Samsung HT-BD8200 Soundbar

The Samsung HT-BD8200 sound bar can be considered a complete sound system; you will receive the highly demanded surround sound from a simple unit, an included subwoofer and best of all, a Blu-ray player. This is the first one ever used on a sound bar, but it is also one of the best. The people from Samsung didn’t hold back when they decided to create this sound bar; it comes with everything and you can be sure that they paid attention to every little detail. The system can even stream Netflix movies or access the music service offered by Pandora. These features can be accessed with a Samsung USB dongle. Like usual, Bluetooth connectivity is available and you will also enjoy the included iPod dock. All of these features and more come at the more than reasonable price of $800.

Design
The wall mountable system will look great along with most Samsung flat screen TV sets, but you can probably place it next to any TV and get a similar effect. The unit comes with a foot stand which will fit great anywhere, especially if you take into account the fact that the HT-BD8200 is less than 2 inches deep. The middle of the sound bar is a plastic shield which hides the Blu-Ray player. The rest of the system is simple in design, but it looks amazing. The translucent edges are a great addition and they will catch your eye instantly. While the sound bar itself is mostly black with a touch of white on the edges, the subwoofer is only black. This part of the system is wireless, so you don’t necessarily have to keep it close to the sound bar. The sub is basically a black rounded box with only a small reset connection button, but it still looks stylish.

The Blu Ray part of the system is easy to access, but you shouldn’t place the sound bar too high. Touch sensitive buttons are placed on the upper side of this unit. When you push the “eject” button, the disc will slowly rise and it will wait there until someone pulls it out completely. The player is placed vertically for maximum efficiency and switching discs doesn’t take a lot of training. With other systems, you have to place the disc in an unnatural manner and you always feel like you did it incorrectly. The Samsung HT-BD8200 will grab it from your hands and gently lower it to its proper position.

The display panel is attractive and the information it offers is easy to read in all conditions. You don’t have to worry about sunlight hitting it directly or that the distance obstructs the view; it will be readable from any angle.

Setting up the HT-BD8200 and extra features
After you decide if you want to use the included wall mount brackets or not and finally place the sound bar to its final location, you can take a look at the connections. Luckily, HDMI and composite video outputs are present, along with an optical digital audio input, an Ethernet port and an antenna input for FM radio. This set up is perfect for most users and even if the system could have contained other inputs or outputs, the ones which are available should be enough.

A USB port is also available and it is a great addition to the sound bar, not only because you can use the WIS09ABGN wireless LAN dongle for internet connection, but also because you can upgrade the system’s firmware through it. Because the LAN dongle will always be connected, the people from Samsung were kind enough to add a secondary USB port which can be used for media playback. You can add your flash drive to your sound bar, MP3 players and even some external hard disk drives as long as they were formatted on FAT 16 or 32. Unlike other USB ports which can’t handle superior formats, the one incorporated in the HT-BD8200 will play DivX HD and MP3 files. Pictures in JPEG format are also supported. The included iPod Dock can be used for connecting any type of iPod, as well as your iPhone. If you want to use your headphones, you can do it through the headphone port. If all of these features aren’t enough for you, the HT-BD8200 will offer YouTube access along with Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio decoding.

The menu of this sound bar is easy to understand and setting it up for your personal preferences will be easy even if you are a beginner. You can adjust the sound, the video resolution and even some network settings. However, you won’t be able to make these changes if a movie is playing.

If you have a fast internet connection, the videos from YouTube and BD live will appear instantly and you won’t have to deal with long buffering times.

The wireless subwoofer will be detected immediately, so you don’t have to worry about pairing or other subwoofer settings.

You will receive a remote control which comes with basic functions. The button layout is great, each category has a different type of button and getting used to it won’t take long.

Sound quality
The technology used for surround sound is called V-sound and it matches the results you would normally get from a 5.1 channel system. There are a few DSP modes which can be used if you want to experiment with the sound. Another important feature offered by the HT-BD8200 is the Smart Sound technology. It will stabilize the volume, so you won’t be deafened by sudden spikes. Audio Upscaling is also available, which means that any MP3 file will be played at CD quality. Also, the Power Bass feature is used for adding extra strength to the notes coming from your subwoofer.

The total sound power is 300W, which is more than enough for any room, no matter how large it is.

The soundstage is wide and the sound is powerful, but clear. You will hear every little detail when watching a Blu Ray movie and the action will become incredibly real. The mixture between the sound bar and the subwoofer is nothing less than perfect and it will make you feel better than you do at the cinema. The fact that you can place the subwoofer wherever you want without damaging the Bluetooth connection is most certainly a plus. Even so, you should find a place which doesn’t damage the quality of the sound which comes from this unit. If you can see it, then you will certainly get high quality sound from it. While other systems require extra bass power, you might want to lower the levels of the subwoofer if you plan on watching a long action movie.

Music playback is one of the strong points of the HT-BD8200. Some producers will focus on one aspect when they are developing a sound bar, but this is not the case here. No matter what music style you are listening to, the response offered by the unit will be excellent. The bio kelp speaker cones surely produce the right type of sound in any circumstance.

Pros and Cons
The HT-BD8200 is great with everything; it only takes around 20 seconds for video to begin after you insert the disc, which has to be some kind of a record, the sound is impressive and it comes with all of the features you can imagine.

The only disadvantage which can be mentioned is the fact that the system is not necessarily the best one when it comes to sound. You shouldn’t notice it if you are a first time sound bar user, but there are a few other sound bars out there which perform better in this category, but they lack other features.

Conclusion
In the end, the HT-BD8200 is not just another sound bar. Most of the flaws which you notice when looking at similar systems have been taken care of by Samsung and this unit is certainly recommended to those who are looking for immersive sound and a bunch of top of the line features. You will get everything you need from a sound bar and more at a great price.

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