Home > Consumer Reviews > Samsung HT-DB600 5-Disc DVD Home Theater System

I got this system about eight months ago and I have been very pleased with it. I do have a few complaints about it, however. My first complaint is the horrible remote, which never becomes intuitive no matter how much you use it. The chapter skip buttons and the fast forward buttons are one in the same. To fast forward you have to hold the chapter skip button for a few seconds. If you don't hold it long enough, you end up skipping a chapter when you simply wanted to fast forward. The fast forwarding, however, is very good, allowing up to 32x normal play speed.

Another complaint I have is the optical input. I had read that the sound lags behind the video, and I was dismayed to discover it was true. It can be very severe, like a couple of seconds. Then I discovered a way to correct it. All you have to do is pause and unpause the input source, and they will be synched. I tested this by connecting my PS2 and used it as a DVD player. The Samsung lost synch when starting a movie or skipping chapters, but after one pause and unpause of the PS2, remained perfectly synchronized.

Another complaint I have is that the rear channel sound during Dolby ProLogic II surround playback is too low in volume. You can edit the sound, though, to increase the volume to the rear speakers, and the unit remembers these values after it is turned off. I also found the Dolby Prologic II mode to be useless for anything but video games (which is what I use it for - and it is great). It makes music and tv sound like crap, so don't go out of your way to get Dolby Prologic II support if you don't intend to use it for gaming.

Even though I have some complaints about this system, I am still glad that I bought it, especially for the price that I paid; however, a lot has changed in the past eight months and many other players are offering similar features in this price range. This player is good, but it is not so good that you would not want to seriously investigate other buying options.

I bought this system over 6months now. To date I am relatively pleased with it. Imust say that the sound is EXCELLENT for a pricerange like this one's. Once you use proper Svideo cables, anormal tv picture will be of high definition.
One problem I've had is that the lens is supersensitive. Any grime on the disc causes the picture to stick/skip. It hasn't been a great problem because I've found that cleaning the discs before, helps its performance.
I agree with other reviewers that the remote is crap but could be worse. At least it works although there is a slight delay in the transmission of the signal.
I haven't found the unit to be noisy and the blue neon light is adjustable.
Lets face it at this price the features available on this unit are top dog! I have mine in a basement room about 12x18ft and it performs like a boss! Also the speakers are rather decorative and easily wall mounted. Not forgetting its also a radio and 5 disc changer playing all formats of discs including mp3 I easily recommend it to anybody wanting adecent home theatre system. If you want to spend more there are better systems available but this is adefinite quality budget player.

This is my first Home theatre system so I can't really make a justified comparison with other system but as far as I can hear, the sound quality are very good, the thumping of the bass mixed very well with the satellites... the additional features, including Dolby Pro Logic 2 that are still rare in this price range, are exceptional... I don't know why people are complaining about the remote control, I think the button are intuitively placed and if you're like most people that 90% used your rc to change channel and access menu, chances are in a month or so you'd remember where the buttons are (and this also eliminates the complaint that says there are no control button on the DVD/Receiver it self... let's be honest nobody really get out of their couch to tamper with those button... very few of us do)

Now the bad... the sound output IS limited to headphone plug... And all the bad reviews that this system got... In all the sites that contains this system's review almost 50% complaint about faults within the first warranty year... and the fact that you can't find ANY information on this system on Samsung website is a definite sign that this system IS troublesome (It's a new system, while samsung has some older system still being supported on their site)... Luckily so far I have no problem at all with my system

So I guess when you decide to buy this system, even though it is a very good one for the price, in the end you really have to ask yourself if you're feeling lucky :-)

I bought this just the other day and hooked it up with the included A/V cables and it worked jut fine. Then I went out and bought component cables to take advantage of the system's Progressive Scan capabilities. I hooked it up and tried to watch the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition. It worked fine and looked amazing but then I switched it to DTS and there was a random loud thumping noise coming from the subwoofer. It's very audible and very distracting during quieter scenes. It sounds like someone rubbing their hands over an inflated balloon. I checked around on the internet and found a few other people having this problem. One of them spoke with a customer service representative and he told him that this happened because DTS and Progressive Scan are not compatible which sounds crazy to me. We think it's a design flaw. I've emailed customer service myself and I hope they can help me but until then, be very wary when considering this system. If you don't have a progressive scan TV, don't worry about it and get this system which is actually a very good deal. If you want progressive scan and DTS (my personal favorite audio language) then avoid this system until Samsung gets this worked out. Any help you all can offer will be appreciated.

We have had nothing but trouble with the DVD player since day 1. It locks up on ALL DVDs and in all slots at least once requiring a "reboot" so to speak. You have to turn the DVD player on and off, open and close the drawer, ect. to get anything to play. These same discs play with no problem on our single player on another TV. It's really ridiculous. This is the last Samsung product we'll buy.