Recommended HDMI DVD players for music and movies.

Suggest you simply go to Best Buy (or others with money-back return policies) and get one of the several HDMI DVD players available (I use a Samsung with a Panasonic projector & 106" screen) and SEE (no pun!) how you like the video performance.
If the audio performance is not up to the level you want, then get a seperate player for audio.
Good listening! .....AND L@@king!

p.s. suggest you check out the Yamaha 5990 receiver. It retails for $1000 and is also available at BB. (disclaimer: NO connection to Best Buy OR Yamaha in any way) It UPsamples all video to 1080i on the HDMI output AND is a switcher with TWO HDMI inputs.

For my birthday my father purchased me the newest Oppo player and I am thrilled with its video performance on my Optoma projector via DVI connection. This player has been hyped on AVS forum for a long time and I finally got the chance to check it out. Probably the best $200 purchase I have seen in audio or video gear. Good luck. I am happy with the Oppo performance until the Bluray stuff is around and they work out the bugs.

I've seen the Oppo and was pretty impressed with its picture . However, I ended up with a Sony 975, as it's upsampling through HDMI was in the same ballpark, and it's additionally quite good with CDs for the price---and also plays SACDs as a bonus. Others like the Panasonics as well, but if you're using it as a CD source I'd recommend the Sony.

For subs, I really like the RBH, but they're big and tall. Good with both music and video. That said, square rooms can sometimes play havoc with standing waves. I'd also consider a dipole sub, but they need to be away from the wall.

Look at the Pioneer's, Best over all for music video sacd dvda ect. Most important is they work with almost any TV.

Check out the new Marantz Dv9600.Surperb!

I've got the Arcam DV 137 on my own wish list, which is officially priced at EUR 2000,- in Germany. If that is not way in excess of what you want to spend, make sure to take a very close look at this multi-talent (also sacd + dvd A).

I use the pioneer DV-59AVI. You probably can't find a better universal player anywhere near the price range.

buy a used denon 2910. you can probably get one for 300 bucks and it is a great all around performer

You dont mention a price range but I will throw this out there. Here come the flames. Do not let the format war scare you. Get a Toshiba HD DVD player! IMHO it does not matter who wins the format war or even if they both fail. For $500.00 you get an outstanding standard dvd player. As far as standalone players go the Toshiba is the best I have seen by a considerable margin up to around $1,500.00. The analog out for audio is very good. I have not run audio HDMI yet so I cant comment on that. Its not going to displace my Wadia 861 but it holds its own. I certainly think it would be hard to find a better sounding CD player for $500.00. Then there is the option of playing HD DVds. On a large screen the improvement is huge. Dont worry about BD putting out 1080P while the Toshiba "only" puts out 1080I. Any capable 1080P display will take the 1080I signal to 1080P with no degredation in image quality. At least that is what I understand from reading the forums on AVS. Anyway if $500.00 is in your price range get the Toshiba. It is a great machine and a bargain to boot.

Oppo, Oppo, and third Recommendation Oppo! It cannot be beat in pic or performance for base HDMI 720p or 1080i, excellent sound for DTS and Dolby.. Unless you must have SACD, and DVD-A than move to the Top of the line denon or one of the few below it, but the picture is not better. Also the Oppos have internal additional color correction settings, Contrast for super black ratio, Sharpness settings, Etc.. . The denon's top model is no better than 5% over the pic and this is not in every case, however the denon is sold on the additional Audio processors and multiple extra connections. Even on hometheaterhifi.com shootout the Oppo is still #1 over the top denon, and the denons beat out all Sonys, Toshibas etc.. If picture perfect is your overall goal with standard surround processing than there is no other answer, and nothing near 199.00 like this machine.

The Oppo is a great unit for the price. Also it is very small/slim so if space is an issue then it will be a good choice. I had it in my system for a month until I got the Toshiba HD DVD. In my system the Toshiba is quite a bit better with SD DVD. I gave the Oppo to my father-in-law. Good luck. FWIW Ive had the upper end Dennons and Maranzt units in my system recently and IMHO they are good but not on par with the Toshiba HD DVD for SD DVD. But if your budget is $200.00 or less you will not find a better unit than the Oppo.