Samsung DVD-HD960 Up-Converting DVD Player
Decent DVD Drive
Let me be the first one to admit that I am no video expert, but I do have a decent untrained eye.  Prior to this player, I was using the Phillips DVP642 (a great little player and a bargain at $60) via it's componenet output on my Samsung LN-S4092D.  I was pretty pleased with the output (minus a couple of minor annoyances including a persistent blue band of pixels at the top of the image) but when I saw Samsung announce this new player with the much-hyped Faroudja de-interlacer I couldn't resist. <br /> <br />First the good -- this player supports virtually anything you can put in it including DivX (unlike the HD950).  The menus are also nice although the player cannot adjust color, brightness, sharpness, saturations settings without first stopping the disk -- making it hard to compare differences.  Also the player supports a good variety of output formats via its HDMI port and pre-packaged cable including 1080P (despite indications to the contrary on Amazon's site).  The DVD also includes Samsung's handy EZ View button that allows you to dynamically adjust the aspect-ratio of the image (widescreen, full-screen, and various stretches).  Finally the remote has been redesigned bringing it in line with Samsung's new design used on Samsung's new TVs. <br /> <br />Now onto the negatives: Despite hype to the contrary, HDMI offers little-to-no image improvement over standard progressive scan players outputting via a component cable.  I had hoped that Faroudja's chip would give an edge to this player (having heard hype about Oppo's drive) but I just can't honestly confirm this in my informal tests.  I have no doubt that during controlled lab tests this drive performs great an de-interlace tests but whether this translates into real-world improvement is unclear.  A second downside is this drive its slowwww to load times.  Disks take a full 20 seconds to spin up before being recongized. <br /> <br />Overall this is a nice player that makes DVD's look about as good as standarddefinition source material can.  If you are in the market for a DVD player this is a good choice although I can't entirely justify its price over the much less expensive Phillips DVP642 given their near identical image quality.  One final thought -- this drive offers a rock-solid screen-saver mode for those affraid of inadvertant \\"burn-in.\\"  A minor, but important feature.