I'm on the waiting list for a 990, at which point I'll probably get a 7100 as well for use in a relatively small (10 x 11) but new room. I'll be getting a relatively recent DLP rear projector TV and will be on a cable settop box. I've been focusing up 'til now on the pre-pro and the TV, but now I should start thinking about a universal DVD player.

So here's the question. In your experience, have you found any particular DVD players to be especially good or bad with the 990? I'm not certain why they would be, but I just thought I'd ask!

Thanks in advance for any help.

Here's one you might want to look at. It scored very highly on the Secrets DVD benchmarks (number 2 all time highest I think), and it is only $200!
http://www.oppodigital.com/default.asp

I don't think there are any that are good or bad in relation to the 990. The Oppo that CJL1138 mentions is a really good value if your new TV has DVI or HDMI (the component output is limited to 480i, while the DVI output will do 480p, 720p, or 1080i). In the event that your cable box also offers DVI or HDMI, it would be a prime opportunity to use the 990's DVI switching.

Gonk & CJL1138, I appreciate the advice. The importance of getting a player with DVI & higher resolution video outputs to take advantage of the 990's DVI switching is just the kind of advice I was looking for.

I'm wondering if the 990's bass management capabilities have any implications for what I need or don't need in a universal DVD player. Any thoughts there?

Well, bass management on universal players has improved over the last couple years, but it's still a bit unpredictable from player to player. Because of the way the 990's 7.1 direct input works, I'd recommend not even worrying about bass management on a universal player and simply leaving all the speakers set to "large" and the sub to "on" in the player setup. That's what I've done with my Yamaha S1500.

Well I've done a bit more research and firmed up my specs a bit. I'd really like that Oppo, but it and a few other players ranked highly in the Secrets comparison, don't do SACD. I realize that there are a lot of people who don't like SACD because it's another Sony-created non-standard "standard," but there are a few good items in the catalog of music produced in SACD and I'm not willing to exclude them (yet) from my future.

So do any 990 owners (which I will be next Monday if I can believe the Fedex website) have any universal (all formats) DVD players that work nicely with the 990's bass management and inputs, that upconvert to 720p & 1080i, and have a DVI/HDMI connector, that they can recommend? I don't have any objections to Denon, but the price premium (perhaps for SACD licencing?) just seems like a lot (and we all know that Outlaws are conscious of value in A/V gear).

If you're not in a rush, you might want to look into this one when it becomes available: universal player Although the site says that it became available in May, rumor has it that it'll be released mid July. I've looked at the Denon DVD-3910 and Onkyo SP-1000, and the Sherwood looks like it might offer more bang for the buck.

Many thanks. That's exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. I've been waiting for my HT project to come together for a few years, so a few months to get the right gear is no big deal.

Does anyone know how quickly Kris Deering upgrades his DVD Benchmarks in Secrets? I'd really like to see where this Sherwood comes out.

The DVD Shootout used to get new batches of players added every few months. Lately, though, they seem to have shifted their approach - instead of adding a whole bunch at once, they have been posting one at a time as they finish testing.

The Sherwood does look pretty promising. I've got another idea that may be a bit odd in a discussion of all-in-one-box universal players. If you want both a universal player and an upconverting player, you might consider what I've ended up doing (although I stumbled into it). I've got the Oppo for DVD-Video, which I'm very pleased with, and I've got a Yamaha DVD-S1500 that I now just use for CD, DVD-Audio, and SACD. There are some pretty popular Pioneer universal players that cost less than the Oppo, and the combination of one of those and the Oppo would set you back less than $400.

Will I get a better picture with my 106 inch LCD projector if I get the Oppo player and use the DVI output upconverted to 720p? Currently I am using a Marantz progressive scan DVD player with component outputs. I ask because recently I read that DVI output would not yield a better picture than component output on a progressive scan player unless the video display was DLP or LCoS. I am interested in hearing from anyone who has had experience moving from a progressive scan DVD and component outputs to the Oppo using DVI, particularly any improvement when upconverting to 720p.