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Home Theater Features Comparison

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Blu Ray Players, Blu-Ray, DVD, HDTVs, HiFi, Home Theaters, Home Theatre, Internet TV, LCD Monitors, LCD TVs, Music, Televisions, TV
Also see our full Home Theater review:
  1. Cheap Home Theater, Best Cheap Home Theaters
  2. Home Theater Reviews, HTiB Review
  3. Discount Home Theater Features Comparison Table

When shopping for a cheap home theater in a box (HTiB), skip systems that have an integrated Blu-ray player if you have a device you're happy with. Most discount home theaters include 5.1 speakers (i.e., five speakers and a subwoofer), which is sufficient for small to medium-sized rooms. The total watts of the system will give you a rough idea of how loud the system is. Look for a cheap home theaters package with plenty of inputs and outputs so you can connect your other equipment to it. Discount home theaters with integrated Blu-ray players should support Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio for the best quality movie audio. Finally, if you like streaming services such as Netflix, look for a cheap HTiB with an integrated Blu-ray player that supports it.

Blu-ray/DVD player Number of speakers Total watts Connectivity Audio formats supported Streaming services
Samsung HT-BD1250 estimated price $450
Blu-ray 5 satellites, 1 subwoofer 1000w USB, 2x optical audio inputs, Ethernet port, iPod support Dolby Pro Logic II, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby TrueHD Netflix, Pandora
Onkyo HT-S3200 estimated price $294
N/A 5 satellites, 1 subwoofer 660w 3 HDMI, 2 component video, 4 composite, 2 digital audio inputs Dolby Pro Logic II, Dolby Digital, DTS N/A
Sony HT-SS360 estimated price $240
N/A 5 satellites, 1 subwoofer 1000w 3 HDMI inputs, 1 HDMI output, 3 audio inputs DTS, Dolby Digital , Dolby Pro Logic II N/A
Panasonic SC-BT200 estimated price $400
Blu-ray 7 satellites, 1 subwoofer 1000w SD card slot, Ethernet port, 1 HDMI, 1 component video, 2 digital audio inputs, integrated iPod doc Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD Master Audio Amazon Video-on-demand, YouTube, Picassa
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