Since Mr. NicholasR joined here a few weeks ago, every dvd player thread thus far, every thread has descended into his protestations that the XP30s weren't as great as they have been reviewed, because his eyes say a lot of stuff is better (particularly the Zenith 318). Let's not let this thread descend into this argument again.
Us objectivist folks like to hit up hometheaterhifi's secrets reviews. You can find them here.
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-b...deInt=0&mpeg=0
About the secrets reviews' scientific testing methodology:
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volum...on-9-2000.html
The XP30 is pretty high on the list, but you can normally only find it on ebay now. I had a Panny CP72 (similiar to the XP30) until it died. Thus, I'm in the DVD player search.
What didn't you like about the Denon 2200? It uses the Silicon Image deinterlacing, which is suggested to be perhaps a tad better on film sources. Faroudja is supposed to be better for proper handling of video sources. Is it just the overall build quality/menus/etc?
Because I have a Denon dvd-910 inhouse, and the menus/interface/lcd etc does look cheap. I've got to return the 910 due to a flickering image problem that the Denon faroudja players produce with a couple of rare displays (apparently my Infocus X1 included).
I've got a Zenith 318 on hold for me (when it comes in stock), because I can't find a reasonably priced Faroudja player, that's not this year's Denon, without going to ebay for a Panny XP30. Personally I'm not big on buying things on Ebay that can break - video games, etc are OK, but I don't like to do electronics/big purchases.
The Zenith is Faroudja based, and user reports are good. The one professional review was good (its LG clone):
http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/exper...32_review.html
It's got issues outputting via DVI, 480p/720p over component, but the 1080i component output is supposed to be problem-free. And it does have a lot of features, zoom, etc. The secrets guys haven't done their excessive testing on it yet, but it's Faroudja based, so there's a certain minimum level of quality there.