Customer Ratings & Reviews

I really wanted this to work for me but after replacing the amplifier for the back two wireless surround speakers and still have the sound drop every so often I had to return this one and pick up the wired version (Sony BDV-E3100 AV System) I am finally very happy. My guess it I have too much Bluetooth going on in the room which caused interference. I must say I do love Sony products and Best Buys return policy is the best!

This unit has a few issues. At only a week old: the sound from optical cuts in and out. Blue rays have to be turned all the way up to hear the words. The music is overpowering the words on most all blue rays. Speakers are crackling when base hits. Occasionally have to unplug unit to reset because it freezes up. I truly wish I had my old one back......

First, I would like to say if you are looking for a theatrical 5.1 Dolby digital at home for a reasonable price - you can definitely buy this one. The Blu-ray player has some issues with the programming wherein it does not always connect with my Sony Bravia TV, but after restarting it, it works fine with a single remote. Also, the rear speakers have a receiver, which reduces the wiring in my living room,

I bought the Sony BDV N5200W system to replace my newish Samsung HT-Z320T/XAA. Both are relatively high powered 5.1 entertainment systems and both have/had plenty of features that met my needs. The fan gave out on the Samsung (easy fix) and it was time for an upgrade. Both these systems have “protection” circuits built in and subsequently audio at times lags. My biggest complaint about the Sony is that the optical digital input for the TV “drops” if the TV is turned off overnight. This is most swiftly remedied by switching to FM, waiting till sound kicks in, then going back by cycling thru the function key back to TV. If someone has a “better” solution, I am all ears. The front right speaker had “crackling” going on when I first installed the Sony and even though I bought a two year geek squad warranty, I opted to send just the speaker off for replacement. (I really did not want to pack up the entire unit because I knew it was just that speaker by swapping the L and R channels.) I take no points off for the crackling, but I recommend listening to an audio CD you are familiar with that runs the audio gamut to evaluate the speakers worth BEFORE your warranty gets too old. The features are almost endless and I suggest Sony create a series of YouTube tutorials to school us all on the features instead of trying to hash it out in a manual that is hard to follow.

It's a nice system, easy to setup. The sound is great but it will freeze up when in the Audio mode when watching TV and Netflix will freeze up sometimes. Sometime the rear speakers will go in and out. I would like to see the display on the front or the Blue Ray player so you know what mode you your in. I have had to unplug the unit to rest it and the customer should not have to do that. Sony... Please fix these bugs and you would have a great product. I give it 3.75 stars.

I was excited to see this product out right after I spent $4,000.00 on 2 Sony 4K TV's. I have been greatly DISAPPOINTED. The quality just plain sucks. Both players frequently freeze and refuse to change input sources. Often times we end up unplugging the units to re-boot them. Sometimes this works and sometimes it does not. The units are only 4 months old. One is in the shop even though Sony documented it could not be fixed because according to Best Buy, Sony does not have repair parts available. Both units freeze and refuse to open to eject movies. I found a trick but only after calling Sony's hot line and being put on hold for over 30 plus minutes only to talk to someone in a third world country. I expected much better from Sony after having nothing but Sony products in our home (TV's, and home theater systems in every room). The design has a major flaw based on other negative feedback I have see on this site and other sites all over the internet. I will be replacing with a Samsung based on the level of hassles we have been getting when trying to get these fixed.

I went into Best Buy a few days ago to purchase a smart TV and a sound system for a graduation present to myself and I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for in a sound system other than the fact I wanted surround sound. When I spoke with the Best Buy Employee, he was extremely helpful and nice and thoroughly answered all my questions I had. I was a little uneasy about purchasing the sound system because I was afraid I would have buyer's remorse, get home, and find out, to my horror, it wouldn't work, BUT it more than worked. The sound, when coming through all the speakers, completely blew my mind (and nearly blew my family out of the room). My dad, cousin and I cranked the sub-woofer as high as it would go and the sound actually vibrated every wall and my bed! If you are looking for a surround sound system that isn't over-priced AND that works wonderfully, purchase this one immediately! You won't regret it. Not only is the sound crisp and imitate a cinema theater sound quality, the blu-ray player is AWESOME! When it opens it slides up and over, like something off of Back To The Future! The remote is pretty easy to use and figure out as well. You have a special Netflix button and others (Amazon maybe?) If I had to list one thing that was somewhat of a non-positive, it would be the setting everything up. Even though I'm not technologically incompetent, putting it all together wasn't a piece of cake. Good news is everything's color coded, bad news--you have to read a lot in the directions. My dad and cousin helped me put it together so it wasn't as bad as if I were just doing it solo. LOL. At any rate, this was worth the $399.00 dollars and am more than satisfied with my purchase and the very helpful workers at Best Buy who patiently and thoroughly answered all my questions!

