Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony DAV-DZ260 - 5.1 ch - DVD Home Cinema System - Black

This is great piece of kit. It truly feels like you're in a cinema. Just watched a bit of pirates of the caribbean and the quality is so much better! (upscaled to hd). the sound is amazing crisp and clear, and the sub-woofer is superb, enough to rattle the ornaments off your table.

The setup is extremely clever and useful, it gives you options on where to put the speakers for maximum performance and so it knows where to blast the sound. You also have a great little microphone configuration thingy, where you put the mic where you'd normally sit (at ear level) and it figures out the right amount of sound for each speaker and finds out where to channel the sound.

It looks great by the way, sleek and thin, but it's actually quite long. (the picture doesn't show that the actuall player goes quite far back)

The radio is amazing! (gets a 100% signal almost everywhere i put it)

I can easily play music and look at photos from my memory stick and plug my ipod touch in and enjoy music!

ONLY BAD THING:

This is a superb machine, and would be even better if you had a ps3 so you could use the player to get the gaming sound perfect.

Sadly, it can't connect to the 360, so i've still got to use the tv speakers when playing my xbox. Theres just no audio in! But i may be able to use an optical splitter. (hopefully)

anyway, i've got to say it's a must buy and for this bargain price you can't lose.

p.s. the delivery was pretty decent, Ordered on the 20ths of may using super saver delivery, and it came on the 27th (at like 4pm) from hdnl.

a great piece of kit!

After having the dz230 with absolutely NO inputs I deceided to upgrade to dz260 as I wanted to utilise the DD5.1 from my Sky HD & Xbox 360. Delivery from Amazon was excellent as usual and the system is very basic to set up even customising is straight forward. Now my only issue was a lack of optical input (obviously this system only has 1 optical in) and both Sky HD and Xbox 360 have optical out's but a simple purchase of a 3 way toslink switch (not splitter as Sky boxes still output a signal even when they are in standbye mode which will cause signal failure!!) and 3 x toslink cables and job done. I have read in many forums about different set ups and some people saying that the optical switch's don't work etc etc but for anyone looking for a great home cinema system and looking to connect Sky HD, Sky+ & Xbox 360 via optical this has worked for me a treat!! You also get the DD5.1 icon appear on the front of the DAV when it receives that signal NICE!!

Optical switch was £1.99 (down from £12.99 I think) and is very good quality and cables from 99p don't be fooled into buying over the price toslink cables!! Links below.

I hope you have found this useful.

Jon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toslink-Selector-Optical-Devices-Connected/dp/B000LB0VGG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1225284068&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fisual-Digital-Optical-Cable-Install/dp/B000WTO37U/ref=sr_1_29?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1225284222&sr=8-29

This home theatre system is excellent and very good value for money, compared to others that are £400. The most important bit, i.e. how does it sound? well, awesome. It's big and powerful sound through the 5 speakers really, does transport you to another cinematic world and you will be enjoying your movies all over again. The speakers don't come with stands so bear this in mind.

The main part of the system is upscaler DVD. It's quite deep because it has the sound processor technology inside. the picure quality is excellent and easy to differentiate between this and a standard DVD. When I plugged my PS3 is, the difference in upscaling and Blue Ray was evident but don't let this put you off it's an excellent DVD player.

Set up was quite straight forward, the system uses a mic to identify where you are likely to site and then automatically configures the sound levels to be sent via all the speakers autoatically. It works well, as I have the perfect cinema experience.

Full spec:


Included Components DVD Player * Radio Tuner
Number Of Speakers 5 Speakers and Subwoofer
Main Speakers Power Output 142 Watt RMS
Playable Disk Types DVD Video * VCD * DVD-R * DVD-RW * DVD+R * DVD+RW * SACD * CD (Audio) * CD-R * CD-RW * DVD+R DL * DVD-VR
Subwoofer Power Output 140 Watt RMS
Playable File Formats MP3 * JPEG
Remote Control Yes
Audio
Surround Sound Dolby Digital® * DTS® * Dolby Pro Logic II
Dialog Enhancer Yes
DVD
Number of Discs 1
Progressive Scan With Progressive Scan
TV Resolutions 720p (750p) * 1080i (1125i) * 1080p (1125p)
Inputs Audio (via SCART) * Digital Audio (Optical) x 1 * Digital Audio (Coaxial) x 1
SCART Connectors Output x 2 * Input x 1
Outputs RGB (via SCART) * HDMI x 1 * Composite (via SCART) * Speaker
OSD Yes
Receiver
Rear Input Connectors Digital Coaxial x 1 * Digital Optical x 1
Rear Output Connectors HDMI x 1
Tuner
Built-in Radio Tuner AM * FM
Tuner Presets 30

All in all you won't go wrong with this one

I upgraded to this unit to replace my old Sony SAV unit of 6 years old and have not been at all dissapointed in the performance.
The only main reason for upgrade was to have the upscale functionality and previous to this purchase I had gone for the Panasonic range but returned as there is a constant low level hiss from the speakers when no sound is coming from the system. After checking alocal retailer for all models in the Panasonic range I realised this is by design.
The Sony however is quiet unless you are obviously playing something (as I would have expected).

Picture qaulity with the upscaling is fantastic on the 32" 1080i setting and the sound is awesome.
This unit also comes with a mic to use to auto calibrate the speakers which works really well.

A must buy item and it makes me realise that I should have not strayed away from Sony in the first place.

I ordered this on Tuesday, paid the extra £9, and got it delievered the following day. I was eager to get it home and get it up and running and see if what people say about this product was true.

It wasn't until the weekend I got a real play with it. The sound is amazing and the bass is second to none (apologies to my next door neighbours). There is a night button which reduces the output of the amp to the speakers and seems to kill the bass, but not enough to stop the walls from rumbling.

My PS3 is hooked via optic to the system and the sound from it is crystal clear. I like the fact that when it is a dolby signal the symbol is displayed on the front. This really does enhance the blue-ray films, we sat on Saturday night watching the Pixar shorts and they sound fantastic through the system.

You can notice the DVD up scaling going on and it does make a difference to watching your dvds on an HD TV.

If you own a Sony TV, I have the KDL37P3020, then you are in for a treat. The Bravia theatre sync (only available through HDMI) is a very good idea, it doesn't matter what remote you use, surround or tv, for adjusting the volume either of them works.

A lot of people are concerned about the lack of phono connectors on the back, do not be concerned as when you use the HDMI connection the scart socket becomes an input and you can put a phono to scart cable in the way. My tv now outputs to the system and we get the wii through the system.

I have not tried the FM or AM radio, I am not particularly bothered about this side of the surround.

I did hunt around for about a couple of months for a surround system and I decided to order this and I am glad that I did. I was considering the DAV-IS10 system but I couldn't justify spending that sort of money on a surround system. If you want a surround system with a great sound but without the wallet crippling price then this is the one for you.