Ultimate DVD player...

Checkout the Mcintosh MVP-851. Does everything you ask for plus DVD-A

The Ayre machine is supposed to be very good.

Toshiba SD 9200

Linn unidisk 1.1

I considered many of these.... I'll tell you why I got the DV-50.

Linn Unidisk 1.1 ??? TOO Expensive...I have an all Linn system, and wouldn't get it!

Classe CD/DVD1 - no progressive video output. Sorry, no sale

Muse...tricky, I almost went with this one, but you must make sure you get the Gen 4 if you want to play CDR's, and progressive output is an option, so not on all the used ones you will find. I don't think it does MP3's either.

Arcam...could find it to listen to, have heard great things about it but...

As for Mc...wouldn't get them for s front end unsless you want all Mc...just my thoughts, looks too dated in any other system.

The DV-50 does EVERY format, and all well. That did it for me.

I believe DV-50S will soon be (or is) available in Japan. It's DV-50 with upgraded audio (filter algorithm) and video (DVI/HDCP and 216 Mhz/14 bit processing). I have no idea if it will be available in the States though.

I like the DV-50 the best too. I am worried about dealing with TEAC regarding customer service issues. I ordered one and it was damaged, and TEAC has not been friendly to deal with at all. Therefore I have been considering alternatives. I have compared it to the ARCAM, and the ARCAM falls a little short [but it is much cheaper too].

Sorry to hear about the problems with Teac, as mine is on it's way at the moment. I'm looking into the DV-50s, but need to wait for the guy @ Teac who handles these to come back from vacation (Monday) I'll post again once I speak to him.

If it is coming soon, I'll hold on buying one for the DVI output, if their will be an upgrade, I'll likely take it now and wait.

Muse is very very good. However, you will need to get 4th generation to play all the formats you require.

FWIW I spoke with TEAC, the DV-50s will be available as an upgrade for the DV-50 when it comes out. It just hit the market in Japan and and they are trying to figure out how to impliment it into the American unit now.

Yeah the Ayre is meant to be very good for music. It's all modular though so it'll cost you quite a lot.

The ultimate DVD player regarding picture quality WITHOUT A DOUBT is a personal computer with an excellent video and audio card (M-Audio).

There isn't a player on the market that can scale your DVD's to ANY resolution that your monitor,tv,or projector can take. I use mine to scale DVD's to 720P. These high end units that are mentioned here can only do 480P what's with that? I have an Ayre unit in my possession and although it has RGBVH via component which is really nice, it still looks horrible when compared to a computer hooked up to a rear or front projection.
It really ticks me off that they call these high end units and sell them for an astronomical price and my home pc pounds the living daylights out of them.
The kicker is that they also work wonderfully on audio as well provided you spend some coin on a decent audio card. They also upsample your cds and work as a music bank and preamp!!!
This has been PROVEN on other web forums and I have done it myself.
That's just my $1200bucks though!!!

Alun,
I've tried the home theater pc, perhaps I'm doing something wrong, I am running a ATI 9500 and my 150$ progressive scan pioneer dvd player destroys the picture quality when fed into my projector.
How do you adjust the dvd scale up to 720p?