Need Advice - All-in-one DVD player (1 Viewer)

[MikeAF]

Hey all,
My wife really wants to buy me a HDTV for Christmas --poor me I'm leaning toward the new Pioneer Elite 530 which will be a question in another thread, but i really want an all-in-one DVD-Video, audio and SACD player, etc. The Pioneer 45A would be at the top of the list but I know there are players from Onkyo and Integra coming out as well. The Pioneer is in about the right price range and I don't know if I want to go up to $1000 or more for some of the others. Tell me what you all think. I will probably hit the store tomorrow afternoon. Thanks!
Mike

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

If you can wait a little, maybe you should also consider the Philips 963 that should be coming out some day soon. Nobody seems know when, but it is already available in Europe.

That's the one I'm sorta waiting for since it seems to have everything I want in a player, including remote hackability for region-free, PAL playback. Actually, it might not "official" support DVD-Audio since it's a Philips player. I heard that some Philips players have the hardware built-in for DVD-A, but they disable it and do not market them as supporting DVD-A. Maybe it can be enabled somehow just like the region-free, PAL->NTSC support.

_Man_

 

[MikeAF]

Man,
Thanks for adding another machine to the desicion mix. However, at this time I think I've decided to go with the Pioneer Elite 47Ai. It will go perfectly with the new Pro530 Elite HDTV
Mike

 

[Peter Mason]

There are many of us who have purchased the Pioneer 45A and are very pleased with the playback of SACD and DVD-Audio music as well as the progressive playback of DVD movies.

 

[Darren K Price]

I second the vote for the 45A. I bought based on it's bang for the buck quotient. Picture looks good and the SACD and DVD-A is great.

Big thumbs up. Also the wife liked the price a lot better than when I bought my DVPS7000 back in 96.

DKP