Had all the features I was looking for, if it had worked.

They apparently do not even bother to check their units before sending them out.

I also would not recommend this unit. I did not find this review until after my problems. The first unit had the pausing and skipping problem, I now see posted here. After a 4 week wait for the next one, the tray would not open. Poor response and no quality control from HK prompted me to get a refund.

Similar Products Used:

1st DVD, other HK products (older) work fine.

Plays everything, sound and picture quality is phenominal.

Long load time-to be expected with everything it can play.

A note to the previous reviews-you can go directly to a disc by pressing disc skip and then a track # (1-5). You do not have to continuosly hit disc skip. I don''t know why this isn''t mentioned in the manual. Overall I''ve been very happy with the unit. I only a few instances of the previously mentioned bugs and that seems to have been corrected by the update disc. I had far more problems with a JVC unit I had before.

Similar Products Used:

JVC dvd player, Marantz cd changer.

Style, build quality, performance

Needlessly crippled carousel functionality

This is a great player, with one major exception: there is no way to discretely select a disc from the remote control. To go from disc 1 to disc 5, you must hit the "DISC SKIP" button 4 times. And each time you hit the button, you must wait for the player to start reading the disc before you can hit the button again. Why HK engineers decided to cripple the player''s carousel functionality in this way is a mystery. Why they don''t fix this oversite with a firmware upgrade is also a mystery. One other minor issue is that the words "PAUSE" appear on the screen when you pause. Hello? I know I''m paused; I don''t need the player to block what I am trying to look at by telling me what I already know. An HK programmer could fix this nonsense in one minute and offer a downloadable firmware update. Will they? Probably not. For such a great player, it pains me to have to pan it for easily correctable flaws.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba DVD players

Progressive, 5 disks

Flaky

It's one of those things that, if it worked perfectly, would get 5 stars, but because I got one that occasionally pauses (on seemingly all DVDs), I can only give it one star. And H/K wouldn't admit, when I called them, that they knew of any problems. When I emailed, they denied working on a software update, but suggested I send the unit back, as they had "made some changes at the factory". I'm still waiting for a replacement. Meanwhile, everyone else I talk to says that the replacement is going to have the same problems, because the fix has not been completed yet. I had to pay $15 to send this thing back. If it comes back with the same problems, I am going over there to slap some folks around. Also, the audio (digital coax) doesn't always come on when I start (or resume) a DVD. I have to stop, press play again, THEN it works. Oh, and also, I had the same problem as another guy here - it "forgot" a couple of times that it was supposed to be in progressive / component mode, and slipped back to S-Video. My first and last H/K product.

Similar Products Used:

None

Build,Looks,plays anything,sound quality

None

Once again i have fallen for harmon kardon,i got this along with 510(see review).and after hooking it up,I was blown away!!!!first thing I did was put in a hdcd and I couldnt believe the sound....the clear crisp guitar and vocals were amazing,no way in hell my sony sounded this good(although i didnt buy my sony for music it still disapointed me but it was great for movies)

Similar Products Used:

Sony

5 disc changer,HDCD, mp3/cdr playback, component video quality, looks, remote not really all that bad-especially backlit,

none yet, i havent been expiriencing the problems encountered by other people. But havent tried out ALL my dvds yet.

I bought this product on the recommendation of the folks at thehometheaterspot.com. The progressive output if far superior to that of the Toshiba. I like being able to load this baby up with movies and just watching a triple feature...its really cool. I love the ability to play all my mp3 CDs. Plus the fact that it plays CDr s in general is fantastic. Overall I would say the build quality is on par for the price point...its not built like a tank but doesnt really seem flimsy either. The on screen menus were fine except when you hit pause or slow the size of the textbox is a little cumbersome and occludes a rather large portion of the picture. I don't really mind the load time of the discs, but i'm usually watching or playing stuff in order so i may be an exception here. I was considering the Denon 2800 before i bought this but for the money i think this is a far superior player. I couldnt justify spending the 800 bucks on a unit with as many problems as the denon appears to have. Overall I am very satisfied with this product.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba 5109

Great picture.

Difficult set-up.

Picture freezes on all DVD's. Is everyone having this problem?
It is annoying.

Similar Products Used:

None

Harman Kardon Back uip there products

I wish there was never problemsin the first place

All - (I'm hoping AudioReview will let this review stay)

I think everyone who has reviewed the DVD 50 or read these reviews are familiar with some of the recurring problems with the DVD 50s. Fortunately, HK has designed the units such that they are software upgradeable. To my knowledge, all of the issues listed here can be fixed using an upgrade that is now available from HK in the form of a CD.

Owners of the Harman Kardon DVD50 can go here:
http://www.harmankardon.com/dvd50upgrade.asp

Going to the above link will take you directly to Harman's site, and directly to the form application to order your (free) upgrade disc.

Follows is the text from the site:

As part of our ongoing program of product support, Harman Kardon has developed an upgrade to the operating system for the DVD 50 which addresses a number of suggestions raised by our customers. This upgrade disc is free of charge to DVD 50 owners, and it is easily installed by simply placing the disc in the DVD 50 and following a few simple steps. This disc includes a number of important features:
Playback compatibility has been improved, particularly with rental and "problem" discs.
The user is now able to select from five separate processing modes when using a progressive scan display. The choice of modes allows the unit to remain in an "automatic" mode, or the user may optimize the progressive scan frame reconstruction for the type of program material being played, be it film material or a program originally shown on video. These modes also allow the user to compensate for errors in the disc authoring where proper maintenance of frame rate is not carried out in the film-to-video conversion process.
The multiroom button on the AVR7000's remote will no longer interfere with the DVD 50.
The control system has been improved to prevent the unit from locking up when certain combinations of buttons are pressed just prior to turning the machine off.
Other improvements to the operating system to improve overall playback quality and disc compatibility.
As with all software driven products, it is inevitable that minor bugs may be discovered from time to time despite our rigorous testing procedures. Harman Kardon will offer additional upgrades for the DVD 50 as and when appropriate. While this upgrade disc will improve the DVD 50's performance, it is not mandatory. However, all DVD owners are welcome to receive a disc.

I have not purchased the unit yet, but probably will buy it at the end of the month.

The reason I am posting htis message is to share the following message I received from HK regarding the unit in response to my inquiry on the problems discussed in the reviews below. Here is the text of the email from Harmon Kardon support:

Hi Tim,
There were some issues with the first shipment of DVD50's (less than 800 pieces). These issues have been addressed in subsequent production runs.
Regards,
Ernie Luedemann
Web Support 3

I replied with an inquiry as to how to determine if you are buying one of the first "problem" 800 units. If there is a way to tell the difference, I will likely make the purchase. Based on its specs, it certainly looks like a great product.

See previous review

Sound glitches, in addition to more motion artifacts

Just an update: I played Toy Story and Toy Story 2 on the DVD 50, hoping that its glitches were isolated events. No such luck. In Toy Story, when Sid's little sister enters the hallway, the DVD 50 issued a sceeching sound, much like the sound of an old phonograph needle getting dragged across a record. And, on Toy Story 2, the chicken man pixelates horribly in a mid-film sequence. Bad.

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Sony 660