Great sound, beautiful video

Chassis too large (deep), must sit thru painful reading of each disc as you select disk skip on remote, auto plays each disk, MP3 title display is very limited (approx 10 charachters... how are you supposed to read the darn song titles???), no direct disc access on remote, during DVD playback, there is skipping around chapter changes and sometimes audio drops. This unit is going back! Very poorly engineered.

I have had this player for 1 week now and have come to the conclusion that HK was hasty in releasing this unit to the public before working out all bugs. To you guys that can't get video through component... Read the directions! It has a menu switch for s- video or component video. Default is s-video. It will work with composite all the time.

Great looks, clean sound & picture, nice menus

MP3 playback hangs up, CD-R playback sometimes sketchy.

I bought this along with the HK AVR210 for my new stereo system. So far so good on all of it. The DVD50 sounds excellent, and the DVD quality by way of S Video is super. Component video must be even better...haven't used it yet. The onscreen menus are very nice. Unit is sturdy and looks very nice.

I have recorded several CDs with MP3s using several programs, and the DVD50 hangs immediately while trying to play them. Takes a long time to read the disc info as well.

CDR's work well mostly, a few skips here and there depending on the type of media used.

Overall I love it.

Progressive scan, cd-rw playback, 5 disc

Video set-up changed by itself from progressive to S-vid

This is a follow up from my review a month ago. Received the new unit and so far it has performed well.
One strange thing that happened after i set-up the video for progressive scan, a few days later when I turned it on it was back at the factory default for S- vid. Has not happened again yet. This was abit discouraging but seems to be ok now.
Really love the progressive scan on my Mitsu 55" HDTV
film like quality and have not noticed any jitters or pixelating. Big difference from my Sony single disc in picture quality.
Audio has been excellent as well, have not run into any problems w/ skipping etc. on cd's or cd-r's.
For the money this is an excellent unit...

Similar Products Used:

Sony single disc

Usual virtues: versatility, sound reproduction, image clarity

Pixelation during transition from Layer 1 to Layer 2 on dual-layer DVD disc. Analog output, which is required for HDCD, drops volume by half, when compared with digital output.

I share most of the positive views expressed here, but I was truly dismayed when, at the end of track 6 and the beginning of track 7 on Meet Joe Black, the DVD 50 paused excessively long in order to change layers, and then, on a retry of the transition, it pixelated as badly as a cheap Sanyo my brother once bought (and promptly returned). The Pantera-2 mpeg decoder is, in a word, sluggish. There are no excuses for such glitches. (Whether the chip has the chroma upsampler bug I don't know yet, although the H/K people said it does not.)

As for the remote, the absence of direct-disc access eats away at one's patience. And one more absence is a bit irritating: you can't play all five discs in succession just once; your only option is to set Repeat mode to All Discs, meaning that, when the fifth disc completes, the first will start up again.

I'm considering the new 5-disc progressive-scan Panasonic CP-71, due out this summer. Like the DVD 50, it will play MP3, CD-R, and CD-RW, but it will also play DVD-Audio. The DVD 50 won't.

Similar Products Used:

Sony 660

Great looks, strong MP3 playback (don't have to use ISO format for files), great picture

No folders on MP3 discs; Some glitches...

I, too, have experienced some of the problems of skipping and flaky output. I called the people I bought it from and they told me that there is a known problem if the DVD50 is output by composite video to the TV that it will skip and hang sometimes if the output is not specifically put to composite in the setup (remember to push ENTER). I'll try that tonight and report more if it works. For everyone else out there, try it, too.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo DVC600, Apex 601A

Many differentforms of media can be played.

Very weak quality throughout the whole design of this unit.Was put on the market long before engineering was complete.

I went through three of these units and every one was bad with some problems in common and some isolated to each unit.
Starting with the fact that I dont believe that the unit has a cd text reader as shown in the advertisement and owners manuel. This feature did not work on any of the three units I received. The first unit also had poor audio in the dts mode, would lock up sometimes during shut-off,
this had to be fixed by unplugging the the unit from the wall. The second one had poor video and no component video what so ever, and the third unit stopped at random times
during cd and dvd play for anywhere from 2 to 10 seconds(very annoying)and also had the same shut-off problem as the first.I have never bought anything that was under developed before.
I realize that now is a time that there are so many new units coming out that everyone wants to have the most progressive unit out there, with things like HDCD, ability to play cdr's, cdrw's,mp3's, sacd, dvd-audio, dvd-ram just to mention a few. And it would be great to have all these things. But if the unit dosn't perform or work well, then I'll take my old first generation Panasonic and put it back in my cabinet.
It's to bad that harman kardon did'nt take more time to develope this unit, because now alot of other manufactures are coming out with features that this unit dos'nt have leaving this unit out in the cold.
Because of all these problems I have to give this unit the lowest scores on both counts because if a unit cant do the basics then all the lights, bells and whistles in the world are worthless.

Similar Products Used:

panasonic single dvd player .
sony carrosell cd player

Features, Picture, I was hoping sound.

