Whilst many people are going for Blu-ray home cinema systems these days, DVD based home cinema systems still have a lot to offer, not least of which is fantastic value for money. The Sony DAZ-DZ330 is one such example and with an average street price of well under £250 it’s hard not to be tempted.
The DAZ-DZ330 continues Sony’s 2010 ‘monolith’ design trend, and as we’ve seen on the BDV-E370 Blu-ray system, it really does look great on the deeper home cinema systems. The speakers are similarly designed and should complement a wide range of interior decor.
Setting the Sony DAZ-DZ330 up is a simple affair with easy to connect speakers, and the DCAC one push automatic sound set up that will fully optimise the system especially for your listening environment. The DAVDZ330 is a proper 5.1 surround system with 1000W of power so as well as enjoying the full Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound experience, you’ll also be able to enjoy it loudly! Connect your games console to the DAVDZ330 with an optical cable and you can enjoy an immersive sound experience on your games too.
Connecting to your television with HDMI, the Sony DAZ-DZ330 offers an enhanced picture quality with 1080p upscaling DVD player, and if you have a compatible television you can also control both devices with the BRAVIA Sync to save having another remote control on the arm of your chair.
The capabilities of the Sony DAZ-DZ330 don’t stop with DVDs though – if you own an iPod (Classic, Nano or Touch) you can also plug this into the system and enjoy an enhanced sound quality with the Portable Music Enhancer.
The speaker dimensions of this system are as follows: Front speakers: 103mm × 164mm × 85mm, Centre speaker: 265mm × 94mm × 70mml; Surround speaker: 103mm × 164mm × 85mm; Subwoofer: 169mm × 300mm × 320mm.
What to consider before you buy the Sony DAVDZ330
Without wanting to state the obvious, the DZ330 is a DVD system so if you have Blu-ray discs already or want to upgrade in the future, the BDV-E370 is a better choice.
Why you should buy the Sony DAV-DZ330 DVD Home Cinema System
A fantastic looking home cinema system, the DAV-DZ330 offers great value for money. Even if this is one of the last DVD based systems we see from Sony, it is at least one of their very best. Rating: /5
Sony DAV-DZ330 Compare Prices
I am really interested in this system as I cannot afford the blu ray player similar to this.
Am I right with the connection points here. I have a KDL-40EX503 Sony Bravia TV. I have a Sky HD+ box too. I want obviously the HC System to provide its sound and features with box these components.
So to do this – I have to use an optical cable into the optical output slot from the HC system into the Sky HD+ box. I then use an HDMI from sky to the HC system. I then use another HDMI cable from TV to HC system. Then finally an HDMI cable from Sky box into TV??
Have I got this right, is this all explained in the instructions. After researching on the net, I do read that Sony are not great with their manuals and guides. So just want to make sure I get this right.Also, may i ask why these cables are priced so high, really and truthfully speaking – what is the difference between one that costs a fiver to one that I see costing over £20 ??
Hope you can help. Thanks. Rachel
It’s a bit simpler than that actually, you only need to connect your Sky+ HD box to the home cinema system by optical for the sound, and with HDMI to your television for the pictures. Then connect the home cinema system to your television with HDMI.
As for the cables, we find that generally branded cables are better constructed and last a bit longer – but the actual picture quality difference is normally unnoticeable. It’s a personal choice really – whatever you’re happy with.
hi i have a sony home theatre system DAV-DZ330 but i only have the front left speaker and back left speaker working when i listen to it through the tv but i put a cd in it and it comes out of all the speakers why is this
Have a Sony Bravia HD Ready TV coupled to a Humax Foxsat Freesat receiver. How would I connect a Sony DAV-DZ330 Home cinema system so that I also get the sound quality of the HCS for the freesat TV?
I presume you have the Humax Foxsat connected to the television by HDMI? If so, you can connect the Foxsat to the optical input on the Sony DAV-DX330.
Hey I was just wondering if anyone could help me by telling me how can I connect this to my PS3 so that the audio from my PS3 comes out of the home cinema system. At the moment I am using a scart lead to connect it to my TV and was wondering if getting a HDMI cable help? Meaning if I connect the HDMI cable with the TV and the home cinemas system and use the scart lead from the PS3 to the home cinema system, will it work?
Thank you.
If you connect your PS3 via optical cable to the DZ330 you should be able to then two HDMI cables to connect your PS3 and the DZ330 to your television.
Hello!
Thank you for your excellent reviews here.
