Harman Kardon DVD 50 Multiple DVD Players

Harman Kardon DVD 50 Multiple DVD Players 

DESCRIPTION

5 disc DVD/CD changer

USER REVIEWS

Showing 21-30 of 71  
[May 04, 2001]
Joe
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Video quality, sound, progressive

Weakness:

None

Decided to get something that will play CD-R/RW. Can't complain. So far player played everything, even scratched CDR's. Video quality is very good. Sound is excellent as well.
Below are some negative reviews and I feel sorry for those people that they got defective units. I can't caomplain so far. If something goes wrong I'll post.

Similar Products Used:

JVC 511

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jun 17, 2001]
Mark
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Sound quality, MP3

Weakness:

Occasionally skips

I've had mine since early May and not experienced any problems shutting down or locking up as described by others. Occasionally while playing a DVD it skips, but helps if you keep the discs clean and (ideally) unscratched. One slightly annoying thing is when it stops when you take too long reading DVD special features like production notes or cast and crew bio's.

The component output is great, MP3 compatibility is a bonus and sound quality, especially from HDCD's, is fantastic when paired with a decent receiver and speaker system.

In defence of the product, I'd like to point out that not all units are defective and that someone with a defective unit will be far more vocal than a satisfied customer. So far, I'm quite happy with it...

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Jun 19, 2001]
Jon Boy
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Picture Quality, plays multi formats and carousel play.

Weakness:

Buggy DTS Audio and VCD Support.

By far DVD-50 provides the best picture I've seen and does not have the Chroma Bug. The detail is "film like" which gives a true 3-D look to most good DVD transfers. My original player had audio dropouts when playing DTS DVDs and split second freezes in some DVDs. It happened in chapter 1 of Gladiator (DTS ES). I notified HK about my issues w/ the DVD-50 and they were willing to send me a replacement. A process which took almost three weeks and $20 to cover the shipping. My original player had a Manufacture date of March 2001. The player they replaced had a February 2001 Manufacture date. I suspect the defective players may have been isolated to a certain lot.

I have not experienced any problems with the replacement unit so far (two weeks now). I'm crossing my fingers that it would stay that way.

I still have an issue and feel I should warn those considering the HK DVD-50. It does not fully support VCDs. The remote lacks a AUDIO button which allows selection of L/R/Both audio tracks. A lot of the VCD are two Language version which has a language recorded on the Left or Right audio tracks. Most VCD player allows selection of either Left or Right and blend the right to the left and vice versa. The DVD50 plays BOTH as the default; you have both languages playing and echoeing. It's annoying. If you do not play VCDs at all or have multi language versions, it may not be an issue. I had to spend another $200 to buy a player that does this right or trash my collection of VCD. I informed HK about this design flaw and they said they will take it into consideration in the future releases. Let's hope they do. I bought into HK on their reputation as being a very reliable and technically advanced company. The DVD50 should have been destined for greatness if they hadn't rushed it to market.




Similar Products Used:

Toshiba SD-2200, JVC 723; Toshiba SD-6200.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Jan 20, 2002]
Micah J
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

To be general, this DVD player is a 5 Disc Progressive scan player @ a very reasonable price. It plays all kinds of audio and video sources that many others can't provide such as MP3, CD-W and CD-RW, HDCD, DVD, Video CD's I believe. Pretty good in my opinion.

Weakness:

The only weakness that I could find with my unit is just in personal taste is that it is slower in loading stuff. But I need to not be so impatient I guess since the unit has to load and all the firmware and etc.

Because this was going to be my first DVD Player purchase ever and I was in the middle of an upgrade from Dolby Pro to digital capabilities, I wanted something a little better and have lots of capabilies.
I began researching around and found out that HK made a DVD player (5 disc at that) that could play all kinds of sources and had progressive scan. So I went here to read reviews and got obviously mixed reviews. It almost seemed that some models worked while others did not, but I did take a chance and it PAID OFF. To be honest, I got the unit in May of 2001, but did not plug it in until September of 2001, I was waiting to get a new receiver and better t.v. Of course during this time I was still reading reviews and I even signed up for the upgrade disc just in case. When I finally got it all hooked up with my current system, it kicked butt. I think I was a lucky one, but it had NO PROBLEMS at all. It played everything I could throw at it with clarity and ease. I have lots of CD-R and CD-RW and MP3 discs that it played with no problem and of course it played the DVDs with no drop outs of any type that some people have described. It did skip a couple of times on some DVDs but after later inspection it was because they were scratched to hell (be weary of previously viewed dvds). Anyway, I got the version 2.0 software upgrade in November and even though I was not having troubles I installed it just in case. Did not really notice anything because it was working perfectly already. This brings me to an important factor about this unit that is a VERY GOOD THING. The technology of this device uses FLASH MEMORY on EPROMS. The beauty of flash memory is that one can basically rewrite the software and firmware programs to enhance cability without having to open up the unit and bringing it to the shop. That was the reason for the upgrade discs to "flash" the proms with the new s/w code to enhance play. I think it was great insight for the HK designers to design this feature. Its just unfortuneate that they probably hastened the design and forgot some things on some units.
But it conclusion, I am very happy with my purchase and HK products to me seem to be much clearer and more defined than any moderatey priced audio/video components.
Currently I am using these components as well (the system):

