Samsung HT-BD3252
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Samsungs website now shows the product in there line up, and a link for the manual...
I'd post the url but I dont have enough posts yet.
I still can't find a retailer online or local that has it yet.
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***edit***
ok here are the links...
http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/d...HT-BD3252T/XAA
and for the manual...
http://org.downloadcenter.samsung.co...A_XAA_0701.pdf
I'd post the url but I dont have enough posts yet.
I still can't find a retailer online or local that has it yet.
***edit***
ok here are the links...
http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/d...HT-BD3252T/XAA
and for the manual...
http://org.downloadcenter.samsung.co...A_XAA_0701.pdf
Joined
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31 Posts
I just purchased mine for $735 including tax from Best Buy.
For a home theater in a box, it sounds ok. The speakers do not have the full dynamic range as a full home theater systems but is good enough for my bedroom.
Some of the functionality is quirky. For instance, you can not bring up the on screen menu until you are in the blu ray mode. So if you want to make adjustments to your channel level while watching tv, you have to switch over to the blu ray mode.
Also, if you turn off the tv while the HT unit is on, the system will shutdown the system also. Ths is a bit annoying. For instance, when I'm listening to Pandora, I don't need the TV turned on. If I turn off the TV while Pandora is playing, the unit will shutdown.
Other than that, it's a descent system since it has all the bells and whistles that I need; wireless rear speakers, ipod/iphone dock, blu ray player, 2 hdmi inputs, wifi, pandora, and netflix. For the money, I think it's a great unit.
Update: After hooking up a Klipsch RB-51 bookshelf speaker to the system, I realized how weak the speakers were, especially the center speaker. I just ordered a set of Klipsch Cinema 8 speakers for the unit. I can't wait until they get here. These should sound much better.
For a home theater in a box, it sounds ok. The speakers do not have the full dynamic range as a full home theater systems but is good enough for my bedroom.
Some of the functionality is quirky. For instance, you can not bring up the on screen menu until you are in the blu ray mode. So if you want to make adjustments to your channel level while watching tv, you have to switch over to the blu ray mode.
Also, if you turn off the tv while the HT unit is on, the system will shutdown the system also. Ths is a bit annoying. For instance, when I'm listening to Pandora, I don't need the TV turned on. If I turn off the TV while Pandora is playing, the unit will shutdown.
Other than that, it's a descent system since it has all the bells and whistles that I need; wireless rear speakers, ipod/iphone dock, blu ray player, 2 hdmi inputs, wifi, pandora, and netflix. For the money, I think it's a great unit.
Update: After hooking up a Klipsch RB-51 bookshelf speaker to the system, I realized how weak the speakers were, especially the center speaker. I just ordered a set of Klipsch Cinema 8 speakers for the unit. I can't wait until they get here. These should sound much better.
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31 Posts
You're better off getting the samsung since it has 2 hdmi inputs while sony offers none.
You're better off getting the samsung since it has 2 hdmi inputs while sony offers none.
I just listened to the BD3252 at bb today and I thought it sounded ALOT better then the BD1250. I'm curious to hear a review on the 3252 because cnet really liked the 1250..
Also a plus for me it appears that the front speakers on the 3252 can be taken off the towers and mounted on the wall, ie, the speaker itself is only about twice as tall as speaker on the BD1250
Also a plus for me it appears that the front speakers on the 3252 can be taken off the towers and mounted on the wall, ie, the speaker itself is only about twice as tall as speaker on the BD1250
I picked my Samsung HT-BD3252 up from BB on Sunday, taking advantage of the weekly sale price + fifty bucks in blu discs.
Set up was a snap. Tall boy speakers are cleverly designed to separate into sections, to permit wall mounting if that's your preference. Wireless rear speaks connect effortlessly and work flawlessly. Dual HDMI inputs let me add my HD-DVD player and Sat box with ease.
