Harman Kardon BDP-1 High PerformanceBlu-ray Disc Player with BD-Live Reviews
Well, let me disagree with previous reviewers, as it looks they are some HK bashers. My experience with it is of different sort. I own another Blu-Ray player, highly rated LG BD300, and while it is great machine, with plethora of connections and offers Netflix on-board, HK definitely has an edge when it comes to picture and sound quality. br /If this thing is connected to Harman's receiver (I have 3490) and great TV (I have 60pg60) the sound and picture will leave you breathless. The difference , as it is always with high quality equipment, is noticeable when all elements of signal chain is of decent quality. In this device all efforts are toward visual/audio experience. Blu-Ray of Celine's show (which is superb both visually and sonically) was played and sounded and looked like never before! br /I also can't share other reviewers complains about "slowness" of the device. Again, I have LG bd300 which is highly rated for its rapid load, and so I expected (based on the reviews) some much slower timing from BDP-1. Well, if you would time it with stop-watch, may be it is somewhat slower (I did not time it), but for normal use, I can't detect any appreciable difference. As I sit down to watch movie, would it load in 20 sec or in 24 makes no difference to me.br /In short, if you have a decent tv and sound system, get it. The picture is worth a thousands words.
Harman Kardon BDP-1 High PerformanceBlu-ray Disc Player with BD-Live Feature
- 10-bit video processing with 1080p/24 output delivers film-like picture quality
- Software uscales DVDs for 1080p "HD Quality" playback
- BD-Live capability provides game, subtitle and special feature updates from the internet
- Front-panel USB jack plays music and images from thumb drives
- Easy-to-use on-screen menu makes setup and operation simple
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One Defect After Another - Nick - NH, USA
First off, let me say that I really wanted this bluray player. I have an HK receiver, and I wanted a matching set. However, I went through two of them (bought at a different well-known online retailer for less than the amazon price) and both were defective. The first had problems with the illuminated display (there must have been a short somewhere because the power indicator light flashed on and off whenever you touched the player or just walked across the room), and the second had sound problems during CD playback (the sound would either cut out completely, or the player would skip to another track, or there would be a lot of distortion in the sound). I have to say that when the player worked, it was great. Sound and image quality were outstanding. But the problems I've had having to deal with the hassle of returning not just one but two in a row have convinced me to give up on this Harman Kardon bluray player. It's just not worth the trouble. I'm really disappointed because I have a number of Harman products, and I've been a Harman customer for decades. But I have to question what's going on with their quality control at this point. If you buy one, good luck to you! I hope you manage to get one that works because I sure couldn't.br /br /UPDATE: Alright, I'm an idiot. A week ago this popped up on another retailer's site. It was their Deal of the Day, and it was half-price. I thought to myself, "Hmmm, they say third time's a charm," so I gave the BDP1 one more chance. Big mistake. It's now boxed up and ready to go back. The defects with the third one were very similar to the second--DVD's and Blurays played fine (as far as I know--I only watched one of each) but CD playback was extremely erratic. A number of my discs (not CD-ROMs but original music CD's) would take multiple attempts in and out and in and out of the CD tray before the BDP1 recognized them. Almost always, no matter what the CD, the BDP1 has an annoying tendency to jump into the first track too quickly, either skipping around for the first few seconds of playback or missing the first or second note of Track 1 (this has been the case on all three I've owned). Finally, BD-Live just wouldn't work. According to the Network Connection test in the Setup Guide, I was connected to the internet, but when I attempted to access the BD-Live on the Star Trek bluray, a window from Paramount popped up saying I wasn't connected. Refreshed my modem, redoubled and rechecked my connections, but still I could not get the BD-Live function to work. So I may be an idiot, but the one smart thing I did was hold off on reprogramming my universal remote (because that takes a half hour to do), so luckily the settings for my trusty old Sony BDP-S350 were still there. Granted, the Sony isn't nearly as attractive as the Harman Kardon, but it's functional and reliable and it never fails to play anything you throw at it perfectly. If you're buying the HK BDP1, buy it just for looks, and the occasional play (if it's in a good mood) but be prepared to have a standby player hooked up to your system because the BDP 1 is so erratic that you just can't count on it.
Oct 29, 2010 18:48:05
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