Bluetooth Stereo Gateway DC800 Bluetooth Adapter for Home Stereo

Turns my TV in my bedroom into silent device so I can watch while my wife is asleep. Works great!!!

I bought one of these. It does not work. So far I've tried two Motorola headsets and a Blackberry. It does not pair with anything. I called Motorola support and all they tell me is "Just push the button." They also said, "We don't support Blackberry." Profit from my experience. Don't buy this thing.

I got one of these for Christmas and have used it to connect from several items (laptop and iPhone 3G) to my home stereo. It sounds great.
I was going to purchase a new stereo for my car just to have bluetooth streaming from my iPhone ($200 with install). I have been using an audio jack input to my car stereo from my iPhone.
I checked the power input for the DC800 and it runs great from my laptop from a USB cable (it has a mini_USB power input on it).
I already had a power outlet adapter with dual USB cable inputs for charging other devices.
I connected the DC800 to the USB power outlet adapter and connected the audio outputs from the DC800 to my audio cable.
My iPhone now streams music to my car stereo (very clean sound)
AND it also acts as the speaker system when I make a bluetooth call on my iPhone.
Total cost is about $65 and it works wonderfully.

this adapter is a great piece of equipment. most of the time.... my stereo is only 20 feet from my computer and the adapter quits in the middle of songs, when i place my hand over the side of my computer, whenever the microwave runs, and sometimes (often) just between songs. closest thing to perfect Ive found, but still very disappointing. I usually have to reconnect bluetooth several times during the day while listening to music.

Hi,

I am writing this review after using this product over 2 years, yes I had bought this product back in November 2007.

This device is used mainly to connect it to the Motorola headset to listen ti music/tv programes/movies.

I am verry satisfied with its quality and usability as it has been giving me flawless performance since past two years.

It paired with my iPhone just fine but the output level was so low that I had turn my stereo up all the way to get usable volume. No one in tech support (non-native English speaking) could produce any specifications to determine whether the unit was operating as designed so I returned it. Not recommended.

I've been using this for close to a month now, and while the convenience is undeniable, the quality is lacking.

It was very easy to set up, but it was weird that they cable me audio-out cables as well as audio-in cables. I guess in case I wanted to wire myself again? Either way, the set-up and connection with my MacBook Pro (10.5.7) was extremely easy. I could do with a longer plug, but that's minor.

More importantly, that sound quality is "fair". I have CD quality music and some stuff from a friend that is not as good (320kbps officially from LimeWire, but it was ripped from a CD, and then re-encoded). Both have the same issues. When I originally connect and begin streaming to my stereo, the sound quality is not too bad. Less tin-ny than my laptop speakers (obviously, I guess, since the stereo is better quality), and not too many noticeable crackles. But the volume leaves something to be desired. When I was wired, I had my stereo at three-quarters volume and my computer at half volume, and it was pretty loud. Now, with the stereo at max and the computer at three-quarters, it's loud, but not overly, which is okay, I guess. As I continue to play the music, however, the sound quality decreases at an increasing rate. After an hour maybe, the sound becomes very crackle-y and hard to listen to. I'm not sure why that is (either a Mac 10.5.7 glitch, a Bluetooth A2DP glitch, or a product issue), but whatever is it, disconnecting and reconnecting every hour or so (or pausing the music for a bit every so often) can be annoying, but it is far from deal breaking.

Overall, easy to set up, convenient, and decent (but not great) sound transmission quality (usually) when used with a MacBook Pro and Mac 10.5.7.

EDIT: And just like that, for some reason it just stops working. Will return. Lot's of hassle and tinkering for a lot of convenience is not worth it. What's convenience if it always needs fixing? I tried to downgrade it to a two-star rating, but it won't let me. Alas.

