Panasonic DVD-RV31K DVD Player, Black
Don't be fooled.
After trial and error, and considerable research, I narrowed down my choices to the Sony S-360 and the Panasonic RV-30.  Then I discovered this model, the RV-31.  Despite the higher retail prices of the previous models, it's important to remember that international exchange rates, production efficiency, and greater consumer demand enable manufacturers to sell the newer, improved versions at lower prices.  (Amazon's pricing, incidentally, reflects the commodity's inherent &quot;value&quot; far more accurately than other sellers, who are likely to have the RV-30 priced higher than the RV-31 simply because the seller's initial cost was higher.)<br />I was leaning to the Sony, primarily because of its sleek yet modest face and ultra-compact design (the thinnest and least deep).  But for all its consumer-seducing bells and whistles (a &quot;cinema mode&quot; button? how many times is a DVD not a movie?), the RV-31 is still the inescapable choice in this price range.  The ability to play variously encoded CDs, the disc-stabilizing feature, the shuttle control for fast scanning all represent advances in quality and convenience.  And despite its more &quot;gaudy&quot; face, the machine's  dimensions  are almost as compact as the Sony's.<br />On the &quot;down&quot; side, the remote, like virtually all others I've tried, does not allow me to access my  television set's menu, which must be set to &quot;auxilliary mode&quot; for the player to work, at least if you plan to continue using a VCR.  But most viewers by now have become accustomed to using 2 or 3 remotes anyway.  If not, the minimal exercise involved in walking to the set should not prove injurious to anyone's health.