I'm not sure that's appropriate in this case. Since Dr_JB doesn't have any SACD's and likely no DVD-Audio discs either, he'll be using the digital output only. At that point, the extra cost for a more robust analog section is not going to be used at all - not to mention that a 2930 or 3920 will cost more than the HD-DVD player he had also be contemplating. The Realta chip is a more powerful chip than the Faroudja that the 981HD has, but the differences are going to be minor at the video performance level that both players offer (OPPO has tweaked the software for the Faroudja chip about as far as it can be taken). If he's only going to be feeding a digital bitstream to his 990, he's probably best going with the 981HD now and waiting for the format war to clear up before investing more.