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Samsung HT-D5500 review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £328
inc VAT

Great styling, excellent audio and plenty of extra features – there are few all-in-one systems that do it better

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We had no trouble playing multimedia files from a USB memory stick and over the network using DLNA. It played every video file we threw its way, including DivX HD, Xvid and MKV, but music and picture support is limited to MP3 and JPEG respectively.

There are lots of online features, including Facebook, Twitter, BBC iPlayer and film rentals from both AceTrax and LoveFilm. There’s also a host of other free channels available to download through Samsung’s own storefront. The on-screen display is attractive enough, although it looked a little pixelated at 1080p. The menu interface is straightforward and easy to navigate, but we often struggled to find the button we wanted on the confusingly laid-out remote control.

Samsung HT-D5500 remote

Blu-ray movies took a leisurely 44 seconds to load from standby, but our patience was rewarded with impressive sound quality. Speech sounded clear and positional audio was accurate. Bass was slightly lacking at the default settings, but a quick trip to the settings menu soon rectified the issue. Explosions and gunshots were then powerful enough to make us feel it in our seat, although it was no match for systems comprising a dedicated AV amp and speakers. Music sounded equally impressive. Acoustic tracks sounded best, as the finer details weren’t drowned out by the subwoofer, while rock and electronic songs carried weight.

Costing just a few pounds less than the excellent Sony BDV-E380, it could be a difficult decision as to which one you would pick. Both look and sound excellent, have plenty of connectivity options and online content. Purely for its ease of use and slightly wider variety of catch-up channels, we would recommend the Sony, but Samsung’s system is an excellent alternative.

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Details

Price £328
Rating ****

Connections

HDMI inputs 2
HDMI outputs 1
Component inputs 0
Component outputs 1
Output resolutions 480i, 480p, PAL (576i), 576p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
Total SCART sockets 0
SCART socket type 0
S-Video input 0
S-video output 0
Composite inputs 0
Composite outputs 1
Stereo phono inputs 0
Stereo phono outputs 1
Coaxial S/PDIF inputs 0
Coaxial S/PDIF outputs 0
Optical S/PDIF inputs 1
Optical S/PDIF outputs 0
Multi-channel input yes
Speaker configuration 5.1
Main unit end speaker connection type proprietary
Speaker end speaker connection type spring terminals
Other connections USB, calibration mic, iPod dock
Wired network ports 1x 10/100
Wireless networking support optional 802.11b/g/n

Playback

Surround sound formats Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD HRA, DTS-HD MA
Optical drive yes
Supported playback disc formats BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE, DVD, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD, CD-R, CD-RW
Audio format support MP3
Video playback formats AVCHD, DivX HD, MKV, MPEG 2, MPEG 4, WMV 9, XVID
Image viewing formats JPEG
Radio FM

Speakers

Speaker configuration 5.1
RMS power output 1000W
Wall mountable yes
Centre speaker cable length 3.0m
Front speaker cable length 4.0m
Surround speaker cable length 10.0m

General

Extras Remote control, external iPod dock, FM antenna, calibration mic
Size 430x332x60mmmm
Subwoofer dimensions 168x385x350mmmm
Centre speaker dimensions 360x69x75mmmm
Front speaker dimensions 90x69x208mmmm
Surround speaker dimensions 90x69x142mmmm
Power consumption standby 1W
Power consumption on 68W

Buying Information

Price £328
Warranty one year RTB
Supplier http://www.amazon.co.uk
Details www.samsung.com/uk