Customer Reviews

Harman Kardon DVD50 5-Disc Progressive-Scan DVD Player

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

 

 

I recently decided to upgrade my DVD player, so I wanted to go top-of-the-line. Harmon Kardon has continually succeeded in that category for decades. As with all of their products, this player is well-built and attractive in its simplicity. It's functions are many and varied, but it's extremely easy to use. No bells and whistles or futuristic gimmicks on Harmon Kardon products, just high-quality electonics. In fact, if the display is too bright for you, it can be dimmed or turned off completely. Its disc format versatility is certainly the first thing that attracted me. You can change discs while watching/listening to another, which is a real plus. It's got a great combo of program features and random and repeat play. And while the back-light on the remote is nice, most of the buttons you have to already know what they are since the button functions are illuminated. But since that's the only negative about this player, my advice is, if you have the money, buy this one.

Harman Kardon has always represented itself with a certain philosophy in the way that sound should be delivered to the ear. Some feel that HK actually represents all that is good in the appreciation of reproduced music. I agree. Now, with the image quality of DVD, and particularly the progressive scan, they've confidently joined the video ranks - and, not suprizingly, they excel.

But you don't want to buy this just for its changer capabilities. The charm is in the compatibilty with multiple formats, like MP3. For instance, before Napster had it's wings clipped, I collected about 20 gigabytes of really high grade music from their site. With the HK, playing them back is a very pleasing experience. I feel for the first time that all that effort expended in download-time wasn't wasted.

Harman Kardon continues it's tradition in this highest expression of DVD players. Absolutely worth every penny! Audiophiles and movie buffs alike will not go unsatisfied here.

If you don't have the best sound system, you might wanna upgrade after buying this little jewel. You won't be dissatisfied.

Great DVD player - very happy with my purchase. Plays many, many formats as you will see in the specs list. But here are a couple things that this does NOT have that many others now do: 1) Count down timer for movies - only shows elapsed time and 2) the random disc function does not block out playing tracks of DVD's. These may not be major items but they would be nice enhancements in the next model from HK.

I have owned this DVD player for several months now and have found only one flaw with the product. If a DVD or CD disk is not properly loaded into the carousel tray or if a disk should vibrate from its position in the carousel, the tray will become jammed and cannot be automatically or manually opened. Don't bother trying to take the cover off and fixing the unit yourself, because even after the dislodged disk is removed, the tray door will not automatically open when the button is pressed. The entire unit will have to be serviced, which isn't cheap. I understand that the trays are made in such a way to accommodate different formats, but this has led to the above problem. I guess you take the good with the bad. I do not recommend this unit if children will be operating the system, as it is too sensitive.

Great DVD player, no doubt about it. I bought it because my stereo system is pure HK and I wanted to stick with the brand. In retrospect however, this was not a good enough reason to pay double what I could have paid for similar-quality competing models with more features.

Minor note: I don't like the color scheme. I wish the faceplate of the tray were black. The silver detracts from the uniformity of the rest of my components.

In the final analysis, I know I have a great DVD player, but I also know I paid too much.

Dvd players nowadays are a dime a dozen. the harman/kardon easily seperates itself from top competitors with its high quality design and performance. first of all many features i did not find on other were availiable with the h/k. such as 5 cd/dvd carosel and mp3 etc. the picture is incredible on hdtv and the menu is flawless. the six or seven times zoom is a definite plus for fast action scenes or to catch hidden details. the only problem i had is that the reading of cds takes from about 10-20 seconds per start-up, otherwise seamless skipping and fast-forwarding from then on out. the champagne color insert is a nice touch to an overall excellent player.

After purchasing a smattering of HK product (receivers, DVD's players, etc), between 1999 and 2001, I have grown utterly disappointed in their diminishing quality. I originally purchased the DVD5 - but it was at an authorization repair facility 2 weeks later, and didn't return for 7 months - covered under warranty... but what a hassle!

In the interim, I bought the DVD-50... owned it for a year, ordered the firmware upgrade and followed the instructions religiously. The upgrade, however, became corrupt, and disabled my $500 DVD50. In calling tech support, they informed me there's no way to reverse the upgrade without swapping the IC for a $90 fee, plus S&H - - talk about insult to injury! It is now a paperweight in my garage.

Having purchased 8 different HK receivers/DVD players for my home... 4 of the DVD players had faulty power supply/relay issues and two of the receivers had the same thing. Worst of all, when problems did occur, they didnt remedy them promptly.

My occupation fortunately places me in a position to influence the buying habits of the U.S.' largest CE retailers, so I feel some consolation in the fact I've ultimately had the last laugh with HK. I have not purchased any 2002+ model year products, and likely will not do so again until I once again hear good things about HK's QA.

This is a piece of garbage. We haven't had a good day with it. Now of course it's totally out of waranty and still doesn't work. We've been told it has to go to Saddlebrook New Jersey to be repaired, we live in Florida. You live and learn. Boy we're we taken..............................

I was looking for a high end CD player that would also play DVDs, and the MP3 feature sold me on this unit.

Having said that, the sound is great, and that was my primary concern/criteria for buying this unit. But, there are a couple of inconveniences that bother me about its day-to-day operation.

First of all, you have to load all cds into the machine from one position on the tray. Of course, this is not difficult, but its a pain when you're trying to cue up multiple discs for on the fly dj-ing...

Secondly, there is a pretty long gap btwn reading one disc and the next, so that you'll never get a smooth transition from one disc to the next...

The shuffle feature is pretty weak...you can choose btwn shuffling all tracks on one disc or all tracks on one disc at a time, or shuffling all discs where it plays 2 tracks at a time from each disc. I thought that was kind of subpar.

And finally, the controls associated with repeating discs are also weak. you can choose between one disc at a time, one disc over and over or all discs over and over, but not all discs once with a hard stop at the end of disc 5.

I listen to that clean, crisp sound, and that still puts a smile on my face.

I decided to buy this equipment to have multiple CDs/DVDs and MP3. After a short time, I had to upgrade the BIOS to solve a problem and recently (after a year) it stop working. I live outside USA and there is no way to service this equipment. I do not recommend this brand in CD/DVD players. Maybe they are good in A/V equipments, but they failed on this player.