...A conclusion I just came to, after comparing two DVD players. My quest in the last few days, was to find a basic upscaling DivX supported DVD player for a friend of mine (preferably with USB port because hey, why not...), to mate with the new HDTV. Never been much of a "videophile", but as an audiophile, I still wanted to make an effort to obtain the best video and audio performance from what might be available in this area (in brick and mortar shops). I thought about getting a Toshiba, but the reviews on their poor reliability record scared me out of that option. A model Philips made (5990) sounded perfect, but the store was sold out and it didn't look like I could find it elsewhere, and I didn't want to spend two years trying to. There was an LG that looked like a good contender (Model: DV4M), but my local store only had one banged up demo left, and they couldn't even bother to retain its remote. No other store in town would have it until maybe a month from now. So we went to WallyMart and found a Samsung that fit the bill (DVD-1080P9), but we couldn't decide between that and a Pioneer (DV-220V) on the shelf next to it, as both had exactly the same features. I suggested getting both, and having them battle each other for our love and acceptance - with the agreement that the loser would have to trudge on back to the store in defeat; and wait for someone with less critical tastes to adopt it. Which is about 99.99% of their customers, I estimate, so no problem there.
Turned out to be a tough battle, though. Compared to the Pioneer, the Samsung was a very attractive option. Good looks, faster and more responsive in its functioning, better remote and brighter and more detail in its image quality. The Pioneer, with its dull, cheesy intro screen, sappy looks and remote that seemed to belong to a wired cable convertor box from the 80's, did not labour much to impress you. Worse, it had a red LED screen readout that seemed to suggest Pioneer never really cared to progress from their heyday in the 1970's. I don't know, but maybe all the engineers at Pioneer today still have red LED watches from the 70's, and wear polyester leisure suits with lots of gold jewellry. With this display, you were supposed to understand that "6ui" meant "GUI", which meant you were in menu mode. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised the brand is still around today, and expect it to disappear any second now. I soon realized with the Pioneer, why some people go batshit on their DVD players, throwing them to the ground with all their might and then stomping the life out of them (as one of my friends once did with his Toshiba). While the Samsung wouldn't play all of my video data files on DVD -/+R (a few of which would not be playable outside of a computer), it did about as good a job as one could expect. The Pioneer would just choke and gag on many of the burned DVD's. The display telling you it's stopped while it was in Play, or in Play while it was stopped. And you could forget about punching any of the buttons if you were unfortunate enough to feed it a video file it couldn't play properly. Usually, you either had to reset the player by opening the tray, or sometimes, only pulling the plug would work. It would even forget how to play discs it could play before. It would even have trouble (glitches) with videos on DVD-R in the universal DVD format, that the Samsung had no perceivable problems with.
So the Pioneer was not a player for those with little patience. However, for those who appreciate performance, it might be worth tolerating its numerous flaws, as it had a richer, more film-like upscaled video image, and higher definition audio quality than the Samsung. So it was decided that performance was king, and compromises would have to be made elsewhere. Hence the Samsung went back; but with the knowledge that it fought a good fight. While at the mall though.... we spotted a suitable Sony model that managed to elude us the first time, the DVP-NS718H. So the question was, was it worth giving Sony a chance in this effort to find a satisfactory unit, or had the deck been played out? I reasoned that we'd probably be asking that question each time the Pioneer choked on a DVD, so better to answer it now and get it done with. The Sony didn't have a USB port, so we knew it was going to be a question of compromise before even giving it a shot. The Sony turned out to have a lot going for it. In my view, it had a somewhat better picture than the Pioneer (similar film-like resolution and richness, but with greater detail, reminiscent of the Samsung). My friend couldn't tell a diff, but concluded it wasn't worse. Had a good EL panel display, quarter decent remote, similar scanning function to the Pioneer, and most importantly, could read about the same amount of video files as the Samsung. Which meant it was significantly better than the Pioneer for reading disks. One exception, is that it wouldn't read my copy of 37.2 Le Matin (aka Betty Blue), saying it was of the wrong region! First time I had ever gotten that message, and why am I not surprised it was coming from a Sony device.... This was news to me, because all the other players, Samsung, Pioneer and even an el-cheapo Daenyx had no problem reading this DVD.
