Zenith XBS444 250-Watt Home Theater System with Progressive-Scan DVD/VCR Combo

Zenith XBS444 250-Watt Home Theater System with Progressive-Scan DVD/VCR Combo

Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description
It may be small in size, but Zenith's XBS444 home theater produces cinematic and musical excitement that's larger than life. The system consists of a combination DVD player/VHS player-recorder with an integrated surround receiver and FM tuning, five 2-way satellite speakers (left, center, right and left/right surround), and a 50-watt powered subwoofer to drive home the dramatic low-end frequencies.

Whether your living room is currently home to a high-definition-ready or HDTV or if you're merely thinking of "someday," the XBS444's DVD component stands ready to deliver the full potential of your DVDs. Progressive scanning, referred to as 480p for the number of horizontal lines that compose the video image, creates a picture using twice the scan lines of a conventional DVD picture, giving you higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts.

The integrated surround receiver decodes DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1-channel surround sound and processes stereo and music sources with Dolby Pro Logic II, generating enveloping, 5.1-channel surround from any 2-channel input. You can also choose from a suite of nine DSP (digital signal processing) algorithms to further tailor the sound to your taste or programming preferences.

This system is made to handle music, too: just pop in a CD-R or CD-RW full of MP3 music files and sit back to enjoy up to 10 hours of your favorite digital music.

The XBS444's 4-head VHS design ensures smooth slow-motion play (forward and reverse) and clear still-frame images. And, with hi-fi sound, the unit records and plays back stereo audio tracks. Its 19-micron heads deliver the clearest possible picture when recording or viewing in EP (extended-play) mode, and a handy one-touch-record button lets you tape programs "on the fly."

With 250 watts total power (40 watts per channel) and a 7-inch driver on the subwoofer, you'll enjoy dynamic, ultra-clear sound. All speakers are ma genetically shielded to prevent image distortion when placed near a television, and a .125-inch headphone jack lets you listen at night or in private. The system includes an FM antennas, and its phase-lock-looped tuner offers 30 memory presets to keep all your favorite FM/AM radio stations within a finger's reach.

What's in the Box
DVD player/VCR/amplifier unit, 5 satellite speakers, 1 subwoofer, remote control, remote batteries, a user's manual, stereo analog audio interconnect/composite-video cable, subwoofer interconnect, requisite speaker cabling, an FM antenna, foot pads for the speakers, a registration card, and warranty information.

Product Description:
Zenith Electronics is focused on the digital future, building on a proud heritage of leadership in entertainment products for the home and professional markets.PRODUCT FEATURES: Complete home theater sound system: DVD/VHS combination with 4-Head Hi-Fi VCR, digital receiver and AM/FM tuner; Five 35 watt speakers with one 75 watt subwoofer that provides 600 watts of ultra-clear, dynamic sound; Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II and dts digital surround sound provides a theater-like atmosphere with six separate audio channels; Plays DVD�RW, CD, CD-R/RW, MP3, JPG and KODAK Picture CD; Progressive scan and component video output produce superior, crisp, clear images; Front A/V jacks provide easy access to A/V inputs for camcorders and video game systems.

Zenith XBS444 250-Watt Home Theater System with Progressive-Scan DVD/VCR Combo

Average customer rating:

Craptastic

Poor Design/Manuf Quality

Nice unit until it quit working

Free is not cheap enough - Zero stars

Mechanical Disaster

Zenith XBS444 250-Watt Home Theater System with Progressive-Scan DVD/VCR Combo

Manufacturer: Zenith
ProductGroup: CE
Binding: Electronics

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Product Features:

Complete audio/video playback system with DVD/VHS combo, surround receiver, AM/FM tuner, and multichannel speaker system

Progressive-scan DVD player output offers seamless, flicker-free images on high-definition and HD-ready TVs

Various playback options include DVD, CD, CD-R/RW, and MP3 CDs

DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1-channel decoding, Dolby Pro Logic II processing to generate 5.1 signals from any stereo source

4-head hi-fi stereo VCR features superior slow motion and stop-action playback and 1-touch recording

ASIN: B00023CFBW

Product Description

Zenith Electronics is focused on the digital future, building on a proud heritage of leadership in entertainment products for the home and professional markets.PRODUCT FEATURES: Complete home theater sound system: DVD/VHS combination with 4-Head Hi-Fi VCR, digital receiver and AM/FM tuner; Five 35 watt speakers with one 75 watt subwoofer that provides 600 watts of ultra-clear, dynamic sound; Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II and dts digital surround sound provides a theater-like atmosphere with six separate audio channels; Plays DVD?RW, CD, CD-R/RW, MP3, JPG and KODAK Picture CD; Progressive scan and component video output produce superior, crisp, clear images; Front A/V jacks provide easy access to A/V inputs for camcorders and video game systems.

