Walmart still had a ton when I went over lunch to get mine yesterday. I picked up two. Finally got mine hooked up this morning via HDMI cable straight to my Hitachi 42" Plasma (don't have a receiver yet). No setup problems or wierd issues so far..

I don't have any HD-DVD's yet, but I have played several SD movies straight (just now taking a break to download the firmware and whatnot) without a hiccup. I have it set to 1080i and Downsteam PCM (I'm using TV's speakers). My old dvd player is a Toshiba Progressive scan, which did a nice job.

Started off with Black Hawk Down. Picture quality was about the same, color seemed a bit more realistic, but the grainy effect in alot of this movie was slightly more noticable as well. Not sold yet..

Next I popped in Gladiator (special 2 disc version). Now I started noticing a nice difference, espcially in facial features and details in the armor. Color definately looked more realistic as well. The scene where Commodus is looking out his balcony over the CG Rome and the morning sun is brightly shining in definately looked better. The color was great and the blending of Commodus and the background looked much more natural and real. On my old DVD player it looked alot harsher like he was just cut and pasted on top of a CGI backdrop.

Next up was special extended edition of LOTR: Two Towers. Same concensus as Gladiator, color seemed better and details in faces/hair seems clearer/sharper. Not a huge difference like going from SD to HD cable TV, but enough to notice if you're comparing.

I've got the Firmware disc ready and LOTR: Return of the King ready for my next round of watching/testing pleasure. Now all I need are my Axiom speakers and a receiver.. lol. Can't wait to try some HD-DVD's as well.

So far I'd recommend this if you are still using a regular progressive scan DVD player and want a cheap entry into HD-DVD's. For $98 its hard to say no. Perhaps my very simple setup is why I haven't had any issues like some of you have.