Sony BDV-E800W home theatre system
This Blu-ray home theatre system supports all recent high-definition audio codecs
Sony's BDV-E800W is a decent home theatre system, with reasonable sound quality and an extensive feature set. Its audio isn't as good as more expensive systems and ones with proper speaker cabinets, but as a simple-to-use accompaniment to a modern flat panel television it's a good choice.
Pros
- HD audio codec support, reasonable sound quality, good interface
Cons
- Slightly expensive, somewhat flimsy construction
Bottom Line
Sony's BDV-E800W is a solid pre-built home theatre. It's not going to blow you away with its sound quality or construction, but what you get for your money is a competent system that handles the high-definition audio tracks of Blu-ray movies well.
-
Price
$ 1,499.00 (AUD)
The Sony BDV-E800W is a pre-built home theatre system incorporating four floor-standing speakers, a thin centre speaker and a squat subwoofer. The receiver has a built-in Blu-ray disc player along with a range of ports for connecting your high-definition LCD or plasma television. It's a stylish system overall, with the receiver standing out from the crowd with the same mirror-finish front we saw on the Sony BDP-S560 Blu-ray player. The plastic construction of the speakers makes them feel a little flimsier and lighter than we would like, however.
Setting up the system is relatively easy: clip the floor-standing speakers together and attach their bases, make all the necessary speaker wire connections, and finally connect your television. (We tested using the receiver's HDMI output and a Panasonic TH-P54Z1A plasma.) Placing the various components of the system around even a large room is easy thanks to long cables and the S-AIR wireless rear speaker option. Once the Sony BDV-E800W is up and running, you're presented with an on-screen interface not unlike that of the PlayStation 3 or any recent Sony television. The 'XrossMediaBar' interface is good looking and supremely easy to navigate. Starting the playback of a Blu-ray disc only took a matter of seconds once it had loaded.
Picture quality was as good as any other player on the market, with great picture quality from the Full HD 1080p output of Blu-ray discs. The Sony BDV-E800W also handles 480p and 576p DVDs well, upscaling video to 1080p with reasonable clarity and no significant artefacting that we could see.
The system's sound quality is well suited to blockbuster movies and limited music listening — the combination of powerful subwoofer and thin speakers means there's a heavy focus on mid-bass and treble, with mid-range frequencies feeling recessed and often lacking.
Treble is generally clean and clear, providing a crisp edge to dialogue and cinematic audio. The floor-standing speakers can be pushed to uncomfortably loud volumes before treble distortion creeps in. Bass is acceptably handled by the subwoofer driver — it doesn't extend particularly low into the frequency range but it does provide a useful addition to movie audio.
Mid-range is not nearly as pronounced; the small speaker size of the floor-standers means they can't push a lot of air to create lower notes. The subwoofer holds up lower mid-range notes acceptably, but the system occasionally feels lacking especially when listening to acoustic music. This problem isn't unique to the Sony BDV-E800W; most pre-built "home theatre in a box" systems have the same flaw.
The Sony BDV-E800W provides support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD high-definition audio codecs — these are the ones most commonly used on Blu-ray movie discs. While the merit of decoding these high quality streams and outputting them to mediocre speakers is questionable, the support is nonetheless appreciated.
Sony's BDV-E800W is a competent home theatre system. It provides solid competition for similarly priced systems from competitors such as Panasonic and LG.
Stay up to date with the latest reviews. Sign up to GoodGearGuide’s Gear Daily newsletters
Follow GoodGearGuide on Twitter: @Goodgearguide
Most Popular
Best Deals on PCWorld
- TabletsView all »
- NotebooksView all »
-
-
Dell Vostro 3560 Laptop
$1499.00 -
Dell Inspiron 15R Special Edit...
