Samsung HT-J5500W 5.1 Channel 1000-Watt 3D Blu-Ray Home Theater System (2015 Model)

I bought this to replace my old Samsung system that I bought in 2012. I first hooked it up to my Samsung TV I was disappointed - at first. The old system synced very well to my Samsung TV. I didn't have the optical cable when I put the new system together and at this point I also had more HDMI ports before. Once I had the optical cable the units synced right up. I also realized I didn't need as many ports since Netflix, etc. now come directly to the unit. There was one other glitch with getting the wireless speakers working, called customer service and they quickly talked me through it. After all that I have to say I am very happy with the purchase. Sound is good. System works great. Good price for a good system.

I have not even owned this one year yet and it's almost useless. About 3 months after buying it the speakers started to make a crackling noise that would just come out of nowhere which turned into loud static noise. I would be watching tv or listening to music and BAM very loud static blaring over the speakers and no matter what I did it wouldn't stop so I would turn it off and it might be 10 minutes or 2 days but eventually I would turn it on to check it and it would be back to normal. This went on for months until recently now the speakers just stop putting any sound out at all, it may be 2 min after turning it on or 4 hours after and the only way to get the sound back is to physically unplug the power from the back of the unit and wait a bit then plug it back in. In addition to that the remote and buttons on the unit become unresponsive all except the power and volume and unplugging the unit fixes this but for only a very short time and then it becomes unresponsive again. Lastly the bluetooth will not connect or even show up on my device until I unplug the unit. The sound was pretty good when it worked just wished it would have lasted longer that 3 months before issues started and 10 months before it was just a pile of junk. Samsung is not what it used to be I would not recommend this system.

It's not a top notch system, but I needed something that was an upgrade from 15 year old Bose Companion computer speakers. I bought this open-box on Amazon Warehouse Deals, it came with some scuffs, but everything was there. I did a rough set up and need to tweak positioning, but they sound pretty good for sub-$200! Having a sub is pretty cool. Clarity isn't the best, but it's my bedroom and not a dedicated movie treated room. The navigation on the blu ray is fantastic. I think Samsung has the best navigation and UI. Easy and fast to use. Surprised it has 3D capability at this price range!

I have always been a firm believe that if you want great home theater then you need to have an A\V receiver. This system however has proven me wrong. I bought this system primarily because you could have semi-wireless re-speakers. The speakers receive power from the additional box in the picture. The box itself is wireless but it is a receiver that transmits the audio signal and power to the rear speakers. The receiver works up to 15 feet away with clear line of sight and the unit sounds superb, even at half power it is more than loud enough to fill a large room with surreal sound quality. I would recommend this product for anyone looking to avoid running speaker wire for rear speakers. Update to my review after about 10 months the unit randomly turns off no rim or reason. not sure why as its not being taxed in any way, just cuts out. the other issue we have had is if you hook up the fiber optic input the audio cuts out but the unit remains on again no rim or reason. its unfortunate that there isn't another manufacture out there fore this technology as Samsung has had problems with quality control.

We purchased the Samsung HT-J5500W 5.1 Channel 1000-Watt 3D Blu-Ray Home Theater System (2015 Model) because our old surround system wasn't really surround and started to get very "tinsy" -- good for Disney films, but not anything else. Putting it together was very easy. All of the wires are color coded. Make sure that you read the instructions all the way through before putting it together. You will need specific wires to hook up to your tv/satelite/etc that you might not have and will have to make a quick run to Radio Shack. The surround sound is great. You actually can hear the background noises on shows and the crowd on sporting events. We have been using the Samsung for a while now and have experienced no problems at all. If I was to get another surround system, it would be this one.

