Gadgetory

hey I'm Matthew moscovia from C net and today we're gonna check out the Philips htl 51:20 this is a budget sound bar with an ultra sleek look and it's currently selling for around two hundred and fifty dollars the design is the first thing you'll notice as it's really thin and it kind of looks like an airplane wing from the side the low height also means that it won't block your TV's remote control sensor in most scenarios which does happen on a lot of other sound bars it can be placed either on a tabletop like this or you can wall mount it and there's a built-in orientation sensor that adjusts the sound quality depending on how you place it the Philips doesn't come with a wireless subwoofer like a lot of other systems do although it does have a built-in subwoofer which helps handle some of the low-end around back you'll find more ports than usual including two HDMI inputs two digital inputs an analog input and a mini Jack input those HDMI inputs are particularly nice on this sound bar because they let you get the full surround sound signal to your sound bar which doesn't always happen when you plug everything into your TV first you can also connect a mobile device to the sound bar using bluetooth so you can stream wireless audio from just about any smartphone or tablet the Philips also includes a remote and the button layout is pretty unusual the directional pad is actually used to choose inputs except for the HDMI inputs which are at the top the volume control looks like it's in the middle but that's actually for lip sync the real volume control is lumped in at the bottom with bass and treble controls while there's no true front panel display there are a few lights on the front which are nice because it gives you some visual feedback when you're making adjustments in terms of sound quality the best part of the Philips is its virtual surround sound processing now you're not going to get true surround sound effects coming from the sides or behind you but it sounds much bigger than the length of the sound bar and it compares to even more expensive systems like the Sonos playbar it's a pretty nice feature for movies and TV shows where it's nice to have a more immersive experience where it falls a little short is unclarity and overall dynamic impact without a separate subwoofer it just doesn't sound as powerful as some other systems although it's definitely a step up over the speaker built into your TV overall the sound quality of a similarly priced system with the true separate subwoofer like the Vizio s 4221 w is going to be better although a few systems do sound as immersive as the Philips and that's what it really comes down to if you like the design and the idea of a big soundstage the Philips is a solid choice especially for the price but if you're picky about sound quality and you want the powerful sound that you can only get with a true subwoofer you're better off looking elsewhere I'm asking the zodiac and this is the Philips HDL 50