The device looks good and is easy to setup BUT appears not to work with many computers! While it connected instantly to the bluetooth on my Blackberry, I still haven't managed to connect it to my Sony Vaio (Vista) or macbook (Leopard). A search of the web revealed that many many others have problems (with Dells too) and the workarounds appear long and complicated. I still haven't managed to get it to work with either laptop. I'll spend many hours more trying before giving it up but if you're considering buying this - note that it may not work with your system. (Google the product and 'help' to see what I mean)

The unit is certainly convenient to use, and pairing is rather straighforward. Range is about 30 ft in my (not very exhaustive) test. BUT: The big issue is sound quality! It brings you back to the time of tapes (muffled sound, missing highs, loss of airiness and vigor) and scratched vinyl records (hiss, and most annoyingly, regular pronounced cracks and pops that sound like bad scratches on the record).

A direct A/B comparison of the source CDs (Classical) and 320kbps mp3 rips made from them shows the expected noticeable slight degradation when used with a cable; but when played through this unit, it leads to what I consider unacceptable loss of fidelity, clarity and presence. Why even bother about the digital age when this sounds like a low-to-midrange 60s and 70s setup?

The item works great....transfers signal very well. I hooked this up to my 10 year old TV and turned it into bluetooth signal and send it to a Nike headset

This unit can works well and without problems. It requires the stereo head set I use to be paired with it each time the headset is turned on or after the headset is charged. The unit can only be paired to one device/headset at a time. Although the unit works well, I believe a plain wireless on infrared headset system would suit my needs better.

I've owned this product for 2 or 3 years now. I love it, period. I came here hoping that Moto still made these so that I could grab a second one for the bedroom.

The way I understand it is, the majority of users fall into one of two categories: 1) People want to use this with bluetooth headphones in some way/shape/form, and 2) People want to play the music on their computers and hear it on their home stereos.

I've always thought Mototola mis-marketed this thing. I don't know all the possibilities with the first option, but the second one is dead simple. I can play music and not have to run a long cable from my PC to my stereo. Moto pushed the first option because they could also sell the matching headphones.

At the time, I was so happy to find this device because it meant that, aside from electricity, my laptop experience was completely wireless. And at the time, this device cost me 2 Jacksons, which was a bargain. The only other device at the time that gave me similar functionality cost about 2 Benjamins. I see now that there are a few other manufacturers that make a similar device in a similar price range.

The pros:
-easy to set up. My laptop has integrated BT, and it sniffs out the DC800 no problem.
-audio plays. That's all I want it to do, and it does it well. The quality is good, and the way I figure it is, if you're happy with headphone jacks then you'll be fine with this.
-there are so many devices and software packages out there that will also do audio streaming, but they require codecs and network configurations and so on. If all you want is to use your stereo speakers instead of your pc speakers, this is for you.

Cons:
-I can't figure out how to get my computer (Windows XP) to automatically connect to the device when I turn it on. It works with the BT mouse but not the DC800. So therefore I have to manually pair it when I turn on the PC.
-There were a couple of months when I was getting audio cutting in and out in a very annoying way. I figure it was some kind of interference, and between removing the BT mouse, changing channels on my wireless router, and my neighbor moving out, it got fixed.
-It can't play Crysis. Well, I wouldn't suggest using this if you are going to play video games. There is a ever so slight lag, and if you're one who is anal about audio and video being out of sync, then you should reconsider. I'm fairly anal but I can handle watching internet TV/Netflix on this without pulling out my hair.

Other thoughts
-If I'm using iTunes, I use my iPhone as a remote. Elegant and understated simplicity.
-Some people say the sound quality is real bad. I read somewhere else that there is something even more specific within the A2DP stack where you can have compatibility problems making two devices play well. Maybe try updating your PC BT drivers, or switching BT dongles if you're using one.
-I have XP. When I first got this thing, I always had to make the connection to the DC800 before I opened up whatever app I was going to play audio with. If I didn't, then the audio would get routed through the PC speakers. I think an application will figure out from XP what to rout audio through only upon its startup. This isn't really a con of the DC800, it's a con of XP or the applications, I don't know which. What I've done is gone into the control panel, and within audio devices specified the default to be Bluetooth audio. It works great for me because I don't have to restart apps now after connecting to the DC800. If you do need to listen to your PC speakers (or headphone out) then I'm not sure if this will be as good for you as it was for me.

It would have been very nice to have known at the outset I needed one of these devices for each end of the chain. I want to listen to music from my Mac on a boombox located in the livingroom, and only after logging on to Motorola Support did I learn I need one for my Mac and another for my boombox. Since I haven't yet heard any music, it's diffucult to rate the product, so I'll give it a neutral rating of 3 stars.

