Panasonic SC-BT100 & Samsung HT-BD2T Blu-ray HTiB Systems

Video Performance
The SC-BT100 delivers up to 1080p video and boasts Deep Color and the Final Standard Profile for advanced functions such as Bonus View and audio mixing. If your display doesn’t do 1080p just set the SC-BT100’s HDMI output to Auto and you’ll get the highest resolution possible.

Movie (or Soundtrack) Performance
The Iron Man Blu-ray made a strong impression, especially in the scene where Iron Man tangles with a fighter jet. Wow, the swirling surround effects of a speeding man and plane were excellent, and the film’s massive explosions rocked my world. Bass went deeper than average for a HTiB, and dynamics were good, but not great. The high-resolution, lossless Dolby TrueHD soundtrack sounded no better than plain vanilla Dolby Digital over the SCBT100. The Talented Mr. Ripley DVD was more sedate, but thoroughly enjoyable. There’s a bunch of scenes set in jazz clubs, and I had no doubt the music was recorded live, not dubbed in postproduction. Also noteworthy: The wireless surround speakers’ sound quality was on par with the wired front speakers.

Music Performance
The Rolling Stones’ Shine A Light concert CD sounded somewhat harsh. On the upside, the blend between the speakers and subwoofer was above average and that goes a long way towards reducing the undernourished quality you get with a lot of HTiBs. The SC-BT100 is gutsy enough to play fairly loud, but dynamics and bass definition were only fair. Since treble detail and air were in short supply, classical music was even less appealing than rock.

Bottom Line: Abundant features and compact size should satisfy tech savvy buyers. Better yet, the SC-BT100’s clarity and poise on movies kept my attention on the story. After all, pulling you into the environment of the film is what home theater sound is all about—it should be so good that you become immersed without really noticing it. The SC-BT100’s music skills were noticeably less terrific, fine for background listening, but that’s it. PB

Samsung HT-BD2T

Samsung debuted the HT-BD2T early this year with much fanfare; it was after all billed as “the world’s first Blu-ray home theater (in box) system.” That was then, but now that it’s no longer the lone Blu-ray HTiB, the HT-BD2’s features lineup still seems pretty impressive—there’s full HD 1080p capability, and not just for Blu-ray discs, but DVDs as well. And while most HTiB’s make-do with 5.1 channels, the HD-BD2 offers 7.1-channel sound! It’s a sleek, contemporary design and will look great partnered with your big screen set.

Consider this HTiB if: You want a 7.1-channel system, a system that includes a bonafide powered subwoofer, and a system that looks as pretty as a sleek plasma HDTV.

Look elsewhere if: You realize for this much money you could buy a Blu-ray player, A/V receiver and a decent sat/sub speaker package. Also look further if you want to switch video sources such as a cable box or game through the HTiB (the HT-BD2T doesn’t support these options).

What Comes in The Box?

• A 1,100 watt (total), 7.1-channel, FM-only A/V receiver with an integrated, slot loading Blu-ray player.
• 7.1-channel speaker system featuring four 51-inch tallboy speakers (for use as left/right main and side-surround speakers), a matching centerchannel speaker, two smaller rear surround speakers, and a 150-watt powered subwoofer.

Accessories include a remote control, color-coded composite video, speaker, subwoofer cables, and an FM antenna. You’ll need an HDMI cable since none is included.

Setup and User Interface
The four tallboy speakers consist of three parts: a circular, weighted base, a lower column, and the speaker itself. They plug into each other and we had them assembled in just a few minutes. Otherwise, the HT-BD2T’s hookup was easy as pie—the speaker wires all have locking connectors that plug into the receiver/Blu-ray player and bare wire ends that you insert into the speakers spring-clip connectors. Considering the HTBD2T’s top-tier status, you might expect auto speaker setup or calibration, but alas you’re on your own.

That said, the out-of-the-box sound was more than decent, but a fussy sound-quality-minded listener (like me) will want to run test tones through all the speakers in order to adjust volume levels for each channel. Unfortunately, the owner’s manual doesn’t make it easy to figure out how to turn on the test signals, so here’s a head’s up—test tones can be switched on by pressing the red {A} button on the remote. After running the tones we noted the center and surround channels were a little loud, so we nudged them down a few decibels. The subwoofer has its own volume control (a rarity for HTiB subs), so adjusting the bass volume is a snap.