The good: Nice looking, very very good sounding system. The auto calibration for the unit worked well as a starting point for speaker settings, and after just a few tweaks a very convincing sound field was produced. The passive subwoofer is surprisingly well integrated, and good sounding. This did not prevent me from substituting an Infinity powered sub I had hanging around. This made the system even more impressive. Streaming via wired network has performed perfectly, and since the Netflix instant viewing is one of the main reasons I bought this, I'm very pleased with this. Overall picture quality is a knockout, making my display look better than I've seen it before (using various HD sources from DISH and HD-DVD)
The bad: The interface is a bit wonky. You have to go back to the blu player function on the remote if you want to fine tune any settings, or move from watching TV to streaming media. This makes using Harmony or other universal remotes more of a pain. The gloss finish is hard to maintain. The speakers have some proprietary terminators, making improvements to the flimsy speaker wire more difficult - I haven't messed with this yet.
The biggest negative: Dealing with my wife's objections over how loud I enjoy playing music and movies over this system!
Overall this exceeded my expectations, met my spouse's criteria for looks and floor space, and in sum makes the case for HTIB better than I thought possible. I am glad I made the purchase.
Set up was a snap. Tall boy speakers are cleverly designed to separate into sections, to permit wall mounting if that's your preference. Wireless rear speaks connect effortlessly and work flawlessly. Dual HDMI inputs let me add my HD-DVD player and Sat box with ease.
The good: Nice looking, very very good sounding system. The auto calibration for the unit worked well as a starting point for speaker settings, and after just a few tweaks a very convincing sound field was produced. The passive subwoofer is surprisingly well integrated, and good sounding. This did not prevent me from substituting an Infinity powered sub I had hanging around. This made the system even more impressive. Streaming via wired network has performed perfectly, and since the Netflix instant viewing is one of the main reasons I bought this, I'm very pleased with this. Overall picture quality is a knockout, making my display look better than I've seen it before (using various HD sources from DISH and HD-DVD)
The bad: The interface is a bit wonky. You have to go back to the blu player function on the remote if you want to fine tune any settings, or move from watching TV to streaming media. This makes using Harmony or other universal remotes more of a pain. The gloss finish is hard to maintain. The speakers have some proprietary terminators, making improvements to the flimsy speaker wire more difficult - I haven't messed with this yet.
The biggest negative: Dealing with my wife's objections over how loud I enjoy playing music and movies over this system!
Overall this exceeded my expectations, met my spouse's criteria for looks and floor space, and in sum makes the case for HTIB better than I thought possible. I am glad I made the purchase.
I have to agree with jamese777, set up was a breeze. Didnt use the provided rear speakers, had some awesome Bose speakers Ive had for a while that I incorporated in the system. Liked the "Auto Calibration" function, but still tweaked it a bit to my tastes. At only half way up it is plenty loud, with plenty of clarity in the high tones and depth in the lows. Again....the having to leave what you are watching to make any adjustments is annoying. Maybe Samsung will upgrade the firmware and make that lil fix for us. All and all a great 'budget' system in a box. Very pleased
P.S...I dont have a wife to complain, so I can play mine as loud as I feel...until the neighbors complain
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P.S...I dont have a wife to complain, so I can play mine as loud as I feel...until the neighbors complain
Hi, I'm somewhat new to HT and need some help picking out my first system. My top 2 choices are this Samsung 3252 and the Onkyo S9100. I want to have great sounds for movies, musics, and games. The BD option is not a big deal since my ps3 will solve that. Which would be a better choice?
Also, if I get the 3252, can I upgrade the receiver later on?
Also, if I get the 3252, can I upgrade the receiver later on?
I really like it. Setup was easy. Sound is great. The streaming of Netflix and Pandora both work great. I did go out and buy a universal remote for it - bought the URC R50 - also love that.
Two mild annoyances (would appreciate any feedback):
1) Have it connected via HDMI from my DVR/cable box (scientific Altana 8300 HDC from Charter) and during playback from the DVR there is a 1 or 2 second delay in sound starting up again once the picture starts.
2) Have not found a way to go directly to HDMI input from the remote - it seems you have to cycle AUX to get to it (which means that I can not find a way to program the R50 to go right to HDMI input).
Bought mine from buy.com - they had them in stock for like 4 days at an amazing price and then went to the same price point where most others have them now.