I was seeking a way to watch t.v. in my basement while running on the treadmill and lifting weights in the early morning hours. The T.V. had to be turned up way too loud so that I could hear it while on the treadmill. I started by purchasing an FM transmitter and using my arm-band fm "walkman" type of device. The reception was terrible unless I stood right next to the transmitter.

I bought the Motorola S9 stereo headset and the Motorola DC800 stereo adapter. These two paired easily and the sound is unbelievable. I can run on the treadmill and watch "loud" T.V. and there are no reception problems. I would highly recommend this set-up to anyone.

First, I can say that this is the best bluetooth interface to my stereo system that I can find at a reasonable price. It is simple and easy to setup so that I can feed music to my stereo or listen to it wirelessly.

I stream music to this device from my ipod bluetooth interface (A125s). I listen to music from my stereo via this device using my bluetooth headset (BT620s). This device paired easily and consistently keep the pairings. Connection to the A125s dropped occasionally during music playing but only for a short time and not enough to be annoying yet.

Now, for the bad part. The audio lag is very noticeable and is at a varying amount. This make playing games like Guitar Hero almost impossible if you are keeping rhythm by listening to the music. On GH4 (World Tour), there is an audio calibration that can help compensate for the lag but I still have problem due to fluctuation in the delay. GH3 has no such calibration so I can't play any songs beyond the easy mode when using this device.

I should note here that the audio lag may be a common problem with all bluetooth audio devices. There are three devices in the loop here (my stereo system, the bluetooth gateway and the bluetooth headphone) and each of them probably contributes to this problem in someway.

Overall, it is a good device to have. The audio lag is a big let down for me but for others, this issue is probably not a big deal.

When it works it works good, but if you leave it on for more than an hour even if not connected to it, the soud quality just sounds like pure static. You can barley even here what is playing. I haven't tried it as a transmitter yet only as a reciever for my mac book. I have to turn it off for a while then turn it back on and it sounds good. but can't even watch a movie without having to pause and turn it of for a while.

The product works well although the setup is a little strange. One disadvantage is when the unit connects a bright blue led flashes at a rate of about once a second. I use the unit with a Jabra earpiece to watch tv without disturbing my wife, but the flashing was irritating in the bedroom so I covered it with tape. The tape works but you must have free access to this button/light to program the unit to work with a different bluetooth device. Value for the dollar excellent.

I have been using this product for over 1 month with no problems. My specific use is to connect an extra set of PC speakers to the Bluetooth Gateway so that I can listen to online radio through my Treo 800W mobile phone. The solution was relatively inexpensive, easy to setup (although I did have to purchase an RCA to 3.5mm female adapter) and it works great.

This bluetooth adapter works pretty well for watching movies or playing games without disturbing anyone in your house or apartment, especially late at night. One caveat though was that I would notice a fading in and out of the sound when the volume is low. But when you turn up the volume the fading in and out goes away. Other owners have stated similar issues but I don't know whether there's goes away when the volume is turned up. So 4 stars for this product due to that unusual issue. Otherwise a good buy, for people who want a wireless solution. Make sure to get a comfortable pair of bluetooth headphones, I have a Motorola HT820 and my ears start to hurt after extended use.

Getting connected to my home entertainment system with my Motorola blue tooth headphone was easy. However will not work with another brand of blue tooth headphone.

I got this to play my music from my laptop to my home stero.Laptop has built in bluetooth,and it does not work at all.

I bought this product from Amazon for a great price. I have it hooked up to my stereo, and with my built-in Bluetooth on my laptop I was hoping to stream music through my home stereo. So far I am unable to do so, no matter what I do. On top of that Motorola's customer support is completely crap and what little documentation of this problem I find in google has no solutions from anyone. Don't buy this product.

