Home > Consumer Reviews > Harman Kardon DVD50 5-Disc Progressive-Scan DVD Player

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.