Entered CNET Catalog: 07/26/2006
SKU: DHT487DV
Manufacturer: Denon
Manufacturer description
The DHT-487DV Home Theater System brings you the sonic and visual expertise of Denon's acclaimed separate components, acoustically matched loudspeakers in a simple and ready-made package for almost any environment. The receiver is equipped with 5 channels of high current amplifier power and DSP processing technology like that found on Denon's more expensive receivers, and also equipped XM-HD Surround and iPod command and control, while the DVD player has HDMI output and scaling function. The speakers feature Denon design and engineering with the added benefit and expertise of European Sound Designers tuning, to bring you the finest in audio playback reproduction. The DHT-487DV Home Theater System includes AV Receiver AVR-487, DVD Player DVD-557, Speaker system SYS-57HT.User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4
User Rating: 
9/10
Extraordinary Sound Quality
Pros: Easy to use and set up plus Superb quality
Cons: Expensive, but worth every penny
Review:
This is the best sound system i have heard in along time that costs less that $2000! I built a media room in my basement with a projector and hooked it up to this system. It is perfect. It has all of the connections to hook up to several sources. I use it with my DirecTV receiver and video game systems. You will not find a better sounding system than this for less than $2000.
User Rating: 
1/10
Unit caught on fire
Pros: sounded good while it worked
Cons: sound volume set up took a while
Review:
Not quite on fire, but smoke was pouring out of the receiver. The power unit over heated. My house smells of smoke. Circuit City took it back today and gave me credit on my acct. It took several hours to setup and several hours to put it all back in the box and take it back to the store. Don't waste your time like I did, but more importantly be concerned for your safety.
User Rating: 
5/10
Retured it to Best Buy
Pros: Had very nice sound
Cons: Does not provide up conversion of video. Also, doesn't supply the best options in cables in the package.
Review:
I wanted a sound system that would take video from a VCR (composite) and DVD (component 480p) and a HDTV tuner and feed them to my projector. This system is not capable, which is rather odd, I feel, for this level of system. To get it to work, you need to run multiple cables from the processor to the projector or TV. When switching sources on the receiver, also switch sources on the TV. I didn't want to do this, could not locate a phone number for Denon and neither could Best Buy, so i returned it.
One other gripe, this is a package deal, DVD plus receiver. The DVD is capible of progressive scan and can output 480p, and the receiver can receive it, so why did they choose to supply a composite video cable instead of a component one? Likewise, both the DVD and receive had digital and optical sound channels, but the cable provided is for analog. I am sure there are many idiots that will just set it up and use what it came with, not realizing the system has much more capabilities, if only the correct cables were used.
I did, crudely, hook it up and watch some movies and I must say the sound in my 320 ft^2 room was impressive. We had some movie posters stuck in the ceiling tiles of a drop ceiling and the sound literally blew the posters down. Now, I didn't spend the time to properly configure the surround sound or mount the speakers, but it sounded decent. I can only imagine how good it would sound if it were fully set up. If you are only dealing with one video type, like component, then I would recommend this one. If you want to mix types of video, keep looking.
One other gripe, this is a package deal, DVD plus receiver. The DVD is capible of progressive scan and can output 480p, and the receiver can receive it, so why did they choose to supply a composite video cable instead of a component one? Likewise, both the DVD and receive had digital and optical sound channels, but the cable provided is for analog. I am sure there are many idiots that will just set it up and use what it came with, not realizing the system has much more capabilities, if only the correct cables were used.
I did, crudely, hook it up and watch some movies and I must say the sound in my 320 ft^2 room was impressive. We had some movie posters stuck in the ceiling tiles of a drop ceiling and the sound literally blew the posters down. Now, I didn't spend the time to properly configure the surround sound or mount the speakers, but it sounded decent. I can only imagine how good it would sound if it were fully set up. If you are only dealing with one video type, like component, then I would recommend this one. If you want to mix types of video, keep looking.
User Rating: 9/10
Support is scarce, but you'll rarely need it with this high quality, great sounding home theatre.
Pros: Superb sound for a small room. Reasonably priced. Pieced as components so upgrades are possible. Denon quality and bundles of features.
Cons: Denon telephone support is nonexistent. Denon players focus on upconversion of data which usually means highly compressed formats like Divx aren't supported.
Review:
Having had the chance to watch an assortment of movies and listen to hours of music on the DHT-487DV I have been very impressed. My idea of a movie has completely changed. With this home theatre in my reasonably small sized living area I feel as if I'm surrounded by the movie. The center channel speaker ties the dialogue to my 36" CRT television perfectly. The sub, although somewhat small, actually produces enough bass to overpower the satellite speakers, so adjusting may be required. But once it is adjusted you completely forget about the speakers and are consumed by the movie. One thing to take in consideration is that the DVD player is geared toward a quality movie experience, and thus it does not contain the ability to decode lots of lossy file formats for movie viewing, such as Divx. I personally don't watch these, so I didn't deduct for this, but many others do.
Once you listen to music on this system it becomes very obvious that it was intended for movies, but that's not saying that it sounds bad. Music sounds quite nice coming from the 5 satellite speakers but the LFE and HFE do not blend quite as seamlessly as one might like them to. It's possible that I have not figured out the best setting for music. An upside is that the receiver is a 7 channel unit so 2 more speakers may be added, in which case I would probably recommend quality 3-way units. I am not 100% pleased with this aspect, but I have not had the chance to attempt to set it up in all the ways I would like to try. Having that said, I have not taken in to account the music aspect in to the rating.
Some things that are worth mentioning is that the unit comes with all the cables needed to begin use right out of the box. The cables included are rather low quality, but this is the case with all manufacturers with similar products so I did not deduct for this. The things I did deduct for was Denon's lack of phone support. I called 3 days and each time waited 30 minutes on hold and never was able to reach anyone on the phone. I finally had my question answered via email. It is worth noting that my problem was resolved in less than 5 minutes after I sent the email. Also this problem was only due to a misprint in the instruction manual, which is the other thing I am deducting for. Other than that I am totally satisfied with the performance of this product.
Once you listen to music on this system it becomes very obvious that it was intended for movies, but that's not saying that it sounds bad. Music sounds quite nice coming from the 5 satellite speakers but the LFE and HFE do not blend quite as seamlessly as one might like them to. It's possible that I have not figured out the best setting for music. An upside is that the receiver is a 7 channel unit so 2 more speakers may be added, in which case I would probably recommend quality 3-way units. I am not 100% pleased with this aspect, but I have not had the chance to attempt to set it up in all the ways I would like to try. Having that said, I have not taken in to account the music aspect in to the rating.
Some things that are worth mentioning is that the unit comes with all the cables needed to begin use right out of the box. The cables included are rather low quality, but this is the case with all manufacturers with similar products so I did not deduct for this. The things I did deduct for was Denon's lack of phone support. I called 3 days and each time waited 30 minutes on hold and never was able to reach anyone on the phone. I finally had my question answered via email. It is worth noting that my problem was resolved in less than 5 minutes after I sent the email. Also this problem was only due to a misprint in the instruction manual, which is the other thing I am deducting for. Other than that I am totally satisfied with the performance of this product.