$1598.99 -
Dell Inspiron 15 Laptop
$999.00 -
Dell Laptop Latitude E6430
$2599.00 -
Dell Alienware M14x Laptop
$2299.00 -
Dell Laptop Latitude E6330
$1899.00 -
Dell Laptop Latitude E6330
$1398.99 -
Dell Alienware M14x Laptop
$1799.00 -
Dell Laptop Latitude E5530
$1979.00 -
Dell Alienware M14x Laptop
$1999.00 -
Dell Laptop Latitude E6330
$2499.00 -
Dell Vostro 2520 Laptop
$849.00 -
Dell Alienware M18x Laptop
$3698.99 -
Dell Laptop Latitude XT3
$3000.00 -
Dell Inspiron 15R Special Edit...
$1398.99 -
Dell Inspiron 17R Laptop
$1298.99
-
- Mobile PhonesView all »
-
-
Samsung Galaxy S Duos S7562 WH...
$186.97 -
Apple iPhone 3GS 8GB Black
$329.00 -
Motorola Droid 3 Global
$339.00 -
Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830 Unloc...
$155.78 -
Samsung i9070 Galaxy S Advance...
$245.00 -
Apple iPhone 5 16GB Black
$788.00 -
BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 (Re...
$409.00 -
HTC J SIM Free / Unlocked (Bla...
$451.00 -
Samsung GALAXY S4 i9500 - 3G, ...
$674.42 -
Samsung ATIV S SILVER
$499.00 -
Samsung Galaxy S III mini S3 i...
$264.22 -
Samsung Galaxy S Duos GT-S7562...
$295.00 -
Samsung Galaxy Note II Titaniu...
$587.02 -
BlackBerry Bold 9790 (White)
$309.00 -
Apple iPhone 4S 16GB Black (SI...
$533.00 -
HTC J (Unlocked, Red)
$424.59
-
- Printers & ScannersView all »
-
-
Fuji Xerox DocuPrint C3290FS 3...
$937.50 -
OKI C910DN A3 Colour Laser Pri...
$3504.95 -
Canon Pixma Pro-10 A3+ Photo P...
$995.00 -
LEXMARK T654DTN MONO LASER PRI...
$2926.00 -
Lexmark OfficeEdge Pro5500 Ink...
$244.00 -
Lexmark C510 PHOTODEVELOPER CA...
$229.03 -
Dell B3465dnf Mono Multifuncti...
$1699.00 -
HP 5YR PARTS & LABOUR 4H RESPO...
$3054.00 -
Samsung CLX-6260FW A4 Colour L...
$711.30 -
Kyocera FS-C8520 A3 Duplex/Net...
$3199.00 -
Brother MFC-7860DW Duplex/Wire...
$269.00 -
Canon MX526-Canon MX526 Office...
$114.00 -
Canon IPF760-3YR-OSS-PK, 3 YEA...
$1188.33 -
HP LaserJet Enterprise P3015dn...
$837.00 -
Samsung SCX 3405FW Fax Wireles...
$167.50 -
Dell B1265DNF Mono Laser Print...
$170.23
-
- Networking, Wireless & VoIPView all »
-
-
Netgear DG834 Modem, Wired ADS...
$59.00 -
Cisco Catalyst 3560X 24 Port D...
$2688.00 -
Cisco IEM-3000-8FM=
$1955.00 -
HP SECURE ROUTER 7203DL (J875...
$1686.36 -
Netgear GSM7224 PROSAFE 24 POR...
$477.42 -
Netgear GS748TP
$1186.90 -
TP-Link TL-SL3428 24 Port 24 x...
$269.00 -
Cisco Cat 2960 24 10/100 + 2 T...
$394.66 -
D-Link Wireless AC1200 Dual Ba...
$198.00 -
Netgear GS105E ProSafe Plus Sw...
$46.99 -
Cisco WS-C3750G-48TS-S Cisco C...
$8000.00 -
Cisco WS-C2960S-48TS-L
$2150.00 -
D-Link N150 Wireless Broadband...
$41.00 -
Asus RT-N65U Dual-Band Wireles...
$148.99 -
Asus 802.11ac Dual-Band Wirele...
$256.00 -
Netgear FS726TP Prosafe 24 Por...
$441.91
-




Be the first to comment.