Apex AD2600 Progressive-Scan DVD Player
Incredibe price/performance
I've owned 6 or 7 DVD players since 1998.  This is by FAR the nicest one, in so many ways.  It's very sleek looking with a very good front panel button layout, and it has a great feature set.  Its fast-forward and rewind work much more smoothly and consistently than those of other models I've had.  It plays alternate video formats (VCDs, SVCDs, CVDs) very well.  And Amazon.com has it for such a great price -- how can you go wrong?  I've bought one for the den and will buy a 2nd one for the bedroom.<br />Strengths are well listed by other reviewers.  What got me to buy was the reviewer that said it would play DVD-Rs fill of files (e.g., MP3s).  It sure does!  That's a RARE and valuable feature.  I have a DVD burner on my computer and a zillion MP3s, and it's a lot nicer to access them 4.5 GB at a time (DVD-R) than 0.7 GB at a time (CD-R)!<br />Another nice thing is that the unit has BOTH optical and coax digital audio outputs, though the latter was not mentioned in the literature I'd scanned before buying.  Saved me from having to buy an expensive optical cable, as I already had a coax cable.<br />At double-speed (2x forward speed), it still plays MP3s with sound -- they are pitch-corrected and smooth, but twice as fast!  I wish it would do the same for movies, but that's one rare/cool feature you will have to forgo.<br />Weaknesses are minor: the feel and layout of the remote control are only so-so; it doesn't show the complete filenames of MP3s with really long names; you must cycle through every zoom setting (2x, 3x, 4x, 1/2x, etc.) before getting back to normal size [sorry if I'm just ignorant of a way to get back to 1x quickly].<br />If you're a bargain hunter and you want a GREAT feature set for a rock-bottom price, I HIGHLY recommend this model.<br />Update: the finish is more \\"mirror\\" than silver -- and I like it!