Samsung HT-TX500T review: Samsung HT-TX500T
The Samsung HT-TX500T delivers sound and image quality as expected from a mid-range home theatre package.
When looking to buy a 5.1 home theatre system, the overriding concerns are sound quality, features and style. The Samsung HT-TX500T excels in all three areas making it a well-priced option for those on a budget. It is a mid-range home theatre system with a built-in DVD player and can up-scale to 1080p resolution. In addition, the unit supports unprotected DiVX content via CD or DVD and even USB.
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
Design
The player component is not the same old black box that people have come to expect in a package like this. It is slot-loaded from the top and comes with its own stand as well. It doesn't sit flat on a table but is vertically mounted on the stand with touch controls along the top. The face of the unit is also glossy with a basic blue LCD screen hidden behind it. This screen displays information such as track name, operation mode and the like.
The HT-TX500T is certainly a system that is meant to be shown off and would best suit someone who owns a Samsung television as well.
Features
With a total of 1000watts across the system, the achievable volume is quite high. It's not as loud as some units we have reviewed ut it is easily more than most people will ever need.
The system can also scale DVDs at resolutions up to 1080p at a quality far better than we expected. The player has only one HDMI port but has two component connections and can support wireless speakers using an additional dongle (not included).
Performance
The player delivered adequate image quality at standard definition (576p) and even when scaled to 720p, 1080i and 1080p. This is, of course, considering the limitations of the DVD format. There was a degree of image noise and pixelation when scaling to 1080p but that is understandable and somewhat expected.
The USB functionality is fairly rudimentary but the Samsung has simple navigation controls and is easy to use. While audio and video playback was excellent, we were disappointed with the JPEG viewer as images lost a great deal of detail and were automatically cropped to fit the 16:9 confines of the television.
Conclusion