Some few weeks ago, the good people from LG Philippines sent to our office a 42-inch LE5500 LED LCD TV bundled with a HB965TZ Network Blu-ray Disc DVD Home Theater System. Of course, not even a battalion of marines could have kept us from promptly setting the whole rig up.

I guess, they could have had more success keeping the pope from celebrating mass.

Anyway, after unboxing the HTS, and installing everything without consulting the user's manual, we immediately connected it to the TV (or was it the TV to the HTS?).

The whole process was a lengthy and sweat-conducive affair. All worth it, needless to say, however.
We fed it a Blu-ray disc movie, pronto.

Covering the whole front of the Blu-ray player, a panel flips down when the player is turned on, or when its tray opens to swallow or eject a disc. This panel hides an iPod dock and a bunch of buttons used for manually tuning the player. A supplied remote, however, also does all the functions of these hidden buttons.

The player also comes with a USB port. Located below the disc tray, the port welcomes external media sources such as a flash drive or an external hard drive.

At the player's rear portion, meanwhile, are located the system's other connectivity options including two HDMI in; an HDMI out; outward ports for component video, composite video, optical digital, digital coaxial, and RCA audio; Ethernet; and an FM antenna.

Audio Bliss

What followed was a wonderful introduction (re-introduction?) to the notion of total entertainment, and we are not talking about the kind of entertainment one usually gets from a certain kind of establishments on Makati or Quezon avenues.

The HTS via its passive subwoofer and five satellite speakers (which one may either set up standing using the modular stands that come with the package or mount them on the wall for better space saving) gave us a nice aural jolt, without the drowning-in-loudness effect that afflict some sound systems.

Movie characters' dialogues were clear and sounds like gunfire and car engines revving up were realistic enough. Birds singing up in the trees were heard like one was actually there, enjoying more than the sights.

Video Feast

Just as importantly, however, the HTS through its Blu-ray player provided us crisp, clear pictures that we have come to expect from a next-generation digital video platform. Coupled with the Samsung LE5500 LED LCD TV, the whole system offered images and videos best described as mercilessly realistic, warts and crow's feet included.

Overall, the LG HB965TZ and LE5500 combo provided us an in-your-face, immersive experience of a total home theater entertainment as conceived of by LG engineers and product developers. While we will not be surprised by new and much improved audio-video systems coming in the next few months, for now, our deeply fickle, geeky hearts are going with the LG home theater system.

That's a no brainer.