Samsung HT-BD3252T/XAA Blu-ray Home Theater System (Black)

I purchased this (2/12/10) because Sears was sold out and had a floor model that I didn't now want to purchase.

I found it on Amazon but there was another website/business that sold for a $100.00 less (but they charge $30 for S&H) after I purchased it. It was too late to cancel my Amazon order. It was $70 less but no guarantee it will ship safely and securely.

This home theatre system is the best purchase I invested in! You need a home theatre system to enhance your HDTV experience!
It has improved the quality of my life in terms of watching great movies and shows in today's great technology!

I've had this home theather for about 2 weeks now. I bought this along with the 55' Samsung LED TV, and man I am amazed!! I think the sound quality is outstanding, despite other reviews. You can adjust the sound and bass to your listening style and is perfect for a home theater system. Here are a few pros and cons:

Pros
-Outstanding movie quality
-sound is great; makes watching TV and movies a great experience.
-iPod dock is a great addition
-remote also works with my Samsung TV w/o programming
-comes with the Samsung wireless USB (to connect to the internet for the Netflix, Pandora, Blockbuster & You Tube), and the Samsung wireless speaker reciever for the rear speakers.
-speaker wires are color coded for easy set up, and clear wire makes it less obvious.
-can connect several devices (2 HDMI, Digital Optical (not familiar w/ this), USB, iPod dock, Aux)
-delivery was fast, cheap (free w/ the Amazon Prime) and arrived as promised, and the extended warranty was far cheaper than what other stores charge for extended warranty!!

Cons-
-The only reason I gave it 4 stars is because changing between the devices such as my TV, Wii, Ipod is a bit confusing.
-I had a hard time figuring out how to get the sound from the TV up on the some theater after having connected it. Same with the Wii. I eventually figured it out.
-Also, using the iPod is kinda a pain. I had to remove the dvd in the player in order to get to my Ipod/music. I'm sure its something I could be doing wrong, but the operator manual is about bible thick and it didn't really clarify this. It has to be played on "BD" but if you have a dvd in, it keeps playing it and won't let me access my iPod.

Anyway, it can be a bit difficult navigating thru it at first but gets easier with a little bit of time. Other than that I am very satisfied w/ my purchase and Amazon!!

Great addition to my 40" LED TV, completes an awesome movie experience! Rear wireless speakers are perfect and have been consistent in their connection as I didn't have room for wires. The subwoofer is very good and the other speakers have great highs and lows. Also Netflix movie streaming is pretty cool, not as clear as blue ray dvds as they are awesome. I'm glad that I didn't let the negative reviews stop me from purchasing this system. The anynet feature is pretty cool and my other home theater in the family room I have to use 3 remotes or buy a Logitech and all I need here is one.

Samsung was so close to the perfect home theater in a box. What's so funny is that the easiest items kept this from being perfect.

Setup
I'm confused on why so many people who have reviewed this had issues setting up. I do admit going wireless (using the included Wi-Fi adapter) does take some reading, but there's way too much info on the internet for anyone to not figure it out. I guess it depends on one's patient level. It took me about 45 minutes to have everything hooked up and test (speakers are color-coded). I wasn't able to connect to my PC the first time I tried it, but I admit that I only tried it once for about five minutes.

Menu
The menus are nice, but they are far from convenient. You can only view the menu in BD/DVD mode. So, if you're watching TV or playing a game console (connected via HDMI 1 and HDMI 2), you'll have to switch from HDMI 1 and/or 2 into BD/DVD mode in order to see your menu. This is very unfortunate. Especially since if you have a DVD or Blu Ray in the receiver, it will automatically start to play (I haven't found anything to turn off autoplay yet if it exists).

