Product Description

Yamaha's DVX-C300 Home Cinema System consists of A/V Receiver with integrated 5-Disc DVD Changer and Surround Sound Speaker System.PRODUCT FEATURES:Silent Cinema - enjoy private listening of 5.1 channel surround sound with ordinary headphones;Experience thrilling 5.1 channel surround sound;5 disc carousel changer for hours of uninterrupted enjoyment of video or audio;Progressive Scan provides the highest quality visual imaging;MP3 playback - listen to your collection of MP3 music recorded to CD;Infrared remote control for easy system operation.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #272 in Home Theater
• Brand: Yamaha
• Model: DVX-C300

Features

• Advanced YST
• CD digital video
• DivX
• Dolby Pro Logic II
• Silent Cinema

From the Manufacturer
The cinemaStation system is an all-in-one 5.1 channel home theater system. It includes a top performance A/V receiver with integrated DVD/SACD player and a high quality speaker package.

Feature List
Advanced YST
Advanced Yamaha Active Servo Technology (Advanced YST) is a unique system in which the speaker and amplifier work together to cancel out impedance so the speaker unit has a perfectly linear motion. Advanced YST helps to ensure the highest levels of sound pressure and overall performance.
CD Digital Video
DVD Players equipped with CD Digital Video capabilities will be able to play video and sound media that has been compressed together and recorded onto a CD disc.
DivX
DivX is the video compression codec developed by DivX Networks and based on the MPEG-4 compression format. Its balance of high video quality and low bit rate has made it very popular and quickly established it as the best home video format thus far. The ability to play it on newer DVD models continues to add to its popularity as DivX Networks advances its support to many new household products. This compression technology has the potential for expanding the ways we view video media in much the way MP3 has given us many new ways to listen to music.
Dolby Pro Logic II
Improved version of Dolby Pro-Logic for music and movies. With a more intelligent matrix decoder, it is suitable for both stereo and surround-encoded sources. It offers "bass management" as well as the option of incorporating "width," "dimension" and "panorama" controls.
DTS Digital Surround
The basic DTS 5.1 channel sound format. Uses a higher data rate than Dolby Digital.
DVD-Audio / Super Audio CD Ready
DVD-Audio is an extension of the highly popular DVD format, distinguished by its capability to deliver high quality multi-channel audio capability previously unavailable in traditional packaged audio media.
Playxchange
Yamaha CD changers give you the benefits of extended playing time and direct selection from all discs. And with PlayXchange, you can change discs while the current one continues to play. You don't have to interrupt the music to change a disc and you're not limited to changing only one disc at a time.
Super Audio CD
DVD Players that support Super Audio CD use a technology called Direct Stream Digital (DSD) to convert music into a digital signal that can be stored on a disc. Compared to the traditional PCM method (the technology used for CD), DSD offers a much higher resolution by following more closely the original waveform of music. With a frequency response of over 100kHz and a dynamic range over 120dB across the audible frequency range – some 64 times higher resolution then CD - Super Audio CD offers music reproduction that reveals details you just can’t hear on a normal CD.
Silent Cinema
Enjoy private listening of 5.1 channel surround sound with ordinary headphones
5.1 Channel Surround
Experience thrilling 5.1 channel surround sound
5 Disc Carousel Changer
For hours of uninterrupted enjoyment of video or audio
Progressive Scan Output
Delivers stunningly clear, natural looking images
MP3 Playback
Enjoy your collections of mp3 music recorded to CD
Remote Control
Infrared remote control for easy system operation

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Customer Reviews

Impressive sound but fatal flaw
The sound from the speakers is impressive for their size, it was able to fill my decent size living room without problem. Same goes for the sub, it's not a monster, but it will probably satisfy 90% of the people out there.

However, there is one issue that will probably make me return this: even though there is a digital input, you cannot listen to Dolby Digital surround sound through it; the best it can do is Dolby Prologic II. Since all HD programming is being broadcast in Dolby Digital, I don't know what Yamaha was thinking.

