Bose CineMate Digital Home Theater Speaker System

I was in Sams Club a couple of weeks ago and saw this home theater system was on sale so I noted it down and came home to check it out. While reading about it on Amazon I saw that it was pretty highly rated and nearly $100 less expensive. So I went ahead and ordered one.

I already have a Samsung LN52A650 TV through which I want to view my Samsung BD-P2500 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player, my DirecTV HR-23 DVR my legacy DirecTV TIVO player and my ancient VHS tape player (yeah, still have some stuff that I haven’t replaced on VHS tape).

When I first purchased my TV I had also picked up a Sony HTCT100 Sound Bar with which I was  unimpressed. But, on its own, the Samsung TV sound turned out to be less satisfactory than I had originally thought. There have been times I even needed to resort to turning on subtitles for ENGLISH movies because the vocal output was simply unable to overcome the other sounds and effects being offered.

Also, complexity is a big deal. Where the Sony soundbar had me hooking up all of my media sources to it and then using IT to control what played through the TV set, the Bose CineMate takes the results of whatever I elect to pump through the TV and then enhances the output.  So I don’t have to worry about compatibility with the sound system (HDMI in or whatever), nor do I have to tweak the home theater system for particular inputs.

The improvement in sound quality is absolute and immediate. There are no adjustments to make, it’s either going to work or it isn’t. In my case it worked magnificently. I used the remake of “The Day the Earth Stood Still” for my testing and I am astonished how well the Bose system enhanced and separated out the sounds. The bass is deep and booming and the voices are crystal clear.

Also, any specialized mating (the Samsung TV and Blu-Ray player talk with each other and negotiate the video input settings) are retained because the Blu-Ray still gets to talk directly to the TV.

The widely touted universal remote control is both the icing on the cake and the one item I will ding Bose for on this offering. First, the remote is of a reasonable size, very clear how to operate and well thought out. My wife finally has a clear view of what she’s supposed to press in order to get the Satellite receiver, TV and sound all functioning so she can watch her shows.

The universal controls all of my devices with one, very weird, exception: The pause button doesn’t work for the Samsung BD-P2500 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player. There is only one code available to program Samsung Blu-Ray players into the remote, so it’s not like I got it wrong. Contacting Bose’s customer support yielded the lame response:

*****To reply to this message, please select the reply button. To help us expedite your inquiry, please be sure to include our original response.******

Mr Bourassa,

The remote does not control all functions of all systems. A universal learning remote such as the Phillips Pronto would be able to learn all functions of any component, but these remotes are significantly more expensive.

Thank you for contacting Bose Corporation.
Richard Card
Product and Technical Support Team
————————————————-
Bose Corporation
US Telephone: (800)367-4008
International Tel: (508)766-1900
Email: http://www.bose.com/ContactUs
Fax: (508)766-1919
Telephone Hours: Mon-Fri 8:30AM-9:00PM, Sat 9:00AM-5:00PM (EST)
————————————————-
[massive footer pushing 3.2.1 system removed]——————————
Technical Support Information:

[Email Id:blah]
[Email Agent Id:blah]
[Queue Id:blah]

—–Original Message—–

Thank you for your response.

Do you know if this flaw has been corrected in the universal remotes offered
with the later Cinemate systems.

I can understand some of the more specialized features not being represented
in a universal remote, but “Pause” is a pretty basic DVD function to be
lacking.

Thanks,

Marc

On Sat, Oct 3, 2009 at 4:29 PM, <support@bose.com> wrote:

> *****To reply to this message, please select the reply button. To help us
> expedite your inquiry, please be sure to include our original
> response.******
>
> Mr Bourassa,
>
> Thank you for your inquiry. The remote code 21099 is the correct code for
> te Sausung BD-P2500.  We are aware that this does not allow control of all
> remote functions, but there is no alternative code or workaround (other than
> to use the remote that came with the Samsung). Sorry we could not assist you
> with this.
>
> Thank you for contacting Bose Corporation.
> Richard Card
> Product and Technical Support Team
> ——————————

——————-
> Bose Corporation
> US Telephone: (800)367-4008
> International Tel: (508)766-1900
> Email: http://www.bose.com/ContactUs
> Fax: (508)766-1919
> Telephone Hours: Mon-Fri 8:30AM-9:00PM, Sat 9:00AM-5:00PM (EST)
> ————————————————-
[massive footer pushing 3.2.1 system removed]
> ——————————
> Technical Support Information:
> [Email Id:blah]
> [Email Agent Id:blah]
> [Queue Id:blah]
>
>
>
> —–Original Message—–
>
> Request Type: Setup and System Install
>
>
> Request Message: I have a Samsung Blu-Ray DVD player (model BD-P2500) for
> which the only code available (20199) for the Cinemate remote control does
> not allow pause to work.
>
> My TV and DirecTV Satellite/DVR player work properly(pause works for the
> DVR just fine). So I am confident that it is not a hardware problem with the
> pause button. Do you have an alternate code suggestion or a workaround that
> can be used so the Universal remote can fully control my system?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Marc

Apparently it was unclear to the rep that there are only 5 things that most of us want our DVD remote controls to do: Play, Stop, Fast Forward, Rewind and Pause. Anybody who watches TV with a spouse or kid knows that pause is essential.

This wasn’t a deal breaker for *me* but I wanted to mention it in case it was for others.

Some of the other Amazon.com reviews for this device whined about it being inferior because it does not accept digital input. But I think, for the average Joe who just wants really nice sound for a reasonable price AND an uncomplicated setup, this is definitely the system to get. It is absolutely simple to set up, there are NO adjustments or tweaks that are even possible to make and the sound is wonderful.