Features
This is where Samsung loses me. They absolutely lack basic features. You have an option to set the clock on the receiver, but you can't display it. When you watch movies (depending on the source), all you see on the receiver is HDMI 1, HDMI 2, D.IN, AUX, STREAM, or a timer/counter for the movie. There is nothing to indicate if you're watching 5.1, DTS, 2.0, etc. There isn't even a clock display. I don't have an iPod, so I can't comment on the dock that comes with the receiver. The YouTube, Netflix, and Pandora work very well (I don't have a Blockbuster account, so I didn't try it). You can stream at relatively good quality, but the user interface for Netflix isn't all that great. If you have 50 movies in queue and you wish to get to #25, you'll have to go through 24 movies to get to it. There's no skipping (that I'm aware of at this time). You also can't make too many changes in the queue other than removing an item, resuming play, or restarting play. Xbox 360 has a much better interface than this receiver. As for Pandora and YouTube, they both work well. Pandora lacks imagination when it comes to the visuals while your music is playing. YouTube actually handles itself nicely. You can pretty much do anything that you can do on the internet version of the site. Anynet doesn't work as well as advertised. If you have a Samsung TV and you turn it on, the receiver will not turn on. That's fine. I get that. When you have something plugged into the HDMI 1 of the receiver, you can not get to that input with your TV's menu. Whenever you change inputs from Receiver to Watch TV, the receiver will change to D.IN (digital in / optical input) which gives you static on the screen. I don't understand the purpose of saying something communicates via HDMI, but then you default to optical when I want to change outputs. So, it is impossible to have your receiver hidden away in a cabinet unless you only use it to watch movies. It can easily change to the BD/DVD input. Since I have my DirecTV and Xbox 360 running to the receiver, I have to leave my cabinet door open and manually make changes to my input. My Anynet compatible Samsung TV won't do it. Another feature is a UBS port where I have a flashdrive installed with about 8 GB of music on it. It plays the music and plays a slideshow if you have photos on the drive. The tuner for the radio is okay (FM only). When you play music (via radio, streaming, or USB), you have to cycle through your audio options to see what it is using currently. For example, I have to click my remote to cycle through Rock, Jazz, Hall, Church, etc. I also have to do the same for features like Matrix, Panoramic, etc. I never know which one is in use until I click the remote and cycle through them. I also don't know which one will appear for each input. When I'm watching a movie, I can click audio options and get Jazz, Hall, etc. I wouldn't expect Matrix, Panoramic, or something of that nature, but I get musical options instead. Go figure on that one.

Playback
Despite all of the things I've mentioned, this is still a very good HTIB. The video quality is great. The sound quality is clear (and I personally think the bass is fine depending on the movie;Some movies sound better than others). There is audio drop outs at times and it can be frustrating. I don't experience it during BD/DVD mode, but while watching TV, it will drop audio for 3-5 seconds for no apparent reason. I thought my wireless speakers weren't connecting or something, but that wasn't the case. It's a bandwidth issue, I guess. I plan on trying better HDMI cables to see if that makes a difference (although I don't believe in paying more than $10 for a cable -- LOL! Thanks, Monoprice!) The surround sound is pretty precise and definitely clear. I've never had a problem understand speech as the center speaker handles it very well, even at lower volumes. My DirecTV and 360 show excellent pictures and sound very good. The only reason I bought this particular model is because it had the necessary inputs to hook up my DirecTV and 360 to give them surround sound.

Overall
A firmware update can make a world of difference to this device. In fact, if they ever did it, I'd come back and amend this review. Samsung really dropped the ball when they left off basic items that a person needs (a visible clock, sound quality status, menu accessible from any where, autoplay on/off buttons, when you go into a menu item and select/cancel, it returns you to the home screen instead of where you were last in the menu). I got this HTIB for $550 at Best Buy using a 20% coupon while it was on sale for $699 back around Christmas. At $550, I'd recommend this to anyone, despite the faults. But at $799, there are plenty of other capable players that might provide you with more features. Even the Sony 2.1 surround I have in my wife's room tells you when you're listening to 5.1, 2.0, Dolby DTS, etc. Doesn't seem hard to do.

The unit is ok for a modest size room meaning you won't knock stuff off the walls when it's cranked up. The wires are color coded so even a cave man can do it. The unit can't remember the last place you were at on a movie so you have to start from scratch or sceen hunt. Adjusting the sound was a pain after the mic setup. Anytime you want to adjust the bass or treble you have to press stop and then go to menu then plow through some levels then save it then listen if no like go back and do it all over again....THAT JUST BITES!! The system is starting to drop sound for a secound every so often which is uncool samsung! You need to give us a firmware update ASAP!

Xbox 360 games do sound great I have to give it to samsung to be fair.