I've been watching the forum for several months and seeing what units are good and which ones seem overly "buggy". Shortly I'll be purchasing a dvd player, but still not certain on which model, so hopefully folks with the experience will share it.

My tv isn't hd, so progressive scanning isn't required but I do like a very good picture. The dvd player will also be used for cd music and this is very important to me. The Panasonic 31 appears to be good for video, along with the Toshiba 2700. The Harmon Kardon DVD 5 is more expensive but has a rep for excellent sound reproduction. The Denon 1000 might have the best sound but also has a noted rep for poor lip sync.. Spending $300 isn't a problem as long as I actually get a product for the money.

bottom line, what units out there give good visual performance and even better audio??

thanks in advance folks.

Are you talking DVD sound quality or CD sound quality?
Because it makes a difference.

primary concern will be cd sound quality (when listening to music). I'll be using the dvd player with a Harmon Kardon 110 and some custom built speakers, but when listening to music I prefer going with a good set of headphones (Beyerdynamics DT-250). Hope this helps.

Go with the Panasonic RV-31. It has dual lasers which helps CD audio quality a lot. I own it and love it. The CD audio is better than some other DVD players costing 2-3 times as much. It won't compare to a nice CD transport and DAC setup, but they cost tons more. With a nice, mid priced receiver like the Harmon Kardon 110 its quality should be more than enough.

This probably won't help, but I have 3 Toshiba(2109,3109,6109) players and one Panasonic(C-220).

IMO the Toshiba's have better video output over the Panasonic, but I prefer the Panasonic's digital audio output over the Toshiba.

Given the choice I would choose the Toshiba since video quality is more noticeable and important to me. The difference in sound quality isn't that much different between the brands and it is still excellent on both.

they all help, so keep 'em coming. Concerning the DAC, I would have a preference for a dvd that has this but will keep my options open; thanks for reminding me on that one.

For the DAC comment, I was referring to a standalone DAC component that is common in high end ($5000+) systems. All the DVD players I ever seen, have DAC's because they all have analog audio outputs. Are you referring to onboard DD/DTS decoding? Or just higher quality DAC's?

From what I've read, there are differences in DAC units. My old cd player had dual DAC's and with good headphones and ADD/DDD cd's, you could tell the difference. Wonder if any dvd's also use dual DAC's???