Okay, so here's the situation. I'm a big DVD fan with a nice collection, but I haven't been bought a DVD player (or even looked into buying one) for quite a while and I don't reallly know the "state of the market" right now. I have an old Phillips DVD825 which has served we very well for nearly 3 years -- runs flawlessly, plays everything, really no complaints at all and I feel no pressing need to upgrade.

So now I'm thinking about getting my kids (who live with my ex) a DVD player for Christmas, and I have 2 options:

(a) buy them the best low-priced DVD player currently available, or
(b) spend a bit more to buy a better player for myself and give them the Phillips.

I'm assuming (based solely on ads I've seen) that I can buy a unit roughly equivalent to my Phillips for around $150, and I would welcome recommendations for good players (as well as online dealers) in that sort of price range. I would also welcome opinions on upgrading -- should I upgrade (and why), to what (i.e., recommended models) and at what price, and what benefits would I get for the extra money I'd have to spend to upgrade.

I realized this is a pretty broad set of questions, and I haven't been active on this forum for so long that I don't know if people who ask very broad questions like this (without doing a lot of keyword searches first) get the s**t flamed out of them, but I'm hoping there will be some helpful souls out there who will be patient and give me some useful advice.

Thanks in advance.

Prices have come way down. There are alot of good players out for really good prices.

You did not say what kind of TV you have. Also my first inclination would be to give the kids the Phillips and get a newer one for yourself.

Personally I own Sony DVD players (2) and like them alot.

Good luck.

There's a Toshiba SD-1700 that is pretty good (at least the 1600 was that I gave as a present). I think you can find them around $150.

Amazon has the Panasonic DVD-R31K with MP3 playback for $150. I don't think you'll find a better player for the price. I also saw the Apex AD-500W at Walmart yesterday for $85. It is a decent basic player.

Best Buy has a couple DVD players for around $120/130, some for even less. For kids, I'd just get them something low-budget. No need to really upgrade your DVD player if you have no problems with it, right? Wait until it breaks or some great new technology comes out on them. Unless of course you have HDTV, then i'd definitely get a progressive scan dvd player.

I prefer Pioneer DVD players myself. Unlike most Sonys, Pioneer supports CD-R and VCD on all their units I believe.

All the reseach I have done indicates the Panasonic RP56 can be found under $200 and is a great choice.