Samsung's flagship Blu-ray HTIB has two HDMI ins, wireless rear speakers
Samsung has announced its new flagship Blu-ray HTIB, which has two HDMI inputs, wireless rear speakers, and built-in Wi-Fi.
LAS VEGAS--Blu-ray home-theater-in-a-box systems are hardly unique anymore, but Samsung's flagship HT-D6730W is packed with features, including built-in Wi-Fi, wireless rear speakers, and two HDMI inputs.
The HT-D6730W is a 7.1 system with 1,330 watts of total power. Samsung is also offering a sound-processing mode called "3D Sound Plus"; we don't have many details on what that means yet, but we'll update this blog if we get more information.
The system's connectivity is highlighted by two HDMI inputs and it also features an iPod/iPhone dock. Samsung's press release indicates that it's a separate dock again this year, unlike the more convenient built-in docks offered by last year's LG and Panasonic systems.
The HT-D6730W's Blu-ray features are similar to other high-end Blu-ray players Samsung is showing at CES 2011. It's 3D compatible and also has built-in 2D-to-3D conversion processing. Of course, most 3D TVs we've reviewed last year can also convert 2D content to 3D, but it will provide buyers with another option for 2D-to-3D video processing.
The HT-D6730W also has built-in Wi-Fi and can access Samsung Apps, which opens up a wide variety of streaming media services, including Netflix, Vudu, YouTube, Pandora, Blockbuster, and Twitter. New for 2011 is Samsung's Smart Hub, which is a unified search feature that looks through all of the streaming media services for content and also to make viewing recommendations. Of course, that's what Google TV promises, too (and didn't quite deliver), so we're eager to see how Smart Hub works in practice. Its also DLNA-compliant, so you can stream your personal music, photos, and videos from a connected PC.
Samsung also has a new "1-foot connection" feature for Wi-Fi connectivity, which allows you to connect to your router without using a password if the device is within a foot of the router. One-foot connection only works with compatible Samsung routers, however.
Samsung says pricing will be announced closer to the release date, and right now there's no specific release date except "first half 2011."