A bit of advise though please; I am considering the Sony BDV-E370 because of your great review of quality and features, however, because I have a PS3 which will play Blu-Rays and 3D Blu-Rays now, I don’t neccesarily need the BDV-E370’s Blu-ray capabilities, and therefore looked to the Sony DAV-DZ330 instead.
I guess my question is: Is the sound quality of the DAV as good as the BDV? And if not, is the difference worth paying the extra for the BDV?
Also (sorry for all the questions!) I want to wall mount the front speakers as my TV is wall mounted. I know the BDV speakers have keyhole hooks on them, am I right to assume that the DAV speakers will too?
Finally, I own a handful of region 1 DVDs that my PS3 won’t play. Will either of these systems be able to play Region 1?
Many thank yous in advance!
Phil.
Hi Phil
1. You’ll only be able to connect your PS3 to the DAV-DZ330 with an optical cable so you won’t get high definition sound – so no, the sound quality will not be as good.
2. Yes, there is a mounting hole on the rear of these speaker too – so drill a screw into the wall and you’re away
3. The 330 does not play region 1 DVDs. You may be able to get a multiregion hack for it, but you woul dbe invalidating the warranty so is not recommended. It’s probably cheaper to re-buy the R1 discs you have (which is what I did), or if you have any special R1 discs, keep your DVD player for the odd occassion you might watch them.
Hope that helps.
Hi how heavy are the speakers as im looking at some stands but they have weight restrictions.
Kind regards Shaun
Hi Shaun
The speakers aren’t heavy so you should be okay with most, if not all, stands.
The front and rear speakers are 0.5 kg, with the centre being a little more at 0.6 kg. The sub is 6.5 kg but you wouldn’t stand mount that anyway!
Hi,
Great review.
I am looking at the DAV-DZ330. I have an Xbox 360, PS3 and Virgin TV, my TV is a Samsung series 6 with an optical connection. I would like all to use the systems features with out having to switch cables. Ideally what ever goes through the TV also goes through the sound system. The speakers on the TV are not all that, and I would rather not use them, and only use the DAV-DZ330 speakers.
How can I achieve this?
Regards
Mark
The DAV-DZ330 only has a single optical input, so you wouldn’t be able to connect all these devices at once. The Samsung HT-C5500 on the other hand as an optical input, and two HDMI inputs as well, so may be a better bet for you.
Alternatively, a home cinema amplifier would be a much more flexible way to go.
Hi,
I have recently bought this system and I am EXTREMELY happy with it, the sound is awesome for my medium sized room.
I have the Sony KDL-37W510 LCD screen which I use for the Freeview too, and a PS3 connected via HDMI. After reading the reviews and advice on this thread I decided to buy another HDMI, some optical cables and an optical switcher (3IN, 1OUT) to enable my TV and my PS3 to be connected by optical.
The cables arrived before the switcher so I thought I’d play around with the setup and ended up connecting my TV to the DAV-DZ330 with optical for sound and HDMI for pictures, then the PS3 to the TV using HDMI. I assumed that by doing this the PS3’s audio signals would not reach the DAV-DZ330, but to my suprise it did! I now have surround sound when I’m watching freeview, gaming on my PS3 and watching blu-rays on my PS3, all with using just one optical cable.
So I guess my question is am I losing out on sound quality by not having the PS3 connected directly to the DAV-DZ330?? If not, then how does this setup work for me but not for others? Is it TV dependent?
Cheers
Chris
Hi Chris, no you shouldn’t be losing out on sound quality. The television is simply passing through the input signal it is being given, and as the signal is being kept digital, then bar any interference from the televisions audio processing, you probably won’t notice much, if any difference.
I have read that the system is compatible with iPod, does this mean that it is also compatible with the iPhone?
Also could you recommend an alternative 5.1 amplifier and speaker set at a similar price? Only as I will be using my PS3.
Regards Gurps.
Hi… thanks for all the useful info here!
I was wondering if I can connect any MP3 player (I have an iRiver) to the Sony DAV-DZ330 via the USB port and play my MP3 files on the system?
Thanks.
Dave
It does have a USB socket so you should be able to.
Hi, im looking to buy this system within the next few days. i also have sky hd coming next monday. i want to have the surround sound when watching sky. However, i only have 1 hdmi connector on my tv.
Would this work,
sky hd > hdmi > tv
sky hd > Optical input > home cinema system
Then when i want to use dvd player instead of sky, i just take out hdmi in tv and put hdmi from cinema system to tv? basically im asking if you would need a hdmi connection from cinema system to tv if you are just using sky?
thanks lewis.
