blankk

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $500.00

Summary:
I really liked the picture quality and sound from the unit until it just quit. Repairs to the pickup laser are estimated at $180. I never even knew there was upgrade software so never tried that. I have been told by the repair office in California the software was not the issue anyway. I had it over three years so only paid $166 per year of useage. HK tells me it is out of warranty so what I do is up to me. I just won't be buying a HK product again. My AVR 500 is also giving me problems consistent with other's complaints.

Strengths:
good unit while it lasted

Weaknesses:
unit died (after warranty period of course)

Similar Products Used:
Onkyo

King

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $400.00 from Harman Kardon Outlet

Summary:
I purchased this from the Harman web site where they sell re-manufactured and discontinued models at discount prices. I have used the player for about 2 years now with no problems. The quality of the picture is excellent, and the sound, especially with optical cable, is outstanding. Ocassionally it will have difficulty reading a disk and will display a "disk error". However, if you remove the disk and reinsert it, it will read on the second try. While this does happen, it is very seldom.

Strengths:
Purity of sound and picture. Ease of operation. Plays a wide variety of formats. HDCD circuitry built in to decode that format.

Weaknesses:
Very slow to load and read start-up information from disk. Carousel holds 5 CD's/DVD's, but does not play sequentially--you have to program with the remote to do that, otherwise it plays one disk and stops. Does not support DVD-Audio format or SACD audio format. DTS signal is not detected and sent to the amp, you have to select it from the startup menu of the DVD.

Similar Products Used:
Sony, Magnavox, Pioneer, Apex.

Price Paid:  $400.00 from Local HiFi dealer (f

Summary:
Just as the warranty expired, the player stopped recognizing DVD discs. Then it stopped recognizing audio CDs. Local (trusted) repair shop called it a total loss, as it would cost more than its value to replace the ribbon cable and main board. Originally selected for the combination of features (prog. scan, quality DACs, MP3, HDCD). I'd still like to have those features, but I'm not sure I can afford a Denon DVM-4800. My gut tells me it wouldn't be wise to buy a remanufactured HK DVD-50 on eBay.

Strengths:
* audio CD-Rs did play * case aesthetics; looked nice with the AVR-7000

Weaknesses:
* MP3 function _never_ worked * Frequent DVD jitter * Painfully slow disc skip, as well as slow response time to commands from remote * The Chipmunk(TM) effect when searching (>>) audio CDs * System lock-ups, requiring long power cycling to reset the machine

Price Paid:  $201.00 from Harman Kardon on eBa

Summary:
Excellent player. Little problems encountered and all can be solved quickly. I had over 300 DVD movie collections and I have play over 100 of them in three month. Only three incidents since I got it as refurbished unit from HK. Playback skip only in two disc that had finger prints. I wiped clean them with pure alcohol and it never happened again. The third case was a freeze up during change audio set up to DTS during playback. I punched the wrong button on remote and then made several quick attempts to correct it. I think the unit freeze up because contradictory commands present. It never happened again after the situation clear it self up. I think all the previous reviews regarding these type of problems can be traced to either dirty disc or lens, or user. If the user became irritated, then he or she will complicate the problem by punch in too many commands at once. I had a Pioneer LD player that I have to enter command in a particular sequence otherwise it will not work right. I bought this unit before I found out this reviewing site. I was worried after reading so many negative reviews and considering that I should return it before warranty expired. But at other AV discussion forum site, more complains about playback skip on almost every other brands across board. Many from brand new unit playing the very first new disc. I decide to give this HK DVD 50 a try and never happier since. It has an Impressive picture and sound quality compare to my older first generation Panasonic player (A100). The color and sharpness are astounding when playing movie like Saving Private Ryan and Stargate etc. There are many sound effects that I never heard before, but it may be due to new Denon receiver I got the same time. I serious suggest that people encounter playback skip situation should try to clean their disc with pure alcohol first (not the diluted or denatured type that might leave more residue). Getting angry and frustrated will only make thing worse. I have no problem with 5 disc carousel except that if there should be more disc selection control other than "disc skip" and it only go one way. Also, HK should not become compliance and sit on brand name recognition and fan loyalty. HK should try to include more innovative function to its product rather than less. HK units cost more when compare with similar level of product from maker like Denon or Yamaha. People paid more will certainly expect more and tend less tolerance to problems. I will buy another HK unit but only after compare features and price with others.

Strengths:
Stand out stylish design. excellent picture and sound quality. convenient of 5 disc carousel.

Weaknesses:
less disc selection control on remote. Need more innovative "bell and whistle" functions to justify higher cost.

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer Elite LD player; Denon AVR 2803; Panasonic DVD A100 (sent to basement now);

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Be Careful! HK products are the worse products I have tried, not because of sound or video quality, they have nice sound and video quality, the problem is that they start to malfunction very early after normal usage. I own a HK receiver and the dvd 50. They start to malfunction almost at the same time,less than a year of usage, my movies - brand new - started to skip, and the receiver started to shut off by itself, making imposible to turn it on. I had to wait at least 30 minutes of pre-warming for it to turn on, also the lights on the front panel started to go very dim in groups of 3. Also, every time I listened CD's The receiver skipped the first seconds of each track - very annoying-. At first I thought it was the cd player, but it was the receiver. I wrote HK, but they responded that this was perfectly normal...????. In short, both products started to fail, making my listening-viewing experience painful rather than joyful. I wont buy from HK again, and I wont recomend it either. I got my products to HK authorized repair center on january 2003 and still dont have them back because HK dont send the parts. Still waiting.....

Strengths:
nice picture,when it works

Weaknesses:
reliability

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer Elite DV-45A Far better Yamaha 1300 - better product (no problems at all) -Very happy with these two