Well that wasn't a dealbreaker, because the Sony was a very likeable player all around. Even more responsive than the Samsung, and with better sound (the Samsung's greatest weakness). However, the one (and only) thing the Pioneer had over the Sony was significantly better sound. And that -was- a "dealbreaker" for the Sony/Pioneer's owner. We both concluded on our own that audio plays a great role in the emotional content communicated by movies and such. And that's when I realized "audio is complicated". Because, while not easy, it was obviously possible to find a player that could compete with another for video quality; even if the field was limited to one with the same capabilities. There's simply less criteria it needs to match. But find a player that at least matched or surpassed another (ie. the Pioneer) for both video and audio quality, with similar features? I have little hope of that happening, because there are just too many variables when we are talking about audio quality, between one machine and another. When audio quality is an afterthought on pretty much every DVD player going, your chances of finding one that even "accidentally" sounds good, are that much slimmer. And assuming they even listen to these things, what "good" is to one engineer is not necessarily the same "good" to another. All this to say that audiophiles have a harder life than videophiles, IMESHO.... Which brings us to HDMI....
I knew the connection had to be HDMI for best picture & sound (or so I heard...), and nearly all players did not supply this (though they could, as they now cost about the same as the component cables that usually come free with these players). One exception I saw was a low-end Sony model at Zeller's that advertised this feature right on the box. But all the dealers insisted that NO players on the market include HDMI cables. So my eyes must have been lying to me, because the HDMI Sony cables they were selling separately cost more than the DVD player that included an HDMI cable. And so according to one Sony dealer, by that reasoning, I must be delusional or insane to think that Sony would supply a free HDMI cable. Next time I go shopping I'll have to bring my digicam. But anyway, did the cable matter? Well, in my research I read in several places that "fancy" HDMI cables were a ripoff; bits is bits, it didn't matter. And for once in my life, this time I was actually inclined to believe the superficially-minded and eternally ignorant "bits is bits" believers. I knew from experiments way back in the day that there were real differences in digital audio cables for music, but whatever their reasoning for being against HDMI, I really didn't think I would either see, or appreciably appreciate a difference in cables using the HDMI format with TV's and DVD. Sound or especially video. I could see an enormous profit being made on these cables, particularly by the likes of Monster. (I already had Noel Lee pop up all over my Monster ISF TV calibration DVD trying to sell me on them, which had the opposite effect of what was intended. Let's just say Noel Lee would have a hard time selling me water in the desert). With the idea in mind that there would be no real differences to be had, I bought two different but relatively inexpensive models of HDMI cables.
One was a no-name 6 ft. HDMI cable that looked just like one from Monster or Rocket; complete with a nylon braided exterior, that two-toned swirly cable plug design with gold-looking (if not plated...) connector and even the little plastic protector caps that go on the end of the connectors and serve little purpose but to look good, before you take them off and throw them away. The difference is, it cost $8.99 instead of between $70 and $90, for a comparable name brand. The other cable was a 3 ft. $25 Philips model from Wal-Mart. Ironically, it did look like it came from the dollar store. Plain black, no gold flashing even, with a rubberized exterior. Compared head to head on numerous discs, it turns out there was a difference. The kind of difference that makes you regret having bought the (unreturnable in this case...) cheaper cable. Which I guess would have been perfectly okay if we had not compared it to a better cable (the Philips). I'm sure this is the very same reason most people are satisfied with the cables they have, having never bothered to compare them to anything better, or at least different. In close comparison, the no-name brand cable produced a duller video output and a more mediocre sound. While on the surface, the differences between the two might not have been something to write home about, or anything most people would notice if you secretly switched cables on them, they were nevertheless enough to make me sense less of the movie's emotional messages with the cheaper cable. I could therefore surmise in advance what I would be missing with every movie I were to play in the future, if I used the cheaper cable. You can't miss what you never had..... unless you know what you are missing.
