FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
5 January 2006
— High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) With Upscaling to 1080i, DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD (SACD) Playback Capability Are Among Key Features of Versatile DVD 47 —
WOODBURY, NY — Harman Kardon announced today that it will begin shipping its DVD 47 DVD-Audio/Video player with SACD and HDMI in February 2006. The DVD 47 is 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).
Harman Kardon’s DVD 27 progressive-scan DVD-Video player will also be available in January 2006. The DVD 27 is the ideal choice for consumers who desire a best-in-class DVD player but do not require DVD-Audio or SACD capability. In common with the DVD 47, it has a striking ultraslim design and includes a wealth of advanced performance and convenience features, including pixel-by-pixel and motion-adaptive progressive-scan video processing, and an exclusive on-screen interface with enhanced navigational capabilities.
Tom McLoughlin, Harman Kardon president, noted: “With the introduction of our DVD 47 and DVD 27, 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 their exceptional performance and versatility, their 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, such as Harman Kardon’s new flagship AVR 740, 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 Picture CD images when the player is connected to a compatible display device, with remarkably sharp, clear and realistic picture quality.
The DVD 47 and DVD 27 utilize 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, the DVD 47 and DVD 27 incorporate digital-video circuitry that accurately reconstructs the 3/2 pull-down process required to transfer film to video, delivering full 60-frame playback with the best-possible progressive-scan image quality when viewing film-based DVD-Video content. The DVD 47 and DVD 27 also include a useful NTSC/PAL disc-auto-detection feature, which detects whether a disc is encoded in either the NTSC video format (standard in the U.S. and many other countries) or PAL format, and converts the video output of PAL discs (that are non-region-specific) for compatible playback with NTSC video display devices.
Along with unsurpassed video performance, the DVD 47 is designed to deliver state-of-the-art sound quality. It incorporates an audiophile-grade Direct Stream Digital (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. Both the DVD 47 and the DVD 27 employ 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 and DVD 27 are highly versatile digital audio/video source components. In addition to the DVD-Audio and SACD playback capabilities of the DVD 47, both can play DVD-Video, Windows Media Audio (WMA), CD, CD-R, CD-RW, MP3, DVD-R/RW, 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.
Both players offer unique capabilities, thanks to their exclusive navigational interface developed by Harman Kardon, for enjoying movies, music and images. The players provide 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 their extensive, yet intuitive, on-screen menu systems. Both include 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.
The DVD 47 and DVD 27 also offer the capability of software and firmware upgradeability via CD, an especially useful feature that enables the players to accommodate future feature and performance enhancements or other capabilities. In common with all Harman Kardon audio/video components, both players are designed for total connection flexibility and ease of operation in any home entertainment system. They include progressive-scan and standard-scan-rate component video, as well as a full complement of additional video and audio outputs. The players are supplied with a full-featured, backlit, ergonomically designed remote control, and incorporate IR remote-in/out ports to facilitate their use in custom installations with integrated system control.
The players’ 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 players’ 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.
Suggested retail pricing for the Harman Kardon DVD 47 and DVD 27 is as follows: DVD 47, $399; DVD 27, $299. The DVD 47 will be available in February 2006, and the DVD 27 will be available in January 2006.
The Harman Consumer Group (HCG) is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of a wide range of high-fidelity loudspeakers, audio and video components, and multimedia systems for use in homes and automobiles, and with computers. The group’s brands include JBL, Infinity, Harman Kardon, Mark Levinson, Revel, Audioaccess and Lexicon.
HCG is a division of Harman International Industries, Incorporated. Harman International (www.harman.com)
is a leading manufacturer of high-quality, high-fidelity audio products and electronic systems for the automotive, consumer and professional markets. The company’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “HAR.”
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For additional information, contact:
Frank Doris
FM Group Public Relations
631-385-1304 ext. 402
frank.doris@fm-group.net
Harman Kardon and Harman International are registered trademarks of Harman International Industries, Incorporated.
Kodak is a registered trademark, and Picture CD is a trademark, of Eastman Kodak Company.
HDMI is a trademark of HDMI Licensing LLC.
SACD and Direct Stream Digital are trademarks of Sony Electronics Inc.
Windows Media is either a registered trademark or a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other
countries. Windows Media Audio (WMA) is a proprietary file format developed by Microsoft.