Receiver - HK AVR310 (AWESOME)
Amp - ADCOM 7300
DVD / CD - HK DVD50
VCR - JVC Hi-fi
Custom Designed and manufactured speakers

Similar Products Used:

This would actually be my first DVD player, but have seen others @ friends places including Sony, Denon

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Mar 31, 2001]
greg
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

looks,picture,sound and build quality

Weakness:

doesn't play cdr's flawlessly,deseign is very deep may not fit all racks makes ANNOYING hiss when disc starts,remote 0.k

after waiting through weeks of delays my dvd 50 finally arrived.After using the dvd5 i knew the dvd50 w/progressive scan would give me all the features the 5 didn't have.THe looks were as i expected and i was confident it would play audio and video as well as the 5.I was stunned when i played a couple of cdr's and noticed it would skip!How can a $600 unit skip and my $50 walkman and $200 pioneer dvd/cd playerplay the same cdr's flawlessly! There's also a terrible hiss right after a dvd is initially read but right before it plays.I realize nothing is perfect,but where did the hiss come from?The 5 was perfect.I could live w/that but this cdr thing pisses me off.A unit of this quality shouldn't have these issues.The fact that i had to wait so long for the unit makes me more critical.If anyone has a similiar experience give me a shout. gsmartts@aol.com I'll give four stars for value,there aren't many 5 disc progressive scan players @ this price point,and 4 for overall because the video and audio performance carry the unit dispite the two glitches.

Similar Products Used:

hk dvd 5,pioneer

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Apr 06, 2001]
Bob
Audio Enthusiast

Weakness:

umm...fairly deep footprint.

Have only had this unit 2 days and haven't had the time to fully review it, but I just wanted to write this to those who may be scared off by some of the previous reviews.

I have thrown every CD-R I have at this (different brands, different colors) and it has NOT hiccupped once. I notice NO hissing sound from this player.

The Progressive Scan picture is FANTASTIC....very SMOOTH sharp (but not overly) picture. Colors are fantastic.

Svideo looks great as well.

I think some of the previous reviews were a result of incorrect hook/up and/or a bad unit.

$0.02

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Apr 12, 2001]
Joe
Audio Enthusiast

Weakness:

None thus far.

As below...this player is probably the best player for your dollar out there. The progressive scan picture is incredible and the features are great. This thing will play almost anything AND it's a 5 disc changer to boot!

What more could you want?!

Go out and get one today!

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Apr 10, 2001]
Tim
Audio Enthusiast

Weakness:

Nothing yet.

I have had this unit a hole week now;), and haven’t had a single problem with it

I’ve tried all the features & everything works as advertised, I’ve even been surprised buy some features, like the play exchange. I like how MP3 files are played. You can play a whole disk in order or you can program it to play up to 66 files. I have a number of MP3 concerts that sound great, I’m not sure if this is due to the player or my AVR 510 receiver, either way the sound quality is improved.

This is my first DVD player, I finally upgraded my Sony ES CD changer after 10 years of service. I tried the Onkyo DV-601 for 29 days, but returned it, mainly because it wouldn’t play any of my CD-R’s. The Onkyo was good, but I think the picture is better with this unit & it has a lot more features, but for the price difference it should.

I just upgraded my whole system, I think the bang for the buck has gotten to a decent price point now for home theater.

My old system non-home theater
Yamaha R-9
Sony ES 5 Disc changer
Infinity R6’s

My new system
H/K AVR 510
H/K DVD 50
Polk RM7500/450PSW sub

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo DV-601

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Apr 16, 2001]
Frank
Audio Enthusiast

Weakness:

no picture using component video connection

After waiting one month my unit arrived a few days ago.
Needless to say I was excited to hook this unit up. Disconnected my Sony and plugged this baby in, great audio but guess what? No Picture!! thru the component video . Spent three hours going back and forth with the connections and still no picture. So I pulled out and an S-video cable I had around and Walla !! I had a picture ..
So I tried the component video again side by side with the Sony , Sony gave me a picture but nothing but a blue screen w/ the HK.
Talked w/ Lee at Videowholesale and he offered me an exchange right away, too bad I have to send it back and wait about two weeks before I'll get a new one.
I hope that this is just a fluke with my particular unit as the progressive scan was one the features I wanted for my HD- projection TV.
Anyone else have this problem ??
Can't give it a rating yet as I have not fully tested this one.

Similar Products Used:

Sony single disc

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Apr 17, 2001]
Hau Pham
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Picture and sound, even on MP3.

Weakness:

Too big for my cabinet; Audio shuts off

Frank, hopefully you did try video out in the setup. Because that was happen with me. I have to use the S-video to access the menu and switched to component video.
The only problem I had, is sometime there is no audio when I skip tracks. But if I fast forward(X2) and push play again the audio will come back. I heard HK is trying to fix this problem with software update.
Over all I am very satisfy with this DVD. It has some bugs but nothing's major.

Similar Products Used:

toshiba 3409

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 21-30 of 71  

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