John, have you and your brother considered the
Oppodigital OPDV971H? It has a DVI output, uypscales to 720p, and comes with both a 5' DVI to DVI cable, and a 6' DVI to HDMI cable. Of course, if you're running a cable to a projector, you'd have to get a DVI to HDMI cable the proper length for your run. Or, you could get an HDMI to HDMI cable the proper length, and put an HDMI to DVI adapter at the end connected to the Oppo.
I'm not sure what your brother has set for his "inexpensive" parameters, but the Oppo costs only $200, and has just scored a 98 on the
DVD Benchmark Test at Secrets of Home Theater & Hi Fidelity. That makes it the top rated DVD player in the Benchmark tests, scoring 2 points higher than the $3500 Denon DVD-5910. Read the text under the score.
That oughta keep your brother satisfied until the HD players come out.
There have been issues with this player (as with EVERY player), but Oppo has been incredibly quick to respond to owner's complaints, and offer firmware updates. There have been times when their customer service has answered an email question in less than a half an hour............on a Sunday. They just came out with a new remote and offered it to all owners for a $5 shipping fee. It's still not a Fantastic remote, but it's an improvement, and those of us using a universal remote don't really care about the remote's quality, anyway.
Don't even consider this player unless you intend to use the DVI output.
