Ownership and support

Want to know more about setting up and using Home Cinema? We’ve provided answers to some frequently asked questions to help you get the best from your Sony Home Cinema system.

Is my room suitable for Home Cinema?
How long is the warranty on Home Cinema products?
How long do Home Cinema systems take to set up?
Do I need extra cables to get started?
How can I get the best from my speaker set-up?
What if the subwoofer disturbs my neighbours?
Can I set up my Home Cinema to get multi-room sound?
What can I connect to my Home Cinema system?
Will my Home Cinema system work with HD television?
Can I turn devices on and off with one remote?
Can I play games through a Home Cinema system?

Is my room suitable for Home Cinema?

Any room is suitable for Home Cinema. You may want to choose a different system depending on its size. If the room is small, 2.1 channels may work best, whereas a large room is suited by a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker set-up. Too many bare surfaces in a room (unadorned walls, large windows, wooden floors, etc.) can make the sound harsh or tiring. Fortunately, sofas, curtains and carpets are excellent for breaking up reflections and resonance effects, as are well-stocked bookcases and wall-hung rugs.

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How long is the warranty on Home Cinema products?

All of our Home Cinema products come with a one year guarantee. All products are finely engineered and it is very rare they break down. It is for this reason we are able to offer such a long warranty.

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How long do Home Cinema systems take to set up?

One of our simplicity Home Cinema packages only takes about 15 minutes to set up. Simplicity packages have colour-coded wires for easy connection and you can automatically calibrate speakers to optimal performance in minutes using DCAC (Digital Cinema Auto Calibration) technology.

A high performance system can take a little longer to set up and optimise based on your own personal audio and design preferences. If you are thinking of re-decorating and burying cables you should consider using a qualified professional for the work – or alternatively opt for a wireless speaker system.

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Do I need extra cables to get started?

If you buy a complete Home Cinema kit it will come with speaker cables – connecting and setting up your system is straightforward. However, you will need a cable to connect your Home Cinema system to your TV or projector. You will also need a LAN cable to connect to the Internet if your system does not have Wi-Fi. For the best High Definition performance, you might want to consider buying good quality cables separately and we recommend HDMI® cables for the high quality transfer of audio and video.

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How can I get the best from my speaker set-up?

Careful speaker positioning will help give the best possible sound experience. You can use DCAC (Digital Cinema Auto Calibration) on our Home Cinema systems to automatically calibrate your speakers to the best performance wherever they are located.

Every speaker should be as close to ear level as possible. Give your front speakers some space and face them towards the main chair as close to ear level as possible.

The centre speaker, which produces most of the dialogue from movies, should be directly above or below the TV screen, whichever is closest to ear level. The rear speakers should be slightly behind you or at least level with your chair.

Speakers sound best on a firm base. Use speaker stands or wall mounts to enhance the sound experience and don’t put small speakers too high up in a room with a high ceiling. A subwoofer can go almost anywhere, but be careful in corners as the sound can resonate through walls and be too low and powerful.

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What if the subwoofer disturbs my neighbours?

If you like it loud, but don’t want to upset the neighbours, move the subwoofer away from your walls. Some of our Home Cinemas come with a Night Mode which automatically adjusts the sound. It increases the dialogue volume but keeps heavy bass tones low. You can also manually change the audio levels to help optimise the sound even more. Better still – just invite the neighbours over to watch the film with you!

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Can I set up my Home Cinema to get multi-room sound?

Yes, it’s possible to place speakers in other rooms and play music and radio in your kitchen or bedroom for example.

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What can I connect to my Home Cinema system?

Connect a Blu-ray Disc™ Player for a complete Full HD audio experience or DVD player to play your movies with surround sound. Remember, our Home Cinema systems will upscale DVD movies to near HD quality. You can also connect a whole range of portable music devices and enjoy your compressed music files in glorious digital audio. Most systems have HDMI® inputs so you can add a games console to the set-up. Or add a CD or audio player for Hi-Fi sound.

Or with a DLNA compatible receiver from Sony, you can set up a home entertainment network and stream music, photos and movies from other devices around your home.

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Will my Home Cinema system work with HD television?

To get the best picture and sound quality from your HD channels from digital, satellite or cable broadcasts you may need to connect your HD set-top box to your receiver with an HDMI® cable. For interference-free sound you should use an optical digital cable or HDMI® cable.

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Can I turn devices on and off with one remote?

BRAVIA Sync enables you to control your entire Home Cinema system using just one button on one remote control. So if you want to watch a movie, all you have to do is push ‘Play’ and BRAVIA Sync will automatically power up all your Home Cinema devices and fine-tune their audio and video settings. You can also control other devices with BRAVIA Sync such as BRAVIA® TVs, Blu-ray Disc™ Players, even Handycam® camcorders.

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Can I play games through a Home Cinema system?

Yes, absolutely. Gaming on a large screen with surround sound is a truly immersive experience. Our Home Cinema systems and Home Cinema projectors are set-up to work seamlessly with games consoles like the PlayStation®3. In Blu-ray Disc™ Home Cinema systems, it’s a simple one cable set-up through an HDMI® port. Other systems can achieve multi-channel surround sound with an optical cable.

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