Like the company's other 2009 Blu-ray products, this funky-looking home theater system can also stream Netflix movies and Pandora's online music service.
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John P. Falcone is the senior director of commerce content at CNET, where he coordinates coverage of the site's buying recommendations alongside the CNET Advice team (where he previously headed the consumer electronics reviews section). He's been a CNET editor since 2003.
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Self-taught tinkerer, informal IT and gadget consultant to friends and family (with several self-built gaming PCs under his belt)
The HT-X710T was one of Samsung's funkier home theater products of 2008, a 2.1-style (two speakers plus subwoofer) home theater system with a tapered, wall-mountable DVD player head unit. While the 2009 follow-up shares a similar "Touch of Color" red-accented design and curved enclosures, the HT-BD7200 gets a Blu-ray upgrade (replete with BD-Live capability and Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding) and support for streaming Netflix online video and the Pandora music service. It's also Wi-Fi-ready, but you'll need to invest in a separate USB 802.11n dongle, or stick with wired Ethernet connectivity instead. Other niceties include an iPod dock and the ability to stream audio from A2DP-compatible Bluetooth audio devices, such as music phones. Like the other Blu-ray home-theater-in-a-box systems in Samsung's 2009 lineup, the HT-BD7200 also includes a "green-friendly" kelp-based subwoofer.
The HT-BD7200 will be available in June for $800. Alternatives include the Samsung HT-BD8200 (speakerbar plus wireless subwoofer) and the HT-BD1250 (standard 5.1-channel design), which--aside from their different designs--offer the same basic feature sets.
Samsung's slick HT-BD7200 Blu-ray home theater system - photos
