I second the Oppo, best DVD players you can buy for under several thousand dollars.
As for universal DVD players, DVD, HDDVD and BluRay I would personally be very hesitant to take this route without very careful personal review of the piece.
HDDVD abd BluRay are very different designs and integration into the two is also quite different. I just don't see a good universal player addressing so many different needs without being very expensive. Additionally, I personally think the HDDVD will be more successful as it is based on a much better protcol (but we know what happened with Beta tapes). BluRay is based on the BBC low resolution solution to basically upconvering a mediocre process. This was not intended to be a playback designed system but one of recording and transfering.
I have a company that manufacturers equipment for the optical disc industry (DVD and CD) and we see a lot more adaptation for HDDVD than we do for BluRay. Coincidently, it is much more cost effective to convert to HD DVD than it is for BluRay which requires an entire new line of equipment vs. more similar equipment to the various types of DVDs that can be converted to producing HDDVDs.
But to the topic, I would go with the Oppo as I seriously question whether Denon will be able to make a comparable player for 10-20 times the price of the Oppo!
As for universal DVD players, DVD, HDDVD and BluRay I would personally be very hesitant to take this route without very careful personal review of the piece.
HDDVD abd BluRay are very different designs and integration into the two is also quite different. I just don't see a good universal player addressing so many different needs without being very expensive. Additionally, I personally think the HDDVD will be more successful as it is based on a much better protcol (but we know what happened with Beta tapes). BluRay is based on the BBC low resolution solution to basically upconvering a mediocre process. This was not intended to be a playback designed system but one of recording and transfering.
I have a company that manufacturers equipment for the optical disc industry (DVD and CD) and we see a lot more adaptation for HDDVD than we do for BluRay. Coincidently, it is much more cost effective to convert to HD DVD than it is for BluRay which requires an entire new line of equipment vs. more similar equipment to the various types of DVDs that can be converted to producing HDDVDs.
But to the topic, I would go with the Oppo as I seriously question whether Denon will be able to make a comparable player for 10-20 times the price of the Oppo!