Customer Reviews

Harman Kardon DVD 31 Progressive-Scan DVD Player

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Let me begin by saying, while this player does NOT offer HD upconversion, it outperforms the Sony and Samsung upconverting HD players. I carefully compared the three models on my Hitachi 51 RPTV, and found this to clearly be the best. Picture quality its stunningly superb, suprising deep color and incredible sharpness. I saw absolutely NO benefit from using a high-quality DVI connector as opposed to high-quality component cables. The player also offers DVD-Audio which is phenomenal when set up to a higher end sound system. And finally, in my opinion, this unit is the best looking DVD player I've seen on the market. The only flaw I've come accross is with the remote, which lacks volume buttons, and although lighted, it's still hard to make out which button is which in the dark.

The above review pretty much sums it up, but one correction. This player is not compatible with SACD's and I found that to be the player's only weakness. But if you have an HDTV, you may want to opt for a player with the DVI output to get the 1080i.

This DVD player is totally fantastic. I got mine on sale new online for $250 including shipping. The sound quality for CD's, DVD's & DVD-A's is fantastic as is the great DVD picture quality. This player looks great too. I got this to go with the Denon 3801 incredible receiver I got (retails for $1200 I got it online for $450 in excellent used condition). The Denon with the Harmon Kardon 31 rules. I compared this to my previous DVD player, and there was a total night and day difference, as the sound on this is absolutely incredible and the picture is great too. If you have a good quality receiver, you should definately spend the money on this, not some cheap piece of krap! Harmon Kardon rules!

The audio and video of this DVD player is what you would expect for a $350 unit - very good. It would be nice if it played SACDs, as most of HKs competitors equivalently priced units do. A nice feature is audio delay adjustments for each channel (in terms of ft or meters, not ms), allowing better system setup if you have a receiver lacking this ability. Most buying a DVD player of this caliber have a receiver to match, so this probably doesn't add value to many people's system. Spending 6x what a base DVD player costs at WALMART should guarantee *quality*, and you get it, just as in every other unit of similar price. I think what sets something apart from its competition is the little things you notice. The first thing anyone, audiophile or not, notices, is the intense blue LED that continually draws your eyes away from the TV. I mean honestly, did they not look at this thing in the dark and notice the blinding blue power LED, which is the *one* light that does not go off when you turn the display off? It's nice that all the other lights go out, but that feature is pointless with the remaining laser-like 'on' light. Another thing that annoyed me is that the website picture shows an SCART and gold connectors on the back, while my unit has no SCART (I think this is a foreign thing so I don't care), and no gold connectors. Realistically, I'm sure there's no noticeable difference without gold connectors, but it seems shady to show it with gold connectors, and to not have them. Finally, a real engineering design issue that directly affects the units functionality and performance: It is NOT capable of digital output of DVD-Audio signals! The manual claims that 'The current digital formats do not support the high bit rate of the DVD-Audio format'. Oh but wait, HK's own AVR 520, a receiver from several years ago, is capable of receiving both 96kHz AND 192kHz digital bit streams (at least in stereo), so obviously the format supports it. To make matters worse, the player is actually capable of 96kHz digital output! (Just not when you're playing the music on a DVD-Audio disc.) For example, on the home screen of R.E.M.'s greatest hits, the AVR 520 recognizing the audio as 96kHz digital, but once you play the music, you have to switch to the analog connection to get anything. Compounding things, the player is capable of limiting the PCM digital output to lower bit rates, but apparently not for DVD-Audio. In the end, with analog connections DVD-Audio discs still sound amazing, but using the digital connection would theoretically improve things.

UPDATE 1 YEAR OLD - My unit can no longer recognize DVDs. A few CDs still work. This is the 3rd CD/DVD player I've had stop working within 18 months of purchase.

Pathetic excuse for a DVD player. Cannot read many DVD discs. Very picky when burning your own dvd. Remote control is pathetic. You must be directly in front of player in order to even have a possibility of the player receiving the signal from the remote. I would sell mine, however my conscience will not allow me to!!!!

I'm very disapointed with this Kardon product being an avid fan of the past products from the respective company, but this one is off the chart. Playing a DVD movie using either the digital coaxial output or the optical output, the audio plays on and off out of sync. I've pushed the dealying time up and down both on the player and the AVR and it makes no diffrence. That tells me that there is something wrong with decoding device in the player. The DVD31 looks good and offers some great picture rendition. Also the audio rendition is exceptional but I simply can't live up to the fact that it cannot play dvd movies in sync with the audio (or the other way around). Try to avoid this product and lets hope that Harman Kardon will produce a better player in the future.

Pro's:
Beautiful picture, beautiful color, flawless sound--has built in Wolfson audio processors! If you don't mind not having HD upconversion, this is a fantastic DVD player. Built in DTS and Dolby decoding processors are the best I've heard on any DVD player yet; even over Denon. The closest I've seen comparable to this DVD player for the same price is the Toshiba S 5970. This one even plays SACD's and HDCD's, which it's predecessor the HK DVD22 did not. Only wish Harman would come out with an upconverter DVD player--it would blow everything else on the market away!

Con's:
No HD upconversion--even though the picture is virtually flawless. HK has reported numerous issues w the DVD22 player's digital optical outputs (which is why they're phasing it out), which were supposedly corrected with this model--I have not had to return this one yet.

I dont hate HK. In fact, I have one of their receivers which I LOVE.

This DVD player however is junk. Reason? Well, it cant keep the audio in sync with the video. Its absolutely unwatchable I tried 6 different DVD's, and ALL of them lost sync - this is inexcusable performance for a player of this "class".

Furthermore, its "per-pixel" rendering software was actually worse than the on-board system of my Panny AE500 projector. I wanted better, or at least as good as a commonplace Panny.

On the plus side, it played burnt disks my Sony wont. But I simply could not live with the sync issues. Its worthless in my opinion.

The reviewer below me ( Electronics Fan "paul" ) does not know anything about electronics. -- "Let me begin by saying, while this player does NOT offer HD upconversion, it outperforms the Sony and Samsung upconverting HD players. I carefully compared the three models on my Hitachi 51 RPTV, and found this to clearly be the best."
- First off, he's making the comparison with his hitachi rear projection tv. Of course upconverting dvd players (sony and samsung) won't look good on this tv. You will only notice the vast difference with plasma or lcd displays. If you have a rptv don't bother with upconverting players.!
2nd, again going back to his rptv. --"I saw absolutely NO benefit from using a high-quality DVI connector as opposed to high-quality component cables." - Unless you have hd resolution, component and dvi, even hdmi, will deliver a very similar result with any of these cables.
Anyway, now onto this player. My cousin has the older model and I must say the picture quality is pretty good with his plasma tv. So im assuming this newer model has new features that should make it an even better player.
If you dont have a high resolution tv this is an excellent player but a bit pricecy. But if you do have a high res tv, you may want to look at the upconverting players. They are also a lot cheaper

I have been a loyal HK customer for years now. but i am a little let down in this device. i have the new NIN Downward Spiral DVD-audio disc and it has trouble playing. i took the disc to a friends and put it in his pioneer and it worked perfectly. i cant seem to get an answer out of hk as to weather this is just my unit or all of them.