Amazon.com Product Description

It may be small in size, but Zenith's XBS444 home theater produces cinematic and musical excitement that's larger than life. The system consists of a combination DVD player/VHS player-recorder with an integrated surround receiver and FM tuning, five 2-way satellite speakers (left, center, right and left/right surround), and a 50-watt powered subwoofer to drive home the dramatic low-end frequencies.

This system is made to handle music, too: just pop in a CD-R or CD-RW full of MP3 music files and sit back to enjoy up to 10 hours of your favorite digital music.

Customer Reviews:

Craptastic.......2007-03-21

Well, this unit was great until it died. Now, like a majority of people who have reviewed this, I am having the exact same problem. I turn it on, it's good for a few moments, (usually less than a minute), and then I hear some thumping from the Sub and deadsies. My guess is it's the power supply or maybe the cooling system, either way, there is a common theme among these units, whatever is defective in mine, is most likely defective in everyone elses.

Poor Design/Manuf Quality.......2006-06-01

Failed out of box. Talked retail seller into a swap (normally wait forever from a "Qualified Service Dealer"). Failed a year later (boxed most of that year). Over heating caused shut down. Reviews on web indicate this is a common problem. At a minumum get a service contract, but be prepared to regularly send it back.

Worst (quality) consumer electronics device I've ever owned.

Nice unit until it quit working.......2005-12-25

Ditto - We received the XBS444 as a Christmas gift in 2004. It worked great until approximately the end of Nov 05. Then just like some of the other reviewers stated in just quit working. It will operate for about 5 - 10 minutes, start making some thumping sounds through the speakers and then shut down. The power light will stay on, but when you push the power button on the unit or the remote, nothing happens. Unplug it for awhile and the same thing happens. Just got the run around from Zenith - "don't really care" attitude. We would like to have the same type of unit, but would definitely not purchase a Zenith product.

Free is not cheap enough - Zero stars.......2005-11-03

Originally, I thought this innexpensive and somewhat under-powered audio-video system did an almost adequate job for the price, but 2 months after buying it, our unit started to give us trouble when inserting slightly scratched DVDs. The DVD functions became unresponsive, seemingly stuck in a loop of "reading" and "reading" while a non-normal sound comes from the DVD drive. While the unit was stuck in the state, the DVD tray would not eject and the audio amplifier was silent, allowing no audio to come through the speakers. Often, we were forced to unplug the power cord to cycle the unit.

NOW, just two days shy of its one year anniversary, the unit is unilaterally shutting off and making the same thumping noise mentioned by another reviewer. Also, while in this failure mode, the characters on the display panel are jumbled. Lame. Free would not be cheap enough. Avoid this unit at all costs.

Mechanical Disaster.......2005-10-07

Lesson learned with this item? Always buy a service plan. I bought this DVD/VCR home theatre in December 04 and Right after the warranty went out in May 05 of course the entire system broke down. The machine would turn on and after 5 minutes the subwoofer would start making a thumping sound and the whole apparatus would shut off. After being off for about an hour the whole process started over again. Luckily the parts were still under warranty so I took it to my local guy and he has had it since then (it is now October 05 of this writing) and he hasn't been able to figure out whats wrong with it. He also informed me that three other XBS444's have been turned in all of them doing the same thing. I haven't heard anything of a recall but I want my 250 investment FIXED NOW! I have had the same problem with most things I have bought at Circuit City and Best Buy, and they want you to cough up the extra 200 bucks because they won't stand behind the products they sell. My Desktop Computer in 2000, my DVD/VCR in 2004, and my Laptop in 2005 all died after 6 months to a year of use. Luckily by the time I got to the laptop I wised up to the game. Everything is designed to break once. So get a service plan. (PS when it worked the machine was fine and all the features were wonderful, however the timer on the VCR would only allow you to record one programed event, and then it would eject the tape, so you can't leave for a week and expect it to tape 7 hours of material at different times)

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