I’ve been doing some extensive research for the bedroom HDTV sound system. You may recall I was leaning to the Bose Cinemate GS for the bedroom of the bus but was pretty leery of the remote control being compatible. I received a tip to research sound bars.

Has any of you audiophiles used one of these yet? Every manufacturer is making these and I looked closely at Sony and Samsung and like the Samsung for many reasons. Sony had a nice HDMI switching network and a lot of utility as I have become accustom to with Sony but the real news in my opinion is Samsung here. Their HT-BD8200 model not only is a great looking sound bar but it is equipped with a wireless subwoofer for ease of installation and many more features. They have incorporated their micro Bluray player in the middle of the soundbar which is another big plus especially since they kept the sound bar to 1” thick to match their new LED HDTVs. As I’m learning, Samsung seems to be incorporating wireless streaming into everything they're producing these days but they have added auto shutoff, multifunction remote function with their TVs, iPod cradle, USB port, and Bluray able to play DVD (upconverted to 1080p), Divix, as well as almost any media format out there.

Reviews are good to great with the biggest complaint being there is only one Digital audio input. I pondered on this and for a bus bedroom application I can’t see any other device needing amplified seperately. The Bluray is built in and the only other thing I can think of that might need sound might be a video game but once connected to a tv input it too would be broadcasted in 2.1 surround through this system.

I’m one to keep things uniform throughout the entire bus but this unit solves a lot of problems with the Bose remote compatability and adds a space savings bluray and wireless sub to boot.

I would love to hear from anyone in the group that has used one of these.