No Incompatibility Issues Whatsoever!
Ever since I discovered this system, I have been highly impressed with how much it met both my normal and oddball demands. As a student of Musical Theatre, Opera, Classical vocal and choral literature, and Jazz and Classical piano, DVD-AUDIO and SACD capabilities are of great importance to me because there are a lot of titles especially in the Classical genre available in these formats. One thing that sets this system apart from the other manufacturers' systems is Yamaha's CD UpSampling feature. For those titles which are currently only available on CD and possibly will never be released on DVD-AUDIO and/or SACD, this option converts standard CDs to the quality of DVD-AUDIO. On the Musical Theatre, Opera, and choral side of things, this system is capable of playing both NTSC (North American) and PAL (European) DVDs on corresponding as well as opposite TVs. For certain titles in these genres, the North American editions are either four percent slower in tempo and picture movement and flatter in pitch than the European editions due to the method of PAL-to-NTSC conversion used by the distributors of such DVDs, or do not include as many bonus features as their original European counterparts. Sometimes, it can be the other way around, except the European editions might be four percent faster and sharper and have less bonus material than their original North American counterparts. On both ends of the spectrum, if the audio pitch is corrected without changing the audio speed to keep the picture and sound in synch, a subaudible breaking-up effect may be noticed as the result of slight artifacts from slightly bending or stretching the pitch in the conversion process. However, because of this system's bicompatibility with both color systems, I have the freedom to choose and purchase whatever editions are the best. Although it is not in the manual, this player can be made multi-region compatible including RCE DVDs. Turn on the DVD player. Make sure there are no discs loaded. With the tray open, using its supplied remote control, slowly press 99990. Wait for the 'Region 0' message to disappear. Close the tray. Now you can play any kind of optical disc without thinking about it. Normally, I would recommend the DVX-C700 home cinema system over this one because its speakers are a sonic improvement over the ones included with this package. However, if your space is limited and you need to place the front channel speakers directly along side your TV, then this system is the perfect solution. Also, if you are looking for a home cinema system with one hundred percent compatibility all across the board, you have come to the right place!* *Others have reported problems playing 'Dual Discs'--a type of disc which includes DVD-VIDEO on one side or layer, and CD DIGITAL AUDIO on another, also known as 'Hybrids.' However, big names, such as Panasonic, Sony, and Pioneer, do not recommend using these discs in their players. This is not to be confused with 'Hybrid' type SACDs, which many, including the Yamaha DVX-C300 will support.

Great, depending on intended purpose
I bought this theater system almost two years ago, and it hasn't given me any problems. Though I give it a bit higher rating than some of the other reviewers, I agree with what they say for the most part. First, the pros: Divx playback. This was essentially THE single reason I was in the market for a system, and why I chose this one. At the time, it was hard to find a decent compromise between quality and expense, and this was one of the few systems I could find that had Divx playback (from nearly ALL disc formats - many only playback from CD-R, but this one supports CD-R, CD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, etc) and wasn't either out of my price range or too cheap to provide reliability. While Divx playback isn't as hard to find as it was two years ago, it still isn't a given in most systems - and this sytem's ability to play almost anything I could throw at it is indeed why I give it a slightly higher rating. It handles avi and divx with ease, and looks great, so I finally can unhook the second PC from my television and simply burn my video collection to DVD, without having to go through the arduous process of re-encoding the video. Aside from the Divx capability, the sound is good, the menu operation is expansive without being daunting, and the remote is well designed (I know that sounds silly, but awkward remotes are a pet peeve of mine, and I've taken back a number of electronic devices because of them). Even little things won me over with this system, for instance, Yamaha is extremely generous with the amount and quality of the speaker wire they provide - a small but good thing.
The cons - most of them are minor, but could still make or break the system for you, depending on what you are looking for. True, only Dolby Pro Logic and DTS 5.1 - so maybe not the system for you if you are also in the market for HDTV. And yes, the reviewer's comment about the "angle" icon not going away if you are watching a DVD with multi-angle selection. Fortunately, this is rare for me - in fact, I've only had two in all the time I've used it. It's a small annoyance, but typically uncommon scenraio, so I'll let it slide. Hopefully, the future media centers (and I'm sure many present-day models do) will be smart enough enough to incorporate ethernet plugs for firmware/software updates - something like that would have this bug taken care of already. But again, it's a rare occurance that DVDs have this feature. Also, when reading the file names from data discs, that might contain something like Divx or MP3s, it would be nice to be able to scroll left and right and see more of the file name - again, a small complaint, but forgiveable given the playback reliability. Lastly, and to me, this is the biggest con, maybe right above the lack of DDS, is that there is only a digital coaxial input, no optical (toslink), which is a real bummer if you have a dish or digital cable. I don't know why they did this either, seeing as how digital coaxial is less prevalent than optical - and seeing that most other systems simply provided both, rather than gambling on one or the other.
So, in all it really depends on what you are looking for. If you are an audiophile with cutting edge equipment looking for a sound system, you might be better served by something else. If you're in the market for a nice multi-disc unit that can reliably play your ever-expanding collection of divx videos, and deliver great sound - all without breaking the bank, I would recommend it all the way.