Foo - Can anyone recommend a good dvd player?

We bought our first player, a Toshiba 5-disc carousel, about 4 yrs ago. It has been adequate in quality for our needs (we're not videophiles, we just watch movies with decent audio hookup, nothing fancy, no HD TV - yet - that's next as our 10-yr old tv is starting to go) but it gets stubborn about playing some discs - lots of freezing, audio skipping on cds, etc etc. very annoying. It did this when it was fairly new, too so it's not an age/wear issue and it's not the disc (they all play fine on the computer and in my friend's Toshiba single disc player).

I was looking for a replacement that's basic and reliable, and hopefully plays most if not all formats. Any ideas? Here's a few we were looking at:

http://reviews.cnet.com/video-players-and-recorders/oppo-dv-981hd/4505-6463_7-32327927.html?tag=pdtl-list

This got great reviews from Cnet.com, they said it can be formatted for all regions too. Not sure if we need HD dvd player just because we may buy a HD TV soon, but it's only $75 cheaper for this:

http://reviews.cnet.com/video-players-and-recorders/oppo-dv-980h/4505-6463_7-32577127.html?tag=pdtl-list

I am not familiar with Oppo. Are they a good reliable brand?

Well, in response to a seriously off-topic thread, from what I've heard the Oppo is a really good low-end DVD player. Beyond the CNET reviews, which usually are only moderately expert relative to enthusiasts (think making a buying decision on a bike solely on the reviews in Bicycling magazine), I believe they got a recommendation from Perfect Vision, whose audience stretches up into those who spend hundreds of thousands on their A/V systems, and also some of the more reputable A/V enthusiast sites on the web. No personal experience with the brand myself, but it is likely substantially better than the usual crap you see in big box electronics stores.

For a more and probably better-informed opinions you might try the forums over at audioreview.com and/or audioasylum.com.

uuuuuummmmm. This forum generally is for cycling related devices. Foo?

Well, in response to a seriously off-topic thread, from what I've heard the Oppo is a really good low-end DVD player. Beyond the CNET reviews, which usually are only moderately expert relative to enthusiasts (think making a buying decision on a bike solely on the reviews in Bicycling magazine), I believe they got a recommendation from Perfect Vision, whose audience stretches up into those who spend hundreds of thousands on their A/V systems, and also some of the more reputable A/V enthusiast sites on the web. No personal experience with the brand myself, but it is likely substantially better than the usual crap you see in big box electronics stores.

For a more and probably better-informed opinions you might try the forums over at audioreview.com and/or audioasylum.com.

thanks for all that - and good analogy re: Bicycling reviews. I'll look on the audio boards.

I was on cold medication earlier - sorry, I thought I was in the non-bike boards.....couldn't you try just a little bit harder?

Since you've already asked here, the Oppo is considered to be one of the best of the lower cost players, and it has all the features. I'm looking to buy one myself. I can't tell you whether they are any good reliability-wise, but I haven't seen any complaints on the audio boards.

But, I've bought recommended players before, and got burned with units that fail about 3 days after the warranty expires.