Sony BDVIS1000 5.1Ch Blu-ray Disc/DVD Home Theater System
Sony BDVIS1000 5.1Ch Blu-ray Disc/DVD Home Theater System
New Integrated single BD/DVD/CD Player - S-Air Wireless Surround included - S-AIR Air Station ready (for multi-room listening) - New audio codec - New HDMI repeater (2in/1out) - 17 Chassis - New BD-Live Ready - New 1080/24p - Digital Media Port interface - Digital Cinema Auto Calibration (micincluded) - DVD Upscale to 1080p resolution
User Ratings and Reviews
3 Stars Sound is okay - be preparred for a S-Air device headache!
I read the review on this product and many seem to share a common theme regarding a problematic S-Air device and unable to keep the devices paired.
My concerns were eased reeading some of the feedback about pairing procedures. Also problems seemed to be isolated so I thought chances were slim it could happen to me as the devices are close together.
After speding a hour on set-up (very simple), I fired up the unit and low and behold no sounds from rear speakers. I tried pairing the devices and this only worked if within 5′ of each other. This proved the steps I followed were correct. Unfortantely this proved the signal was not strong enough to be effective. There is nothing unique about my set-up. The unit sits in an entertainment center and is directly inline of sight with the Sair device. As indicated in the manual, all power and HDMI cable were routed aware from teh Sair cards. I think the design of the Sair product is subpar.
MY OBSERVATIONS:
1. It utilizes 2.4 ghz signal - so does every other wireless device created since 1999. Coreless phones and wireless routers are two potential interference devices. My cordless phone and wireless router do not conflict, never had a problem to this point. I tried pairing with all other 2.4 ghz devices powered off - NO DIFFERENCE! The manual seems to imply any use of a 2.4 ghz product is not recommended with this product - a bit unrealistic.
2. The manual seems to also imply both the home unit and Sair unit should be out in the open. This is unreasonable to expect - people like to make entertainment centers an accent piece in their TV rooms - not a two black boxes sitting in the open so they can communicate.
3. Ability to hardwire should be provided. Its S-air or nothing for rear speakers.
4. Sony has a booster cable avail. I am waiting for this to arrive and hope it corrects my problem. This seems to be a common enough theme so I recommend to make this hardware standard…..
HAVE FUN CALLING SUPPORT to get a booster cable - I made referece to this booster cable need. I suppose first this had to be justified by walking through the pairing attempt for channels A, B, and C. The rep was reading word for word from a manual and this took about 45 min to prove not functioning to the rep, something I already validated. This did not give any sort of confidence I was recieving “product support”. I can read the manual and what I was instructed do do is written in the manual accordingly.
The first rep NEVER ONCE OFFERED TO SEND THE CABLE - he kept walking me through pairing attempts on each channel - we started going in cycles. I ended the call and called back. The second rep immediately jumped to the correct conclusion and said I am sending you the booster cable - no hassle. Finally, only took 1.5 hours to get that processed.
Still not such how this will sound as a completly functioning package. Minus the rear speeakers it sounds decent. I had to do some tweaking with sub placement as this is also the device providing midrange sound. It needs to be positioned very close to the TV. To far away and the sound source definately seems isolated and not coming from the TV - un-natural sound.
I am confident though I will get this all straightened out and the sound teweaked to my taste. Just be aware this is not simply plug-and-play and may require some “leg work” to get working properly and sounding correct. The autocalibrate mic function gets close but not perfect.
5 Stars Nice set
Like most here mentioned, linking rear speakers was an challenge until I called my friend Mark, who ordered some better HDMI cables and intensely read the manual. Now we’re very, very, very, pleased. Wow!
5 Stars Surround
Didn’t have problems pairing rear speakers as some did, but the manual leaves a lot to be desired! Had to search in several different places to figure it out. Review I read on Amazon helped a lot. Great sound for sure!
4 Stars Nice HTIB but has some flaws
I found this unit on sale for considerably less than the list price I saw 6 months ago, and it seemed ideal for my needs. I was looking for a system that had a nice satellite-cube 5.1 audio, a BD player, HTIB, and wireless rear speakers. Plus, I have a Sony flat panel and I’ve always been a big fan of Sony.
I brought the unit home and started to unpack. First, no cables for connecting to the TV. For a BD system the lack of an HDMI cable seemed like a cheap oversight. Next, I found that while the system had 2 HDMI inputs, it had only one input for a Component video peripheral. So, if you only have 3 peripherals, 2 of which are HDMI, you’ll love this. If you have a 4th peripheral, you’ll have to connect it directly to your TV.
Unfortunately, I had the same problems pairing the S-AIR rear speakers as everyone else. I tried for over an hour, and that was AFTER I learned that you have to press the little PAIRING button on the back of the S-AIR subunit (that would have been good information to put in the user guide, Sony). Nothing worked. I finally set the S-AIR subunit right on top of the main unit and it paired. But, it lost the connection when I unplugged the S-AIR and moved it 10 feet across the room. After more Google searching, I read that cheap HDMI cables cause RF interference that disrupt the Sony connection. I was ready to take the whole unit back, but instead, I bought 2 Monster Ultra cables for the ridiculous price of almost $200 and plugged them in. Guess what? The Sony now works perfectly.
The good news is that the sound is fantastic! Its utterly amazing how good those tiny little speaker cubes are!
I would recommend this system IF you are looking for a BD-based HTIB system, need only 3 peripherals supported (with 2 being HDMI), with wireless rear speakers, AND you are willing to shell out serious $$ for premium HDMI cables.
4 Stars Works great once Sony sends the S-Air connection extension
As other reviews have stated, the unit worked great for a few days when I was using composite cables. Once I connected an HDMI cable and set the resolution to 1080p, the rear speakers (through the S-air device) stopped working. If I lower the HDMI resolution to 1080i or lower, the S-air immediately reconnects. The issue seems to be with the high resolution 1080p signal (over HDMI cable) conflicting with the S-air. My rear speakers are no more than 20 feet away from the main unit.
Unfortunately, I had to spend several hours (no kidding) on the Sony support web chat (complete waste of time) then phone with the first level Sony support folks who covered nothing but the basics (power on, connections right, etc.). It took three phone calls until I was finally directed to contact a “product specialists” (with restricted hours) who had me try a few more relative basic things before I could convince him that this was a known/documented problem (on Amazon and various web sites). He read one of those and agreed to send me a “connection assy EZW-EC10″ which is essentially an extension chord for the S-air transmitter to move it away from the HDMI cable. Now it works fine.
The sound out of the rear speakers is excellent except there is just a slight hissing sound when there is nothing being broadcast to the rear speakers. I very much like the tiny speakers for my purposes and the sound from them is quite good. I may have given it a 5-star rating if they would just ship the remote s-air connector with the product in the first place.
Filed under: Blu Ray Player Reviews