Piecing together a home theater can be daunting and expensive. Pioneer wants to take some of the stress and guesswork out of the whole process with its latest product, the HTZ-BD32 home theater system.
Designed for use anywhere in the house, the HTZ-BD32 features everything you'd need to create a home theater. It has a Blu-ray 3D player and up to 1100 watts of amplification, all in one box. There are also six speakers to create a full 5.1-channel setup. That includes two front satellites, one center channel, two rear speakers and a 250-watt subwoofer.
That Blu-ray player can play both 3D and 2D Blu-rays, and offers DVD, AVC, SACD and CD playback. It can also deliver 1080p upscaling and has two HDMI inputs, in case you want to add in something like a set-top box.
Other features include support for Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II, and Virtual 3D sound. The system also adds in Pioneer's own Advanced Sound Retriever technology, which promises to deliver compressed audio with near-CD quality playback.
Another nice feature is the included cradle, which allows those with an iPod and/or iPhone to add the unit (and a wealth of other entertainment) in with ease.
Promising a plug-and-play setup, the system includes color-coded wires, making it impossible to mess up. It's also easy to network, with built-in WiFi, DLNA 1.5 and the possibility of Bluetooth (via the add-on AS-BT200). That WiFi may come in handy to access some of the system's web-based features, such as Netflix, Pandora, YouTube and Picasa. (Some subscriptions and/or fees may be required.)
"Our Home Theater in a Box system is ideal for consumers who want to bring that full surround sound experience into their homes easily and cost effectively," said Chris Walker, director of AV marketing and product planning for the Home Electronics Division of Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. "The HTZ-BD32 is compact enough that it can be enjoyed in any room, and includes all the required hardware so all you'll need to do is a basic setup."
Pioneer expects the HTZ-BD32 to start selling this month, with an MSRP of $499.
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