Hi Lewis, Sky HD needs the HDMI connection so you could swap the cables as you suggest every time you wanted to watch a DVD, or the DAV-DZ330 does have a Scart socket output so you could use that to your television for when watching DVD’s instead.
Ah thats good then i thought maybe the home cinema system would need hdmi connection aswell but thats a relief! spent about 4 hours looking for the right answer thank you very much.
If i used a scart socket output, would that jus mean i get the normal picture of the dvd not the upscale, i think tbh since i wudnt watch dvd’s that much anyway due to sky movies, i could just swap the hdmi around, when i take it our though would this affect sky next time i wanted to watch it when i put the sky hdmi cable back into the tv, or will it jus work as normal?
Also, is there any other systems like this one that you could recommend? this was the best i found at a resonable price.
hi, was just wondering i see this home cinema system has optical connection,does this mean if i connect to my ps3 i can watch blue rays in full 5.1 total surround sound or will i just get a enhanced stereo? thanks martyn
Yes it does have an optical input, and you will get 5.1 if you connect your PS3 – but this will be standard Dolby Digital or DTS not the high definition DTS-HD Master or Dolby TrueHD.
Can you please give me the full dimensions of the individuals units?
Eg.
Sat Speakers
Centre Speaker
Bass Unit
Control unit
Need to make sure it fits before purchase
Thanks
Article updated with speaker dimensions.
Hi, does anyone know how long the speaker cables are for this system? I suspect they won’t be long enough for how I want to set it up so my second question is, does anyone know if you can by longer cables/where to get them? 🙂
Many thanks,
Matt
Hi there,
I have an old (4 years at least) Sony DVD Cinema System that makes a frequent whirring sound, which I take to be the machine reading the disc. I find it very annoying during quiet passages in films and I am therefore looking to change it. Does the DAZ-DZ330 do this?
Also, does the DAZ-DZ330 have a headphone jack which I can use to listen to the audio output of my Humax Foxsat hd receiver via the optical input of the DAZ-DZ330?
Thanks
Rob
Hey,
is the Sony DAV-DZ330 able to work with PS3’s DTS? I bought a Panasonic PT480, but this system wasn’t able to do this… So I want to buy this Sony system. Does Anyone know this?
Just installed DAV DZ330, sound is only coming from the speakers when playing DVD. Here is the installation:
HC – HDMI – TV
Sky HD – Scart – TV
Sky HD – Optical – HC.
Is there something I need to program in or do I need another connection either
HC – scart – TV or
SKY – HDMI – TV or something else ?
Ive just bought this system, however the cables are not long enough to wire up the rear left and centre speakers. Do you know where i can purchase longer cables?
i have just bought a dav dz330 and want to connect it to a standerd sky box ?
how do i do it when there is no audio in port ??
only dig. opitical in which is not on my sky bow ??
I have just bought a dav-dz330 home theatre system and would like to connect to my ps3, virgin media v+box and my sony bravia tv, which does not have an optiacal output, can anyone help me please?????????
Hi Gina – You’ll need an optical switcher to do this – something like this: 3 Way Optical Switch.
just got a Sony DAV Z330 and trying to connect it so i get surround sound from my Sky HD and PS3. To do this i have made the following connections:
SKY -> HDMI -> TV
PS3 -> HDMI -> TV
TV -> optical cable -> DAV Z330
I do get sound from each speaker but doubt this is surround sound. Is there a better way of doing this? I am not particularly bothered about using the Sony’s DVD capability as i only have 2 HDMI inputs on my TV
Hi,
Does anyone know if there is a software.firmware update or such available for the UK version that would let me play .avi files from a usb source. You can play these files using the US version so im assuming that it is only a software/firmware difference that is allowing the compatibility. am i right?
Thanks in advance,
Ash
Hi,
I am looking to buy this home cinema, however I want to connect a a PS3 and a skyHD box to my t.v in which i am able to play and watch sky without having to change any wires around and listen to both through the surround sound. I am worried as this home cinema has only 1 input for a HDMI. Can anyone please clarify if i am able to play the PS3 through the optical cable or just listen to the audio.
Hi,
I have Sony Bravia and Sony DAV DZ330. I am getting no sound from the surround (back) speakers when watching TV sky. Sound is fine with Tuner playing and dvd’s.