Two mild annoyances (would appreciate any feedback):
1) Have it connected via HDMI from my DVR/cable box (scientific Altana 8300 HDC from Charter) and during playback from the DVR there is a 1 or 2 second delay in sound starting up again once the picture starts.
2) Have not found a way to go directly to HDMI input from the remote - it seems you have to cycle AUX to get to it (which means that I can not find a way to program the R50 to go right to HDMI input).
Bought mine from buy.com - they had them in stock for like 4 days at an amazing price and then went to the same price point where most others have them now.
The site I posted previously was a braino - it's socket2you.com. Here is the direct link: http://www.socket2you.com/ProductDet...Code=HT-BD3252
Unfortunately, not currently in stock (I'm very happy I got mine already), but you can't beat the price - $665 no shipping, no tax outside MA.
Before I start the review, a caveat: Even though I'm a serious technogeek (I hacked my DirecTV/Tivo unit 10 years ago replacing a 30GB harddrive with two 120GB harddrives and added an ethernet connection), I hadn't bought a new TV since 1992 until two weeks ago. I got a 52" Samsung 120Hz for the living room and a 40" Samsung for the bedroom from Costco. We also added DirecTV with an HD DVR in each location. So my TV viewing has gone from 32" SD tube to 52" HD LCD very recently. Obviously the change is amazing so I think everything looks fantastic.
My quick thoughts on this unit. Very cool to have an all in one box if that is what you're going for that includes BluRay, HDMI inputs, wireless rears and wireless network built in. I have limited space in a townhouse for the time being so an HTIB was the best choice. The unit looks good as long as you don't mind keeping the high gloss dust free (the new TV's are high gloss as well). It's quite compact for all it houses.
The unit is very easy to hook up and get going (as long you aren't an idiot like me and realize SSID's on a wireless connection are case sensitive - that cost me an hour of time - ie. you probably used lowercase like me - select the lower case letters). The wireless rears connected automagically. The proprietary speaker cables are definitely a minus in terms of being able to upgrade the cable, but the color coding is kind of nice. The front speakers take about 5 minutes to assemble with a screw driver. If it takes you longer, you may want to consider remedial Tinker Toys (ie., it's friggin easy). One gripe here, there is no HDMI cable included (nor component and optical) - make sure to add $35 to the overall cost.
People have already complained about the lack of ability to get to the menu unless you are on DVD/BR and have it stopped. As someone said, hopefully they will address this with a firmware upgrade.
The auto calibration is a nice feature. I haven't tweaked beyond what it did like other people and it sounds fine to me. Overall, the sound is good and you definitely hear a full experience. I can't imagine for under $700 finding separates that sound better and include a BluRay with rear wireless. They packed a lot into this for good sound (don't expect great tight sound - just think 10 times better than your TV did). My wife is still catching up on stuff she recorded to the dish that only puts out SD and is complaining that there is no surround sound!
Next, Anynet+ is really cool if you have a Samsung TV. Without having to set anything myself, it set the TV to external spearkers and the volume on either remote changes the unit, not the TV. Further, the DirecTV installer set the DirecTV remote to change the TV volume and that now too changes the volume on the unit, not the TV. Very nice not having to change that stuff or pick up the correct remote to change volume.
And then there is BDWise. Well, this a fail. When set to automatic, it does not upscale a regular DVD and doesn't seem to transfrer 5.1 audio. Set this off and set upscale to 1080p as the default as well as audio over HDMI. If anyone has a different experience, please let me know, but I spent a good hour going back and forth until I gave up and used my own settings. I also wasn't able to change the settings between Music, Movie, Matrix, etc. while something was playing (Direct, BluRay or DVD).
BluRay output looks fantastic. Definitely a tad better than HD Direct or a DVD. Are there better BluRay sets out there? I imagine so, but again, I'm coming from a 32" tube TV - everything just looks great. The sound, and surround sound is good to very good. You hear stuff on an NFL game from behind that you haven't before, for example. Again, don't expect super tight stunning sound, but if you're looking to upgrade from TV speakers, this is at least 10 times better. For anyone considering a HTIB for $700ish instead of $2500 for equipment, I can't imagine you'll be disappointed.
