Hey guys, was at Costco in Fountain Valley, CA. Sony HT-CT100 Product description on SonyStyle is only $229.99 plus tax. Cheapest I've seen it anywhere in a while.

I have one for my bedroom and it sounds great for the price. Do not expect this to be great in reproducing rear sound behind you. However, it does reproduce left and right sounds quite well, and the subwoofer is nice to boot. It has 3 HDMI in, and 1 HDMI out on the back of the sub, so I have my PS3 and DirecTV HR21 going into it via HDMI, and it outputs both video and audio to my Samsung LCD, works perfectly in that respect. I love my CT100!

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HDMI™ Active Intelligence (3in/1out)

The HT-CT100 can detect and receive the best possible video and audio signals from all connected devices–making connection and performance as simple as plugging in a single wire. Sony®’s HDMI™ Active Intelligence, transmits both audio and video signals through one HDMI™ cable.

Accepts 1080/60p and 24p Video via HDMI™

LPCM Playback

LPCM is a method of encoding audio information digitally which can have up to 8 channels of uncompressed audio. This wider bandwidth allows for high resolution audio which is closer to the original.

Price is 229.99 after additional $20 instant discount at the register upon checkout.

might as well stick with the tv speakers

called costco in mountain view - no clue. do you have a costco item #?

pl804 said:called costco in mountain view - no clue. do you have a costco item #?

Same here. Dropped by the Costco in Foster City and they didn't show it in their inventory either.

updated with CNET and avsforum links. Generally positive for price/performance ratio!

SmashNGrab said:you must have a crappy tv then.

you have a crappy attitude by just making a blanket statement without any sort of review, even a perfunctory anecdotal user review.

Check your local Sears as well, I picked up a open box for $120 on a whim.

I had no idea what its performance/price ratio was until i came home for some reviews.

It is a step up from the tv speakers but not worth $300 though. For $300 u could go with
a better setup unless space is a issue.

I have one. Agree that at $300, in typical Sony Style, it is overpriced. However, it does work very well.

I got mine for $200 net via the Sony Store, by using the Sony Credit Card $100 promo. (Lately they've been doing a $150 credit promo for new Sony Card signups---so you could get it for $150 net that way). Like the OP, I use it as a TV setup in my bedroom, for which it is terrific. The speaker bar is very unobtrusive, and fit perfectly in my bookcase, in front of my small LCD TV. The sound was definitely an improvement over the Creative T60 speakers I was using before. And a big improvement over the crappy speakers in the TV itself.

One complaint: when playing HD-DVDs (but not regular-def DVDs), I can't get it to play any Dolby Digital audio coming in from my Toshiba A30 HD DVD player via HDMI, unless I set the player audio options to "Downmix PCM". I don't like doing that since it seems to somewhat deaden the soundfield in that mode. However, the Dolby Digital stream plays okay if I send the audio over a separate optical cable instead of the HDMI. Not sure if the problem is the Toshiba or the Sony, but there's definitely something goofy there.

Also, don't expect high volume from the speakerbar. Even at full volume, it is not very loud. I work out on a rowing machine while watching the TV, with a ceiling fan turned on high for cooling. Neither the fan nor the rowing machine produce much noise, but I still have to crank this thing to full volume to hear dialog clearly while exercising.

Odd how you can't get high volume to come out of it, I've seen a few others say that too. Mine is positively booming with my DirecTV box and my PS3.. so that's odd.

And I have a Samsung LN46A550, which once calibrated per avsforum settings has pretty decent sounding built in speakers.. and the Sony soundbar is a good step up from that. This is in my bedroom so it's perfect for the size of my room, running wires for rear speakers is not practical for me and having a slim soundbar is nice.

timmy8151 said:pl804 said:called costco in mountain view - no clue. do you have a costco item #?

Same here. Dropped by the Costco in Foster City and they didn't show it in their inventory either.

Anyone with the item number? The only soundbar type speaker system my costco had was the Philips Soundbar system with DVD player for 499 [online is 529 shipped]...

OP, care to chime in with it since you bought it? Also, does it have a "headphone" output?