Price Paid:  $1200.00

Summary:
Audio: After the price drop there’s really only one other player that can compete with the Rotel, and that’s the Toshiba SD-9200 (the US version. The European version SD-900E is too expensive) but you never know if you get a unit with transport problems when you buy the Toshiba. The DVD-Audio is the main strength of the Rotel and if you get the right disks this player will deliver sound that will give you goose bumps all over. You can get very good results with CD’s as well, but it does seem to be a bit picky when it comes to CD’s though, some sounds amazing, others worse than played on mid-fi player. Video: If you find the picture of the Rotel to be shaky then it’s probably because it’s configured to match the wrong system (PAL vs. NTSC). On the back panel there’s a switch, which switches between PAL and NTSC but you have to turn of the power before switching. When playing region 1 movies set it to NTSC, when playing region 2 (and other PAL regions) set it to PAL. I find the picture to be very good and I can’t wait to try the progressive scan features.

Strengths:
Sound, DVD-Audio.

Weaknesses:
Transport not to smooth.

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer DV-717, JVC XV-D721, JVC XV-D723, Pioneer DV-646A, Toshiba SD-900E Denon DVD-3300, Denon DVD-1600, SONY DVP-NS900, Pioneer DV-747A, Technics DVD-A10.

Price Paid:  $1012.00 from Audio Concepts

Summary:
After an initial output problem was solved, this machine has proved itself a worthy piece for Rotel's first in totally in-house designed effort. After an initial burn in I settled back to watch the newly released Lord of the rings. The first thing I noticed was the video detail this unit offered. On top of the detail, very low video noise and quite believable colors were also readily apparent, even in a color-skewed movie such as this. Next I watched the fast and the furious. Again, color and detail were beautiful. Surround sound audio was also very nice, but the Burr-Brown DAC's in my receiver helped that. However even the main character's deep voice was very credible with the dialog digitaly provided from this source. I had to put in an older DVD ,Patriot Games, so that I could test a movie not so free of artifacts to see what this player would do. As it should, it made all of the cracks and pops more noticable with the not-digitaly cleaned video. I though I had gleened all I could from movies, so then it was time to test the analog capabilities. Fo starters, I then popped in a bit of Diana Krall to test the CD prowess of this unit. It is near impossible to get a DVD player in this price range to play CDs to as well as a dedicated machine, but this one comes close. Sarah K and Rebecca Pigeon sound warm and rich when considering the source was a DVD player. Only when racous music such as Stevie Ray Vaughn was played did was any fault displayed. Highs tended to be a little bright from this unit but nothing that was not able to be lived with. When compared to a dedicated transport sound will seem flat and lacking in nuances, but not unless it is a good dedicated transport. This Player is more than equipped to pull double duty as DVD and CD player in most systems of this quality. All in all, a much better unit than the previous glorified JVC's rotel had offered. This piece outperformed my expectation, and that is always a pleasant surprise.

Strengths:
Color clarity, picture detail, plethora of on screen menu’s

Weaknesses:
Garbled remote, light wieght for such a large unit (sorbothane feet are required)

Similar Products Used:
Arcam DV88 DVD player (reference) NAD T550

Price Paid:  $700.00 from Acoustic Arts

Summary:
absolutely fantasic player. Was discouraged originally by the Price - £1500 ($2175 USD).. no need for a DVD Audo player. I was looking originally at the Denon 2800, Rotel 995 and Arcam FMJ players.. This was recommended to me by the store and ive never looked back. I noticed a huge difference when moving from normal QED connects to transparent conncets.. well worth the extra money.

Strengths:
Picture quality, sound, progressive scan.. (Plasma is next)

Weaknesses:
Remote isnt all that good, but who cares if you have it programmed into a marantz rc5000

Similar Products Used:
Denon 2800, Arcam FMJ.. Amp - AVR 3801, Speakers, KEF KEH2005

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from Century Stereo, San

Summary:
just wanted to drop a line for those who hesitated because of the price: the price has droped to $1000.

Strengths:
smooth "round" sound, great progressive scan picture.

Price Paid:  $1500.00

Summary:
The picture is crystal clear with no distortion or digital artifacts. I use the component output and with the progressive scan the picture is brilliant. Good solid colors, nice contrast and has a very sharp picture. Compared to the Thule and the Sony, it''s a winner, although the price is a bit too much. It can''t play CDR(but CDRW) . But what makes it all worth it is that it outputs progressive signals in PAL!! And it''s a hell of a CD-player too!!

Strengths:
Crisp and clear picture, progressive output(also in PAL!!), codefree, component output and sounds very good on music.

Weaknesses:
Can''t read CDR, too expensive.

Similar Products Used:
Thule DVD250, Sony DVP-S7700.