I cant really answer your question but I can give you a little comparison. I recently upgraded a 2 year old Pioneer Progressive scan DVD player to my current Samsung Progressive scan HDMI DVD player.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-tET5pWaIPiE/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=54400&I=305DVDH850&search=DVD+Players
The samsung was about the same price as the player that I bought 2 years ago but I can tell you that the picture Quility is much better on the Samsung.
My advice for what its worth. Dont spend alot of money on the "upconversion" Dvd players because the true HD players and HD Dvd's will be out sooner or later.