So even if there was better, the Philips it was felt, was perfectly fine and acceptable. But did the cheaper HDMI cable have to be a write-off; the cost of a lesson learned, I wondered? Or, since I'm so good at fixing things.... could I "fix it" somehow, and hope to be able to make use of it? That question was answered about a minute later. (Took me about 30 seconds to apply one of my Belt tweaks to the cable, and about 30 more seconds to test it out). Thereafter, when we compared the two cables, neither of us could discern any more "appreciable difference" in the video output between them. Myself however, I found that I preferred the audio output on the cheaper tweaked cable, as tested with music, than the Philips - so my concerns about missing the emotional content in movies with the cable of a lesser God, were no longer. The cheaper $8.99 cable has since been permanently installed in this system. (Would probably be interesting to see if I could make a Monster out of it!). Though I haven't really compared others, the (off-the-shelf) Philips is still a good buy for the $, if you ask me. Though even Wal-Mart had pricier HDMI's. Even if I couldn't "fix" the no-name cable, $10 wasted would have been worth learning this lesson that the idea that HDMI cables make no difference is, once again, pure bullshit on the part of those who (I assume...) know no better, and probably care no less if they did. Even if this well-meaning message isn't coming from the usual "everything sounds / looks the same" crowd, it should be treated as if it is. The message should be, as always, that people need to cease believing everything they read or are told, and try to learn things on their own. Especially because... audio is complicated! 
Assuming anyone has read this far, if you care to dump your random thoughts on the subject of audio/video quality re: dvd players, you have my blessing. Oh, and I'm open to suggestions for any upscaling HDMI / DivX-supported DVD players that are sure to have good video and sound. Because I don't know how long it will be before the Pioneer ends up in a million fragments on the ground, after it locks up on another DVD.....
...A conclusion I just came to, after comparing two DVD players. My quest in the last few days, was to find a basic upscaling DivX supported DVD player for a friend of mine (preferably with USB port because hey, why not...), to mate with the new HDTV. Never been much of a "videophile", but as an audiophile, I still wanted to make an effort to obtain the best video and audio performance from what might be available in this area (in brick and mortar shops). I thought about getting a Toshiba, but the reviews on their poor reliability record scared me out of that option. A model Philips made (5990) sounded perfect, but the store was sold out and it didn't look like I could find it elsewhere, and I didn't want to spend two years trying to. There was an LG that looked like a good contender (Model: DV4M), but my local store only had one banged up demo left, and they couldn't even bother to retain its remote. No other store in town would have it until maybe a month from now. So we went to WallyMart and found a Samsung that fit the bill (DVD-1080P9), but we couldn't decide between that and a Pioneer (DV-220V) on the shelf next to it, as both had exactly the same features. I suggested getting both, and having them battle each other for our love and acceptance - with the agreement that the loser would have to trudge on back to the store in defeat; and wait for someone with less critical tastes to adopt it. Which is about 99.99% of their customers, I estimate, so no problem there.
Turned out to be a tough battle, though. Compared to the Pioneer, the Samsung was a very attractive option. Good looks, faster and more responsive in its functioning, better remote and brighter and more detail in its image quality. The Pioneer, with its dull, cheesy intro screen, sappy looks and remote that seemed to belong to a wired cable convertor box from the 80's, did not labour much to impress you. Worse, it had a red LED screen readout that seemed to suggest Pioneer never really cared to progress from their heyday in the 1970's. I don't know, but maybe all the engineers at Pioneer today still have red LED watches from the 70's, and wear polyester leisure suits with lots of gold jewellry. With this display, you were supposed to understand that "6ui" meant "GUI", which meant you were in menu mode. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised the brand is still around today, and expect it to disappear any second now. I soon realized with the Pioneer, why some people go batshit on their DVD players, throwing them to the ground with all their might and then stomping the life out of them (as one of my friends once did with his Toshiba). While the Samsung wouldn't play all of my video data files on DVD -/+R (a few of which would not be playable outside of a computer), it did about as good a job as one could expect. The Pioneer would just choke and gag on many of the burned DVD's. The display telling you it's stopped while it was in Play, or in Play while it was stopped. And you could forget about punching any of the buttons if you were unfortunate enough to feed it a video file it couldn't play properly. Usually, you either had to reset the player by opening the tray, or sometimes, only pulling the plug would work. It would even forget how to play discs it could play before. It would even have trouble (glitches) with videos on DVD-R in the universal DVD format, that the Samsung had no perceivable problems with.
