Price Paid:  $500.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
I recieved this product as a wedding gift, so at VERY least I didn't lose any money on it. And I will preface my review by saying that anyone who reviews this product with a 4 or 5 star rating looks conspicuously like a Sony employee sent into these forums to give some good reviews to an obviously terrible product. you can tell because these reivews look less like authentic reviews and more like an inventory of this product's "features"--same that a sales person would give you. You think SOny would be a little smarter.

onward-- usually I don't have problems with Sony products, but this system proves to be the exception. It's usability is incredibly slow- i hope you have a good 15 minutes if you want to load a disc into all 5 slots at once. it's sound quality isn't great--but then again, it is an inexpensive system. However, I read a review on this product at either this or another website that used the analogy of complaining when your $500 car doesn't run like a $30,000 car. True- but wouldn't you like your $500 car to AT LEAST run? there is a difference between comparing a low system to a high system, and comparing a low system to a working system. This is not a $30,000 system, but be prepared to dread having spent only the $500 on it. Anyway, sound quality is average, picture quality is decent. But like soooooo many others, my unit has just recently frozen. I went to turn the turner off and the unit is stuck flashing "standby". this is awesome. after reading the other reviews in here i really dread what is ahead of me. Please, Please, Please do not purchase this system: yes, it is very contemporary looking; yes, it is inexpensive; yes it seems like a good deal BUT IT IS NOT. Do not, I repeat, do NOT buy this product. For the love of god do not buy this product.

Strengths:
sleek looking- if that's important to you. if you like a more conservative look than looks could be considered a weakness.

easy to set up (and take down)

Weaknesses:
too many to list individually

Price Paid:  $350.00 from Electronic Express

Summary:
Please please please seek out reviews from users who have had this unit for more than a year before you purchase it. Mine started to freeze, needing to be turned off and back on, about 2 months ago. I was leaving on business and did not have time to deal with it. Now, 2 discs are stuck in it and will not come out, the DVD portion will not function at all, and if I power it off it will freeze up, displaying "standby" and will do nothing until I unplug it and plug it back in. I contacted Sony, who after great persistence on my part finally agreed to cover half of the 144.00 repair bill. Whoop tee doo. I will also have to ship the unit to California. They say this is a simple out of warranty issue because they know of no chronic service issues with this machine. They say the abundance of complaints about this exact issue easily found on the internet represent an insignificant number of buyers. If you have this unit please contact Sony so they may recognize that they do have a problem. Thanks for your time.

Strengths:
Pretty.

Weaknesses:
Short lifespan.

Price Paid:  $399.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
Sounds and looks good, but I think Sony tried to put 100lbs of crap into a 5lb bag with this unit. I've not even had the unit 9 months and its already been to the service center 2 times. I'll never make the mistake of spending $400 on Sony equipment again. Save your money if you think you're getting a good deal on this system. Customer service is good, automated voice system is not user friendly at all.

Strengths:
Sound is awesome for a smaller room. Looks cool. Doesn't take up much space.

Weaknesses:
LED display locks up, remote and panel controls fail, and system will not recover from standby mode without unplugging with the power still on(very rough on any electrical equipment). If you have a DVD in the unit, good luck getting it out if this happens. Center speaker blew out within three months, now this. Sony's customer service is fine once you get through talking to a robot for 30 minutes, just to have the same information asked for by a real person afterwards. Good luck getting through if you have a speech impedement.

Similar Products Used:
My first and last all in one unit. Especially if its from Sony.

Price Paid:  $500.00 from CircuitCity

Summary:
This unit is horrible. Buying an all-in-one unit is something my friends warned my about. But the style overrode their advice.
Shame on me! The unit repeatedly consumes DVD's and won't eject them. Trying to access the DVD mode of the unit then causes the unit to shut down. Or worse, it goes into Standby mode indefinitley. That is the last time you will see the DVD until it comes back from the Sony Service Center.
My $99 JVC always works. I'm going to send this unit back to the Sony Service center for another repair, and then sell it to some sucker on ebay.

Strengths:
Style, size.

Weaknesses:
All-in-one design leads to problems.
DVD's load extremely slowly. Plus, it jumps straight to play the disk when loaded. You can't load 3 disks in a row without stopping the last disk from playing.
Remote buttons are for small hands.

Similar Products Used:
JVC $99 DVD unit that works every time. Of course it isn't a progressive scan model.

Price Paid:  $499.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
Great product with lots of features at this price point.

Strengths:
- Digital Receiver delivers outstanding sound.
- Progressive Scan DVD
- Plays SACD
- Excellent sound reproduction. Sounds as good or better than many $1000 - $1500 systems.
- Very easy set up
- Blows away the Bose 1-2-3

Weaknesses:
- Proprietary speaker connections
- DVD player is slow to load and eject disks.
- Small buttons on the remote