Up until now, the traditional home theater setup was formed of a player (upconverting DVD player or Blu-ray player), one or more set-top boxes (satellite receivers, Tivo, Roku or who knows what else), plus a surround-sound system. However, the evolution of technology will apparently change this configuration, one of the best examples regarding what the future might have in store for us being the HT-BD8200, which is touted by its manufacturer, Samsung, as being the world's first home theater sound bar equipped with a Blu-ray player and wireless subwoofer.

The HT-BD8200, officially launched by Samsung at this year's CES, represents a self-contained, wall-mountable home theater sound bar, which renders any additional playback equipment useless, since it comes packed (right out of the box) with a fully integrated Blu-ray player that supports Full HD 1080p playback and virtual 5.1-channel surround sound.

Besides being a very innovative product, the HT-BD8200 is also a very stylish device, since it's been designed to compliment the Korean company's new Touch of Color (ToC) design concept. Thus, it will perfectly blend within any home entertainment setup, and, more importantly, will require very few wires in order to do so, since it provides wireless networking via an 802.11 b/g/n module and optional USB dongle, thus making it compatible with the BD-Live (Profile 2.0) interactive features found on most Blu-ray discs released on the market lately.

Plus, since it comes packed with a built-in Bluetooth module, the HT-BD8200 can also be used for streaming audio from Bluetooth-enabled portable devices, such as mobile phones.

Furthermore, the same networking options mentioned above can be used for accessing additional content, such as Netflix for instant streaming video or Pandora music. And speaking of music, it's also interesting to note that the device from Samsung also sports the company's “Smart Volume” technology for volume level adjustments on-the-fly.

As usual with Samsung's CES announcements, no pricing info has been provided, so we'll have to wait a bit longer until we are able to tell just how much money we have to set aside in order to get this thing.


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