JVC XV-S500 Progressive-Scan DVD Player
Great for DVDs, could use some help with SVCD and MP3
My main reason for buying this player was its SVCD playback capability.  I was making SVCDs of That 70s Show to start a little collection about a month before I bought this.  I'd tested the SVCDs I was making on my friend's Apex player - where they all played perfectly.  With this player, however, the video in the SVCDs was quite jumpy in any scene with a lot of action.  The apex player, however, showed none of these problems.  I reduced the quality of the movies, and then made new SVCDs that worked better, but as a result of reducing the quality, the video was worse than an old VCR tape.  So, if you're looking for a player with good SVCD qualities, check out the Apex models...<br />As for DVDs, however, this player is great.  It seems to produce a better picture than my old Toshiba.  It also has component out, which is the best picture possible at this time.  The choice of coax and optical digital outputs is also really good.  This, and the slim design are the reasons I give it 4 stars.<br />For MP3s, playback is OK... but there's no Random choice, so you have to listen to your files in the order you put them on the disk.  With lots of today's burning software, you'll end up with several songs by the same artist in a row due to the alphabetic sorting.<br />So, to sum it up:<br />PROS<br />-Great pictures<br />-Best video outputs (compenent)<br />-Video and Audio output choices (Coax, optical, etc.)<br />-Progressive Scan (if your TV is compatible)<br />CONS<br />-No random MP3 selection<br />-SVCD playback is sub-par