I got my DC800 and plugged it into my stero and began sending music from one of my laptops to the DC800 and driving my stereo. To my surprise the blue tooth magic worked and my songs came out of my home theatre system. Then I noticed that the music would speed up and slow down, just like the old days when your turn table (for you post vinyl people, that is how we played records) began to fail. Its called wow and not the good kind of wow. Clearly the clock circuitry inside this box was changing its frequency and causing a poor conversion from digital to analog. I tried this on a second PC just to be sure it did not have anything to do with the digital stream (would would have been shocked if it had) and I got the same result. This product does not perform as it should. You cannot listen to music sent to your stereo from your computer as it has the very annoying wow.

This is a great product work very well and does exactly what it say it does would recommend this to anyone who is looking for the freedom of wireless technology

It runs well with any audio entrance and exit(A/V). It cannot be used close to microwaves devices because the sound presents noises.

Can plug into and receive out of your amp. Thus can transmit my ipod songs and hear them on the stereo. Can also listen to xm or tv late at night.

Range on par with other bluetooth devices.

Small, convenient, easy to use, and performs well for those who need music everywhere and anywhere: from your bluetooth cell phone, from your bluetooth laptop and vice-versa!

I use this most of the time to connect the Bluetooth audio output from my iMac to the stereo, so that I can listen to internet radio using real speakers. The computer and the stereo are in different rooms, not even adjacent rooms, and the DC800 has no difficulty connecting to the Mac. Sound quality is very good; I have not had the problems that some other reviewers mentioned about sound quality.

The DC800 will do more, though. I can listen to whatever the stereo is playing, such as broadcast TV or a DVD, via Bluetooth headphones (I use Motorola BT820s). I can listen to my iPod through the stereo using a tiny Bluetooth iPod adapter (from Sony) that attaches via the iPod's docking connector. Now, it's easy to connect an iPod to a stereo by just plugging a stereo cable into the iPod's earphone jack, but then you have to leave the iPod near the stereo or use a long cable. With a Bluetooth connection, you can sit across the room, holding the iPod, and use the iPod's controls to select music. You'll also need some sort of remote for the stereo's volume control, because the volume setting on the iPod has no effect on the volume of the Bluetooth connection, at least using the Sony adapter.

The DC800 was easy to set up and easy to pair with the Bluetooth devices I have. It has no controls other than a power switch (I leave it on all the time) and a button to press for pairing. It just works.

One thing it WON'T do is two Bluetooth sessions at once. I can't play the computer's sound through the stereo via Bluetooth and at the same time listen to the stereo's output via Bluetooth headphones. There's no real need to do this (just pair the headphones directly with the computer), but I tried it to see if it works -- it doesn't.

I definitely recommend this product.

Connection was easy! Some times it takes a few secconds to connect to my headphones, but once it does it works seamlessly. I have no regrets in purchasing this product.

This is a good Stereo Adapter, it can stream music to and from a device.

For example the adapter is hooked in to your Home Theater System, when properly connected this device can send music to wireless headphones, or you can send the device music from a cell phone (that has the proper blue tooth profile), or send music from your MP3 collection at your PC to your home theater (provided that your home theater is somewhat close by).

The range I use is about 12 feet and I have had no problems with reception.

It even comes with a Cell phone headphone adapter that converts the plug to RCA style cables (the red and white cords). It is well equipped to hookup most simple installations.

I have mine hooked in the the Mini Disc (MD) CD-R port in my system, this provided music in and music out, so I do not have to change any cables.

So far the only problem I expierence is Streaming music from my PC to my Home Theater System. The software/driver disables my PC's sound card and sends all the sounds to my bluetooth dongle then to the DC800. Which is okay - - until I want to hear the music on my PC again. For some reason the software/driver will not re-enable my PC's sound card. I have to reset my PC. Which is not a big deal, just a little annoying.

Hope this helps any who wish to buy this.

Cheers!

Motorola Bluetooth Stereo Transceiver DC800 streams stereo music

For the price I haven't found anything that works like this device. I use it for my phone in my car - though no for speaking, just for audio playback as it doesn't support handsfree. The audio is amazing quality - just like it's plugged in - love it. It DOES cut out once in a while for a few seconds here and there - but it's totally worth the money still.

The reason I gave it four stars is for the slight connectivity cut-out problems and because I have to tell my phone to connect to it each time - since it's not handsfree it doesn't automatically pick it up when I turn on bluetooth on my phone (really wish you could fix that).

