Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Progressive output beats or is on par w/ anything I've seen, regardless of price. A friend with the same TV as mine watched a movie on my player, went home and got his player and took it over and gave it to his parents and went out an bought a JVC. Shuffling system is a bit noisy but the way it shuffles is so cool that it's worth it. All # slots w/ a disk in them will be lit when unit is on and the one playing will blink continuously. This is probably one of the reasons they've discontinued the unit because I've read others complaining on other review sites. However, I have a 65" widescreen and it does not bother me or anyone who has wathced a movie with me. This leads me to believe that smaller TV's are going to be affected more since my rack is directly beside my TV and I don't notice it at all. The solution would seem to be to move your DVD player away from your TV a bit if it bothers you. mp3's are also decoded in the unit so you do not need a receiver with that capability. All in all this is about the best quality vs. cost player I have personally experienced.

Strengths:
Incredible picture quality. Internal decoding of all formats. 7 disc changer!

Weaknesses:
Nothing that can't be forgiven considering the price

Similar Products Used:
Denon, Pioneer, Sony

Price Paid:  $199.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
I got this unit as an exchange when my JVC XV-723GD was not repaired during a service call at best buy. The unit is very impressive in its performance. The progressive scan output is every bit as good as the 723GD it replaced, and shows far more picture detail than a panasonic RP-56. The panasonic picture looks good, but soft by comparison to the JVC. This player properly scales non-anamorphic DVDs and can zoom during progressive playback. Very few players at any price can do this. If you have a High Def TV that locks the screen resolution to 480P on progressive playback, this is the DVD player to get! This player also plays back any home burned audio CD's without effort. The panasonic RP-56 had trouble playing any CD's burned at over 2x write speed. The JVC plays disks burned at 24x with out a problem. MP3 Playback is fair. The unit takes a while to read all the song titles before allowing you to play, but works well enough until it encounters a bit rate it does not like. At that point it just stops playing. Disk swaping during playback is very cool. 7 disks support is nice as well. The unit is noisy while swapping disks, but this can be easily forgiven.

Strengths:
Outstanding picture and sound. DVD audio support. Built in decoders for DD and DTS. Seven disk changer. Proper scaling for non-anamorphic DVD titles. Zoom during progressive playback.

Weaknesses:
noisy disk changer, disk selected front panel light stays on and flashes when playing back. Annoying as hell during a movie. MP3 titles only appear on TV, not front panel.

Similar Products Used:
JVC XV-723GD, Panasonic RP-56