So those are the basics and why I bought this. The extra things (netflix, pandora and ipod base) I consider a plus even if they don't perform as well as I would want.
Netflix streaming works fine - no dropouts or significant problems. Setup is a snap and by the time I had set the code on the computer and went back downstairs it was available. The only downside here is if you hit pause and spend a few minutes away (maybe seconds?), it has to rebuffer the entire thing so you wait 30 seconds or so before pause starts playing where you left off. The quality is not so good either. I may need to boost my wireless signal, but it's not quite other HD quality at this point - maybe CD quality. Bottom line here is it's a plus to be able to do this and downgrade your netflix subscription to one or two and save a few bucks.
Pandora works - it sounds fine. I'm not a fan of the interface, but I only spent 10 minutes or so playing with it.
Likewise, the IPOD works fine but I do have some gripes here. First, you have to hook up the yellow video cable to be able to navigate with the remote. We have the Dish setup to that same input so we have to change cables out depending on what we're doing until my wife finishes those recordings and it's not an issue any more. However, the IPOD interface is definitely lacking. It does not give you the ability to play a genre randomly (my holy grail of listening to the ipod). You can select an artist or an album or a playlist. That's simply not good enough for me. Hopefully this is fixed with firmware in the future.
I haven't tried the FM tuner so I can't say how good/bad that is. Hold on, I'll run downstairs and do that.... OK - that seems to work fine, but with XM on DirecTV (and Dish) and Pandora and an IPOD dock who is going to listen to FM???
OK - that's most of everything, but a few extra thoughts: Already mentioned, but an HDMI cable should be included. The netflix streaming requires a USB drive to be connected. They should have included a second USB on the back for this (the first is for the wireless) so I don't have to have an ugly usb thing sticking out of the front all the time. It would also be nice if the second (or preferably third) HDMI was on the front so it would be easy to connect a gaming device. My DiercTV remote will turn everything off via AnyNet+, but it does not turn this on. Two remotes to get going - bummer but not a big deal.
Minor gripes throughout, but the device does what I wanted at an affordable price. Good surround sound, wireless rear speakers, bluray and the ability to input my DirecTV as an HDMI input. It does all this. Everything else is a bonus so even if it doesn't measure up on those issues, it was well worth the purchase price. I'm very happy I got it.
Any questions?
Unfortunately, not currently in stock (I'm very happy I got mine already), but you can't beat the price - $665 no shipping, no tax outside MA.
Before I start the review, a caveat: Even though I'm a serious technogeek (I hacked my DirecTV/Tivo unit 10 years ago replacing a 30GB harddrive with two 120GB harddrives and added an ethernet connection), I hadn't bought a new TV since 1992 until two weeks ago. I got a 52" Samsung 120Hz for the living room and a 40" Samsung for the bedroom from Costco. We also added DirecTV with an HD DVR in each location. So my TV viewing has gone from 32" SD tube to 52" HD LCD very recently. Obviously the change is amazing so I think everything looks fantastic.
My quick thoughts on this unit. Very cool to have an all in one box if that is what you're going for that includes BluRay, HDMI inputs, wireless rears and wireless network built in. I have limited space in a townhouse for the time being so an HTIB was the best choice. The unit looks good as long as you don't mind keeping the high gloss dust free (the new TV's are high gloss as well). It's quite compact for all it houses.
The unit is very easy to hook up and get going (as long you aren't an idiot like me and realize SSID's on a wireless connection are case sensitive - that cost me an hour of time - ie. you probably used lowercase like me - select the lower case letters). The wireless rears connected automagically. The proprietary speaker cables are definitely a minus in terms of being able to upgrade the cable, but the color coding is kind of nice. The front speakers take about 5 minutes to assemble with a screw driver. If it takes you longer, you may want to consider remedial Tinker Toys (ie., it's friggin easy). One gripe here, there is no HDMI cable included (nor component and optical) - make sure to add $35 to the overall cost.
People have already complained about the lack of ability to get to the menu unless you are on DVD/BR and have it stopped. As someone said, hopefully they will address this with a firmware upgrade.
