Digital Trends

Samsung HT-X710T October 3rd, 2008 | by Nick Mokey

Tuner

Including a built-in FM tuner seems like a no-brainer for any A/V receiver, but Samsung failed to include any of the extra features we’ve come to expect from a digital receiver worth its salt. For one, while every other mode offers an on-screen video display, the FM tuner disconnects from the TV entirely and uses only the set-top display, which is hard to read if it’s been positioned to lay down. Furthermore, the display offers nothing but the frequency you’ve tuned to, neglecting to add RDS data about the station, track and artist that even many stock car radios now support. We can’t figure out why Samsung didn’t incorporate both of these into a simple display through the TV output, but both were sorely missed when using the device for radio listening.

1080p Upconversion

In general, the DVD player did an acceptable job upconverting DVDs to 1080p, but not the best we've seen. For instance, the sharp sans-serif font on one DVD menu produced egregious pixelation artifacts that should have been antialiased better by the player. We found quality to be about on-par to the upconversion found in most Blu-ray players, like Samsung's own BD-P1500, which we tested it alongside. However, it doesn't touch the smoothness and refinement of top-notch upconverters like Oppo's DV-981HD.

Conclusion

Although its unique style differentiates this system from rather plain competitors if you can find a place for its awkward receiver in your own home, everything else about the X-710T only reaches mediocrity. In aspiring to put so many functions into one player, Samsung seems to have forgotten to polish the interface at all, and left it in a crude, half-baked state. The inexcusable lack of an equalizer, cruddy system for MP3 and DivX playback, and sparse options for adding other components all weigh against it. But then again, there aren’t too many other all-in-one systems that attempt that much, in this price range. If you truly plan to use all these features, you might be better off spending more money for a system that does them properly, but if you prioritize sound quality, $500 could buy you a nicer 2.1-channel system that doesn’t try to pile so much on its plate.

Pros:
 
• Many features in one system
• Surprisingly simple Bluetooth connectivity
• Easy setup


Cons:
 
• Bulky, awkward receiver
• No equalizer
• Poorly organized, inconsistent menus
• Only two auxiliary audio inputs for adding components
• Lackluster midrange