Price Paid:  $1500.00 from Good Guys

Summary:
We have been so disappointed with this unit. Bought it because of the 400 disc carousel, thinking we'd be able to use the library to bring up CDs or DVDs. Unfortunately, was never able to get the NetNamer software to actually save the titles to the unit (I was able to see them in a list in the software, but couldn't transfer them.) It always seemed noisy and slow and tempermental, but OK, big deal. Then we noticed it started skipping here and there. But was that the discs? After a while it got worse and worse until it was unusable. I hear the mechanism that holds so many CDs is too heavy to stay aligned or something. Luckily we had bought the service plan through Good Guys. They were out of business, but sold the plan to GE. Found a shop to repair it. They didn't have the part. Sent it to Kenwood. It was damaged in shipping. Kenwood wouldn't touch it until the casing was repaired. Weeks and weeks go by. Finally Kenwood get it. They don't have the part, but will 'rig something'. Months and months later, they send it back. I pick it up. It doesn't work. Doesn't even pretend to try to play any DVD I put in. On two different TVs. I take it back to the shop, they send it back to KW. Weeks and weeks go by and finally they say they have 'the part'. We put this thing in November of 2005 and have just today 4/28/2007 brought it home (after making the store plug into a TV and test.) I tried to ask them to get KW to fix the naming thing. They said KW said the connection had been tested and passed diagnostics. Meaning you can plug the cable into the back of the unit. By then I had read reviews of another KW model (5050) about how ridiculous the NetNamer software is, no bugs had ever been fixed, no emails to tech support had ever been returned. So I'm thinking we will either type all the titles in, or just continue to use the rental slots like before. We would have been better off saving the money and buying a $40 player at Walmart. You can get them with VHS combo, too. More cabapility than this thing for a fraction of the cost. I could have bought 35 DVD player for the price of this thing. Even the store had a hard time getting anyone at Kenwood to answer the phone or return calls. I went to the website and couldn't even find where to download the software. The contact page says to 'use this page to contact' after you've read the FAQ. There are only 5 questions in the FAQ. A search on the keyword netnamer comes up with nothing. I would strongly urge anyone considering buying anything from Kenwood to think twice. The other reviews on this model talk about the superior audio quality. Our audio was nil for the year and a half they had the unit.

Weaknesses:
Usability.

Price Paid:  $1400.00

Summary:
Except for only a couple things, the DV-5900M is outstanding. I've tested it side-by-side with high-end units from Sony, Onkyo, and Denon. The picture is amazing. The audio is on par with the others. It interacts great with a computer and the Entre. The ability to daisy-chain 3 of these together is also an added bonus. It can be a bit noisy at times, but it was designed so that it could be hidden out of sight & earshot through control via the Entre. In the almost 2 years I've had this, I have only one complaint. Armageddon (Criterion Collection) has a few seconds where the movie is blocky on the display. Other than that, I've no complaints.

Strengths:
Rock-solid Expandable (3 linked together will create a 1200-disc library) Great picture & on-par sound

Weaknesses:
Lack of SACD & SVCD support

Similar Products Used:
Denon DVM-1800 Onkyo DVSP800 Sony DVP-NC685V

Price Paid:  $1100.00 from Ebay

Summary:
I've had this product a little over a year and have had a chance to play around with it and my other Sovereign components quite a bit. I extensively researched this unit before purchase, including this site, and hope this review will help guide some others. Overall, I found my experience to be in line with my expectations. The unit is a great unit. To take full advantage of its capabilities however, you need to be prepared to spend some time with it. The picture quality on DVD’s is fantastic and I’ve never experienced a problem with the auto-flip feature for 2-sided disks. The audio is equally impressive. I was disappointed the unit does not support SACD but, this is a small complaint give the other features. I’m surprised to read so many complaints about the speed and noise of the unit. The speed to find the next disk will depend on where sequentially it sits next to the disk that is playing. In the worst case, this is no longer then 30 seconds from start to finish…..very reasonable in my opinion. The noise is louder then it could be but by no mean a major issue. Anyone with concerns on these points should try and see a live demo before purchasing. I do agree with one reviewer that the naming functionality could be significantly improved. Newer CD’s and DVD’s are now coming pre-coded with title info that passes directly to the unit. This means the disk and track description, including artist name, will appear in the DVD display window. If you have a connected Kenwood Encore Hub, most of your disks will be recognized via the Internet link, but unfortunately this is not passed automatically to the DVD display window. I did find out from Kenwood that you can download software from their site that allows you to input all your disk data on your PC and then upload this to your machine. This is a good option as it creates a backup as well. Tighter integration and information passing would be appreciated but overall I’m very happy with the unit. I have used Kenwood’s tech support on a number of occasions and have never had a problem. Biggest issue is that the specialized Sovereign support group is only available during normal pacific coast business hours.

Strengths:
Great Picture Great Sound

Weaknesses:
No SACD support Is more sensitive to fingerprints/scratches then normal players

Price Paid:  $1500.00 from Tweeter

Summary:
This is a slow, noisy player. Additionally, it developed the annoying habit of deciding in the middle of a disk that "This kind of disk can not be played in this player. Please change the disk." Sometimes this can be overcome by moving the disk to a different slot, but in most instances, I have to move the disk to a different player such as the Sony 9000ES or Denon 3800 in order to view the rest of the DVD. Sent it in for service, but the problem, which is intermittent did not occur for the service department so they did nothing. (It happened again for me with the first disk I tried to play when I got it back.) I strongly urge people to avoid this player like the plague. Pioneer megachangers have a much better user interface, are quieter, faster and, most importantly, will play an entire DVD at one attempt.

Strengths:
Holds a lot of disks but so does a vinyl wallet at a significant savings in space and $.

Weaknesses:
Slow, noisy, unreliable, expensive.

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer 301 disk megachanger. Sony 9000ES DVD/SACD player. Denon 3800 DVD-Video/Audio player.

Price Paid:  $1200.00

Summary:
Great unit for holding DVDs, CDs, DVD Audio. Looks great.

Strengths:
Picture Quality is the best that I have seen from a DVD Player. Excellent Sound and good build quality. DVD audio is excellent.

Weaknesses:
A little slow but what do you expect from a DVD player that holds 400 discs.

Similar Products Used:
Sony 300 disc player, Denon 2800