Best Standard Def DVD Player under $8,000 used?


I am looking for the best possible Standard Def DVD player
that is BLACK. I have a Krell DVD Showcase now and it's
great but I am wondering if there is better to be had for
under $8,000 used.

I would like to hear opinions/comparisons of the video
quality for:

Krell DVD Standard
Linn Unidisk 1.1
Meridian G98
Denon 5910CI

Thanks
Tom
tom92602
Tom, no need to quit acting like a lady lol!
I never ridiculed you, unless you are counting that lady comment.............smile, this is supposed to be fun!

If it means anything I didnt think too much of the Krell, its not really what that company is about anyway...the Esoteric DV-60 was better, even the Lexicon RT10 was but you have a need for black.
Tom,

While I have had long term experience with three of these players as I posted in my initial post, I totally agree with what everyone is saying, buy a Sony BDP-S350, they street for sub $200, and it is a profile 2.0 capable player that functions so quickly you won't notice any slow load times.

Buy the high end players for audio performance, as I said, I still have two on your list in my systems, but don't fool yourself that your getting better than Blu-ray, and BTW for a dollar a month Netflix will mail you any Blu-ray you want, or by shopping around you can easily buy them for sub $20.

I can see owning the players you listed, and as I said, I do, I also have several Blu-ray players, and I DO NOT use my DV-50s or Denon 5910CI for SD DVD's anymore. I use a Sony Blu-ray player in the bedroom for this (and the Denon 5910 for audio there) and I use one of the three b;lu-ray players in my main rig or the Toshiba HD XA2 as they are amazing scalers! The XA2 outperforms the Meridian G98 and Denon 5910 in video, I never had it to directly AB to the Linn, but I suspect it would beat it as well.

So, my point is that all the people you feel are attacking you for not just answering your question are actually helping you by steering you to a new and far superior technology. I will go one step further to say if you do not own a blu-ray player now and you spend that much on a SD DVD player YOU are the fool!
-11-09: Tom92602

Ok.. Nice work all you $300 BluRay payer lovers..
If only you had high end systems to appreciate the
gear I am wanting to discuss.


Tom,

I do believe that you are confusing what high end is all about. High end is most certainly NOT about high cost,but it is about high performance.

But truth be told bro,I'll take my so called low end ps3 and enjoy true high end picture and sound quality. Quite frankly dvd sucks compared with high end blu-ray.
.
...a note to Kennyt........I agree with you on the XA2... I owned the Panasonic XA2 player. The first time I fired it up on a standard def disc, my jaw dropped...just a gorgeous picture. The Reon chip in there is really something special when it comes to upconverting stadard def discs. When the supposedly more advance Realta chip came out, I had to see what the fuss was all about. So I purchased the Marantz BD 8002 Blu Ray player. The standard def upconversion is even better than the XA2, and of course the Blu Ray picture is stunning. So, for about $250., you can get a killer standard def picture by finding a used Panasonic XA2 player.

I paid $2k for the Marantz.....but $8k seems outlandish for a standard def unit when the two aforementioned units are readily available.
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If you are really looking for absolute highest quality audio & video, then I would buy a Pioneer Elite Blu-ray player model BDP-09FD est. $1,900.00 (or less) and ship it to Reference Audio Mods for overhaul..I did this with my Denon DVD-5910CI and it came back with both "killer" audio and video. I had RAM perform the audio mods on the front 3 channels (L/C/R) of my Denon in lieu of only L & R. Audiophile quality at very reasonable prices...

with your budget you could also add a new Faroudja DVP-1080 video processor (or equivalent..see High-End Palace website)...This world class processor upscales up to 1080p reference progressive format though DVI/HDMI with HDCP and analog component though five high quality BNC connectors with Horizontal and Vertical alignment. The DVP-1080 converts DVD's, HD programming, HD DVD's and Blu-Ray to reference caliber progressive format.

The Faroudja DVP-1080 HD provides a realism, vividness, contrast, brightness, sharpness and detail, improves color saturation and overall picture quality by 15 to 25%. It also provides accurate pixel count to all high-end projectors, plasmas and LCD displays, All DVD's, HD programming, HD DVD's and Blu-Ray Disc benefits drastically from a DVP-1080. This high-end processor is what we call a world class processor, an out of this world improvement for all high-end DLP's, LCOS's, SXRD's, D-ILA's, CRT projectors, Plasmas and LCD displays, the processor for perfectionist. Get a true film like experience in your theater today.

I am now looking for a fair deal on a Pioneer Elite Blu-ray player model BDP-09FD....the best (both audio & video) Blu-ray unit to date..bar none...NEXT purchase after that will be above video processor or equivalent....