OPPO OPDV971H Digital HD-Ready Up-Converting DVD Player
Great Picture, Great Price: a Necessity for All HD TV Owners
The picture quality from this player is great! If you have an HD display connected to a regular P-Scan DVD player via component video cables and are unsure whether the improved picture quality justifies the purchase, IT DOES!  The days when all DVD players were the same is over.  This upconverting DVD player really will make 90% of your DVDs look phenomenally better.  Strangely, there's the rare DVD that it doesn't do too much to improve, but that should not be a factor in deciding whether to purchase this player.  New DVDs, like the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, look incredibly sharp - almost HD.  The player also does a great job cleaning up older DVDs, especially if you place the noise reduction feature on \\"Low\\" or \\"Medium\\"(for this feature you need the new firmware update - see the Oppo digital website). A couple things to note: the upconverting features only work through DVI output, not the component video output.  Also, if the DVD that you are playing does not have much noise and you turn the noise reduction feature on Medium or High, this will create image ghosting, i.e., don't do that.  <br /> <br />One other impressive aspect of the players is that it does very well with damaged CDs.  I had some CDs that were unplayable on my previous Sony DVD player and they play seamlessly on the Oppo. <br /> <br />The player is not perfect.  As other reviewers have mentioned, the loading tray is flimsy, and unless you point the remote control directly at the device it doesn't work. <br /> <br />Bottom line:  if you own an HD display you must buy an upconverting DVD player and from the reviews and articles that I've read, this player, with the Faroudja DCDi chip, is the best one out there at a reasonable price. <br />