Samsung HT-Z420 Home Theater System

4 comments

1. 

   Peds Doc in VA on October 8, 2009 at 9:21 am

   Received this for a birthday present and decided to keep it after all was said and done. It is a nice basic system with good sound. I like the wireless rear speaker system (although more on that in a little bit). Also it comes ready for the Ipod. It was fairly easy to put together. I had to buy an extra HDMI cable to connect it to the TV, so there was some additional expense.

   Once I had it set up, I plugged in my Ipod expecting sound from all 5 speakers and discovered there was no sound from the rear speakers. I checked all my connections and they were fine. I got online with Samsung support live chat. It took him a while to find the product in his database. Then he basically sent me a web link that had me double check my connections again (which I had already done). When I told him the connections were good, he told me I needed an online service order. Instead, I took it back to the store and got another unit. Hooked it up only to realize (again with the Ipod) the rear speakers did not work. I finally realized that each time I synced the ipod to the home theater, that it automatically went to “speaker” mode, which mutes the rear speakers. I had to manually press the “mode” button on the remote to choose “music” mode (or a number of others) to enable the rear speakers.

   So my only beef is that 1) Samsung support failed me big time (it was quite an easy fix after all)
   
   and 2) I would like to switch on the Ipod without having to fiddle with the mode

   Now that it is up and running I like the product and feel it is a good buy for the money. I use it for Ipod, DVD, Cable TV, and the Wii (which the kids love). The TV and Wii required an RCA audio cable from the TV back to the home theater.

2. 

   Cody Morrow on October 8, 2009 at 9:23 am

   I purchased this set at Best Buy for a great price and rushed home to set it up to go with my new Samsung syncmaster HDTV. The set up was a snap but I have yet to figure out how to do the auto-calibration: The quick start guide doesn’t mention it. When we turned on the radio to test the speakers, sound was only coming from the three front non-wireless speakers. After about 20 minutes of frustration, I finally realized I had to change the sound setting to output in surround sound. 5 seconds later I heard wonderful music from all of the speakers! Watched Valkyrie last night and I have to say both the upscaling and the audio are awesome. At several points in the movie, I had to rush to turn the volume down to keep neighbors from thinking explosions were going off in my house. The volume was only at 22 at the time, so I doubt there will be a problem with the sound being too low. I still have to tweak some things today and figure out auto-calibration, but right now I am very happy with my purchase and would recommenced these speakers.

   Oh and FYI, the rear wireless speakers are wireless from the front receiver only. There are still wires running from the back two speakers to a wireless receiver that must be plugged in. However, these are all just behind my couch and is barely noticeable. The wireless receiver is much more convenient and better looking that running wires up the wall or across the floor.

3. 

   A. Gaessler on October 8, 2009 at 12:00 pm

   I bought the Samsung home theater because I have a Samsung HD TV and the two are supposed to sync up. The claimed benefit is that you can control both with the same remote. This integration proved more of a nuisance, because it has a mind of its own.
   
   You control both, but you cannot control either. For instance, you cannot power off the home theater unit without automatically powering off the TV and vice versa(from either remote). Having a DVD in the HomeTheater unit makes the system assume you do not want to watch TV but the DVD and switches over. You cannot have both the TV speaker sound and the Home Theater sound on and independently controlled. This may be desirable because there is no center speaker sound if the TV transmission is not 5.1 sound (HD). A good TV speaker will substitute for a center speaker. With a non-Samsung Home theater, the 2 audio systems can be controlled independently and simultaneously.

   Now about quality:
   
   The Samsung elements feels light weight and cheaply made. US models for Samsung are made in China (Home Theater), or Mexico (HD TV) not in Korea. The unit and the speakers weigh about half that of the Panasonic system in the same class (SC- PT670, made in Malaysia). The speaker wires are really thin.

   This Samsung Home Theater has a much underpowered CPU: the system is actually a computer that runs Linux. But is is so-o-o-o-o slow! It takes 35-50 sec to power up or shut down. When it comes up and dicovers its HDMI link to the TV, it takes 40+ seconds to “load” (with a progress bar displayed on the TV). When you select a different input source on the remote, or click to switch tracks on a CD, it takes 20-40 sec to act on the command. This gets quickly annoying.

   There were real defects in the unit I got as well:
   
   1. I could not get surround sound or pro logic sound to work (and use all 6 speakers by mimicking surround from simple stereo inputs). After struggling with the manual for an hour, I finally called Samsung support. I have to say Samsung support (live person!)was quick, courteous and knowledgeable. They determined with me that the system was defective.

   2. I had no problem connecting to the rear speakers through the wireless module, except that that module’s cheap fan kicked in intermittently and was really noisy. I rather pull wire than live with it. Also, this solution is not really “wireless”. The receiving module has a power cord and the two rear speakers need to be wired to the receiving module with 10+ ft wires.

   Some other quirks: The box says you can play jpeg images or mpa3/wma sound. True enough, but guess what: the file names must be 8 characters or less (an old Linux constraint). Chances are your existing files do not comply and unless you rename each of them, you cannot display photos and images you have as is or play your music playlists.

   I returned the unit (which was defective) but have not rushed back to replace it with the same model. The sound was OK, but I fear this model even if working fine when acquired, will not last. My experience tells me it will die the day the warranty expires.

   By the way, I bought this system and TV to replaces a 25-year old 35-in analog Sony TV. That Sony was made in Japan with top quality materials and craftsmanship: it never failed and after 30,000 hours of service still has a terrific image. That was Sony craftsmanship…in the 1980s.

4. 

   Marvin Earnest on October 8, 2009 at 1:31 pm

   Was looking for a system for our samsung plasma TV. This “box” system really fits the bill. Easy to set up. Has a really neat auto-calibration feature which does a good job of balancing the speakers. You won’t mistake it for a high-end system, but it really does deliver very good sound; plenty for our 20 x 20 living room. Sub-woofer is passive not powered, but adequate. I-POD dock is a nice “extra”. The upscaling DVD player is just fine; kept us from having to have a separate player–fewer wires. If you’re not an audiophile, and you’re looking for simplicity, ease of set-up, and bang-for-the-buck, this is your choice. By the way, the wireless rear speakers work fine and have not interfered with the wireless network for our laptop.