This next review is one of those that really took me by surprise. Usually, I request a product, and if it is sent to me, I generally already know what it is. I mean, when you write several of these a week, you start to get used to stuff. This was my first review of an RCA product, and I was pleased with the RCA 37-inch DVD Home Theater Sound Bar.

You see, I thought that I would be doing a review of a soundbar. After all, soundbars are pretty popular, as you may have noticed that most TVs don’t have a lot as far as sound is concerned. I think they just assume anyone who is serious about a TV will get stereo speakers separately. But here is the thing: not only is this device a soundbar, but it is a DVD player.

Honestly, I don’t know why I didn’t see this before. I just assumed that circular piece in the middle was just a design choice. However, I popped it open, and you can put a DVD player in there.

Now, I will say that this is both a good and a bad thing to have on your soundbar. Like many who own a television, I already have a device that plays DVDs, and this job is done by my PlayStation 4. Now I have a thing that plays DVDs that I really don’t need.

Hooking the RCA DVD Home Theater Sound Bar was somewhat complicated, and it required the HDMI cable, which eats up yet another HDMI port on my TV. I swear, every TV or display needs at least 8 HDMIs now (8DMI?). Then, once it was set up, I couldn’t get it to work without the remote, which is another accessory needed to make this work.

However, once I got it working, I will have to admit that it does rock. It sounds like I am at a movie theater, and I can only hope that this is audiophile Nirvanna.

So basically, the RCA DVD Home Theater Sound Bar is good for a display that needs a DVD and stereo sound, but most people with TVs already have both. There is also a problem when I got to the main menu, as the arrow keys would shift into the menu options. I tried this on two DVDs, and I wonder if there is some design flaw inherent within the product itself.

Still, if you want to get in on this, head on over to the RCA site and lay down $129.99 for it.