So the Pioneer was not a player for those with little patience. However, for those who appreciate performance, it might be worth tolerating its numerous flaws, as it had a richer, more film-like upscaled video image, and higher definition audio quality than the Samsung. So it was decided that performance was king, and compromises would have to be made elsewhere. Hence the Samsung went back; but with the knowledge that it fought a good fight. While at the mall though.... we spotted a suitable Sony model that managed to elude us the first time, the DVP-NS718H. So the question was, was it worth giving Sony a chance in this effort to find a satisfactory unit, or had the deck been played out? I reasoned that we'd probably be asking that question each time the Pioneer choked on a DVD, so better to answer it now and get it done with. The Sony didn't have a USB port, so we knew it was going to be a question of compromise before even giving it a shot. The Sony turned out to have a lot going for it. In my view, it had a somewhat better picture than the Pioneer (similar film-like resolution and richness, but with greater detail, reminiscent of the Samsung). My friend couldn't tell a diff, but concluded it wasn't worse. Had a good EL panel display, quarter decent remote, similar scanning function to the Pioneer, and most importantly, could read about the same amount of video files as the Samsung. Which meant it was significantly better than the Pioneer for reading disks. One exception, is that it wouldn't read my copy of 37.2 Le Matin (aka Betty Blue), saying it was of the wrong region! First time I had ever gotten that message, and why am I not surprised it was coming from a Sony device.... This was news to me, because all the other players, Samsung, Pioneer and even an el-cheapo Daenyx had no problem reading this DVD.
Well that wasn't a dealbreaker, because the Sony was a very likeable player all around. Even more responsive than the Samsung, and with better sound (the Samsung's greatest weakness). However, the one (and only) thing the Pioneer had over the Sony was significantly better sound. And that -was- a "dealbreaker" for the Sony/Pioneer's owner. We both concluded on our own that audio plays a great role in the emotional content communicated by movies and such. And that's when I realized "audio is complicated". Because, while not easy, it was obviously possible to find a player that could compete with another for video quality; even if the field was limited to one with the same capabilities. There's simply less criteria it needs to match. But find a player that at least matched or surpassed another (ie. the Pioneer) for both video and audio quality, with similar features? I have little hope of that happening, because there are just too many variables when we are talking about audio quality, between one machine and another. When audio quality is an afterthought on pretty much every DVD player going, your chances of finding one that even "accidentally" sounds good, are that much slimmer. And assuming they even listen to these things, what "good" is to one engineer is not necessarily the same "good" to another. All this to say that audiophiles have a harder life than videophiles, IMESHO.... Which brings us to HDMI....