The auto calibration is a nice feature. I haven't tweaked beyond what it did like other people and it sounds fine to me. Overall, the sound is good and you definitely hear a full experience. I can't imagine for under $700 finding separates that sound better and include a BluRay with rear wireless. They packed a lot into this for good sound (don't expect great tight sound - just think 10 times better than your TV did). My wife is still catching up on stuff she recorded to the dish that only puts out SD and is complaining that there is no surround sound!
Next, Anynet+ is really cool if you have a Samsung TV. Without having to set anything myself, it set the TV to external spearkers and the volume on either remote changes the unit, not the TV. Further, the DirecTV installer set the DirecTV remote to change the TV volume and that now too changes the volume on the unit, not the TV. Very nice not having to change that stuff or pick up the correct remote to change volume.
And then there is BDWise. Well, this a fail. When set to automatic, it does not upscale a regular DVD and doesn't seem to transfrer 5.1 audio. Set this off and set upscale to 1080p as the default as well as audio over HDMI. If anyone has a different experience, please let me know, but I spent a good hour going back and forth until I gave up and used my own settings. I also wasn't able to change the settings between Music, Movie, Matrix, etc. while something was playing (Direct, BluRay or DVD).
BluRay output looks fantastic. Definitely a tad better than HD Direct or a DVD. Are there better BluRay sets out there? I imagine so, but again, I'm coming from a 32" tube TV - everything just looks great. The sound, and surround sound is good to very good. You hear stuff on an NFL game from behind that you haven't before, for example. Again, don't expect super tight stunning sound, but if you're looking to upgrade from TV speakers, this is at least 10 times better. For anyone considering a HTIB for $700ish instead of $2500 for equipment, I can't imagine you'll be disappointed.
So those are the basics and why I bought this. The extra things (netflix, pandora and ipod base) I consider a plus even if they don't perform as well as I would want.
Netflix streaming works fine - no dropouts or significant problems. Setup is a snap and by the time I had set the code on the computer and went back downstairs it was available. The only downside here is if you hit pause and spend a few minutes away (maybe seconds?), it has to rebuffer the entire thing so you wait 30 seconds or so before pause starts playing where you left off. The quality is not so good either. I may need to boost my wireless signal, but it's not quite other HD quality at this point - maybe CD quality. Bottom line here is it's a plus to be able to do this and downgrade your netflix subscription to one or two and save a few bucks.
Pandora works - it sounds fine. I'm not a fan of the interface, but I only spent 10 minutes or so playing with it.
Likewise, the IPOD works fine but I do have some gripes here. First, you have to hook up the yellow video cable to be able to navigate with the remote. We have the Dish setup to that same input so we have to change cables out depending on what we're doing until my wife finishes those recordings and it's not an issue any more. However, the IPOD interface is definitely lacking. It does not give you the ability to play a genre randomly (my holy grail of listening to the ipod). You can select an artist or an album or a playlist. That's simply not good enough for me. Hopefully this is fixed with firmware in the future.
I haven't tried the FM tuner so I can't say how good/bad that is. Hold on, I'll run downstairs and do that.... OK - that seems to work fine, but with XM on DirecTV (and Dish) and Pandora and an IPOD dock who is going to listen to FM???
OK - that's most of everything, but a few extra thoughts: Already mentioned, but an HDMI cable should be included. The netflix streaming requires a USB drive to be connected. They should have included a second USB on the back for this (the first is for the wireless) so I don't have to have an ugly usb thing sticking out of the front all the time. It would also be nice if the second (or preferably third) HDMI was on the front so it would be easy to connect a gaming device. My DiercTV remote will turn everything off via AnyNet+, but it does not turn this on. Two remotes to get going - bummer but not a big deal.
Minor gripes throughout, but the device does what I wanted at an affordable price. Good surround sound, wireless rear speakers, bluray and the ability to input my DirecTV as an HDMI input. It does all this. Everything else is a bonus so even if it doesn't measure up on those issues, it was well worth the purchase price. I'm very happy I got it.
Any questions?
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