Sony CT-100 Info, Reviews, Etc. - Page 5

i've got a little guy at my house (almost 1!) and after i brought this system home and set it up, he seems obsessed with trying to put stuff in the port hole on the front of the subwoofer! pretty funny, but i'm wondering if there is a way, if he does in fact succeed, to get "stuff" out of the thing - OR - is there something i could do to prevent "stuff" from passing through? i've got it sitting on the floor, as it should be. i'm up for suggestions!

That's a problem I'm going to have to deal with very soon as well. Mine is 7 months old, and I know the second he becomes mobile he's headed straight for the sub. For the rest of my equipment I can either put it in a tv stand with glass fronts, or wall mount shelves out of his reach. But I've been thinking of how to deal with the sub, and can't come up with a good solution. Putting it inside a container of some sort will hurt the sound. I've considered putting a baby fence around it, but that would ruin the aesthetics of the home theater. Anyone have any good solutions for this problem?

Why don't you guys buy some black mesh and velcro it on. That would solve the problem.

Scupking

You said your system lit up with 5.1. Do you mean that the led on the front of the sub shows 5.1?? Mine only shows 2.0 when watching a movie or tv. Is it because I don't have HD or that Im running my movies thru my old xbox?? I really think my problem is my setup. I need to get a dedicated upconversion dvd player and hook it up to the ct 100 with hdmi and then run from the ct 100 to my tv with hdmi. Ill keep trying.

will that affect the bass tone at all by disrupting the air flow?

Just a quick question. Where is the best place to put the sub? My Tv is on the wall and all my electronics are on a shelf about the same level as the tv. My daughter is obessed with electronics. Just seeing what the best set up would be? Thanks.

Maybe previously posted, but what are the advantages disadvantages of connecting HDMI-enabled cable boxes and dvd players directly to the CT-100, then CT100 to TV, vs connecting the components to the tv, and running separate digital audio lines?

Separate question - anyone use this with a Sony 32" lcd? The soundbar is the perfect width for it, but if you place it in front of the stand, it blocks the LED indicators and the remote sensor. I'm looking for some inspiration on how to locate it without major work.

Jeff

It will act as a switch with your HDMI so you plug all your devices into the surround sound then run ONE HDMI to the TV. It will free up your HDMI's on your TV.

Not if you use speaker mess or even a screen like material.

I've had my CT100 for a couple months now, and while I do like, I'm still greatly annoyed by one aspect of it.

I have all of my components (DVR, PS3, etc) connected to the CT100 via HDMI and then it goes off to my KDS-60A3000, again via HDMI. I have the soundbar sitting on top of the TV because it makes the audio a lot more crisp, and while I'm fairly pleased with the overall package so far, I really wish I could allow the TV speakers to output some of the volume (to give the sound field some vertical balance) but I'm starting to fear that's not an option. Apparently the CT100 hijacks 100% of the audio stream before it ever gets to the TV.

So did I miss something in the settings menu?

Well thanks to Scupking, I now have most of my kinks worked out. I had the ct100 hooked via optical cable directly to my 65" Olevia LCD TV. The volume was low at best and the tv speakers were louder. He led me to hooking it up to the satellite box, before it even gets to the tv. Boy did that work much better. Its a whole different machine. I have an elevated wood floor and really feel the bass in my feet during action scenes.

Don't know why getting the sound from the tv is worse? It must change it/compress it or something technical like that.

Now I bought a cheap 1080p up-conv dvd from Sams ($49 including 6' hdmi cable) and hooked it up via HDMI and it works great too. I was watching my dvds on an old xbox, but I cant get the sound out of my ct100 for the xbox. The old xbox only has a\\v cables (yel, wht, red). Maybe when I get my new HD box from dish, I will have extra av slots to put in the xbox and then i would get sound out of it???? The kids will just have to use the tv volume when they play games for now!

Mcclaren777......Dont what the prob is for you, but I can use both the tv speakers and ct100 if i want. Dont really like it cuz it kinda echoes, but i havent touched any of the treble or bass and could probably fix that. Just thought i would let you know it can be done. Try hooking the optical cable to your sat box like i did, skipping the tv altogether.

I was ready to pack it up and take it back to Sears ($299), but now she's a keeper!! P.S. Walmart has the ct100 for $289.

I assume you have the white and red cables connected to the CT100's TV input, correct? Do you have anything plugged in to the Optical input for the TV input? If you have more than one thing plugged in an input, it won't work with one of them. For example, I tried having my PC connected to the Sat optical input, and my satellite plugged in to the Sat HDMI input. The optical wouldn't work until I unplugged the HDMI cable and turned the CT100 off and back on.

Why can't you. I can use my TV speakers and CT-100 at the same time if I wanted. I have tried it but I prefer just using the CT-100.

Smeg36

I dont have the red and wht into the tv input of the ct100. The xob av cable the comes out of the x box is all wrapped up and only splits for the last few inches. Cant plug it into both. If i want to see the game, I have to have the yellow in the tv. I thought about that, plugging the yellow into the tv and then the red and wht into the ct100, but Ill to have to slice the cord (If i can) and try it. I should be able to plug the red and wht and turn on the xbox and see if sound comes out without plugging the yellow into anything. Ill try that first!

So what's the deal with TV audio is there any hope for it? It sounds so underwhelming compared to ps3/360/blueray. Especially sports.

Anyone buy the ipod part of the ct-100. If so, where can I buy one for a decent price?

I don't see what you're saying, I think TV audio, ESPECIALLY with sports is very good with this unit?

agree

really? it sounds the same as my tv speaker but louder when i watch sports on tv,but maybe it's the compression or something because I am canada... What should I see when i watch tv on the receive in terms of audio mode?

you can get a HD pack for the original xbox that gives you component connection for video, and optical SPDIF for audio. These are much better connections than composite video and analog audio. You can get 720P or 1080i video on the component cables, and Dolby Digital/DTS sound on DVDs (and i assume games if they support it) via the optical connection.