Sound dropping out on surround sound, Video pauses

I have owned the DVD50 since May. I am on my second unit. The first one had problems, as mentioned before with the video pausing, the video pixilating and the surround sound dropping out. The Second unit does not seem to have the problemwith the video pausing. I have only noticed it once. I have only watched four movies so far. Still have the problem with the center speaker of my suround sound system dropping out occasionally. I have tried replacing the speaker cable and switching the speaker thinking that was the problem. It sound like a loose connection. I have changes the connectors on the speaker wire but that didn't help. No luck, the sound still drops out on occasion. It is either the DVD player or my receiver. I have never had this problem before with my super VHS HIFI VCR. Waiting for the new upgrade software to arrive. Hopefully that will take care of the problem. We will see. Has any one else had problems with the audio as I described?

Is it normal to have to turn the volume up louder when playing the DVD player then with other audio components?

Not looking forward to trying to return this unit to get a refund. I would like to keep it and be satisfied with it.

Only gave a rating of three stars. If upgrade software improves the problem I would rate it four stars.

I have found HK web site customer service very good and responsive.

Picture quality is very sharp,sound is great

the remote is a little different than others ive seen but its ok ones you get the hang

ive had this piece for 5 weeks now and i havnt had problems as of yet like some of the others have said,i guess they got defective units,i dont bother with mp3 files as of yet though but as far as dvd picture and sound goes this is a very good performer so far im very pleased with the performance and its easy to set up,i also like the on screen displays,and its also a fine looking machine,i think maybe some people are a little too critical, anyways mines working fine,hopefully it will continue to, i hope........

Progressive Scan

Flakey MP3 and CDR playing

I have had problems with mine. The first one I got would pause on some single layer DVD discs and the sound would drop out occasionally on DTS encoded dual layer discs. I found it was hit or miss with MP3s which I attributed to the type of CDR used. I found it was inconsistent in playing Audio CDRs. One time it would play the CDR the next time it would skip. I called Crutchfield and they shipped me another one. Both units had manufactured stickers of March 2001 on the back. I am guessing this was from the same batch. The second unit played the single layer discs the first had problems with. I thought I was golden. Then I put another single layer DVD in and it paused twice. This unit still dropped out on DTS discs but in different spots. I had the same luck with MP3's as the first but the AUdio CDR play was really flakey on the second unit. One that skipped on the first didn't on the second. So I tested it a second time. This time it skipped. I tested it a third this time it just stopped playing at the place is skipped before, like I pressed the stop button. So I tried it 3 more times again. First time it played all the way, second it skipped, third it stopped. They are willing to send me a third but I don't want one with the same manufactured date as these two. This looked like the ultimate DVD changer but I could not recommend this at this time.

Similar Products Used:

Sony 5 Disc DVD Changer, Sony single DVD, Apex 600A DVD

5-Disc Changer w/Exchange during playback
MP3/CD-R/CD-RW/HDCD/DVD Compatability
Progressive Scan
Component Video Out
Optical Output
Remote

Compatability Problem with Yamaha RXV-800 A/V Receiver
MP3 Menu
Lack of Controls on the Unit's Front Panel
Somehwat Slow Disc Change & Initial Disc Reading Time

This is a GREAT DVD Player, and definitely well-worth the price, producing an excellent S-Video picture and high-quality DTS audio. It has read all the discs that I have put into it, including my MP3 discs. However, the disc change/read time is a bit lengthier than expected, it may be normal for a DVD changer, but it's definitely slower than a 5-disc CD changer.

With the MP3 menu, it would definitely be helpful to have your songs organized on the disc in the order you wish them to be played, and also to name your files by the name of the title first, then the artist. My naming system starts with the artist name, this translates on the DVD 50 MP3 menu to a list of 100 songs that are exactly the same (i.e. a list of 200 songs titled "Phil_Collins_-_" and no title following the artist name). It should be noted that you can see the entire title if you press the title button on the remote while the MP3 is playing, and the entire title will be displayed on the unit's display screen.

My main concern is this, I'm currently using this DVD player with the Yamaha RXV-800 Receiver. When the DVD player and Receiver are in Dolby Digital mode, and I fast-forward, reverse, or stop the DVD, there is a "popping" sound that is output through my speakers. The sounds seems to be the last split-second of sound from right before the fast-forwarding, reversing, or stopping of the DVD on an endless loop (i.e. the last split-second of sound just keeps repeating and "popping" through the speakers). The sound also occurs when the DVD is changing menus, and the sound ends when a new sound is output by the DVD player, (i.e. a new soundtrack, new title, or the video starts playing again).

I have called H/K regarding this problem and they said that they aren't sure of the cause, and whether it lies in the DVD Player or the Receiver. They did say this is a problem that they've only encountered with the Yamaha RXV-800, their testing with the other Yamaha Receivers hasn't shown any similar issues.

If you are NOT using the Yamaha RXV-800 Receiver, I would HIGHLY recommend this DVD Player to anyone, if you are using the RXV-800, I would suggest waiting until this issue has been resolved.

Similar Products Used:

Receiver: Yamaha RXV-800
DVD Player: Harman/Kardon DVD 50
Mains: Mission 734's
Surrounds: Mission 733's
Center: Mission 77C
Subwoofer: Infinity BU-1