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DVD players
If your DVD player is more than a few years old, or if it's a real cheap one, you'll probably want to replace it with one of the new upsampling models. Upsampling DVD players take the native (480P) DVD signal and upconvert (scale) it to either 1080i or 720P (user selectable) to match the native resolution of your display (TV, etc.). This feature is only available using an HDMI connection, so unless your receiver has HDMI component switching, make sure your display has at least two HDMI inputs. (One for the DVD player, the other for your cable box or satellite receiver.) Without an upsampling player, you may have the option of letting your display upsample the image. The quality of the scaler is a key component of the final image, and is often the difference between an $80 cheapie, and a quality DVD player that you can purchase for $200 and up. Faroudja is a name to look for here. Any player with a Faroudja processor is usually better than one without it. My current DVD player is an S77, a pretty nice upsampling model from Panasonic. I also have a Sony DVD recorder (without upsampling). Both of these are in our upstairs 'mini' theater. Now that the format war is over, I'll be using a Sony Playstation 3, with its awesome Blu-ray capability, for movies in my new basement home theater. If you're investing in a new hi-def display, you'll be selling yourself short if you don't have hi-def movies!
HD-DVD and BluRay If you like to have the latest toys, and have an extra $400 - $1,000 to spend, you may wish to consider one of the new hi-definition DVD formats. HD-DVD is Toshiba's format, and BluRay was created by Sony. The two use slightly different, incompatible technologies which means you have to choose and hope the one you pick comes out on top of the 'format war'. New players are coming out now that play both formats, but at this point they're quite a bit more expensive. BluRay offers the highest HD resolution (1080P) which outputs video at 1920 x1080 pixels, while HD-DVD only supports 1080i (at least for now). As far as quality goes, HD-DVD seems to have an early lead. Some of the initial batch of BluRay discs were plagued by poor compression which produced video 'artifacts'. Also, the first player to be released, from Samsung, artificially softened images which made them far less sharp then those of the competing format. Supposedly, Samsung has corrected the problem. Recent sales statistics indicate BluRay disc sales are outpacing those of HD-DVDs by about 70-30. This statistic is sure to make Sony happy! If you're into gaming, you may want to pick up a Playstation 3 which uses BluRay as it's native format. For only $600 you get a great gaming system, PLUS a BluRay player. This makes it several hundred dollars cheaper than any standalone BluRay player, and on par with many standalone HD-DVD players.

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