I dont think they actually sell the original microsoft one retail anymore, but if you have a look on ebay you can usually find alternatives. I am in australia and picked up one of these ones which is component and analog audio cables, with a port for your own optical cable - EBay link - replace ****** with e b a y . c o m

There is also this type which is what the original microsoft one was like - a little breakout box, that you hook your own component cables and optical cable up to - EBay link - replace ****** with e b a y . c o m

You should be able to find similar in the US i dare say, just make sure it's for original xbox ONE and not 360 (hint - if you put "-360" in your ebay search terms it will exclude results that mention the word "360". So search for something like "xbox component optical -360" and so on)


On the subject of this Sony CT100 it looks pretty promising. I have been looking for something for our bedroom setup that can take at least optical/coax inputs and even better would be HDMI for LPCM from a PS3 or bluray player - but didnt want something like a full blown receiver that takes up a lot of room etc. Unfortunately this thing doesnt seem to be out in Australia (yet?)... hopefully they do plan on bringing it out here soon... even if it's only a sound bar type thing, the connectivity and features for the price/size would be a big plus for our bedroom setup.

OK, I guess I should clarify a bit. Are you talking about watching HD sports content that is run through the CT100 via HDMI? Or, SD sports content. NO matter what you are watching or using to listen with...the audio on HD programs is better than SD also. I rarely watch SD television at all, so my comment was that I felt the audio on HD sports content was markedly improved when I began using this unit versus what I was getting before from either my TV speakers or the HTIB "surround sound, 5.1" stereo system I was using prior. Keep in mind, that really wasn't a true surround 5.1 system as it was receiving all audio via analog inputs and only had "analog" 5.1 inputs that could be recd froma DVD player. It didn't have any HDMI inputs, digital coaxial audio or optical audio inputs.

I still stand by the statement that I feel sports audio is very good on this unit with it coming in via HDMI and the source being HD content.

As far as settings on the unit in this situation, I have all my sources set on "Movie" mode. I usually leave, sometimes for games via the PS3 I change it to "game" and that helps a bit. Center is at +1 and Sub is set at +2.

I am looking to purchase this system but have a question. I'm trying to find the best way to connect this system. I have an hd/dvr sat box that is connected to my tv via component cables. Should I still use an hdmi cable from sat box to the ct100? Then from the ct100 to tv via another hdmi cable. Or should I just go audio out from tv to ct100? Thanks for the help. I'm new to all this stuff so be gentle

There are a few different ways you can do this. The CT100 has component hook up. So you can hook your sat box into the CT-100, then an HDMI cable from the CT-100 into your TV and a optical cable from your sat box to the CT-100. Or you can do what I did. I left my Sat box hooked up to my TV via HDMI and hooked the optical cable from the sat box into my CT-100. I'm doing the same thing with my Xbox 360.

Can I just go audio out from tv to audio in on the ct-100? Or should I just leave my sat box connected via component cables to the tv and then use an optical cable from sat box to ct-100? I’m just a little confused why I would need to run component from sat box to ct-100, then an hdmi from ct-100 to tv, then optical from sat box to ct-100. Couldn’t I just leave my setup the way it is and run either audio out from tv to audio in on the ct-100? Or instead just run an optical cable from sat box to ct-100. Sorry I’m new to this stuff.

Yes, that is what I like to do, just hook up the optical from the sat box to the CT-100 and you're done. I would not recommend hooking the tv audio to the CT-100 or any surround sound.

HI Eric, you have two choices really. First off, do you have any other components that you will be hooking up to the CT100 (DVD, PS3, XBox, etc)?

If not, you can run HDMI from Sat box to CT100 then HDMI from CT100 to TV. I'd recommend that.

Alternatively, you can keep your current connection - which would be component video cables from SAT box to TV, then use the optical cable that comes with the CT100 in the box to run the audio from SAT box directly to CT100. If you do any Over the Air viewing with your TV, then I'd keep everything as you have it now and run the optical with the CT100 from your TV to the CT100.


You shouldn't and can't run your component connection from the SAT box to the back of the CT100. If you want to use component for video then run the component directly to TV from the SAT box. Then, use the opitcal out to go to the CT100 directly from the SAT box....or if you view both the SAT box and OTA TV, run audio from the SAT box to the TV, then from TV to CT100 using all opitcal.

Thanks guys I really appreciate the help. I don’t use an ota signal. I don’t have a dvd yet but will in the future. I will just leave it hooked up the way I have it now which is component cables from sat box to tv. I will then just connect an optical cable from sat box to the ct-100. How does this sound? Will I be good to go? Also do I need to disconnect the two audio cables going from my sat box to the tv that are with my component cables, or just leave them be?

It will sound excellent hooked up with the optical cable.

Yep, that should work great and as scupking said, it should sound great!

I'd disconnect the audio cables going from the sat box to the TV. You may also want to go into your sat box setup menu and make sure that the audio settings are OK....if you want to post the model of your box, i'm sure someone here can give you more guidance on that.

Picked up a CT100 on ebay a couple of weeks ago on Ebay for a steal $187. I have it hooked up to my Samsung 46" 1080p LCD, HDDVR, and PS3 in my bedroom. It sounds great and is a bargain for the retail $299. Its perfect for my bedroom and I think you will hear the surrond effects more pronounced in a bedroom type set up. For the price you cant beat it since the AV reciever is built in and it decodes all the HD audio codecs. I was going to originally pick up the Boston Acoustics TVEE speaker system and I am sure glad I waited a little longer.