News

Harman Kardon Introduces DVD 47 Universal DVD Player (29/6/2006)

CEDIA UK Expo 2006

High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI(tm)) With Upscaling to 1080i, DivX(r), DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD (SACD(tm)) Playback Capability Are Among Highlights of Next-Generation DVD

Harman Kardon announce the introduction of its DVD 47 DVD-Audio/Video player with SACD and HDMI, a high-performance home entertainment source component that incorporates leading-edge digital-audio and video technologies to deliver extraordinary picture and sound quality along with state-of-the-art playback capabilities. The DVD 47 includes a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), as well as a built-in scaler that provides video upscaling to 720p or 1080i, and offers playback compatibility with the widest variety of video display devices and disc formats available, including DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD (SACD).

Tom McLoughlin, Harman Kardon president, noted: "With the introduction of our DVD 47, Harman Kardon offers a high-performance DVD player suitable for all types of home entertainment systems, including the most sophisticated custom installations, and systems based around high-definition display devices with HDMI connectivity. Complementing the exceptional performance and versatility, the simple, intuitive operation makes it easier than ever for consumers to enjoy movies, music and images."

Engineered for Extraordinary Video and Audio Performance

The DVD 47 is a highly versatile universal DVD player that incorporates a wealth of advanced features and technologies to achieve an extraordinary level of video and audio performance. The DVD 47 includes a fully enabled HDMI 1.1 output that delivers high-definition digital video and multichannel digital audio, providing state-of-the-art image and sound quality when connected to a compatible audio/video receiver and an HDMI-capable video display. Operating in conjunction with the HDMI output, the DVD 47 includes built-in, advanced video processing and upscaling to 720p or 1080i, providing upconverted and enhanced high-definition output from DVDs, as well as JPEG still images and Kodak(r) Picture CD(tm) images when the player is connected to a compatible display device, with remarkably sharp, clear and realistic picture quality.

The DVD 47 utilizes pixel-by-pixel processing, rather than the line-by-line upconversion employed by conventional DVD players, to upconvert images to 480p progressive-scan video playback when used with a compatible display device. This processing operates in conjunction with motion-adaptive pixel-based deinterlacing, which compares and analyzes the moving areas of the image separately from the stationary areas, and uses sophisticated processing algorithms to eliminate jagged edges and other motion artifacts that can be produced using other types of deinterlacing circuits. The result is vastly superior picture quality, yielding smoother, more realistic images with extraordinary detail, contrast and color purity.

In addition Harman Kardon's newest DVD player incorporates digital-video circuitry that accurately reconstructs the 3/2 pull-down process required to transfer film to video, delivering full-frame playback with the best-possible progressive-scan image quality when viewing film-based DVD-Video content. It also includes a useful NTSC/PAL disc-auto-detection feature, which detects whether a disc is encoded in either the NTSC video format or PAL format, and converts the video output of PAL discs for compatible playback with NTSC video display devices. DVD 47 features DivX technology for support and playback of DivX-compressed video.

Along with unsurpassed video performance, the DVD 47 is designed to deliver state-of-the-art sound quality. Both incorporate an audiophile-grade Direct Stream Digital(tm) (DSD) decoder chipset for multichannnel SACD playback, preserving the enhanced dynamic range and resolution and remarkable musical realism provided by the SACD format. The DVD 47 also provides superlative multichannel DVD-Audio reproduction, with complete audio control and bass-management for the analog audio outputs used for DVD-Audio and SACD playback. The player's comprehensive suite of adjustments includes speaker size, adjustable time delay and output level adjustment. These settings are critical for proper DVD-Audio and SACD playback when the player is used with an audio/video receiver without built-in bass management for its direct analog audio inputs, as it enables optimized audio reproduction from all the loudspeakers in a home entertainment system. DVD 47 employs an audiophile-grade 192kHz/24-bit audio D/A converter, along with premium internal components in the audio signal path.

Enhanced Features and Flexibility

The DVD 47 is a highly versatile digital audio/video source component. In addition to the DVD-Audio and SACD playback capabilities of the DVD 47, it can play DVD-Video, Windows Media(r) Audio (WMA), CD-CD-R, CD-RW, MP3, DVD-R/RW, CD-DA, Video CD and 96/24 audio discs. In addition, they are compatible with JPEG still-image files stored on CD-R/RW discs, and offer playback of Kodak Picture CD discs.

The player offers unique capabilities, thanks to its exclusive navigational interface developed by Harman Kardon, for enjoying movies, music and images. The player provides ready access to favorite DVD titles and chapters, CD tracks, WMA and MP3 files and folders, and JPEG and Kodak Picture CD still images, via its extensive, yet intuitive, on-screen menu systems. DVD 47 includes a host of picture-search and convenience functions, including frame-by-frame advance, smooth scan and super-fine slow motion, a video-off feature for music-only listening, a built-in video test screen and many additional features.

DVD 47 also offers software and firmware upgradeability via CD-ROM, an especially useful feature that enables the player to accommodate future feature and performance enhancements or other capabilities. In common with all Harman Kardon audio/video components, DVD 47 is designed for total connection flexibility and ease of operation in any home entertainment system. The player includes progressive-scan and standard-scan-rate component video, as well as coaxial and optical digital and stereo analog audio outputs. It comes supplied with a full-featured, backlit, ergonomically designed remote control, and incorporates IR remote-in/out ports to facilitate the use in custom installations with integrated system control.

The player's performance and versatility are equaled by their strikingly elegant appearance - ultraslim, with a gloss-black upper panel, silver lower panel, blue dot-matrix display and a minimum of visible controls. The player's styling perfectly matches Harman Kardon's receivers, loudspeakers and other audio/video products, making them the ideal source component for building a complete, high-performance home entertainment system.

www.harmankardon.com