Budget DVD Player Recommendation

Try the Oppo 980 universal player and read the reviews on Amazon. It should exceed your stated criteia at well below your price limit:
http://www.amazon.com/OPPO-DV-980H-Up-Converting-Universal-Player/dp/B000UIA6YM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1252530628&sr=8-2

I love my Oppo DV-983H. It's solidly built, has good audio, and the best upscaling video quality of any DVD player I've owned.

Michael

within your budget, i'm a fan of the denon (2910 or 3910) for 2ch. audio--very good inboard dacs. cambridge audio dv is another good choice--i notice they're being blown out for less than $200 new. i have not heard the oppo.

second the Denons

Another vote for Denon 2910 and 3910. They're great sounding players for the price and built to last.

Loomisjohnson,could you let me know where you saw the Denons for under $200?

roryfan:
right here on agon there are three 2910s listed, including a new one for 250. i also see two on ebay. i'm sure you'll have no trouble snagging one at your price point--just make an offer.

PS2 at $100. decodes most stuff (no blue ray), at least my old one does and sounds pretty good. Heck buy 2 and have a spare.

The 980 Oppo is going to sound better via hdmi than mentioned Denon's imo. Will emphasis be on audio or video? If video...Oppo with pretty darn good audio to boot.

Denon DVD-1940ci

I have the 1930ci and it beat my Oppo 970 so the Oppo is gone. The newer 1940ci (as well as the 1930ci) got amazing reviews in the European hi-fi mags.

This $400 DVD player (w/ DCDi by Faroudja) is available on Amazon for $127

Can you take the coax or toslink digital out from the Denon or Oppo models and go directly to an outboard DAC? Thanks!

Yes, you can connect the toslink output on a cd player and go directly into a DAC.

A used oppo 980 as they were recently discontinued. I'm keeping mine just for bedroom setup/plasma tv.

samsung

I have three choices, they're perfect:
Denon DVD-1710
Limit DVD800SE
NAD T513

I just picked up a Yamaha DVD-S1800 (a discontinued model selling on Amazon for $80), and I think it's a fantastic audio player. It replaced an Oppo DV-980H in my office, and the sound, in my opinion, is at least as good, if not better. In addition, it's better-built, faster to load, with a quieter transport. I've read that they can have trouble with CD-Rs, but I haven't had a problem. I've only used it for music, so I can't comment on video, but I've read good things about video quality, too.