I clearly posted my issues with the player when I first bought it and haven't had any of the other issues people have had with lock ups and freeze ups. I'm not saying I never will, but I am not hiding flaws in the player. I put in HD DVDs and it plays them back beautifully with excellent sound. There is really nothing there to complain about.

No universal? I always ignore remote issues, assuming I can get it to work once to teach my real remote.

I imagine the A1's remote is an absolute DREAM to use compared to the Malata N996 remote.

I agree completely. The remote is crap, but I never use factory remotes anyways.

Ive had NO issues with my Logitech Harmony 688 universal remote and the A1. It works beautifully.

Nope. I never got into universal remotes for some reason.

i don't remember which Malata I had but you got used to it. This remote is actually WORSE than the Malata I have.

Based on what features, could you have possibly upgraded 10 different dvd players for throughout the years, beside HD-DVD? A dvd player doesn't contain many features that required frequent improvements as such. An A/V receiver would be requisitely justifiable to upgrade, but a dvd player, I don't know. am I missing something?

The brand may shock some, but here's my recommendation for an entry-level universal remote:
http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=4108436

If this is anything like the $30 VL710 that seems to be discontinued, it is an excellent remote for the price. And user comments at Remote Central say it is just that. The VL600 appears to have almost identical buttons and features (except more devices) to the 710, and it costs less. I don't know what I'd do without a universal.

The N996's remote only worked sometimes. And it was slow, so you'd sit there waiting a few seconds after pressing a button trying to decide if it was just slow or doing nothing.

Well, my first dvd player was a Sony player that I bought back in 1997 (spent $600 on it!!). My first dvd was LA Confidential. I got it free with the player. :)

In 2000, I upgrade to the progressive scan Toshiba 5109 (spent $400 on that!!) since I had bought a 55in widescreen MITS CRT. I gave my Sony to my parents.

After I bought my DLP set 2 years ago, I have had numerous players since then. Upscaling players really vary in quality based on the player (chipset) and your display. Since 2004, Ive owned the following...

Samsung 931 - terrible upscaled picture with bad black crush and macroblocking...traded it for 941 via samsung support
Denon 1910 - green tint to picture and macroblocking....sold on ebay
Samsung 941 - didnt even open after reading reviews, sold as new on ebay
Panasonic S97 - good picture, slight macroblocking....sold on ebay
Momitsu V880DX - GREAT picture, bad menus, bad remote, region free....sold on ebay to buy Oppo
Samsung 755 - I have this on my bedroom tv...works fine for $65
Oppo 97 - Best picture of all of these, region free....sold to my brother

Obvisouly, now I have the A1. My fiancee gets mad whenever I even TALK about upgrading. haha.

Overall, I havent lost alot of money since I sell them for either as much or more than I purchase them for. Of the ones that Ive had, the Oppo clearly has the best features, pq and aq. BUT, the A1 actually has equally as good pq/aq in my opinion.

Sorry. I'm never buying another Sony product (unless it's a DVD, where I have no other choice). Any other recommendations? :)

I got my Logitech Harmony 688 for about $110 shipped from newegg (you might can get one cheaper off ebay)....looks like they are a bit more on newegg now for some reason ($117)....its a good remote though....plug it up to the net, update it with your setup and your ready to go.

Mine controls my Sammy DLP set, Dish vip622 hd-dvr, xbox360 and Toshiba A1 very well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16880100708

In looking at the picture of the Sony universal remote I notice that it doesn't appear to have chapter stop buttons. The Logitech one does seem to have them, although the button layout is pretty unorthodox.

I have found that there are certain specialized functions that don't seem to be available when I try to use a different remote (my receiver has a good general remote) than the one supplied with the device.

For example, my DVD player has a position memory button (it remembers positions on up to five DVDs), which I use frequently when watching TV on DVD so I can go directly to the next episode the next day. How could I use that function on a universal remote?

Do universals handle direct access to DVD audio channels and subtitles? Yes, I could step though menus, but that is a PITA compared to just using the buttons on my player remote.

In short, do "universal" remotes really do it all?

I've got the Harmony 676 and it's one of the best purchases I've ever made in my life. I've not kept up with the newer models, but based on this one, I can definitely recommend the brand.

