this. I also programmed my cable TV remote, and with one button everything powers up. Channel, home theater volume and power. Plenty of internet channels such as Netflix, Pandora, etc. Once you have the sound bar going, you won?t go back to ?just ?TV speakers. In actuality I have a 5.1 system at my primary home and it?s just too overpowering sometimes for just for regular TV watching. But this sound bar system is just right for regular TV watching as well as the occasional BD or movie watching.
All in all, I couldn?t be more thrilled and I highly recommend this system. It?s well worth the price and I am giving it five stars. If you are thinking of getting this system, I suggest you act quickly since Sony had discounted it, and it might be discontinued soon. And they may or may not have a similar replacement from a design standpoint. And at current prices, it?s a tremendous value. Trust me, you won?t be disappointed!
June 26, 2011
Even Better Than Expected!
Wow, I love this system! First of all, it LOOKS beautiful - the Blu-ray player doesn't even look like any kind of electronic component (since you can't see any control buttons on it) - It looks more like just some futuristic, super-cool black glass box (the discs slip into a slot on the side - there's no tray to have to open and close). The sound bar sits perfectly on my TV stand, right in front of my Bravia TV, without blocking the remote sensor. The sound quality is terrific, a major improvement over even my pretty high-quality Bravia TV sound, and the video quality is naturally excellent as well.
A couple of nice surprises: I already had streaming video, like Netflix and Amazon, directly through my Sony TV - but I find that streaming it through this system offers faster start-up and slightly better quality. Also a better "pause" feature - Streaming directly through the TV, when you pause a movie, it backs out to the menu and you have to select the movie again and "resume playing"...but with this system, it just pauses like any regular video, freeze-framing the last frame until you hit "play".
I was also pleasantly surprised to walk over to my computer and see a message on the screen saying that "Your Sony Blu-ray device is asking permission to import your music files" - Cool! (By the way, the system connected quickly and easily to my wireless internet network, and also easily imported my Netflix and Amazon video info.) Another nice touch is that the system automatically detects and uses the best audio mode for whatever you're watching or listening to (which I much prefer to me having to roll through and compare all the possible choices every time I start watching something new) - but you do have the option of handling the choice manually.
The one complaint I have is that navigating back and forth between watching TV (in my case, that's Cable) and using the Blu-ray device is a bit cumbersome (I have to use both remotes to get back to TV viewing from Blu-ray viewing), and the first couple of days I'd occasionally get hung up - forget what button I had to hit next - transitioning back from watching streaming video or a disc to watching regular TV. On the other hand, it's nice that when I hit the "on" button for the TV, it automatically turns on the Blu-ray system, too.
Looks good, sounds good, even better than I was expecting it to be. I spent about 6 months looking at various sound bar/Blu-ray systems before choosing this one. Overall, I'm overjoyed.
April 18, 2011
Just what I was looking for.
If you looking for a do it all system with good sound and not to mention pretty good looks for not a lot of money this is it. People that claim this system is too expensive are crazy considering it is a blu-ray player/ dvd player and just almost anything that is on a cd type platform/ decent sound system (ipod capable)/ internet ready (netflix, pandora, amazon etc). The sound is nothing to sneeze at either. I did my research and it was well worth it. Still not sure on reliability though. I only purchased this system a few weeks ago but so far it has exceeded or met my expectations. If your are in the market for a do it all system and don't have a huge budget check this out. However this system does not provide surround sound even though the sound quality is excellent as far as i am concerned.
March 22, 2011
Great integrated system for entry into 3D
Excellent system for a small to medium size room. Surround sound effect is good but better with a true 5.1 system. Styling is very nice and it sound great even with two channel sources. Was a little disappointed that it doesnt doesnt offer sumulated surround for two channel sources but overall I am very pleased with this product. DLNA could be improved but lots of options for intenet content. Set up is a breeze and the unit has a very small footprint.
March 7, 2011
