20 most worthless pieces of junk: #9 -- The home theater sound system

Unh, no, sorry, not buying it. Yes Home Theatre (HT) has a plethora of remotes and can be confusing "at times" but surround sound to me is more than half the HT experience. Whats the sense of a big screen and tiny speakers? Also you've over complicated the process. To get Dolby Digital sound on my system I press 2 buttons, one to turn on the screen and the other to turn on the HT receiver. The cable box stays ON.

Additionally, there's a lot of smart folks out there that understand your frustration and have been attacking "remote clutter" and confusion since HT began. Logitech makes several "universal" remotes that can solve your problem. I personally use the "Harmony One". Once you or your husband program it on your home computer you need press only ONE BUTTON to get your system to do what you want it to do.

The Harmony One is so easy even my wife can use it. No... giving up technology just because you find it too cumbersome or complicated doesn't make any sense to me and, unfortunately, I think you'll find yourself in the minority on this one.

Da Worfster

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New HD TV's can not come close to replicating the home theater experience. Then again your sisters-in law probably purchased you a 199.00 dollar home theater in a box, a true home theater system would have came with a minimum 5 speakers and one subwoofer, not 4 speakers total. If the person who wrote this article cant figure out how to use it, I doubt it was installed correctly in the first place. Why would you want to listen to listen to the tv speakers anyway after having a system that sounds so much better? Spend some money to have a reputable company (like I did) install your system correctly along with a Universal Remote and you never would have written this article.

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I totally agree with the comments... HD TV without the surround sound just doesn't cut it! And the Logitech Harmony One universal remote ROCKS!!

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as HDTVs get thinner and thinner the internal speakers have to get smaller and smaller, audio reproduction from a HDTV along can not physically sound terrific!
Universal remotes can eliminate clutter, Harmony remotes from Logitech are activity based, one button to do several tasks!
Sorry but totally disagree with this!

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I love my surround system. I have programed my remote to use my TV, reciever and DVD player. It's not the most useless thing that can be purchased.

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Excuse me folks, but what are you talking about? If you have cable, all you do is program your cable remote control to operate all appliances connected to your TV. BTW, flat screens come with terrible sound, and you have to get external speakers to really enjoy watching it.
As for the price of home theatre system, you get what you can afford. AND still use ONE remote control.

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No way! Just add a Logiteck remote and it will control all devices with one click.

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The woman who wrote this piece is both right and wrong! If you don't have a remote like the Harmony One (Which I will now check out based on previous comments) you do need to use at least two remotes and sometimes three. That is definitely a pain in the a$$. If you have a wife or someone else watching TV with you, they often also want their own remote to flip channels, etc. Most universal remotes aren't capable of providing ALL the functions of the original remote for an AV receiver, DVD player or even advanced TVs, etc.. Maybe this Harmony One is an exception, but my experience is that you need a remote for the cable box/TV (usually the cable company's does both "good enough" when programmed) and one for the AV receiver. In NO WAY does the speakers on an HD TV come even close to those used for a surround sound system. You use at least two senses when watching TV or movies...sight and hearing. Munching on food is usually another, but we won't go there. Other senses can also be used depending on the movie/TV show...we won't go there either. A good AV system make a HUGE difference in your TV/movie watching experience and is worth every penny of the possible pain to use it and $$$ investment.

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This has to be the stupidest article I have ever read. I would be embarrassed to write something like this.

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This lady is nuts. No tv can compare to a good sound system, and it should always be used, the tv speakers are not needed, and basically they all stink compared to a good surround sound system with 5 speakers plus a sub-woofer.

Its not big deal to use more than one remote, and remotes should only be missing if you dont have a place to keep them, like in a remote control holder, duh.

Even my wife has adapted to it.

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I don't mind multiple remotes, but for those who do, they have these new-fangled things called universal remotes or learning remotes that can be taught to do a number of functions simultaneously--even lower the room lights and draw the shades, if desired. These remotes have been around for at least a decade. Perhaps the author should know his subject before writing about it.

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Obviously this person lives in the dark ages & has not done their homework otherwise they would not have written such a ridiculous article.

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Being in the industry, I can tell you that her response is not uncommon. Everyone doesn't share the same perceptual experience to surround sound initially...and if you're married, you probably know what I mean. The problem I see most now is that just as in recent years, people would buy a magnificent home but not budget enough money to fully furnish it...the same mindset is going into purchasing tv's. People are buying the largest TV they can afford, (whether or not the space permits), and sacrificing the items that would make for a better A/V experience, ie. no remote, cheap sound systems, do-it-yourself installations. I realize that everyone wants to save a dollar and I support that, but many people are short-cutting there overall experience, because of lack of planning and/or not seeking some professional help, and thereby becoming unhappy or less satisfied with there individual pieces of equipment.

In conclusion...While some flat panels do indeed have pretty good sounding speakers with simulated surround modes, etc., they would not compete with a decent surround system. I say decent because you don't have to break the bank for a decent system. And as many others have said, the right universal remote is worth the cost at the end of the day. I have found that customers that would not buy remotes from us years ago have now come back after juggling all their original remotes for an amount of time.

Now, if you don't watch tv much, then the expense of a remote, surround sound, etc. may not be that important. It's all subjective. One should procede based on their own personal lifestyles, not their neighbors.

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My frustration with this equipment is how rarely is can be used. . .at least at our house. We have two kids who go to bed fairly early. Since we live in a modest home, turning on the "loud" speakers would blast into their bedrooms too. So, if my husband and I sit down to watch a movie after the kids are in bed, we are watching it with the regular sound, turned low.
I am always amused when I take house tours and see the media room on the second floor placed squarely between all the bedrooms. Who plans theses things?

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The built-in surround sound audio systems work on the same principal as external sound bars. They attempt to use speaker placement with existing walls to mimick having dedicated speakers. There is no way that this is going to come close to matching a real surround sound system. Granted it will sound much better than traditional built in speakers. The person who wrote article probaby can't tell the difference or was using crappy surround sound system as a point of reference. It would be more helpful if these kinds of articles are written by people who an understanding of technology

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You completely lost my support by this one. A surround sound system is worthless because you have to press a few extra buttons on a remote to use it? Wow.

Watching a movie with the horrid built-in sound on a new HDTV can be quite frustrating.

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After reading the first two paragraphs of this one item that caught my eye (#9) I can only assume the rest of the suggestions are equally worthless.

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So your biggest complaint about the home-theater system is all the remotes? Maybe you haven't heard of this lovely device called a Universal Remote.

Logitech makes a great line called the Harmony series. Its painless to configure... plug it into your computer, tell the software what devices you have and how you use them together (IE, TV + surround sound + DVD player to watch a movie, TV + cable box to watch tv, etc), and it automagically programs the remote.

If you're going to gripe about something, at least make a logical argument. This argument (too many remotes... too many buttons) is just being lazy.

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*sigh* As a woman, you are making us look bad with this article. "Too many remotes is too complicated, *giggle*" Sorry, but if you've invested in an HD system, a good sound system is a must. I researched and bought the pieces myself, hooked them up, adjusted the settings, AND can handle all the remotes.

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