I have a Nokia N73 with 2 GB memory, and holds hundreds of mp3 songs. I wanted to able to use my Nokia via bluetooth to play the songs by genres on my home stereo. After research, I decided to go with Motorola DC800. The price is very reasonable $67. It comes with all the necessary audio cable. I just plugged the audio cable into my stereo receiver, and very easy pairing with my Nokia by following the quick start guide. The sound quality is as good as I expected, clear, good range, and very little noise. Some reviewer stated poor sound quality, possibilly due to the reduce quality of mp3 format itselt and not the bluetooth device. Might want to increase the bit rate to 192 instead of standard 128 bit mp3 format.

pros: Very affordable price. very small. easy installation.

cons: Does not pair with regular motorola bluetooth headset HS850. As stated on the manual, it will pair with motorola stereo headset HT820, and possibilly with other motorola stereo headset like MOTOROKR S9.

While the device looks rather plain, it was easy to set up and has worked as expected. I have had no problems with it.

I use this product to play radio and music transmitted from my bluetooth enabled laptop to my stereo system. It is great for this; I can listen to public radio stations that are otherwise too far away to pick up.

But I would like to get another unit to attach to my TV so that I can listen to the TV through my stereo system (without wiring). However, when used as a receiver the DC800 requires that you enter a code (0000) via a keyboard. That is ok if you are transmitting from a computer of phone but not from a TV. I do not understand why they made this necessary; since they don't explain how to change the code it provides no security benefit - it just reduces functionality.

Pairing with my headphones was quick & easy.

Works great with my HT820 headphones as well as my KRZR cell phone. I was able to vacuum my house while listening to XM radio through my stereo. The headset did cut out a couple of times, then I figured out that my refrigerator was blocking the signal. Walls between my headset and the adapter didn't cause any problems. I even went a few yards outdoors with no problem
.
After switching over to answer a cell phone call I was able to pick up the adapter signal again afterward with just the touch of a button.

Another reviewer mentioned the slight delay. I noticed it while watching a newscast on TV. I imagine it will be a little annoying while watching a drama. I haven't tried that yet.

as opposed to other motorola bluetooth products, the DC800 even though still sweet (I tried on a windows based) does not work with MAC. Now in motorola's defense its not Motorola's fault. the DC800 only supports A2DP profile which unfortunately mac does not support. But apparently, Mac will but has to wait until October.

Great idea. Very convenient and easy to set up and use, but the novelty
is going to wear off quickly as the sound quality is quite poor.
We've used this to stream music from bluetooth devices to a stereo
system and it doesn't perform well, even with the bluetooth audio source
right next to the DC800. As it buffers the incoming audio, the pitch
varies quite noticeably. It's like playing an old record, with one hand
on the turn-table alternately slowing and then speeding up the playback.
It'll drive you nuts! Save some money and buy yourself a decent cable instead.

This product fits my purpose. I have a home theatre and I get yelled at if it's too loud. I put on my headphones and voila, silence in the house. If I get a cell phone call it rings through the headphones and silences the stereo. Works great.

I bought the DC800 about 4 months ago to get more use out of my HT820 headphones (which I absolutely love, and highly recommend). I use it for my computer and TV and it works great. The only thing I really don't like about it, is the slight delay on the sound. You don't notice it so much when watching television, but if you play a lot of videogames, you will definitely notice it. I love music games, and the delay makes it difficult to play them. Other than that, it's a great product.

It connected without difficulty to my HT820 headphones. Within minutes, I was hearing my XM audio stream through the DC800 Gateway to the wireless headphones. However, what I really wanted to do, was to stream into my Mac Mini. My computer connected and paired to the Gateway without difficulty, but I could not direct the audio signal to the computer.

This is a great addition to your wireless music experience. I recently purchased a Samsung Q1 UMPC which support audio gateway over bluetooth. Combined with the DC800 I can now stream my music subscription to my home stereo. The sound is incredible, and the range is really good. I can pretty much walk around the family room as well as the adjoining room without any signal drop. It is best to keep a line of sight with the DC800 from your bluetooth device to get the best reception.