Akai DVDS3500P Progressive-Scan DVD Player
One of the better cheapies
Four stars for satisfaction, not absolute performance. I haven't found a region hack for the little Akai yet (I have other machines for that), and so far it won't play my old SVCDs acceptably (ditto). That said, it scores high for two things: Performance/price (when there's a $10 rebate) and adjustability-- the Akai is the only cheapie I know of that has BRIGHTNESS, CONTRAST and SHARPNESS controls that actually do an effective and useful job. The Akai uses a Mediatek chipset (1379? looks like it) that many inexpensive DVD portables use, which means a simple GUI that's easy to navigate. That CONTRAST control comes in very handy with JPEG files, which tend to be very contrasty. So far (2 months) the machine has been reliable and easy to use. The remote is a step above the average cheapie too.