This is probably a newbie question, but I am having a problem navigating menus on DVDs. I just purchased a beautiful new DVD player (Harman-Kardon DVD50). When I try to navigate menus on the DVDs I find it difficult to move the cursor and I find that choices are selected automatically as if by a poltergeist. For example, I may be trying to choose the DTS 5.1 output and, before I can select, the machine has chosen to turn on the director's commentary. Spooky and frustrating. It happens with the manufacturer's remote or with my universal remote.

Does this sounds like a defective unit or am I missing something?

Thanks in advance.

- Danny

While I'm all for artistic expression, there is no standard of any sort for menus - so many times your left at the whacky whim of some designer who thinks looking cool is more important than functioning easily. Sometimes it is very hard to tell what option your have selected and which direction you should push the buttons to get to where you want. Plus I've noticed on every DVD player I've operated, there is always a delay between when you push the select button and when it is hi-lighted on the screen.

To make matters worse there is no standardization for where to look for what options. More than once I've found the surround (Dolby DTS etc) settings under the "Language" option on menus.

The only advice I can give you is hang in there, the entertainment is usually worth the frustration it takes to get to it. BTW you can usually cycle through the audio and subtitle options while a movie is playing by hitting "audio" and or "subtitle" buttons on your remote (that much I think is standard).

Don

Thanks, but does the fact that the cursor seems to move and then select options by itself suggest that there may be a problem with the DVD player?

- Danny

Danny, it could be either the player or the remote. Is your universal pre-programmed, or did you teach it? If pre-programmed, then that excludes the remotes as being the culprit, and you should return the unit for a replacement under warranty. While there, try the new unit (and the return) with all remotes in front of the store people.

Does it only happen when you are holding the remote? Only when you are pressing buttons? Tried fresh batteries? (Don't assume the ones included with the player are fresh).

Larry
www.fineelectricco.com

I found that I had the problem with the native remote as well as the universal remote (preprogrammed). I can try changing batteries, but i felt that since it happened identically with both remotes that it must not be the remote.

I suspect the DVD player itself and will replace under warranty.

Thanks.

- Danny

To brng this to closure: I just replaced the DVD player ad the menus work fine now. Thanks.

- Danny