My Dad couldn't resist any longer and recently bought a 37" Panasonic plasma HDTV. The Panny has a every input option including two HDMI, component, S, and composite. His old DVD didn't have progressive scan so I suggested he get an OPPO 970 knowing it had HDMI output. The video in my system is all component so I was anxious to see if there was a difference between component and HDMI on the new Panny. Well, the HDMI video was signifcantly better than the component. Images were much sharper; the colors were not "smeared" where they changed. Now I didn't do any set up; my test was right out of the box with factory settings using Star Wars II. Regardless, for $150 plus shipping the HDMI video performance is terrific.

I plan on borrowing the 970 to test its SACD, HDCD and DVD-A performance. I can't take advantage of the digital video as my 3-year old plasma only has component video inputs, but I'd like to compare the 970's component output to that of my Pioneer 45A. In the meantime my Dad is very happy with the 970 and not likely to let me borrow it for an extended period of time!