Just got this system for my newly finished basement, and love it! Install was a piece of cake (follow the instructions) and setup was made very simple by the interface. It has a "football" mode that puts the announcer in front of you and the crowd all around you, and "movie" mode puts you in the movie. Very good system, perfect for my basement.

I own an older model of a Sony Home Theater system that works great. Thought I would upgrade so I can watch Youtube, etc on my TV. This system worked for 3 weeks before it stopped working. And when I say worked, I mean I got the sound to come out. I never got the mirroring to work and the web browser is a joke. I was never able to key in any values to search for anything on Youtube. Also, I hate the design. The console lays flat which means you have to get up and walk over to the unit to see which mode you are in. Who wants to do that every time they are switching sources? After 3 weeks, the source function stopped working completely and I was not able to access or setup anything. I returned it to the store and purchased a Samsung system that is no good either. Not sure who is making these systems but they all seem to be a piece of junk.

I see I am not alone in giving this product a bad review. Take a look at how many one and two star reviews there are here, and elsewhere on the internet, and that will tell you everything you need to know. I bought this system, got it home and realized the wireless rear surround speakers weren’t really wireless at all, as I was told (I see they no longer say that in the description, maybe I was told that in-store). There is a wireless receiver that the rear speakers must be wired into. Because of the layout of my living room, my inconveniently positioned fireplace, and shortness of the speaker wires, setting up the back speakers was an adventure. Setup was frustrating, but no worries, once it was done I was excited to use my new home theater. EXCEPT the HDMI out on the receiver was not working (even with a brand new HDMI cable). Back in the box it went, and about a month of waiting to get a replacement. The new system had all of the problems you will see repeated in other reviews. The wires are proprietary, with plugs on the end. This may make setup a bit easier, but it is a nightmare if the wires are too short (which they are) or if you want to upgrade to better quality wires. The unit lays almost flat, so the display is useless as it is difficult to see. Because it is not entirely flat, and the whole top slides open to insert a disc (why?!) you also could not place another component on top of it if you needed to stack. Anyway, these are all annoyances, but I finally had my system set up and ready to enjoy. I can’t express how underwhelmed I was! The sound is not great. As another reviewer said, you have to turn it up to almost max volume for it to be anywhere near loud enough and to hear dialog in movies or any type of surround sound effect at all. I wasn’t expecting to have the same “movie theater experience” you would get from a system that cost thousands of dollars from a home theater in a box unit. I didn’t have unrealistic expectations for a unit at this price point, but I WAS expecting it to be an upgrade over my TV speakers, which this unit barely was. The real fun began after I had this home theater for a while. The time it takes for this unit to power on and off is excruciating. After a while, mine began to freeze or lock up, as many reviewers noted they experienced. The longer I had it, the more frequently this occurred. The only fix was to unplug the unit and plug it back in. I don’t have to tell you how frustrating that became. Then the icing on the cake…after a year and a half the unit would not power on at all. Dead as a doorknob. The only silver lining was the sweet relief of not having to deal with this system ever again. While it hurt to shove $500 into a garbage bag, my consolation was knowing that soon it would be crushed to pieces inside of a garbage truck, where it belongs!!  So read the bad reviews carefully before hopefully NOT purchasing this product. But if you make the mistake of buying it, fear not, a nice person from Sony will someday assure you that “SONY takes into consideration all bad feedback to improve the quality of our products”. Imagine the comfort that will give you when you watch $500 drive away in a garbage truck! I replaced this piece of junk with the Onkyo Model: HT-S7800 also available at Best Buy. It is $300 more, but TRUST ME well worth it. The Dolby Atmus surround is nothing short of incredible for a theater in a box system. This is what a home theater surround sound system is supposed to sound like!