That depends...if its a learning/programmable remote, then yes, theoretically it can.

I just picked up my Denon 2910 last week, and it is the highest I've ever paid for anything for my HT, and it was 1000% worth it.

I'm no snob, but I do understand value. I paid about $400 total for my other 2 players(1 died after 2 years),and the other I just plain hate. So, still the Denon costs more than those 2 players combined, but already it blows those 2 away (obviously!), and if it lasts more than 3 years, I'll still be feeling the love for it, and that enjoyment will pay for itself.

As far as HD goes, $500 or $1000 is really not a lot more than what I just paid for a SD player. I wanted to just get the A1 (would have been cheaper too), but with all it's shortcomings and issues, I passed. Plus I rarely buy anything 1st generation, because they usually always have issues.

So, I am ready to pay $1000+ for a well designed, essentially flawless 2nd or 3rd generation HD player, that is not a problem. The problem will be the format war, and content. I'm not going to double dip to HD on much of my SD titles I already have, and seems as though it will be a while before they start releasing many older catalog titles that I don't have on SD yet. As far as today's titles go, there is a much smaller handful I like. There is a lot of crap released these days.
And the format war doesn't help matters, I certainly won't own two different HD players. And I can't see myself choosing one over the other (likely based on content), so there better be dual format players (I'd pay a little more too), or I'll likely skip the whole damn thing and wear out my Denon with upconverted SD titles. :)

I like the MX series from Home Theater Master. Not as quick to setup as the Harmony, but the layout is to die for, esp for DVR users. With my fairly large hands, the Harmonys all are a bit hard for me. The MX-700 is an older programmable model with amazing capabilities that, ridiculously, is still available for under $200. It was $500 originally, I believe. I use the MX-500 still, not as capable but very good at $90.

www.surfaudiovideo.com has some decent prices on all of the MX series and a few of the Harmonys. I think Mike is still a member here. I can recommend him as a dealer, too.

The other amazing thing about the MX series is the power. I can be anywhere and point it anywhere and it will work. I have a 20" TV that has a weird angle or something for the IR sensor. It's remote had to be aimed directly at the spot. The MX-500 can be waving around the room or whatever you want.

Because of the power I described above, my universal learning remote is always better than the original. Almost every single new product at my house is sluggish at first, with lots of aiming of the remote to get things done. Then I get my learning remote programmed and suddenly the new machine responds to the first button press every time.

Oh, and some do more than the original remote. There are some codes that exist for a machine, but do not have a button on the remote. I used to have Mitsubishi VCRs, and none of their remotes had an Eject key, even though the machine did. Used a universal with serious programmable ability (a $20 remote) to teach my MX-500 the Eject code.

Something I found with universal remotes was that they were sometimes a little unweildy for the less obvious functions. Say you want to access subtitles while the DVD is already playing, on most original remotes there'll be a little "..." button to press and instantly gratify your desire. Programable remotes that I've used require the user to remember the right button or buttons to press to achieve the same goal. That's easy enough in the plain light of day, but after sinking a six pack it starts to look like advanced rocket science! Or maybe that's just me?
:: the lightweight slinks off in shame ::

Try one with buttons you can label yourself.

...or an LCD screen with scrollable lists of custom menus like the better Harmony remotes.

What are the chances that the next gen players won't have decoders for the new audio formats with the assumption being new recievers will have them? I'm try to figure out if I'll need a new reciever to go with a 2nd gen player.

With the HD formats we don't need decoders in the players as much as HDMI 1.3 to pass to a receiver with the decoder built in. However, with DD+ the decoder should be built in to the player since it can be decoded and passed to any receiver with a 6 channel analog in.

These are replacements, rather than upgrades.

Personally, I think of video/audio quality as an improvement or upgrade.

Almost all of those players that I purchased were better in terms of pq/aq than the one it replaced.

Instead of starting a new thread, I just figured I'd ask here.

Since Intel has stopped production on the chips in the current Toshiba players, is there any news on the 1.5 model? Or will they skip that and just go for 2nd gen sometime in 2007?

There is no official source for this, is there?

I know some people mentioned it in other threads. Toshiba was using an out of print Intel chip that was specially modified, and that Toshiba claimed that the reason for the small supply of their players is due to Intel stopping production on the chip.