I had very high hopes for this surround-sound DVR system ...I am happy with some things, but highly disappointed with many aspects. Pros: The surround sound quality is very good watching netflix or a DVD; no complaints with the sound. If has a very nifty feature that lets you record from FM radio. Great when there's a music special on. Menu system is easy to navigate; setup was simple. Cons: I have a Samsung smart phone that supports screen mirroring; this unit says it supports screen mirroring. The 2 Samsung devices will NOT connect for screen sharing. Only via bluetooth can I connect for audio only. They clearly did not test with their own devices; very poor. They claim "two wireless rear speakers". This is only partially true and only of "partial" value. The rear speaks are WIRED to a wireless receiver box, that requires a wall outlet for power. The speaker wire connectors to the box are proprietary -they are NOT standard slip-in bare wire connectors. So- you can't extend the distance between speakers and you must start from a place you can plug into the wall (where it is always powered on). I have no way to wall mount the speakers where a previous system's speakers were mounted; instead they are on the floor a few feet apart. They claim "access to your favorite websites, games, apps, and media." They claim "Opera TV store lets you choose from hundreds of apps". I do not find any of this to be true in the least. There is NO real web browser. You may only browse from the 150(?) apps within the OperaTV venue. Other than 3 or 4 common apps (Netflix, Hulu,...) the rest of the "apps" are absolutely worthless. Most are "websites" that look like home garage made movies -nothing you've ever heard of. And a calculator app? ...it's not really the place I'd go to for adding up numbers. The "app store" is just plain embarrassing. When I turn the TV on, it auto-starts the Samsung box (connected via HDMI) -which would be great if it fully worked. Rather, I loose sound all together, unless I crank the Samsung way the heck up. If I'm connected to my "over air" antenna, it chops up the picture and then drops the signal moments later. So have to have the Samsung remote in-hand, so I can shut it off to watch regular TV. It does have an FM tuner that does work good; you can, from the unit front panel, change stations, but you have to find the remote to change volume -slightly annoying. I gave it the "benifit" of 3 stars because if you stick to just the DVD and Netflix, as I think most people do, you'll likely be happy with it. But if you are looking at this, as I was, because it has a full, robust list of features that make your eyes go wide open, well, it's just not there in this unit. It needs a serious update to the operating system -so I hold out hope.

For the money, this is an excellent system. I give it 5 stars for doing a very good job at what it was designed for. My TV is not ARC (audio return channel) compliant so I could not play sound from the TV on this system with only the HDMI cable. It needs an optical audio cable to play things like Netflix via the TV (instead of via unit). However, my TV is new enough that the sound it does play via the optical cable is 5.1, not 2.0 like some older TVs. So in the end I got what I wanted. Pros: ~Good sound ~Easy to set up. Color coded wires makes it simple. ~Nice design. Cons: ~Lack of inputs and outputs. This system is really limited to a set top box and TV. If that's all you need, great. But if you want to add a gaming system or anything else, you are limited to a RCA connection. If your TV is ARC compliant, you do get the optical audio port for other components. ~Rear speakers are not very loud. I went into the setting and turned them to +6db (the max), so that helped. ~Rear speakers are not truly wireless. There are cables that run from the rear hub (which is wireless from the base) to the rear speakers. I don't mind this at all, but don't be mislead by the 'wireless' claim. ~You can't plug your set top box (Uverse, DirecTv, etc...) directly into this unit. The video must go to the TV and then from there to this product. No video pass-through, which in my opinion is a much easier and more flexible. So for the limited needs it fills, it does an excellent job. If you need more inputs or outputs, look further.

Do not buy. I should have done more research before purchasing, but I assumed (incorrectly) that Samsung would produce a HTIB for basic home theater needs. They did not. I will explain the major cons below: 1. HDMI ports: There is ONLY one HDMI IN and one optical IN. I can understand that with the ability to stream, HDMI inputs are becoming a thing of the past, but for the average consumer, someone with a cable box and either a gaming system or some type of external system, you need at least a second HDMI input port. I had to try out a HDMI switcher, but a purpose having a HTIB (home theater in a box) is to minimize gadgets cluttering up your entertainment space. Only having one HDMI input port is a real bummer. 2. Speaker Wire Exclusivity: While HTIB systems are primarily designed for the beginner audiophile, one of the major attractions of upgrading your basic systems to surround sound, etc, is the ability to upgrade your speakers as well. The HT-J5500 comes with the basic speaker wires on one end, and a designated clip on the other end, exclusive to speaker ports on the back of the system. These are the only wires you can use, so I had to rewire my entire living room's wiring, just to be able to plug in their basic surround speakers. Again, the HTIBs are best for someone who hasn't already done this, but it provides an issue for anyone who already has a basic setup and just needs to upgrade their equipment. 3. Configuration: With all the bells and whistles this system features, it truly lacks in terms of the basic configuration of the system to work with your TV, cable box, etc. Every single time I turn this thing on, my TV doesn't recognize the input, mainly because the receiver is processing so many other features instead of just providing the source to the TV. It's quite annoying. 4. Cynavia Protection: Enough said. With all that said, I can't, in good conscience, recommend this product to anyone who has a basic understanding of home theater systems. So please, do not purchase this.