Price Paid:  $79.00 from ebay / HK

Summary:
I bid on this simply to watch it - and wound up winning it for $79. Total cost was $91 shipped for a like new DVD changer. I use this every day - The wife fires it up in the morning for my daughter to watch while she gets ready for the day, and I fire it up at night for CD's and DVD's. It has yet to falter. Nice looking, big and heavy. Great manual and remote. The fact that it doesn't play CD-R is going to hurt, but I have a Sony changer that can handle it. I wish I didn't need 2 players for just a few discs, but that's OK. At first I didn't like the look of it, but I also picked up a new TV within a week of installing this, so I had to get used to 2 things at the same time. Once the TV and DVD player burned in I began to tweak out the TV, and now I'm happy with the overall look of everything I play on this. It seems to be true to the video source - bad transfers look bad, but good ones are truly awesome. Lion King, Toy Story, Nemo all look so incredible, people can't believe it. System as of now - HK DVD5 HK AVR110 Toshiba 32AF43 The ratings reflect the price paid. If I paid $200 or more, I'd expect CD-r, adjustable black levels, progressive scan, etc.

Strengths:
Build quality, Picture, Manual, Lit remote, Warranty. Bad reputation keeps Ebay prices down.

Weaknesses:
No black level setting, no tweaks to do. Front panel display is a bit bright, but I think it's defeatable...? I forget. Bad reputation keeps the re-sale price down.

Similar Products Used:
Sony DVP-S300 (Oldie but Goodie) Onkyo DV-CP500 (POS)

Price Paid:  $499.00 from soundpros.com

Summary:
I admit it, I am very partial to HK products. I own 2 of their receivers (one of these for 2 years, the other for 6, and they both work beautifully), but as far as dvd players go, they have done a very shoddy job in terms of lasting power. The first unit that I bought lasted almost a year (to the day). Then one day, the unit wouldn't come out of standby mode, with a few dvds trapped inside. HKs techs couldn't help on the phone, and they had me drive down to New Jersey to an authorized dealer, who kept it for 2 months (these can only be repaired in CA at a specific HK repair shop it seems). After making a bit of a stink, HK sent me a refurbished model. I've used this one about 15 months, but now this one is starting to act flakey. The picture will start to stutter, and break up, then will stop completely. This is on pristine discs with no smudges or scratches. I have reset the processor, but this doesn't affect the problem. So now, I don't know how About Schmidt ends, because the player encountered these problems towards the end of the movie. Very aggravating. I spent about $500 for this, then had the long drawn out problems with getting the unit repaired, and when all is said and done, these played for about a year each before problems were encountered. HK definitely has to work on improving the longevity of their dvd players. Until then, I think I will shop for a different brand, since this one is on its last legs.

Strengths:
Beautiful picture and sound, optical audio, 5 disc capacity, receiver remote works with dvd player.

Weaknesses:
Piss poor longevity! One unit lasted a year, the other is slowly breaking down after 15 months. Way to much money spent for such short term usage. Has made me re-evaluate my loyalty to HK products.

Price Paid:  $299.00 from 800.com

Summary:
Unreliable junk!!! I bought my first unit Nov 6th, 2001 and it died three days after I installed it. The replacement lasted 15 months and it is now dead as well (out of warranty). Other than that it is a fine unit.

Strengths:
Great picture and sound.

Weaknesses:
Poor construction, high defect rate, high failure rate, slow to load discs.

Similar Products Used:
Apex DVD player, $67 at Circuit City, has NEVER failed!

Price Paid:  $430.00 from 6th Ave. Electronics

Summary:
I bought the DVD 5 thinking it was the DVD 50 in the store. Oops! That's why the price was so good. Anyway, I didn't realize this until I unboxed it and set it up. In any event, the performance was so good that I couldn't return it. After all, it was H/K, and it was a changer. I was upgrading from a Sony single DVD player and I had a half-broken Onkyo 6 disc CD changer. This unit kills two birds with one stone. It's just a shame that it does not play CD-R's. It will play some CD-RW's, but who buys those? Other features like Random Play only work per disc, so keep that in mind if you like to play music for extended periods. As one would expect, you can change discs while one is playing. The onboard DAC and processor circuitry is definitely on par with external units. This alone is a selling point. I play audio CD's using the digital optical out and the sound is amazing. The video is also very good, but I have to upgrade my TV to get the full benefit. The OSD menus and the remote are fairly intuitive.

Strengths:
H/K high performance DAC, solid build quality.

Weaknesses:
Does not play CD-R or MP3 media. If you have the cash, move up to the DVD 50.

Similar Products Used:
Sony DVP-S330

Price Paid:  $175.00 from New on half.com

Summary:
Love the changer, hate that it doesn't play cdr's great picture, excellent sound very nice unit. Hopefully it won't be beset by HK'S reliability woes

Strengths:
Picture sound changer

Weaknesses:
remote, wont paly cdr's plays cdrw's????

Similar Products Used:
Sony Denon, Toshiba Phillips