Connections are
Sky HD – via optical – HC
HC – via HDMI – TV
Is there something I am missing here? I cant see a HDMIO connection on the back of my HDsky plus box
Please advice. THANKS
Am thinking of buying this system however I have sky HD through HDMI and a PS3 through HDMI and I wont be using the built in DVD player as I play everything through my PS3, so am i right in thinking that i attach the optical lead to the reviever then use a optical lead switcher and have one optical lead going into the SKYHD and one optical lead in the SKYHD? or is there naother way of doing it that will provide better soud quality.
Hope that makes sense
Thanks
I read that this system will play SACD, Are there RCA outputs on the back so it can be plugged into a stereo hifi amp?
Thanks
Dave
I like this Sony system, I wonder if it plays avi format movies from the usb stick?
Does anyone know how to access the menu option to sync the sound and video on this system. The sound from my sky box is delayed from what it should be, even though the output delay is set to 0ms on the sky settings. There is info in the manual (page 59) on how to set the A/V sync, but I dont seem to be able to access that menu option, anyone know how to get to it?
Thanks in Advance
Will
Hi there
I recently bought a SONY DAV-DZ330 Home cinema system and have it connected to my SONY Bravia TV, it is a superb system however I have a slight problem. When I connect my “ipod classic” to the system via the USB port it does not recognise the ipod, it just says device not recognised? Can anyone tell me how I can overcome this?
I know I can connect the ipod using a normal lead through the “Audio In” port but this doesn’t charge the ipod.
Any help would be appreciated
Cheers
Neil
Anyone having problems connecting their Sky box to the 330 should check this out: How To Connect Your Sky Box To Your Home Cinema System – it should help. We’ll be doing one for PS3 soon too.
Hi, I have recentley bought this sony DAV-DZ330 system, however even though this system is 1000w i find it no where near as loud as my old panasonic SA-HT870 (amplified in the sub) system which is also 1000w the speakers are much larger on the panasonic system and also there seem to be more depth to the sound on the old system.
Would I benefit if I used the front/rear and centre speakers from the old panasonic system in conjunction with the new sony dvd player and sub? or would this make no difference or give me worse sound? cheers.
Very happy with this purchase but have a small problem with it. I have just tried to connect it via SCART to my wireless sender to enable me to view output on a TV in another room. Picture comes through OK but there is no sound. Wireless sender works OK for other sources eg Freeview box so not a problem with the wireless system. Is there something in the setup of the Sony system that needs amending?
Hi
I am thinking of getting the SONY DAV-DZ330 but I have a problem,my TV as only 1 HDMI slot and at present i have to use the venom 3in1 HDMI switch to connect my ps3 and skyHD .How would i connect them so the sound goes through the SONY DAV-DZ330
TV-HDMIswitch-skyHD-PS3
Any help would be appreciated
Hi there,
Does the Sony DAVDZ330 5.1 DVD Home Cinema System also have radio ie FM/AM tuner feature?
Hi Neil!
I’m having the same problem with my iPod (Nano 4th Generation) which is supposed to be supported according to the manual, but is not recognized… also updating it to the most recent firmware did not help.
Did you find a way to make yours work in the meantime?
Cheers,
Andy
One question I already bought this and it works great but my question is if I buy bluray player will I be able to hook it with the speakers from Sony DAVDZ330 ?
Hello
would i be able to get 5.1 or even DTS-HD from a movie played from the usb ?
Thanks!!
I have just bought the sony DAVDZ330 but I want my tv to play through it however I do not have an optical out on my tv I have managed to get my ps3 to work through the surround sound but have tried everything to get the tv through it even audio in which didn’t work someone please help
Hi I have read the comments and just want to check that I have understood :-
I have a Sony Bravia KDL-37W5500 LCD TV (4 HDMI in & 1 audio optical out)
Sony DAVDZ330 5.1 DVD Home Cinema System (1 HDMI out & 1 audio optical in)
Xbox 360 Elite (1 HDMI out & 1 audio optical out).
DAVDZ330 to the KDL-37W5500 via HDMI
Xbox 360 to the KDL-37W5500 via HDMI
If I connect the optical out from the KDL-37W5500 to the optical in on the DAVDZ330 will a true 5.1 signal be recieved from the TV and Xbox ?
Also the DAVDZ330 is equiped with an “AUDIO RETURN CHANNEL” which I can’t seem to get to work (doesn’t really matter as I intend to buy a audio optical fibre cable and put this between the two)
IS IT POSSIBLE TO PLAY AVI OR DIV X OR VTS FILE SYSTEMS ON THIS SYSTEM FROM THE USB DEVICE AND IF SO HOW