jameskyte

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Price Paid:  $220.00 from on line site, VideoG

Summary:
I purchased this used after reading several rave reviews. I have used a Pioneer DV-AX10 for the past 4 years, this is a 5k player. I also have a very nice high end set up. I just want to say that this little $200.00 player is simply awesome!! It blows the Pioneer out of the water!! The Pioneer tore up at least 3 times during the tenure with me. It cost me over $600.00 for repairs and i was not going to go through another!! It is now in its new home, the trash. The XP-30 has great just an awesome picture. I feed a 480p signal into a Faroudja DVP-3000 scaler and convert it to a 960 signal to the Sony G70 CRT projector. Even my wife talked about this being the best DVD picture we have watched on our home theater system. I wish it had a little more flexibilty on picture adjstment. But, one has to give up a little with this price unit. It may not be the bast out there, but in the price range it can be had for. You will be hard pressed to find a better picture. Once it is set up with something like Avia or Video Essentials the picture is simply stunning. Just think, If Panasonic can do this on a low cost unit. What would or could they do if they wanted to build a no holds barred unit. One thing that is a huge blunder for me. This remote simply SUCKS!!! I have a very, very dimly lit room. It is a dedicated home theater room and trying to locate buttons and functions on this remote in the dark is a complete joke!!

Strengths:
Picture is great, full 480p image. I can't detect artifacts, edge problems

Weaknesses:
The sound outputs are pretty much non existant. Limited control flexibilty on picture and sound. Remote sucks!!

Similar Products Used:
Toshiba 9200, Pioneer Elite 47, Pioneer DV-AX10

Price Paid:  $219.00 from usavegelt.com

Summary:
Great picture quality and plays virtually anything you throw at it. The picture is close to the same quality as my HTPC with TheaterTek, but without the headaches. Since having the XP-30, I haven't had any menu navigation problems and very few playback artifacts (only at the end of one movie during the credits). I'm sorry, but I can't say the same for my HTPC.

Strengths:
Top-notch PQ for a hardware-based player. Plays almost all disks well (as of review, it's the top-rated player on hometheaterhifi.com's DVD Shootout, which mainly looks at playability of disks).

Weaknesses:
Only has optical SPDIF out. I'm cool with that, but some will argue that coaxial is superior.

Similar Products Used:
HTPC using TheaterTek.

Price Paid:  $199.00 from ABT Electronics

Summary:
The XP30 has the best video I have ever seen. With the RP82 discontinued, this is a very good option to get the same video quality they say. However, unlike the RP82, the XP30 does not do Dolby Digital 5.1. Hence no surround sound. It does Dolby Digital 2.1 or 2.0. For this reason, my XP30 which came yesterday is going to go back. That leaves me with the option of getting the Dennon 1600 or somehow finding an RP82 at a highly infated price. The XP30 is a great deal if you can live without 5.1 surround. This makes little sense to me with my having a killer surround system and now a killer HDTV. Why would I want to give up the surround experience with everything else being so good?

Strengths:
Video quality

Weaknesses:
No Dolby 5.1 surround

Similar Products Used:
Dennon 900..it's good just not as good

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
THE RP-82 RE-INCARNATED. This player now in favor because it's video quality is equal to that of the RP-82 a player that is sadly no longer available. The video is smooth and film-like, set up is as simple as they come, and I love the feature to remaster CDs! I can't seem find anything to complain about. The XP-50 with more features is supposedly it's equal. GET EM' WHILE YOU CAN, LIKE THE RP-82, THESE ARE DISSAPEARING AS WELL.

Strengths:
1st class video, outperforming virtually every other player from $60 to $8000(the only thing better is a well configured HTPC, but who need the aggrivation?). Audio is nice and deep sounding. SOLID build quality, nice and heavy with a cool mirror finish. Everyone who's seen the player has remarked "whoa...space-age".

Weaknesses:
No coax digital out, this is not a weakness for me since I optical is just as good, but some will gripe.