I have had this unit for under a year and when it does work it works great. The issue is getting it to actually work. Some issues I’ve seen is the unit won’t respond to eject a disk after watching it. It gets stuck in Bluetooth mode after using a Bluetooth device with it. I also have a sony Bravia that I bought at the same time and the Home theater system constantly doesn’t sync with the TV. Whenever I consider using it I automatically prepare myself to be frustrated and if I don’t feel like I can bare frustration that day I just don’t use it. It’s very rare that I use this system with no issues. I don’t recommend you buy this; I don’t recommend you send this to someone as a gift either. I read the same good reviews as you all did before I bought it and I regret it. I like to use everything that this system was designed to do, so I connect my cell phone to it to listen to music, my television to it to it to have surround sound, my gaming system to it to enjoy the sound. None of it works as it should. Buy something else if you have the option.

nice product. have been enjoying every beat of its sound and it was a great experience

I was looking to replace my old Sony surround system, with something that has more connectivity. I loved my old system but it didn't have ANY of the features this one has. As I am familiar with Sony and their sound, I knew I couldn't go wrong with them. The sound is crisp the video is sharp and the connectivity is a big plus for me. Don't let the sales people fool you, this system WILL connect to your PC on WiFi (Windows 7). So far I've only played music from my PC to the system not video. If it's not Blu-Ray what's the point right? lol Football mode is cool especially when you have that one annoying commentator that you just can't stand lol. Cable box and PS4 connected via HDMI

The system sounds really good for a home theater in a box, when it works... Unfortunately, the unit freezes all the time. I returned the first one just weeks after I purchased it, and it costs me $50 just to ship it to get repaired. About a month later, Sony sent me a new one. SAME PROBLEMS! Sometimes I turn it on and nothing shows up, just keeps blinking, and it won't turn off until I unplug it. Other times, it freezes while switching functions. This is very frustrating when you are ready to sit down and watch a movie, or even if you want to listen to music real quick. For $500, I should not have to deal with unplugging the unit several times just to get it to work. Very poor receiver.

This is a good sounding surround sound system 'in a box', but it has too many issues. Changing from one input source to another is difficult and way too slow. Way too frustrating. Returned it for a Yamaha system which is much more user friendly.

This is a very nice system for the price. The system is loaded with features and the sound/picture quality is fantastic. The speakers are very small but they still produce a good sound. The system does have flaws though. Sometimes I have to unplug the unit because everything freezes up on the screen.

I have had two other systems from Sony and was always pleased. I knew it wasn't top of the line sound but it always got the job done. This model though is a step down. Now the actual sound quality is as good or even better than the previous models. Here is where the disappointment is: Sony no longer offers the floor speakers so you are stuck with the small ones. I bought a speaker stand and Sony does not allow you to run the wires through the speaker stands. You must splice them and then run through stand and then reconnect. Also the wires are super short so you are limited on where to put the speakers. If you have a tiny TV in a small room then this will be ok. Still a good system just a step down from the prior models.

We were told at the Store that the System was wireless... When we got the Product Home only 1 speaker was wireless the rest had wires and not Long enough wires at that... But very Disappointed that we can not even Buy longer cables to Accomadate the size of the Room.. Store advised us that there was nothing they could do to make them longer. Very Dissappointed..

It's not top of the line, but it wasn't hard to set up either. No system building required so there's no need to match individual components for those not technologically advanced. The up scaling DVD player is a plus. I don't see any need to spend double the price of the tv for great sound unless your living room is the size of a concert hall!

This is the worst product I have ever seen. I always read reviews, and they were mixed, but I was stubborn and bought it anyway because I really wanted a smart home theater system, so I could finally have Hulu, something that my Google TV is just incompatible with. I thought it would be killing two birds with one stone. Biggest regret of my life. It's constantly freezing. First theres Hulu. the main reason i bought this P.O.S. Some days, i can browse through the TV shows, but when I hit "Play," it loads forever before the screen just turns black. I am then forced to unplug the player to get it to work again, and I usually have to do this more than once. Also, it seems that I can't just switch back and forth between Hulu and Netflix. If I watch Netflix first, Hulu will do the above (although it does it randomly anyway). If I watch Hulu first, Netflix will open but will say it can't play the selected title. If for some reason, I fall asleep or walk away from the TV and it powers down on its own, when I turn it back on, it's stuck on the TV function, and I can't go back to the home menu unless I unplug or turn off the unit while changing the function so that it'll turn back on to another input. I have tried factory resetting it. multiple times, and it doesn't do anything. I basically paid $500 for a brick. Don't think this is a once in a while thing either. This is almost a DAILY occurrence. I only have one good thing to say about it. The sound is amazing. I love it. Too bad, that also doesn't always work because of the constant freezing.