I knew the connection had to be HDMI for best picture & sound (or so I heard...), and nearly all players did not supply this (though they could, as they now cost about the same as the component cables that usually come free with these players). One exception I saw was a low-end Sony model at Zeller's that advertised this feature right on the box. But all the dealers insisted that NO players on the market include HDMI cables. So my eyes must have been lying to me, because the HDMI Sony cables they were selling separately cost more than the DVD player that included an HDMI cable. And so according to one Sony dealer, by that reasoning, I must be delusional or insane to think that Sony would supply a free HDMI cable. Next time I go shopping I'll have to bring my digicam. But anyway, did the cable matter? Well, in my research I read in several places that "fancy" HDMI cables were a ripoff; bits is bits, it didn't matter. And for once in my life, this time I was actually inclined to believe the superficially-minded and eternally ignorant "bits is bits" believers. I knew from experiments way back in the day that there were real differences in digital audio cables for music, but whatever their reasoning for being against HDMI, I really didn't think I would either see, or appreciably appreciate a difference in cables using the HDMI format with TV's and DVD. Sound or especially video. I could see an enormous profit being made on these cables, particularly by the likes of Monster. (I already had Noel Lee pop up all over my Monster ISF TV calibration DVD trying to sell me on them, which had the opposite effect of what was intended. Let's just say Noel Lee would have a hard time selling me water in the desert). With the idea in mind that there would be no real differences to be had, I bought two different but relatively inexpensive models of HDMI cables.
One was a no-name 6 ft. HDMI cable that looked just like one from Monster or Rocket; complete with a nylon braided exterior, that two-toned swirly cable plug design with gold-looking (if not plated...) connector and even the little plastic protector caps that go on the end of the connectors and serve little purpose but to look good, before you take them off and throw them away. The difference is, it cost $8.99 instead of between $70 and $90, for a comparable name brand. The other cable was a 3 ft. $25 Philips model from Wal-Mart. Ironically, it did look like it came from the dollar store. Plain black, no gold flashing even, with a rubberized exterior. Compared head to head on numerous discs, it turns out there was a difference. The kind of difference that makes you regret having bought the (unreturnable in this case...) cheaper cable. Which I guess would have been perfectly okay if we had not compared it to a better cable (the Philips). I'm sure this is the very same reason most people are satisfied with the cables they have, having never bothered to compare them to anything better, or at least different. In close comparison, the no-name brand cable produced a duller video output and a more mediocre sound. While on the surface, the differences between the two might not have been something to write home about, or anything most people would notice if you secretly switched cables on them, they were nevertheless enough to make me sense less of the movie's emotional messages with the cheaper cable. I could therefore surmise in advance what I would be missing with every movie I were to play in the future, if I used the cheaper cable. You can't miss what you never had..... unless you know what you are missing.
So even if there was better, the Philips it was felt, was perfectly fine and acceptable. But did the cheaper HDMI cable have to be a write-off; the cost of a lesson learned, I wondered? Or, since I'm so good at fixing things.... could I "fix it" somehow, and hope to be able to make use of it? That question was answered about a minute later. (Took me about 30 seconds to apply one of my Belt tweaks to the cable, and about 30 more seconds to test it out). Thereafter, when we compared the two cables, neither of us could discern any more "appreciable difference" in the video output between them. Myself however, I found that I preferred the audio output on the cheaper tweaked cable, as tested with music, than the Philips - so my concerns about missing the emotional content in movies with the cable of a lesser God, were no longer. The cheaper $8.99 cable has since been permanently installed in this system. (Would probably be interesting to see if I could make a Monster out of it!). Though I haven't really compared others, the (off-the-shelf) Philips is still a good buy for the $, if you ask me. Though even Wal-Mart had pricier HDMI's. Even if I couldn't "fix" the no-name cable, $10 wasted would have been worth learning this lesson that the idea that HDMI cables make no difference is, once again, pure bullshit on the part of those who (I assume...) know no better, and probably care no less if they did. Even if this well-meaning message isn't coming from the usual "everything sounds / looks the same" crowd, it should be treated as if it is. The message should be, as always, that people need to cease believing everything they read or are told, and try to learn things on their own. Especially because... audio is complicated!
Assuming anyone has read this far, if you care to dump your random thoughts on the subject of audio/video quality re: dvd players, you have my blessing. Oh, and I'm open to suggestions for any upscaling HDMI / DivX-supported DVD players that are sure to have good video and sound. Because I don't know how long it will be before the Pioneer ends up in a million fragments on the ground, after it locks up on another DVD.....